3 CCDs: Leica M8 / 8.2 vs Nikon D200 vs Fuji S5 Pro

[CameraQuest]

The CCD M8 / 8.2 is still a popular and relatively expensive camera,
while the similarly sensored CDD Nikon D200 and CCD Fuji S5 Pro are forgotten and selling for about 1/10 the price (or less.)

Has anyone here actually compared their images carefully?

Stephen

 

[raid]

I have a Nikon D700 and a Leica M8. The M8 is more fun to use and the Leica optics that I own are better than the Nikkor 50/1.4 that I use with the D700. Sorry, but this is my comparison. The images from the D700 are not bad at all.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

The CCD M8 / 8.2 is still a popular and relatively expensive camera,
while the similarly sensored CDD Nikon D200 and CCD Fuji S5 Pro are forgotten and selling for about 1/10 the price (or less.)

Has anyone here actually compared their images carefully?

Stephen

I’ve used an M-E, and owned a Nikon D200 and still own a Fuji S5 Pro, so not exactly the same and as far as comparing their images “carefully” that’s a loaded word as I have only shot what I would characterize as “pictures” and have never put a tripod in front of a carefully chosen brick wall in my life, so there’s that. Nor will I. So, take the following with a grain of salt. Jumping to my conclusion: The Fuji S5 Pro is way more better. The Nikon D200 looks exactly like the Fuji, but the results could hardly be more different, because the “Super CCD” sensor in the Fuji is unlike any other CCD sensor ever made. Very unlike.
I liked the M-E but thought the color depth and DR of the Fuji S5 Pro was notably superior, as sensor tests, google-able, have shown. But, they are completely different kinds of cameras RF vs. DSLR.
Files out of that particular Fuji sensor are easy to work with, but take a slight bit of rethinking to get the absolute best out of so it’s a camera that reveals the last measure of its charms slowly rather than instantly, but worth the time.
If Fuji had pursued that unique sensor technology to full frame + 24 MP, I imagine that it’s the only digital camera I would bother with today. They went in a very different direction, and I am sure they had their manufacturing/sales/marketing/profitability reasons, but they lost me.
Anyway, I’ve been banging on here with this same set of findings/opinion/screed for years and I doubt anyone has ever cared, so don’t have any reason to think today will be any different. Just buy one and see, they’re cheap, though there’s a good reason they are not nearly as cheap as D200s.
But, yeah, of those three, I’d definitely choose the S5 Pro if color rendering, skin tones, and tonal discrimination mattered.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/leicam8/15?color_compare=nikon_d200/0

And two previous pages.

IMO. The whole rendering hosanna is very subjective.
I like how sharp M8 images are, but colors and DR aren't something to chaise. My 40$ Oly EPL1 is more pleasing for colors. IMO.

 

[narsuitus]

Has anyone here actually compared their images carefully?

I have never analyzed the images of the Leica M8 or the Nikon D200. However, a few years ago, I went into a camera shop with a Nikon lens, a CompactFlash memory card, and a laptop computer. I took a used Fuji S5 off the shelf and a new Nikon D300 out of the box and took a few test shots. Both cameras performed well and felt good in my hands. However, I preferred the images of the S5 to the images of the D300. I walked out the store (after paying for it) with the S5.

I so loved the images I was able to produce with my first S5 that I purchased two additional S5 bodies. Right now, I am still using two S5 bodies, two battery grips, and 6 batteries. The third S5 is unused, brand new, and stored in its unopened box.


Fuji S5 by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[f.hayek]

Had a D700 and an S1 Pro (used the latter with UV/IR filters for regualr photography).

Colors out of the Fuji were something unique and regret selling the rig but I'd sold off the AF Nikkors with the D700.

 

[Rob-F]

I've had an M8.2, M9, D200, D300, D700. The M8.2 colors were something special. But I sold it for the M9 because I wanted full frame, and the ability to manually enter my lenses. The D200 I couldn't wait to get rid of. I replaced it with a D300, which is a much better camera, and I still have it, though I use the D700 much more.

 

[jarski]

owner of M8 and D200 here. am using latter for landscape, nature and foliage type of scenes, where d2x mode jpegs do well in my opinion. M8 is reserved for black and white shots on the base iso. both serve a kind of "happy Sunday snapping" purpose when results are not that critical, guess where many here on RFF use a film camera.