Just bought an R8 - What have I done?

outstanding lenses of the R-lineup are imo

28mm 2.8 elmarit vII E55 -> best 28 ever made (on any system imo)
100mm 2.8 apo macro -> stellar
180mm 2.8 apo -> jaw dropping

as mentionned before, ther isn't basically a 'bad' lens available for the Leica-R system.

all of them don't come cheap, are rather hard to find, but are worth every penny imo
 
The 'hunchback' arrives on Friday. BTW, I think it is a beautiful piece of industrial design and one of the main reasons I just had to try one. Ugly? You want ugly? Try any of the plethora of SLR's that came out in the early days of auto focus. All plastic and shiny with weird angles and oversized warning lights. Abominations all of them! :)

Thanks again for the info, very valuable stuff.
 
Big fan of the R8. I shoot mine quite a bit as it is just so easy to get along with. I have shot the 50/2 and the 60/2.8, but just love the 35-70/4 for all of its flexibility. As others have said, heavy, but an incredibly well put together and finished beast. I do not use any of the winders which saves a bit of size/weight.
 
Well both the body and lens (from KEH) have arrived. It is truely a beautiful thing :). BTW, how good are the lenses frtom KEH?! It was listed BGN and the glass is spotless! And the lens body is pretty good too.

I have a film in that I will finish and develop this weekend. Images to follow soon and a short report on what it's like to shoot.

Only 'gripe' is that the neck strap actually gets in the way of the shutter finger hand. You have to let the strap go between your fingers. Weird.
 
R8 plus 50/2 Summicron - Delta 100 Ilfosol 3.

Very happy with the first roll.

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Cheers - John
 
Hi,

That itch you get for Leica R's never goes away. Well, that's my experience and my R5 died a long long time ago...

Regards, David
 
Rodchenko said:
Seriously?
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The design? You either love it or hate it.

Personally I love it. I'll never forget the first time I saw one. (17 odd years ago?) There it was on the top shelf of my local Leica Dealer. It looked absolutely awesome. I just stood there gazing at it.

And then he showed me it close up and that was it... I was stung and all I could think about is how to get my hands on one and some decent lenses.
Fast forward to today. I own one and a small collection of lenses (including the 80mm Summilux and 60mm Macro) and this should really upset you ;) ... Even a DMR back for it.

I do love my Ms but I'll never part with the little I have of the R system. Who knows... My little collection may be worth something after I've finally left this earth.

R8 DMR, Vario-Elmar-R 1:4/35-70 ROM (in macro mode)

 
Indeed, all the Leicaflex and Leica R cameras were wonderful in the hand and a delight to use. I'm enjoying your first rolls exploration. :)

I've managed to amass quite a kit (two Leicaflex SL bodies and ten lenses!) in the past year. I've stuck with mostly three-cam lenses which are compatible with all the bodies. I'm so very tempted to hunt down a nice R8! ... But I use even the Leicaflex SL bodies so infrequently it hardly seems sensible, even at the pittance the R8s go for today. I use the lenses a lot with the Sony A7.

I should just pull out one of the SLs and shoot a roll or two of film. :)

G
 
Godfrey, I have the 60/2.8 macro on the way so I'm looking forward to using it. I will keep an eye out for a 35 or 28 but given the price they are (relative to other SLR lenses) and the fact I shoot 50 95% of the time, I'm in no rush.

No off to the darkroom and see how they print :)

Cheers - John
 
Godfrey said:
Indeed, all the Leicaflex and Leica R cameras were wonderful in the hand and a delight to use. I'm enjoying your first rolls exploration. :)

I've managed to amass quite a kit (two Leicaflex SL bodies and ten lenses!) in the past year. I've stuck with mostly three-cam lenses which are compatible with all the bodies. I'm so very tempted to hunt down a nice R8! ... But I use even the Leicaflex SL bodies so infrequently it hardly seems sensible, even at the pittance the R8s go for today. I use the lenses a lot with the Sony A7.

I should just pull out one of the SLs and shoot a roll or two of film. :)

G
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I'm really tempted to get another R8/9 but I also have 2 SL's sat doing nothing. If a DMR came up at reasonable money then it would be a different story.
 
Johnmcd said:
Godfrey, I have the 60/2.8 macro on the way so I'm looking forward to using it. I will keep an eye out for a 35 or 28 but given the price they are (relative to other SLR lenses) and the fact I shoot 50 95% of the time, I'm in no rush.

No off to the darkroom and see how they print :)

Cheers - John
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The 35's are wonderful lenses. The elmarit I found to be sharper than the Summicron however the summicron's images always seem to have a little magic in them.
Price wise the 2.8 is still a bargain but the summicron seems to have gone the same way as M series and unless it's well worn sells for high prices now.
 
Johnmcd said:
Godfrey, I have the 60/2.8 macro on the way so I'm looking forward to using it. I will keep an eye out for a 35 or 28 but given the price they are (relative to other SLR lenses) and the fact I shoot 50 95% of the time, I'm in no rush.

Now off to the darkroom and see how they print :)

Cheers - John
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Yes, the Summicron-R 35 was one of the more expensive of the R lenses I acquired. A lovely piece, just a bit more pricey.

The second version of the Elmarit-R 28mm is reputed to be one of the best of breed for the lens type.

I went for a near-mint in the box Elmarit-R 24mm that was less expensive, based on the fact that I'd also had its Minolta Rokkor sibling years ago and liked it. The Leica R version of this lens outperforms the Minolta I had handily, and the build quality and finish are much nicer too.

The Elmarit-R 24, Summilux-R 50, and Summicron-R 90, all acquired at quite reasonable prices, are what I use the most.

That 60 macro is legendary. If I didn't have the two Nikkor macros (55 and 105) that I was already quite happy with, I'd be scraping money together for one.

G
 
Godfrey said:
Yes, the Summicron-R 35 was one of the more expensive of the R lenses I acquired. A lovely piece, just a bit more pricey.

The second version of the Elmarit-R 28mm is reputed to be one of the best of breed for the lens type.

I went for a near-mint in the box Elmarit-R 24mm that was less expensive, based on the fact that I'd also had its Minolta Rokkor sibling years ago and liked it. The Leica R version of this lens outperforms the Minolta I had handily, and the build quality and finish are much nicer too.

The Elmarit-R 24, Summilux-R 50, and Summicron-R 90, all acquired at quite reasonable prices, are what I use the most.

That 60 macro is legendary. If I didn't have the two Nikkor macros (55 and 105) that I was already quite happy with, I'd be scraping money together for one.

G
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Do you have any problems mounting the 24 on the SL?
I thought the mirror needs shaving for a 24 to fit.
 
nobbylon said:
Do you have any problems mounting the 24 on the SL?
I thought the mirror needs shaving for a 24 to fit.
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Hmm. I'm not sure that I have actually tried to fit it to the SL; I've used it on the A7 but everything R fits that. I'll have to check if either of my SLs was modified, I imagine.

Thanks for bringing it up!

G
 
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