How many of you will buy the M8 or Digital M

How many of you will buy the M8 or Digital M

  • I have my unit pre-ordered already.

    Votes: 122 15.1%

  • Need more cash

    Votes: 141 17.5%

  • Will buy it for sure sooner or later

    Votes: 234 29.0%

  • Not interested or have no plans to get one.

    Votes: 311 38.5%
  • Total voters
    808
The 3 Cs

The 3 Cs

AlphAlphA said:
I picked my M8.2 up this afternoon. I've only had the battery charged for a couple of hours, walked around with it and it already feels like an old friend. I'm very happy. The money? Yes, it's a lot, but when I think about it, I quit smoking a long time ago, I don't drink much, and I'll save a bundle on lab fees, so without doing much calculation, having saved and spent the money, now that I have the camera, I think it was money well spent. It's not an issue any more. I have the camera and I'm very happy. I 'd like a digital back for my V Hasselblad.
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Congratulations (on the new camera), Condolences (for your aunt's passing away) and Cool Calculations (for saving up, getting what you wanted, and saving more down the road)!!!
 
KM-25 said:
You are totally unbelievable man... really.

You have an answer for everything that puts the M8 under any kind of scrutiny and even beyond that as demonstrated here.

Fist of all, I shoot ISO 64 almost daily in Kodachrome. I also have shot ISO 3,200 with 1.4 glass from a helicopter in full moonlight. You can't do the latter with Kodachrome or with the M8 even with a noctilux and a Kenyon Gryro. You need high ISO.

If you give me a camera that could do ISO 6400 as clean as 200 now, the LAST thing I would do is say: "when do you need ISO 6400 when you come to think about it?"

I'll tell you when: "When my imagination runs wild bro!"
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Totally agree. When 35mm and fast (in relative terms) lenses were invented it was a liberation to photographers. The next step for us or our children will be clean and clear ultra high ISOs. It'll open up new doors of creative possibilities. End of story.
 
Had an M8, Sold it. Lugged around DSLR and gear for awhile.
My back was killing me.
I picked up another M8 a month ago. Couldn't be happier.
 
After 3 years (???) of dreaming (and at the same time being critical) about the M8, I too have made the plunge. I bought it from a local professional photographer who had it for 3 months. He really wanted the M8 to work for him, but ... he ended up going back to his darkroom.

I have had it for one week now.... still too early to make a verdict on the acquisition, but so far, I have been quite happy with it.

The Leica experience is still there in the digital incarnation. It pairs up nicely with my M6 (although the bulkier size of it makes me love the M6's handling even more).

Whilst the digital convenience is welcomed, I do feel that I am not as calculated in my shots compared to film. The luxury of convenience has actually made me more careless/sloppy in my shooting. My keeper rates are far more higher for film (I must admit).

The plus side of having a digital RF is that my other half is now less reluctant to use it (she is not scared of wasting film). She is starting to enjoy RF shooting more and more (I noted this when I had the Epson R-D1s last year also).

Now... anyone with a spare 1/2 case for the M8 they are willing to part? Please PM me.


Hung
 
hunghang said:
After 3 years (???) of dreaming (and at the same time being critical) about the M8, I too have made the plunge. I bought it from a local professional photographer who had it for 3 months. He really wanted the M8 to work for him, but ... he ended up going back to his darkroom.

I have had it for one week now.... still too early to make a verdict on the acquisition, but so far, I have been quite happy with it.

The Leica experience is still there in the digital incarnation. It pairs up nicely with my M6 (although the bulkier size of it makes me love the M6's handling even more).

Whilst the digital convenience is welcomed, I do feel that I am not as calculated in my shots compared to film. The luxury of convenience has actually made me more careless/sloppy in my shooting. My keeper rates are far more higher for film (I must admit).

The plus side of having a digital RF is that my other half is now less reluctant to use it (she is not scared of wasting film). She is starting to enjoy RF shooting more and more (I noted this when I had the Epson R-D1s last year also).

