Why lazy? Well, this camera was released in April 2020. So it's taken me 6 years to get one. And obviously there are better reviews out there. This video here is a very good in depth review by Thorsten Overgaard. And of course the rather convoluted and precise musings of the dear departed Mr Erwin Puts on the M10 first version.. his musings as to the ergonomics hold true for the Monochrom version. And last of my links is this one, written by Leica tester Jonathan Slack, which appeared on the eve of the announcement, and as such pertains to a pre-production camera.
So with all that good info, what do you need me for?! Well, as I came to Leica rather late in life, my view is maybe different to that of those that grew up with the system, that are long time users, and that have more complete credentials. It is also a different view than the latest young folk to be driven into the arms of Leica via the popularity of the M6 in the Instagram crowd, as this lot has not had to worry so much about learning how to properly expose their negatives on film with the previous meterless iterations of Leica cameras.. you know.. like all of them!
So with these asides out of the way, let's get right into this review.. But.. no wait.. a word about me, your humble reviewer first. Because it is only common courtesy that I should introduce myself as well. I came to photography a bit over 40 years ago.. sounds like a lot. I inherited a Konica fixed lens 35mm camera and went about exploring my world, and learnt to develop black and white at my school film lab. I wasn't terribly good at it, but competent enough that I have a few remaining prints from those early days. My interest in photography came through both parents - my aforementioned mother's Konica. My father had a Canon 7 with the legendary 50mm f0.95 dream lens, although by this time hardly used it.. faster films and flash having obviated the need for a fast optic, and so the camera would only come out occasionally so he could show me the voluptuous optic. His style of photography was photojournalistic.. quick and to the point, and so he had an autofocus Nikon 35mm compact. The Canon was stowed away in a leather case. I would be given it many years later by my still-alive father.. And by the time I was given it, I'd already tasted the fruits of SLRs.. and found the rangefinder focus antideluvian, counterintuitive, and just a plain annoyance. It didn't help that the camera's onboard lightmeter was essentially useless, and so I didn't use it much, notwithstanding the excellent but difficult to work with optic. Nor that the Canon 7's viewfinder had not aged well, and the rangefinder patch was essentially useless..
However the intrigue with rangefinders persisted and so in 2018 I purchased an M8 for the princely sum of 535 pounds. And was immediately blown away by the rangefinder patch. In terms of vintage, it was only a few years younger than my Canon 7, but worlds apart in terms of brightness and contrast. Finally a camera I could focus with. And the watchlike precision was intoxicating. It felt like a Submariner Rolex.. Only the Submariner came after, so maybe it's more correct to say the Rolex was like a Leica..
However the experiment didn't go all that well. While I loved to hold the camera, the slow focus, and convoluted exposure calculations I had to make in my head, the slow shooting and long lead times between rolls meant that I was always on the back foot in terms of learning the rangefinder way.. Too many under/over exposed shots that were out of focus.. And so a scarce 5 years later I waved a white flag and sold it. It was a bitter-sweet moment, as I got more than I paid, but was still sad to see it go. It was an absolute jewel of a camera. Something I've learnt in these years.. you always regret selling a Leica!
But now in 2026 my interest was rekindled. For years I'd been shooting Nikon digital cameras and was largely happy with them, but my photography seemed to stagnate.. an endless procession of kids sports events and wife's portraits on the sofa.. I needed a change. And that's when I rewatched a review of a Leica Monochrom that had piqued my interest a few years back. You see, in those years of using Nikons, I always kept an eye out over the fence to see how the other kids were doing, and whether the grass really was greener. And as one does, I started surfing Ebay for what was what. Leica prices sky high, but in the middle of all those overpriced mint examples from Japan, I found a solitary Monochrom, and I rather impetuously pounced on it. After it arrived (after a convoluted transhipment via a friend in the UK) I was absolutely blown away with what I saw..
So after that long-winded introduction, here begins the "lazy review". As mentioned this is my first experience with a digital Leica, and my second experience with a Leica M camera. And my first experience with a monochrome sensor (in Leica-speak, "Monochrom" without the e). I do however have extensive experience with digital sensors and their foibles, so my evaluation of the files does have some experience.. And boy do I have a treat for you, because the M10M files are absolutely amazing! Everywhere I look they are amazing. Except the size of the files, which is ginormous.. compared to the similarly sized Nikon Z8 sensor (47mp for the Nikon, 40mp for the Leica). Size aside, the files are gorgeous. The tonality of grey is endless, with no blockiness. Colour filters actually work to change contrast and colour response of the greys. I particluarly like using a red filter as it smoothes skin tones, as well as creating outlandish sky and cloud contrast. What truly amazed me though was the high ISO capability, which at 100,000 ASA was truly amazing. More than that though was that the images at that high value were USEABLE! Yes, grainy, yes loss of detail.. but light years ahead of images shot at similar ISO on my Z8. This camera really could see in the dark! Then there is the grain itself.. which feels organic and to quote an overused cliche'.. FILM LIKE.. Yes, I said it. But I truly mean it. Bayer sensor grain has a weird look to it, like looking at amoeba through a microscope.. they are moving blobs of odd shapes that do not like to be enlarged! This grain however really felt like silver halide crystals.. and the more I zoomed in, the prettier it got. Part of this can be explained by the lack of bayer filter and therefore triple theoretical resolution (in reality closer to double).. and the other part of it being that colour noise is more objectionable than black and white noise, all things being equal.
