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
I am in the no camp, but if Zeiss bring in a digital Ikon, with a sensor crop of 1.3 or less at around $3000 the economics will be unarguable for me.

Personally, I feel there's a huge difference between the implications of a 1.3 and a 1.5 crop; if my 35/2 becomes a 45/2 it's still usable as my main lens.
 
Paul T. said:
I am in the no camp, but if Zeiss bring in a digital Ikon, with a sensor crop of 1.3 or less at around $3000 the economics will be unarguable for me.

I'm sure that fear makes for some sleepless nights in Solms

Personally, I feel there's a huge difference between the implications of a 1.3 and a 1.5 crop; if my 35/2 becomes a 45/2 it's still usable as my main lens.

A very sensible observation.
 
rvaubel said:
The fact is, I enjoy using fine mechanical equipment. The watch on my wrist is a Ulysses Nardin. My wife wears a Jaeger Lecoultre Reverso. I ride a 40 year old Capagnola equiped, Reynolds 531 double butted framed bicycle. My house was built in 1926 but I restored it, didn't replace it. I guess I could buy a throw away watch and relace it every few years . My Dad was kind of stupid to buy me a watch for my high school graduation that I've worn and treasured for the last 42 years. I guess I was kind of stupid to give my wife her Reverso as a wedding present 16 years ago.



Rex,

Are you into classic cars too?



pvdhaar said:
No plans to get one, because there's no way that I'll cough up such serious money for what's essentially a hobby..




Well said.



Ash said:
In the time It'll take me to earn enough to buy one, I'll have bought about 2 or 3 cheaper (sub-£200) camera bodies/lenses



That's what I hope too...

If I can pick up M3 or M6 for half the current price, then I will be just as happy to continue with C41...
 
Paul T. said:
I am in the no camp, but if Zeiss bring in a digital Ikon, with a sensor crop of 1.3 or less at around $3000 the economics will be unarguable for me.

They will hit the market, bulleye...
 
I'm buying two and have orders in with different dealers. For me, the Digital M is a dream come true and the cost of the bodies is about what I have paid during the last month for 5 new lenses. I won't be worrying about depreciation and if an M9 comes out, I'll buy two of those too.
 
There needs to be another option in the voting, "give it time to get the bugs out before I buy". I have to see the performance before I lay down hard cash. I'll give it six months or so and take a close look. You can't buy on specs only.
 
nrb said:
the military are using hi-def film for critical purposes...
One reason is that they can get "huge" format in film ie 6" wide and even larger. ;)
Many police forces will also continue to use film for the foreseeable future due to legal complications and evidence rules.


More on topic - I doubt very much I will get one. I have a couple of dSLR's which get a fair amount of use for webwork and shooting where other quick results are needed but for more serious work, I prefer to use film. There is no way I could justify such a price for a camera that would not be used for "mainstream" at the moment.

Kim
 
Kim Coxon said:
More on topic - I doubt very much I will get one. I have a couple of dSLR's which get a fair amount of use for webwork and shooting where other quick results are needed but for more serious work, I prefer to use film. There is no way I could justify such a price for a camera that would not be used for "mainstream" at the moment.

Kim

I feel this qualifies for "famous last words" :p
 
Could well be :D

One problem is that even though I might be able to afford the camera, I doubt I could also keep the narrowboat and pay for the divorce. ;)

Kim

jaapv said:
I feel this qualifies for "famous last words" :p
 
I selected "no plans at the moment", but I am interested. Not to get one, but because the M8 is an interesting development and potentially one of the first mature digital cameras on the market. That "mature" goes with the "camera". We'll have to see if the digital side is mature, when it comes out :)


Peter.
 
I selected no plans to get one immediately as I'm very happy with my RD-1. Like others previously, I'll wait to see what the reaction to the M8 is following its ACTUAL introduction. I'm also keeping an eye on Zeiss, which very well may deliver a superior, cost-effective product. Their ZI film camera is impressive both technically and cost-wise and may preview the kind of pricepoint that makes a digital rangefinder much more accessible to the membership here. Or at least more accessible to me! :>)

I envy Mark Norton's abililty to order two M8's, but with three in college and a college professor's salary that's just not an option for me!

Respectfully,
 
Put me in the "undecided" category. I certainly wouldn't want to buy one until I or someone I respected had had the chance to handle and review it, and all it's "Leica-esque" irritations, quirks, foibles and disappointing snafus have been revealed. I bought an MP without suspecting the eyepiece had been de-volved from the M6 and needed caulking to keep out dirt. Now there's all this talk about what importance there will or won't be of having all our lenses "coded" at $125 a pop. And my favorite lens, the 50 Summilux, can't be coded even though optically it's the same as the E46 version, plus my only 28 is a Voitlander f/1.9 which can't be coded, my only 35 is a version III which can't be coded, and my main 90 is the "fat" T-E which can't be coded. There's no way I could afford both the M8 and trading all my lenses for later ones and then have them coded.

So if the noise at ISO 400 and above are on a par at least with my 20D, and if not having my lenses coded doesn't affect the image quality adversely (I haven't heard users of the RD-1 griping about unfixable vignetting and other problems so why would the M8 suffer from them unless Leica purposely built-in a reason for making the codes necessary), and if the price doesn't end up being a thousand more than originally quoted like what happened to the DMR by the time I was ready to buy, then maybe I'll get one. But it still leaves me needing to carry a second M body and plenty of film when I travel, because I can't possibly afford two M8 bodies.
 
I won't unless I unexpectedly get lots of money. The most I've ever spent on a camera was 150 EUR, on a lens 220 EUR. I guess I'm just not the Leica target audience. Maybe in five or ten years if and when there's more competition and digital rangefinders become affordable on the used market.

Philipp
 
Used one Leica for 25 years...then jumped on digital (D-30 to 1D to 1Ds), then back to Digilux 2 (sensor too small) and then R-D1 (multiplier still too big). Finally I can be back where I wanted to be - a true Leica RF. 1.33 is fine with me. Life is way too short to wait any longer.
 
I've pre-ordered. I gave up working with film in 2001 and never looked back. I have a D2x which I use regularly for a different kind of photography, and I like that camera, too. The R-D1 is okay, but has some limitations that I expect the M8 will overcome.

For people who want to work with film, I think that's great, and a good way to go. People tend to say that if you use $500 of film in a year, and include some other calculations, you'll have paid for an M8 in x years. But the fact is, with film you only have to come up with $40 a month
and if things are a little tight one month, you can get by with $20. If you finance $5,000, you'll pay more in interest than that...There's absolutely nothing wrong with film and an M3, but that's not what I do anymore.

As for some of the other small controversies listed here, I will post a note called "slag it out" in the general discussion...

JC
 
I've one on order from my dealer in Japan, whom I've bought from for over 20 years ... I believe they'll get the first silver chrome cameras. ;) :D
 
x-ray said:
There needs to be another option in the voting, "give it time to get the bugs out before I buy". I have to see the performance before I lay down hard cash. I'll give it six months or so and take a close look. You can't buy on specs only.

i'd agree with Don here. Sure an M8 would be a great thing to have but i've already got 4 M film bodies which do what i want, when i want. This may well make some of you laugh at me but right now i'm having fun with an old Oly C-5050-Z got off ebay at a good price. In the same day i paid $600 for an M4-2.

For my current projects and ways of printing- film although expensive when you include the film/darkroom costs (and i print myself) the digital option is for those projects where
there are no expenses and hi definition files aren't really an issue. When the work load changes and the workflow and time demands a digital option then it would make sense to own a digital M be it an 8, 9 or later model. Until that time comes i'll wait.
 
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