I think I might have a Leica problem

M240 Black Paint paired with Elmarit-M 28mm f 2.8 V3

Let's address the elephant in the room. During my last trip to Germany, I ordered a Leica M240 and a 28mm Elmarit M f2 V3 online, shipped straight to me while I was still there. During the trip before that, I picked up a 1953 Leica IIIf in person from Foto Koester, a Leica authorized dealer in Münster. At this point I'm starting to notice a pattern, and so is my bank account. Something about being in the country makes me open a laptop and start browsing Leica listings like it's a hobby of its own.

Anyway. The M240 is my first digital Leica, and honestly a pretty big jump from the IIIf, since that one is a fully mechanical rangefinder from the film era and this one has a sensor, a screen, and menus I still haven't fully figured out. I've been practicing zone focusing on my Fujifilm XE3 for a while now, and I've got the fundamentals down, so bringing that over to the M240 was surprisingly easy. Turns out zone focusing is zone focusing no matter what body it's attached to.

I bought the M240 from Leica Store Nürnberg, and the 28mm Elmarit M f2 V3 from Leica Store Frankfurt, both online. Price wise, I'd say it wasn't really cheaper or more expensive than buying used from a US platform; it landed about where I expected. But both items were inspected by Leica technicians before being sold, which counts for something even if I'm not sure whether that inspection included a full CLA. They also came with 12 to 24 months of Leica warranty, which is a nice bit of peace of mind when you're buying gear this old sight unseen. The used items are supposed to be verified to meet Leica standards before they go up for sale, so you might pay a little more than you would rolling the dice on eBay or some other online marketplace. Still, at least you know a Leica technician actually looked at it. And since this is older gear, you can expect some wear. My camera body was built in 2013, and the lens was built all the way back in 1983. I'm fine with a little character on gear that's older than some of my readers.

First outing with the new toys went about as well as you'd expect, which is to say I made every mistake available to me. Mistake number one: I did not read the manual. I know, groundbreaking stuff from a guy writing a photography blog. Mistake number two, and a direct result of mistake number one, I forgot to use the light meter, so a bunch of my shots came out either over or underexposed. The overexposed ones were somewhat salvageable in Lightroom, but the underexposed ones were too grainy to recover; no amount of sliders brought them back.

I took the M240 out again this past weekend and tried not to repeat the same mistakes, which mostly meant I spent a lot of time fidgeting with shutter speed and aperture instead of just shooting. That definitely cost me a few moments I would have otherwise caught. A few times I just fired anyway without checking the shot afterward because I didn't want to lose the moment chimping at the screen. I know it's going to take some time to get comfortable with a new system, and I'm trying to be patient with myself about it.

The other adjustment is just the size of this thing. It is a genuine chunk of brass. I always thought my old Nikon D700 was a brick, but somehow this little guy feels even heavier in the hand, and it is not exactly ergonomic either.

All that said, I'm genuinely happy with the new gear. I think I'm turning into a full blown Leica fanboy, and my wallet would like to file a complaint formally.