Leica M10: Moiré
Related: aliasing, digital artifacts, Leica, Leica M, Leica M10, moiré, rangefinder
Many thanks to the folks at PopFlash.Photo for the Leica M10 on loan. PopFlash.photo offers many accessories for Leica M and other brands, such as the Thumbs Up EP-MX for Leica M10 and the Leica Visoflex (Type 020) EVF.
See my Leica M wishlist.
Moiré can be an issue with many cameras (including the Fujifilm GFX), but the Leica M10 and Leica M240 and other M cameras are particularly prone to it. The question is whether it interferes with the typical shooting scenario. I saw all kinds of aliasing that I found bothersome in the Dana Lake examples with the M10. Most users might look past that, but as this example shows, the M cameras really need a higher-resolution sensor, for oversampling, which greatly reduces moiré issues.
The 24-megapixel resolution of the Leica M10 (and M240 and its variants) can be a serious image quality problem that causes digital artifacts of all sorts. The argument that “24 megapixels is enough” sometimes means awareness and acceptance of the limitations, but sometimes it shows an ignorance of the issues involved, particularly with a sensor lacking any anti-aliasing filter (as with the all M cameras).
How many years will pass before Leica ups their image quality game? I did not say “resolution” there, but it is a fact that higher image quality has as a prerequisite resolution sufficient to minimize the moiré and color aliasing issues so often seen with Leica M (years of shooting prove that out well enough).
LEICA M10 + Zeiss ZM 35mm f/1.4 Distagon
[low-res image for bot]
