Vintage Digital: A Year of Leica M Type 240 Ownership Update.

Barely related preface:

Saw someone mock others over their camera brand choice recently. For a moment I thought to try a high road comment but quickly realized that would be pointless. Played out the resulting scenarios Dr. Strange style and none ended well. So I chose to just move on. I have never understood debates regarding matters of personal preference.

And a digital rangefinder is the mother of all personal preference scenarios. Any number of other cameras make more “sense”. But as I have said in this space before if you are looking for photography to make sense you may have chosen the wrong hobby. Anyhoo. Picked up a digital rangefinder about a year ago after some initial hesitation followed by the encouragement of my loving and supportive wife.

Sidebar: My fascination with digital Leica M is about the M part, not the Leica part. No Leica zealot here, just like I hold no adherence to any other brand. If another company saw fit to produce an M mount or an even more unlikely alternative interchangeable rangefinder solution, they would immediately have my attention also. No offense to those who use their other models, but in the end a similarly sized interchangeable lens solution won out over the Leica Q I once had, and bang for the buck, I would first look at other brands before the Leica interchangeable AF SL line. All fine cameras, mind you. But at this moment and, with the exception of a crop sensor upstart, for the foreseeable future Leica is the only digital rangefinder game in town.

Spoiler alert: I have no regrets.

No regrets about the purchase.

No regrets about having waited so long.

No regrets on not having purchased a newer model.

No regrets on using (mostly) only third party lenses.

Do I recommend this path to others?

That depends.

If you are looking for a camera purchase to make sense? No.

If you do not harbor a minor obsession with digital rangefinder cameras? No.

If you require basic modern conveniences like AF, auto aperture control, and clean images at sky high ISOs? No.

But…

If you have always wanted a digital rangefinder camera, do not plan on using it as your only, all purpose solution, and you are so inclined to spend a bit for what you want logic set aside?

Then yes.

If this does not sound like you close this tab and go on with your life free of any concern for such foolishness. An A7C, something like the new faux vintage Nikon Zf, or any other options make far more sense and in most cases will still cost you far less.

Because there are many caveats. When it comes to Leica M cameras an apparent lack of features is only one matter to contend with. High cost is the main villain in this story. And the high cost of the camera is only one factor. All associated gear can be eye-wateringly expensive as well, especially if it has Leica emblazoned across it. But I found some workarounds.

Some factors that made the typical high cost of entry more palatable for me are listed below.

Model Chosen:

I went over this in great length in my first post regarding this little digital M journey, but suffice it to say the 240 hit the failure risk (Looking at you corroded sensor plagued M9.)/features/price point sweet spot for me. Any older and there were significant sacrifices asked and any newer and prices escalate sharply.

Condition:

After what seemed like endless trolling of used mainline camera gear websites (B&H, Adorama, MPB, and KEH mainly. I do not have the stomach to trust peer to peer options with higher-end gear like this.) I went with a Bargain grade body from KEH. As I have mentioned before I wrote for KEH for a couple of years, was a customer before, and remain one to this day. One thing I really like about them is that their Bargain grade ranking is very generous. I have often found, whether film or digital, bargain grade items tend to be in excellent condition with few if any marks or blemishes. On top of that their generous return policy is great and, as I found out with this camera, their repair services are quite good. Bargain grade also took hundreds off of the typical Type 240 asking price which moved it into the realm of palatable options.

Lenses:

As I wrote about for 35mmc knock offs are my friends.

This may be a bridge too far for some but is the goal taking photos you are happy with or being able to say the lens was by Leica? While the asking price for Leica cameras could be described as prohibitive lens prices are next level. Case in point. The Leica Noctilux-M 75mm f/1.25 ASPH. Of course I want this lens. But at $14,395.00 that will simply never happen. That would be the case even if I was wealthy enough to pay the asking price. I am not built to carry around a $14K lens. I used a far, far less expensive 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 ($449 or 1/32 the price.)…

…walking around a local garden. I was approached by someone who had a look of astonishment who opened with, “Is that…?”, to which I quickly said no, this is not the Leica variant. If this were that Leica lens I would be astonished also. At the price point of a used car it is not a lens I would expect to see out in the wild. Is the 7Artisans as good? Of course not, but I will never know the difference since I will never get the chance to try one. But what I can say is that I am perfectly happy with the results.

