Leica M10 in 10 – Miami

I left Boston for Miami Monday afternoon and by chance had a day off here in Miami.  Plus, luck would have it, I’m staying in a hotel on the south side of the Miami Int’l airport allowing me a short Uber ride to the Miami Leica Store in Coral Gables.

This is my second visit to the store as my first visit was for the store’s grand opening in March 2013.  The only reason I knew about their grand opening is through my purchase of the Leica M-E I bought in December 2012.  Through the Leica company email service I received a notice as a new Leica owner I was invited to attend.

Next month will be 5 years photographing with my M-E.  That’s a long time in digital camera years.  It seems most people, in this digital life, are upgrading to the next greatest digital device when the next iteration arrives. Whether its the next smart phone, laptop/tablet and now especially cameras.  It seems, Sony as an example, puts out a new version of their A7 model every couple months.  Ok, I’m exaggerating a little bit but I don’t think I’m that far off.

When I purchased my M-E, the Leica M240 had been announced and since I was not on any of the waiting lists I was informed that it could be up to a year before I’d see an M240 in my hands.  The M-E is really an M9 without the external USB port and frame selector and the Anthracite color.  The M9, at the time, was 3 years old and that has been Leica’s model change schedule.  You can count on about every 3 years a new updated version of the M will be announced.  Getting one is another matter as is the case even today with the newest M model, the M10.

As you can see by simple math, my M-E may only be 5 years old but the technology inside the camera is over 8 going on 9 years.  That’s like driving a Model T car today.  But, maybe I should capitalize BUT? My M-E is still my “Precious”!  There is still something special about how the colors and black&white images come out of this camera.  Plus its about as simple a camera as you’ll find in the digital world.  So where is this all going?

Well, I’m at the store, and of course, they have a demo M10 to test drive.  Remember, the M10 is still almost unattainable for mere mortals.  I carry a couple extra SD cards and have a fast 64 gig card I bought to use in the rented newer Leica’s I’ve rented on occasion.  My M-E’s SD card infrastructure is limited to 16 gig cards and works best with the slower speed ones.

So they put a fresh battery in the camera for me and I attached the 35 year old Leica 35 Lux pre-ASPH lens that I have on my M-E for this trip along with my SD card and went out the front door for a “quick” walk up the street. That’s where the title of this blog post derived from.  I really wasn’t out on the street for much more than 10 minutes.

The operation of the M10 is a delight.  Its faster, lighter and quieter than the M-E.  It’s 9 years newer!  Enough said.

Here’s a gallery below of my 10 minute test drive of Leica’s latest M camera, the M10.