Now... anyone with a spare 1/2 case for the M8 they are willing to part? Please PM me.


Hung
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Congratulations Hung ... I'll be curious to see how an M8 pans out for you! I still have a bit of a love hate reationship with mine but when the M8 gets it right, or should I say the shooter gets it right, the results are worth it.

I do tend to machine gun mine when I'm shooting in difficult lighting situations but I have to say I have no guilt about that at all. The other night at a very low light gallery opening I took four hundred shots in under two hours ... I know that the exposure won't cut it on many images, with too much resulting noise, and the white balance will be way out on others ... but the keepers will be a pleasure to behold and there will be more than enough of them to satisfy me and QUT!

They really are a GREAT camera but you need to give them plenty of time and a lot of understanding ... I hope reliability wise it treats you well. So far mine has. 🙂
 
Keith said:
Congratulations Hung ... I'll be curious to see how an M8 pans out for you! I still have a bit of a love hate reationship with mine but when the M8 gets it right, or should I say the shooter gets it right, the results are worth it.

I do tend to machine gun mine when I'm shooting in difficult lighting situations but I have to say I have no guilt about that at all. The other night at a very low light gallery opening I took four hundred shots in under two hours ... I know that the exposure won't cut it on many images, with too much resulting noise, and the white balance will be way out on others ... but the keepers will be a pleasure to behold and there will be more than enough of them to satisfy me and QUT!

They really are a GREAT camera but you need to give them plenty of time and a lot of understanding ... I hope reliability wise it treats you well. So far mine has. 🙂
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Thanks for the congrats Keith (although some might say commiserations on my empty wallet). Yes, I am optimistically, and cautiously at the same time, thinking that the time was right for me to get the M8. The price that I got it for was relatively good, and the updated firmware & filters should resolve most of the bugs that have been haunting this camera (and company).

Also, I am relying on the fact that the camera is literally new and that I'll still have 21 months' warranty left on it. Even if they don't honour the warranty (which they should), the person who I have bought the camera from lives in Canberra and has indicated that he'd be more than happy to facilitate any service if ever required.

I'll try to keep notes on likes/dislikes on this M8 and will report back in 3 months' time (hopefully I'll still have it by then 🙂 )
 
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I do not see any reason for me to by a Leica digital M camera...they are at best an entire generation behind the industry. MY film Leica's M3, M5m, M6TTL are producing superior film negatives and slides. The focus and shutter are still as good as new, even on the M3 DS. There is no "value added" in digital M camera. I also do not need or want coded lenses..in theory all Leica lenses were the state of the art when produced and still out preform Canon and Nikon Digital or autofocus film lenses.

When I see a lens that is being market as "a coded" lens...I laugh.

I treat each frame of my roll film as if it were a single sheet of 5x7 ! SO..while I may take 2 or 3 exposures of the same composition I take noting that I feel needs to be "deleated". Digital images platforms are based on the idea that "your going to throw most of your photos away as soon as you see them on the preview screen."

I wish anyone well when they try something but the digtial M is only expensive at best !

All the Best....Laurance
 
i am definitely intrigued by the M8, especially now that the prices are more palatable. i see myself getting one this year possibly.
 
larmarv916 said:
Digital images platforms are based on the idea that "your going to throw most of your photos away as soon as you see them on the preview screen."
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no. digital is a different light capture medium. entirely different. it gives you sometimes more range, sometimes less.
most of all it frees us from darkrooms, chemistry and wasting so much water.
also, digital images are much easier to safe archival. multiple HDs, DVDs, Blue rays. Negatives and slides fade away w/ heat, humidity and age.
also, digital is faster. life is short.
 
Hmm... I have this funny feeling that the performance will still be the same in a year or two.... or ten or whatever. Maybe there will be better sensors that will have superseded this one, like film has been superseded by digital right now. Does that make film obsolete? I should think not. Nor will the M8 be obsolete.
 
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