Several readers were able to get their Leica M10 cameras today. Many authorized dealers got one in stock with only some of the accessories. I was told that shipments will resume next week, so check the availability at one of our sponsors:
Above you can find a few Leica M10 unboxing pictures I took with my iPhone (thank you Leica Boutique Palm Beach for getting me one of the first Leica M10 in the US) and a new unboxing video from Tamarkin Camera:
Contemporary sensor technology has facilitated a digital M that looks exceedingly like its analogue predecessors: lean and slender, the new M10 represents an M entirely geared towards digital rangefinder photography. To achieve this, a number of technical challenges had to be mastered.
Whenever Leica M customers were asked what they would like to see in a new model, a slimmer body was among the most frequently cited requests. From the M8 through to the M (Typ 240) and its sister models, digital M cameras have always been a few millimetres deeper than their analogue predecessors. And so the new M10 fulfils an ardent wish among M photographers, with dimensions that once again equal those of an analogue M. The previous discrepancies in size were borne out of technological limitations: in the M system the flange focal depth (the distance between mounting flange and image plane) is predetermined – and consequently, so is the position of the sensor. The latter requires a certain amount of space, as do the circuit boards and the display. An analogue M, by contrast, only has to accommodate the comparatively thin film, a pressure plate and the rear panel.
The Leica M10 camera is now officially announced. Shipping is starting right away – in fact I am going to pick up mine this afternoon from the Leica Boutique in Palm Beach. I will try to do a detailed report and post some sample photos later today or tomorrow.
Check pre-order options, pricing and availability at our sponsors:
The Leica M10 event starts today at 1pm EST today in Wetzlar, Germany and I will try to cover as much as possible here in this post. The official announcement will happen at 3pm EST, but I am sure there will be some details coming from the event presentations. You can check also all previously reported M10 specifications and pictures here.
