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Something happened this week that compelled me to write this.

A well-known Leica guru and ambassador published a review of the Leica M240 and — unsurprisingly — praised most things about it: the new features, the new CMOS sensor, and (gasp!) even the EVF add-on.

The thing is, as I was looking at his sample images, my honest reaction was:  his previous Leica M9 photographs looked better.

My visitor statistics on Prosophos.com tell me one of my more popular posts this year is:  M240: More Thoughts.   Moreover, if I type the search “Leica M240 vs CCD” on Google, that same post and my Leica M240: Final Verdict post are currently the top two search results.   In fact, any combination of the search terms “Leica M240/CMOS vs. M9/CCD” on Google will yield one of my posts on either page 1 or 2.

I realized all this today, and wondered:  Why?

My best guess is that many of you see what I see, that the Leica M9 beats the M240 in the only thing that counts: image quality.

And no amount of cheer-leading for the latest and greatest will change that.

So I’ll keep photographing with my antiquated M9 until the successor to the M240 arrives.  And when that happens, if Leica sticks with a CMOS sensor (which they most certainly will), hopefully they’ll have enough sense to strike a deal with Sony.

—Peter.

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If you haven’t already done so, please consider signing my open letter to Leica.

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Related posts:

• About the M240… the image quality is a step down.
• The M9 and CCD sensor.
• Leica M9 vs. M240
• M240: More Thoughts
• Leica M240: Final Verdict
• Leica M9 sharpness vs. Sony RX1R, Nikon D800E, Fuji X100s
• My camera of the year for 2013