p.6 #1 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
Erich6_ wrote:
I recently acquired an M-D Typ 262 and I’m loving it. It feels great in the hands, takes great pictures, and I enjoy the simplicity of it. I’m using the Arte Di Mano half-case that lets you access the battery and card without having to remove the plate, a convenience I enjoy with the M11. With all the other benefits Fred listed above, I’m not at all interested in the M11-D.
Wait, if you're not removing the base plate, are you even getting the real experience? Haha!
p.6 #2 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
Fred Miranda wrote:
Wait, if you're not removing the base plate, are you even getting the real experience? Haha!
Haha, I know that’s sacrilege! I actually like the ritual of taking the plate on and off but some cameras are a bit of a pain to get the half case off first, and I don’t like that. :-P
p.6 #4 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
Most of you know that the Leica M-D Typ 262 only allows a set of default parameters set by Leica, none of which can be changed. One of those is white balance, which is Auto only. If I could only have one WB setting that couldn't be changed, AutoWB seems like a reasonable, maybe even the best, choice. But there's a catch: the M240/262's Auto WB isn't as sophisticated as what you get on newer cameras, and it's not very accurate.
So what's the solution? In post, you can choose Adobe Standard and pick a WB preset like Daylight, but that doesn't work well either. Even with the Leica M10-R, if you shoot AutoWB in camera and select Adobe Standard and "Daylight" WB in Lightroom, the color isn't right at all.
The only profile that actually works is the Cobalt Spectre for the M10-R. I can shoot with AutoWB in-camera and just apply Spectre and a WB preset in post, and the results are amazing. The colors look beautiful and accurate, almost like a new camera. That's one of the biggest advantages of the M11 that not many people talk about... its Auto white balance is far more accurate, to the point where you almost don't need Cobalt Spectre, though I still notice a small improvement in color tonality with it.
A little bird told me that Cobalt is working on a Spectre profile for the M240/262 bodies, which will also cover the M-D. Honestly, I can't wait. It would mean much better color straight out of the camera, and the fixed Auto WB on those bodies won't matter anymore.
Estimates on how many were made vary wildly online, anywhere from a couple hundred to a few thousand, since Leica never published an official production number. Some folks tried comparing serial numbers to narrow it down, but even that didn't produce a solid answer. Whatever the real figure is, it's clearly a low one, which is part of why these command the price they do.
p.6 #6 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
krysdafur wrote:
Anyone know how to change the file name/number on the M-D?
Short answer: not from the camera. No menu to reset or rename files or folders. You may force it with a planted file on a card, A dummy L1000001 is ignored; the body keeps its own last number + 1.
The counter moves like this: a card with a higher L100xxxx jumps it up and that sticks, it wraps to L1000001 after 9999, and firmware can reset it.
Long answer:
Out of curiosity I also checked whether that number is a real shutter count. It is not.
The DNG name is not a shutter count
L1009500.DNG does not mean this body has taken 9,500 pictures. The name is only a file counter in a 0001 to 9999 loop, and the last number lives in the camera. A blank card does not reset it.
The M-D follows a higher L100xxxx already on the card and keeps that number from then on. It ignores lower ones. Plant L1000001 and the camera writes internal + 1 instead. I tried exactly that with an M10-P card (101LEICA / L1000001.DNG) and the M-D wrote L1009753 into that same folder, then created an empty 100LEICA next to it.
So the counter can jump. Camera with 20 real actuations, someone inserts a card already holding L1009499.DNG from an M10, an M240, another M-D, whatever. Next frame is L1009500, and a fresh card still gets 9501, 9502 and so on. Twenty real shots, file name says 9,500.
It can also wrap. After L1009999 the name returns to L1000001 in a new folder. The folder may become 101LEICA but the prefix stays L100, and folders are not a second odometer since another body can create 101LEICA on the card without this one ever finishing 9,999 frames. A firmware update can reset the sequence too, and sensor cleaning actuates the shutter without writing a file at all.
So L1009500 only means the counter sits at 9500 in this cycle. Real actuations can be far lower (card jump), about the same (first cycle, no jumps), or much higher (already wrapped), and nothing in the name or the folder tells those apart. The real count is not in the DNG. Only Leica service can read it on this generation.
PS: On the M10 series, the Mac app LeicaSync reads actuations more accurately.
p.6 #7 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
Fred Miranda wrote:
The counter only moves on its own: a card with a higher L100xxxx jumps it up and that sticks, it wraps to L1000001 after 9999, and firmware can dump it.
Thank you. I got a MD a few weeks ago and I’ve been wanting to reset the file numbering. I put a L1009995 file on my SD card and shot a few frames and it rolled over.
p.6 #8 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
krysdafur wrote:
Thank you. I got a MD a few weeks ago and I’ve been wanting to reset the file numbering. I put a L1009995 file on my SD card and shot a few frames and it rolled over.
Thanks. When you say you "put L1009995 on the card", where did that file come from? A renamed M-D DNG, or a file that was already named L1009995 when the camera wrote it?
I only renamed my last DNG (L1001754 → L1009999) and it did not reset. Trying to see what you did differently.
p.6 #9 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
Fred Miranda wrote:
Thanks. When you say you "put L1009995 on the card", where did that file come from? A renamed M-D DNG, or a file that was already named L1009995 when the camera wrote it?
