sockeyed
Well-known
...and you'll probably all be disappointed that I can't provide a more in-depth review.
I had coffee with Tom A. on the weekend and as a treat he brought along the chrome M8 he was testing (and returning to Leica at photokina).
First impression, it was elegant looking. It said, "hi, I'm a Leica" when you looked at it. It wasn't crammed with buttons and the layout was tasteful. The shutter-speed dial made an impression as the numbers go from 4secs (I think) to 1/8000. The body was clearly fatter than a film M, but still of a good size. Seeing it next to Tom's brassed and worn black-paint M2 was informative - clearly they were of the same family.
Picking it up, it felt fairly good in the hand, but not as comfortable as my M6 for a couple of reasons. It was fatter, as I mentioned; the covering is a bit too smooth; and there is no wind lever to hook ones thumb in. Tom says his hands cramp when holding it for a long period.
I didn't really think much about the viewfinder when I looked through it, which is a good thing - it reminded me of what I was used to - my M6. The only thing that I noted was that the framelines are smaller that you'd expect because of the 1.3 crop factor.
The shutter was very impressive - very gentle, quiet and responsive. I strolled around the cafe, taking pictures of this and that, enjoying the instant gratification that digital provides. A telling moment was when a guy saw me taking pictures of a dog and he asked, "is that digital?!" When I said yes, he said, "It looks so old school!"
I could only review the images on the screen since I was nowhere near a computer. Tom had it set on monochrome. The images looked crisp and properly exposed. Tom says they're a bit flat out of camera, but I think that's preferable to overly-contrasty.
To be honest, I can't say much more than this. It's a great looking camera and I'd love to have one, but I'm not going to fork over $5k for it as it's simply beyond my means to do so. I'm sure that it will make a great camera for those who can afford it.
I had coffee with Tom A. on the weekend and as a treat he brought along the chrome M8 he was testing (and returning to Leica at photokina).
First impression, it was elegant looking. It said, "hi, I'm a Leica" when you looked at it. It wasn't crammed with buttons and the layout was tasteful. The shutter-speed dial made an impression as the numbers go from 4secs (I think) to 1/8000. The body was clearly fatter than a film M, but still of a good size. Seeing it next to Tom's brassed and worn black-paint M2 was informative - clearly they were of the same family.
Picking it up, it felt fairly good in the hand, but not as comfortable as my M6 for a couple of reasons. It was fatter, as I mentioned; the covering is a bit too smooth; and there is no wind lever to hook ones thumb in. Tom says his hands cramp when holding it for a long period.
I didn't really think much about the viewfinder when I looked through it, which is a good thing - it reminded me of what I was used to - my M6. The only thing that I noted was that the framelines are smaller that you'd expect because of the 1.3 crop factor.
The shutter was very impressive - very gentle, quiet and responsive. I strolled around the cafe, taking pictures of this and that, enjoying the instant gratification that digital provides. A telling moment was when a guy saw me taking pictures of a dog and he asked, "is that digital?!" When I said yes, he said, "It looks so old school!"
I could only review the images on the screen since I was nowhere near a computer. Tom had it set on monochrome. The images looked crisp and properly exposed. Tom says they're a bit flat out of camera, but I think that's preferable to overly-contrasty.
To be honest, I can't say much more than this. It's a great looking camera and I'd love to have one, but I'm not going to fork over $5k for it as it's simply beyond my means to do so. I'm sure that it will make a great camera for those who can afford it.
R
RML
Guest
Cool. Now... where are them pictures?! We're dying to see those. 
sockeyed
Well-known
Sadly, I didn't think to bring my own memory card to take samples away. The camera does have an earlier firmware version, though, so the images might not be totally representative.