Once we get past the image quality of the b&w files, it comes down to, do I enjoy picking up this camera or not. And here was another epiphany.. with only 3 buttons on the rear, a very simple menu structure, and all of 3 controls to deal with (shutter speed, aperture and ISO), all the tech gets out of the way, and you're really only worrying about your subject and framing. I shamelessly admit to using the camera in mostly A mode on the ISO and shutter dials, merely working the aperture and exposure compensation, as one of the drawbacks of the Leica sensor is that it clips highlights rather abruptly, and so it's a delicate balance of keeping the highlights within value and not going too dark. The shutter speed during the day is of no consequence, nor is the ISO seeing as I don't mind the noise. Aperture and depth of field is what I want to control. In those occasions where I need motion blur, then I'll take control of the shutter speed. Rarely do I play with the ISO dial, although it is comforting to know that no menu diving will be required to change it. Ergonomics would be nothing it we didn't mention the viewfinder, and.. the optional Visoflex digital viewfinder, that has changed the way I viewed M cameras.. pun most definitely intended! The traditional rangefinder view is amazingly bright and easy to compose.. my old M3 feels like the Canon 7 compared to this M10M viewfinder! And though I'm using the Visoflex quite a bit with my wide-angle lenses (21mm), it is nice to default to the rangefinder focus when doing portraits.
So image quality - check. Ergonomics - check.
What else is there to say? Well.. annoyingly the M10M chews through batteries the most of any camera I have ever used. And that includes other mirrorless cameras like the Z8 and the FujifilmX100VI. I do use the electronic viewfinder quite a bit, so I understand that battery consumption will be higher than average, hence the extra two batteries I've purchased, to make sure I get through a day of photographs without running out of juice. My M8 by contrast will generally last on one battery, although I have one spare for that camera. Chalk and cheese as that camera does not have live view, although I'm pretty certain the shutter cocking mechanism uses more power because it makes a god-awful racket.. which funnily I kind of like.
The M10 Monochrom is the epitome of the M10 series (like it's colour version, the M10-D) with useful upgrades in sensor and in it's discrete appearance. It handles just like a film M, with it's svelte waistline, compared to previous iterations (M8. M9, M242 etc).. It has a collosal 40mp sensor that is perhaps too much, until you loose yourself in all that detail. It renders beautiful black and white images, usefully uses colour filters to manipulate contrast, has an almost infinite ISO range with a truly useful 50,000 setting, and an extreme 100,000 iso for when you really need it.. and they look good. The Visoflex allows you to look down into the camera a bit like a Hasselblad, which does two things; firstly it lowers your point of view so that your images assume a different perspective and secondly.. people don't really notice you when you're looking down vs looking straight at them with a camera. The mechanics of the M system have truly come full circle.. after years in the wilderness of SLR's and then AutoFocus and then digital and DSLR's and Mirrorless.. Leica has persevered and their viewpoint, though not for all, is now available to many. It is a unique perspective, with small lenses (until recently that is.. even Leica lenses are starting to get fat!) and an enforced simplicity in both lens offerings and focal lengths and camera features that mean photography takes centre stage, and the equipment (though we love it) dissappears.. At the same time the tactile feel of an M is ever-present, and it fits satisfying in the palm of your hand. This angluar oblong and at the same time smooth object, much like the Monolith from 2001 A space odyssey, is at once alien and also encouragingly familiar.. the camera your grandfather could have used, and one that your offspring hope to inherit. To use an American baseball saying, Leica hit this one out of the park. And that is not always a given with Leica, which as a brand has had more downs than ups in it's history, and that only with the M10M, have they truly made a successor to the original M3 of 1954. Hyperbole?! Maybe... but whilst every camera that came after it was in some ways a compromise, a cheaper version of the original, a simpler version, or a downright ugly version (M5 anyone or for that matter the film CL?), this one goes back to it's roots and improves on them. Even whilst Leica garnered success in the digital age with the M8, M9 etc.. those bodies were bloated, those cameras slow, and those sensors all had issues. Not so the M10M, which can rightfully call itself the true successor to the M3. There, I'm repeating myself.. But hey, it only took them 66 years to get there. And took me 6 years to finally find one...
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