Today's Experience
Today's Experience
Hi everyone.
So I just got back in from taking my family to the pumpkin patch just off of Doheny in LA. Before I left I was wondering whether to take the more convenient D-lux 3 which is a very nice point n shoot and from what I can tell, better than the Panasonic version which I had and sent back, or of course…..the new star performer. Wisely I opted for the latter and although the light was less than perfect, I ended up taking about 200 shots most of them at ISO 160 and about half of them in B/W. Why B/W? Well, that’s just it! After holding the M8 and working with it for a few hours one cannot help but feel a sense of nostalgia and that is what led me to shoot that way…as though I had my M6/7 loaded with my beloved Iford HP4. I haven’t had time to look at the images yet as I’ve just literally walked in the door but I can tell you that the experience of shooting the range finder was as though I was shooting film….BRILLIANT! Unfortunately the day was marred by a hoard of cockroaches (or paparazzi as you know them) who did their best to destroy our family day but hey, it’s small price to pay for an otherwise great life.
One thing I cannot believe with this camera is just how damned accurate the colours are. The auto white balance works exceptionally well to the point whereby each time I look into the LCD on the back (probably the one bad habit from shooting digital that the M8 experience will not get rid of), I find myself marveling at the sheer accuracy of the machine. I look at the subject then back at the LCD and I’m hard pushed to find any discrepancies.
I shot the whole day in JPG mode. I did this because I’m sort of trying to give ‘Aperture’ another go and I’m positive it will not read ‘Adobe’s DNG. I love ‘Lightroom’ but as we all know it is a beta and still lacks some key features however, I’m hoping that it will read the M8’s choice of RAW. I will let you know soon enough if this is the case.
Again, I’m sorry that I cannot post any images taken for all the aforementioned reasons but I will again tell you that this camera is AMAZING! It really makes you remember why you fell in love with photography. I really hope that Leica have success with this, I really do because I know that their future, as we know it, is really riding on the M8. They have so much pride in what they do. They are quintessentially German (I’m married to one…hahaha) and that is a great thing when it comes to engineering.
Okay, I’m going to attempt to download today’s images and take a closer look. I’m not in the least bit concerned with noise as I did some preliminary tests yesterday and it passed with flying colours. There only started to be what might be considered by some as a problem at ISO 1250 but the beauty of it is that with the rangefinder concept, the M lenses and a reasonably steady hand you will seldom be above ISO 640. I’m going to be looking at the colour balance more than anything else to see if it corresponds to the LCD which is still blowing my mind. Also, I really want to see how the lenses have made their transition to digital more than anything. I will let you know.
Btw, my serial # is 3100695.
-Charlie