Leica is a camera product that is famous with expensive prices. One such camera is the Leica M 240. Although the Leica M 240 is old, the price is still relatively expensive. Then, what are the features and specifications of the Leica M24 ?. What makes it expensive? Still worth it to buy in 2019 ?.
When viewed from the features or specifications, some Lecia cameras have similarities with other brand products. However, the price of a Leica camera is much more expensive. How come?. Because of the essences and camera material, the packaging. Also there is the prestigious red circle of Leica. Leica does not plan to compete with price and features, but rather the philosophy and “art and craft” of the product. Art is indeed difficult to judge with money. Leica M cameras are mostly made by hand and have a very high level of precision.
Then what about the Leica M 240 feature? Let’s discussion about Leica M 240.
Advantages of Leica M 240
The Leica M 240 is the second full-frame mirrorless camera in the world. This is the successor to the world’s first full-frame mirrorless camera, the Leica M9, which came in 2009. This series has a very solid camera body. Feels very sturdy and feels a bit heavy, dense and thick. The weight of this camera is 680 grams. The Leica M 240 offers a shutter much quieter than the M9, as well as Leica’s first choice for the external electronic viewfinder (EVF), the Leica EVF-2. This Leica EVF-2 is rebranded from Olympus VF-2 Finder, and works well on the Leica M 240.
The Leica M 240 has a full frame CMOS sensor. The size of this camera sensor is 24MP. This camera also has a pretty good quality even at high ISO up to ISO 3200. So this camera is good for travel photography which includes portrait and scenery.
Leica M 240 has simple menu. There are two menus, the comprehensive one and the quick menu, which contain photographic settings that are frequently replaced such as ISO, exposure compensation, white balance etc. The electronic viewfinder is bright enough, as bright as its LCD screen, good for dark lighting conditions. The viewfinder is exactly the same as the Olympus VF2 which costs much cheaper than the Leica. Leica M uses CMOS sensors instead of CCDs, the use of CMOS makes camera performance improve and photo quality at high ISO cleaner than noise, video quality is also better. Additional grip accessories (accessories) I highly recommend because if not, it’s a bit difficult to hold firmly, especially when installing telephoto lenses. Auto ISO can be configured with max ISO and minimum shutter speed.
Produce Good Photos
The Leica M 240 camera has significant improvements over the M9 especially in the color details of the shot. Likewise, the auto white balance on the Leica M 240 is able to work well, compared to AWB on the Leica M9 which does not work well and always requires manual adjustments.
Leica M 240 is able to produce photos with pretty good color directly from the camera in JPG format, but the image quality in DNG format is not so good. That is the opposite of its predecessor, the Leica M9.
read too about Recommendation: Camera for Street Photography
Disadvantages
Leica M 240 has several shortcomings. Although the price is expensive there are some shortcomings in this camera. This camera can’t autofocus, but manual focus isn’t difficult with live view, it just takes a little time. In addition, the rangefinder viewfinder is difficult to use because it is not precise with what is being made. It takes a lot of practice to understand the characters, especially framing and split-screen manual focusing. Apart from that the Leica M 240 has no auto sensor cleaning.
lens
The Leica M 240 is a camera that is completely different from any other camera ever made. Leica is not just producing large images, the images are very good. Even if another camera might work better, nothing makes a lens as sharp as a Leica. Even if you use a Leica lens on another camera the results will not be as sharp if the Leica camera is used with a Leica lens.
Leica lenses are slim in size. The image quality depends very much on the lens, and Leica lenses are known to be superior in optical quality. Fix lenses such as Leica 50mm, 28mm, 90 mm provide a very smooth ‘background.
That is a review of the Leica M 240. Although the price of the Leica is very high, but there are some advantages and disadvantages in this camera.