Coming back to an M8?

dreilly

dreilly

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Two weeks ago I started a thread in the R-D1 forum about my brief flirtation with an M8 after having owned and sold an R-D1, and how I decided to go back to the R-D1.

Life is funny. The M8 is on its way back to me. Not through my choice. The buyer thinks it has some high ISO banding. I'm not so sure, I have two dozen images from the M8 at 1250 and I don't see any banding (unless I wickedly jack up the shadows, but that's nothing different than most other sensors). I saw one sample of what the buyer was talking about, a single band running horizontally around the bottom, but I saw nothing like that in my images. I've read so much on the M8 banding issues that my head is spinning. It's not vertical line, horizontal green blog, cell-phone seersucker, nothing like that. My suspicion was either underexposure or the perhaps mythical "low battery banding".

But whatever it was, I stand behind what I sell, so the pretty little M8 is on its way back. No beef with the buyer. I'll test it thoroughly. And then it goes on my desk next to my R-D1 and my head goes back in my hands. Huh.

I gave them a pretty thorough comparison in the R-D1 thread, and both cameras came up with positives and negatives. The m8 is prettier and has more resolution. The R-D1 has way better (read: actually usable!) jpegs and cool dials and a great 1:1 viewfinder. M8 battery life is better. It's nicer to touch. High ISO images might not be as good in the M8, but with LR3's chroma noise reduction as an equalizer, that might not actually be the case.

So I've got some thinking to do. First is to ascertain if my M8 really has a problem beyond having a sensor that isn't that great at higher ISOs and has a tendency to band if underexposed.

Then back to my head in my hand. Huh. M8? R-D1? Forsake them both and just shoot with my GXR which has better IQ and more capabilities than either?
 
Banding at high ISO is inevitable with the M8 and is due to insufficient signal to noise ratio for the sensor to process. You have to expose for the shadows and accept blown highlights, or else post process to turn the banded dark areas black.

There is a form of banding associated with dead pixels, the "red line" effect, that requires sensor remapping in Solms. My M8 had this done, under warranty, and has been fine ever since. Although it will be easier to spot the red line at high ISO, once you find it, you will see it in photos even at base ISO under very good, even light.

The second part of your question is harder and more personal. I partially "cashed out" of the M system by selling my two expensive summicron asphs (28 and 75), but I still have a set of glass (Zeiss, CV, Rollei, Konica, and yes even Leica) that surpasses my skills. I'll be moving into the Fuji X-mount system (with a Fuji XPro1), but I will keep the M8 because I love using a mechanical/optical rangefinder and I still love my film M bodies. That's my personal response to a situation similar to what you describe. So, I would suggest keeping one of the dRFs you have and using the GXR at the same time. I had the M8 and the RD1 at the same time and for me and my uses/tastes, which includes notably landscape, the M8 won hands down, but I read your earlier post and it seems really clear that the RD-1 is for you. It won't be hard to sell the M8, just make sure you find a buyer who is aware of the limitations 😉

Good luck with your choice and kudos for the honorable-seller policy.
 
IQ is not a complaint of the GXR. You might not like focusing via peaking, but the IQ is quite good. No AA filter, great microlenses for M glass (better than Nex 5N), it's got nothing to be ashamed of in that department. But it is what it is. Now stand still, kitty, so I can show them how well my camera can capture the fine structure of your whiskers....
 
I love my M8 (with the exception of a sensor that seems to get dirty by merely being. Just scanned and printed a portion of a documentary project using both a Fuji 645 with ACROS 100 and DNGs from the M8 processed in Siler Efex 2. To my eye the M8 files look crisper. Its a great camera and more than enough for my needs. A 36 mp D800, or even an M9, seem like overkill to me unless you want poster size prints.
 
Hey funny to read this. After a year with the M9, I have used the M8 exactly once. So it is going on the block here tomorrow. Like a lot of gearheads, I was never happy to part from a camera. These days, though, it is harder to part with a lens. So many good platforms to choose from. Dave, you are more reasonable than I am. I am not sure that returning a camera like this for banding at high ISOs is reasonable. It is a feature of the camera. You can make the sensor misbehave if you try. But go out and take some pictures and it will please.
 
Benjamin Marks said:
I am not sure that returning a camera like this for banding at high ISOs is reasonable. It is a feature of the camera. You can make the sensor misbehave if you try.
Click to expand...

If it was, there would be a whole pile of M8's in Solms

Would that be before, or after the camera was returned because of IR pollution 😉

Robert (a 2 m8 home with 4 IR filters)
 
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