I only renamed my last DNG (L1001754 → L1009999) and it did not reset. Trying to see what you did differently.
I used a M11 DNG file. Renamed using Lightroom Cloud. I had previously tried renaming a MD file to 0001 using finder but that did not work.
p.6 #10 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
krysdafur wrote:
I used a M11 DNG file. Renamed using Lightroom Cloud. I had previously tried renaming a MD file to 0001 using finder but that did not work.
Thanks so much for the details, that really helps. Funny timing, I actually answered my own question this morning. The method does work, I just happened to pick the one number (9999) that breaks it.
Your 0001 attempt makes sense too. The camera only follows a number higher than its own, so a lower one gets ignored every time.
So here is how to do it (I will add this to the tips in the first post of this thread):
I renamed a DNG on the computer to L1009995 and dropped it into DCIM/100LEICA on a card freshly formatted in the M-D. The source file does not matter, an M-D or any other Leica DNG works, only the name counts. Eject the card properly, put it back in the camera, and the next frame comes out as L1009996. Four more frames and it wraps to L1000001 in a new folder, and that sticks.
The reason my first attempt failed is that I used L1009999. The camera takes the highest number it finds on the card and adds one, and with 9999 that lands on 10000, which is not a legal DCF filename, so the firmware discards the value and falls back to its own internal count. Anything from your current number up to 9998 gets adopted. 9999 is the single value that fails, which is exactly why it looked like renaming did nothing at all.
p.6 #12 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
Colors on the MD 262 are fantastic....looks very close to what I got with CCD. I took some side by side images today with the M10, whose colors I like even better than the M11. Have to say, MD 262 is my favorite out of camera
M10 on the left, MD 262 on the right. Same settings. Lenses are different, but I don't think they'd have that much of an impact on color. M10 rocking the 35 Lux FLE I and MD 262 with the 35 Cron APO
p.6 #13 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
rsolti13 wrote:
Colors on the MD 262 are fantastic....looks very close to what I got with CCD. I took some side by side images today with the M10, whose colors I like even better than the M11. Have to say, MD 262 is my favorite out of camera
M10 on the left, MD 262 on the right. Same settings. Lenses are different, but I don't think they'd have that much of an impact on color. M10 rocking the 35 Lux FLE I and MD 262 with the 35 Cron APO
It's remarkably easy to spot the difference. In terms of color output, the M-D gives me a very similar vibe to the M9, but with significantly better dynamic range (much closer to the M10).
I highly recommend the newly announced Cobalt Spectre profile for anyone shooting with the M-D (Typ 262), especially since the M-D is locked to Auto WB, which often struggles in mixed or challenging lighting.
Once you import your shots into LR or Capture One, set your profile to Spectre and choose a WB preset like Daylight or Tungsten and then if needed, make minor tweaks. Wow, what a difference! It completely transforms an already amazing camera output...
p.6 #15 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
Fred Miranda wrote:
It's remarkably easy to spot the difference. In terms of color output, the M-D gives me a very similar vibe to the M9, but with significantly better dynamic range (much closer to the M10).
I highly recommend the newly announced Cobalt Spectre profile for anyone shooting with the M-D (Typ 262), especially since the M-D is locked to Auto WB, which often struggles in mixed or challenging lighting.
Once you import your shots into LR or Capture One, set your profile to Spectre and choose a WB preset like Daylight or Tungsten and then if needed, make minor tweaks. Wow, what a difference! It completely transforms an already amazing camera output......Show more →
Looks similar to the M9 and the rear screen just as useful as the M9s
Just got done reading that post….think I will give Spectre a try. I’ve been using Cobalt presets and been extremely happy with them, but Spectre is definitely an interesting product.
p.6 #16 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
rsolti13 wrote:
Looks similar to the M9 and the rear screen just as useful as the M9s
Just got done reading that post….think I will give Spectre a try. I’ve been using Cobalt presets and been extremely happy with them, but Spectre is definitely an interesting product.
I use Spectre profiles for a few of my cameras now (Especially the M10-R), and honestly, it’s the only profile I use mostly the Standard and Studio Spectre variants.
The best part is that if you already own older Cobalt film simulations (like the Kodachrome series), having your camera spectre profile installed automatically upgrades those film simulations to use the Spectre engine. The color separation and accuracy are significantly better than before.
p.6 #18 · Anyone shooting with the Leica M-D Type 262?
stgrove wrote:
Interesting discussion. Thanks all.
As for my M262 (not M-D) I cannot find out year of manufacture even though I know the S/N and part number #10947. Currently running FW 1.1.0.0
That seems to be the latest firmware for your M262 but if you want the exact month and year it rolled off the assembly line in Solms/Wetzlar, you can email Leica Customer Care ([email protected]) with your specific serial number.
The Leica M (Typ 262) was officially announced and released in November 2015 and stayed in production until roughly 2017/2018 before being phased out. Therefore, your camera was definitively manufactured somewhere between late 2015 and 2017.
In contrast, the Leica M-D (Typ 262) began shipping in May 2016 and was quietly discontinued around 2018. While Leica never published exact production figures, community members tracking serial numbers estimate that roughly 300 to 1,200 units were ever made. Given its niche, screenless, purist design, it was a slow seller at the time, and used ones are rarely seen for sale today.