And the same applies for all of the 7Artisans and TTArtisans lenses listed in the linked 35mmc post above. And all of those lenses combined cost less than one name brand lens.

Which is fine with me. Leica digital rangefinders are the only game in town. But there are plenty of perfectly good to very good rangefinder lens options.

I did find one reasonably priced Leica lens recently though. The Leica Leitz Canada 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit M Lens with goggles.

I mainly purchased it for two reasons.

1. It was relatively inexpensive.
2. Lens goggles look cool to me.

I was not expecting much above that. I figured there must be some optical or operational issue with this lens at that price. But no. Built like an in a pinch melee weapon I find it easy to focus and I quite like the images taken with it. What gives? Is it because it was made in Canada? And if so, really?

Soon after purchasing the M 240 Hamish Gill of 35mmc warned me of a Leica lens slippery slope. I responded that my plan was to salt the slope with knock off lenses. Add one “inexpensive” Leica lens to it and I have been successful thus far.

And for an added bit of savings, nearly every one of these lenses was purchased used from KEH.

Accessories:

Grip.

Purely optional. With the 75mm lens above I had wanted a bit more to hold on to. Found at an unusually low price for a Leica accessory I picked up a grip from MPB for not a lot of spend. It stays on the camera full time now and helps balance the camera with the Leica 135mm mentioned above also.

Battery.

This was probably the biggest surprise for me. Not that a backup 2nd Leica battery would be expensive. That no third party manufacturer saw fit to make one. With a $200 plus new battery price I was able to find a used one from MPB for far less and I have had no issues with it.

EVF.

The issue with this one is not necessarily the price. If the Leica version is too rich for your blood you can get the original, identical model made by Oympus for far less. The issue for me is that an EVF for a camera I purchased for its rangefinder makes absolutely no sense. If I were to use an EVF I would just adapt these lenses to my existing mirrorless cameras. Maybe if it were my only camera? But that would not be the case with me, because if I could only have one camera AF and such would have to be on the menu. Some have raised critical focusing for very fast lenses and/or long lenses as a reason but that has not been an issue for me personally. And again, I am no purist, but this does defeat the whole reason for pursuing a rangefinder camera. I find that a properly calibrated rangefinder does just fine with fast…

…and/or long lenses.

I managed to dodge a few fiscal hurdles blocking entry and cleared the rest. None of this would matter if I did not enjoy the end result. And I do. I will try to limit any romantic prose about rangefinders in general and Leicas in particular and make quick work of the why by touching upon some points mentioned early in this post.

No regrets about the purchase.

KEH made what could have been a disappointing purchasing experience into one of pleasant surprises. They have an excellent warranty policy that was bolstered by their repair capabilities. The one camera flaw, an out of calibration rangefinder, was addressed within the time frame quoted by KEH. Nice.

No regrets about having waited so long.

It took this much time for this camera to reach an approachable price point for me. The time had come.

No regrets on not having purchased a newer model.

While I had some concerns that I would be driven to acquire a newer, more expensive model that has not been th case at all. I am perfectly happy with the Leica M Type 240.

No regrets on using (mostly) only third party lenses.

The third party lenses have been a blast and I have not once considered replacing them with pricier options.

Ok. That sorted I will close this post with some of my favorite captures over the last year. I will try and restrain myself as there are a lot to choose from.

Let me be clear. I am not saying that a Leica or rangefinder in general was required to create these photos. What I am saying is that I enjoy using a rangefinder to create images.

Said another way personal preference.

And this digital rangefinder exercise was a success.

Happy capturing.

-ELW