Leica M10-D- Leica You Ruined a Beautiful Camera Design

Leica M10-D- Leica You Ruined a Beautiful Camera Design
October 2018, Carl Garrard

Today Leica announced the M10-D. And as you can tell I am not happy about it. Leica's leaking of images of the M10-D before the announcement (leaks are intentional, there are no accidents), suggested the successor of the M10-D would take the-mostly-analogue soul of the M-D, and evolve it even further by adding a level wind advance lever (or shutter re-cock in this case). The idea of having to advance each frame by hand is brilliant, and to me at least, would have furthered the focus and intensity of each shot and made the experience of photography that much more personal between the camera and photographer. But no, instead Leica created a gimmicky camera that has a faux shutter recock lever that acts as a thumb rest. How very... lame. To say I'm disappointed is just a nice way of me saying that Leica stabbed my heart today. And I had to vent here. The M-D is ruined, and this news saddens me. Nothing is real, if it is fake. Why Leica then, even bother leaving the LCD off? It's now even got an EVF port and wireless connectivity. Leica has transformed the beautifully simple MD into some please-em-all fake monstrosity. So much for purity and simplicity in design in this world, and thanks for breaking my heart Leica because I was truly sold on the fact that your company could still consider making a dignified product. For a real taste in purity and simplicity, take a look at the Leica M-D (Typ 262) because it's likely the last time we'll see an M like it.

Stay focused.

- Carl Garrard