Just bought an R8 - What have I done?

Johnmcd

Johnmcd

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Picked up an R8 and winder (but no lens yet). Have had an itch for a couple of years now. I love my OM2, will I love this too?

Any experiences with the camera (and lenses) would be greatly appreciated, good or bad.

Cheers - John
 
Johnmcd said:
Picked up an R8 and winder (but no lens yet). Have had an itch for a couple of years now. I love my OM2, will I love this too?

Any experiences with the camera (and lenses) would be greatly appreciated, good or bad.

Cheers - John
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The 35mm SLR I wanted desperately in the 1990s but could not afford, the lenses were simply too expensive for my pay grade.

In the past year, I've acquired the much older Leicaflex SL (my first obsession with Leica reflexes) and a bunch of mostly 1970s/1980s lenses for it. Absolutely wonderful lenses, and a great solid tank of a body. It's everything I had imagined it should be.

For the R8, you really want to get the more recent lenses with ROM connections to take full advantage of the camera's features. You can get at least a listing of the various lens options from the Leica Wiki:
www.l-camera-forum.com - Leica Wiki

I hope you enjoy the R8!

G
 
Thanks Godfrey for the link. I take it the older lenses will still work in manual mode?
Waiting for it to arrive in the post (to coincide when I return from a trip). Will be a killer not to have a lens ready to go.
 
John - congratulations - it's a superb camera. It feels like a Leica M feels in that it's buttery smooth and sits perfectly in the hands. The viewfinder is sensational and it looks wonderful.

But - it's heavy. Oh how you feel it after carrying this kit for a few hours. I had one (no winder) with the 24mm, 35mm summilux (brilliant lens but likewise heavy), 50mm summicron, 60mm macro, 90mm summicron and 135mm elmarit. At about the same time I acquired this kit I got myself an M6TTL with 35mm summicron.

One day I received a great offer for the summilux-R and decided that I found the whole M-thing (especially the relative weight differential) more appealing so I gradually let the R system go.

I do miss it on occasion, especially the 60mm macro, but I don't miss the weight. Your experience may be different, and I hope it is. It is a superb camera and the lenses are every bit as good as the M-lenses, which is to say that they are the best in their class.
 
Had an R8 for one roll, was not so keen on how it worked, you've got to look in the finder to see exposure comp. settings, plus it was vast. Far bigger than most of the medium format cameras I've had, and makes most 35mm cameras look like those little fake keyring cameras you get.

Maybe if you have big hands it feel better, but it was more trouble to carry about than a Hasselblad or Rolleiflex. Even it was small, I think the Nikon FM3a is better thought out.
 
Johnmcd said:
Picked up an R8 and winder (but no lens yet). Have had an itch for a couple of years now. I love my OM2, will I love this too?

Any experiences with the camera (and lenses) would be greatly appreciated, good or bad.

Cheers - John
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Congrats. Always thought this the most handsome camera ever made. Looking forward to reading about and seeing your output.

Xpanded
 
My take on this is as follows:
Manual focus SLR's are great for a couple of things: precise framing, particularly close up, and use of lenses over 50mm. In practice, this means that these are NOT street cameras, and also are NOT landscape cameras of choice. They are fantastic cameras for "composed" closer up photography and above all for portraiture.
You will need to check the focusing collimation between lenses and screens, and possibly secure some alternative screens, as in my experience many lenses are not "married" happily to normal screens. I use R4's and R5's, and have had some problems to overcome in this field.
Now, what is the point of using a Leica R ?
- The lenses, for me particularly the older Mandler designs, that are less sharp, but have less contrast (great for B&W) and wonderful bokeh.
The first lens you should get is the ME60/2.8. It is a genuine gem, and it solves all the close up uses, as well as is a great general purpose lens.
Hazy Daisy lenses: 50/1.4 v1 and 80/1.4 - these have a unique signature at wide apertures, then they sharpen up nicely above f 4.0.
Best non extreme portrait lenses: Summicron 50/2 v1 and 90/2 pre apo.
Great short tele, a bit on the sharp side: Elmarit 90/2.8 v1.
Nice longer lenses for little money: Elmarit 135/2.8 and 180/2.8 both v1.

ME-60/2.8

20131618 by mfogiel, on Flickr
 
I second the recommendation of the 60mm/f2.8 macro. Incredible lens.

It looks like prices for R lenses are on the rise, no doubt due to the mirrorless camera craze and R glass being usable with adapter on most if not all of those cameras.

Another favorite is the 100mm f2.8 APO, but I think they still command a healthy price. As always, KEH is a good source not only for pricing but for good, clean lenses.
 
mfogiel said:
My take on this is as follows:
Manual focus SLR's are great for a couple of things: precise framing, particularly close up, and use of lenses over 50mm. In practice, this means that these are NOT street cameras, and also are NOT landscape cameras of choice. They are fantastic cameras for "composed" closer up photography and above all for portraiture. ...
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Hmm. Some of my very best street photography has been done with a Nikon FM, F or other manual focus SLR. ;-)

mfogiel said:
You will need to check the focusing collimation between lenses and screens, and possibly secure some alternative screens, as in my experience many lenses are not "married" happily to normal screens.
Click to expand...

IMO, the Leicaflex SL has one of the very best focusing screens I've ever used in a 35mm SLR. It mates beautifully with all my R lenses.

mfogiel said:
Now, what is the point of using a Leica R ?
- The lenses ...
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Absolutely. I mostly use my R lenses with a Sony A7 body nowadays ... I bought the A7 specifically to use with the Leica R lenses. My R lens kit now spans from 19mm to 180mm. There's not a one in them that I can say is anything less than excellent, and most are sublime. :)

G
 
wow, i´ve been tempted more than once to buy such a camera, but after a while i realise i must buy new lenses and the best and faster ones that are needed to shoot film are so expensive...beautiful camera thou.

At least you can buy the Digital Modul and make a huge but more thrilling cmaera.

:)
 
I could never own a camera without a lens, it'd kill me ;). Hope you enjoy the camera!

An aside, why is the R8 (and maybe R9) so large? I never looked at them before this thread.
 
Congratulations, the R8 is a great camera. It was my first Leica and I bought it to use a 35 summicron I'd bought the week before. I used various lenses on it, all 3 cam. 35 f2, 50 f2, 60 f2.8 and a 90 f2.8 all fabulous. I eventually sold it and both my R4's and bought my first M. The viewfinder is very nice. My only complaint was that the mode dial used to move far too frequently when in my bag. I could have taped it I suppose like I do all my Nikon digital gear but never did. That mode dial subsequently had a lock feature fitted on the R9. My Leica SLR use is now 2 Leicaflex however I would use another R8 anytime.
 
Rodchenko said:
Seriously?
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Different strokes for different folks.;) So thankful we all have different taste buds.

On a different note I always wondered why the Leica R system never gained the popularity with photojournalist like Nikon did. & the few journalist who did go the Leica route chose the M system.
 
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