zamario
zamario
Hello everyone,
I've been reading the forum for some time but this is my first post here.
I have been an avid Leica user for nearly twenty years and my M6 is the best camera I could dream to have.
I mainly shoot people in different occasion, always with available light, often in very light conditions and during long trips and the M6 have given me everything I wanted, allowing me to shoot in every occasion always delivering the best I could sort out of the film.
I went digital with a Canon 5D, which I find excellent, but I missed the compactness and ability to put my in contact with the subject of the M6, so I decided to make the jump to the M8 in January, expecting to find the same allround qualities of the M6.
Unfortunately I didn't.
Yes, lens quality and compactness are there, but anything new in the camera is disappointing, and I would say unacceptable (in my humble opinion) for a camera that's branded Leica and that is sold at that price level.
First big disappointment is the sensor: even though I am not a fan of noisless images I find images shot over 640 ISO nearly unusable.
White management is just crazy: maybe it is my camera but I find differences (heavy differences in color balancing) even in two consecutive shots with exactly the same conditions.
The shutter is nothing near what it used to be: noticeably noisy and vibration inducing: with the M6 I could easily shoot at 1/4 without any problems, here even at 1/30 I am afraid of having unwanted blurred pictures.
I personally find focusing trickier, probably due to the backfocusing issues with some lenses.
Add all this to the fact that the 1.3 cropping factor obliges you to use shorter lenses to have the same results and that if you are used to a 35mm you have to go to a 28, loosing at least one stop of maximum speed, you will see that shooting in low light conditions become a very difficult situation, while (for my personal experience) it was the strenght of the M6.
There are also some practicalities that are disappointing:
Battery duration is deceiving: I can barely shoot some 200/250 raw images without using the LCD. It may seem much, but it is not if you are travelling in remote places where access to energy is not granted every day.
The capacity of accepted SD cards is limited to 2GB. I know there are a few 4GB cards accepted, but I couldn't find them on the market. If you shoot Raw this means around 180 images, so a pack of cards (or a backup system) to be brough in a long trip.
It is true that in the old days you had to bring packs of films with you, but seeing what other manufacturer are doing (I have the example of the 5D which battery is incredibly longlasting and it easily accepts high capacity cards) it is really hard to understand the reason of these limitations
Also (and I understand it is a question of tastes) I personally find questionable the choiche of the center average light metering, compared with the M6 semi spot which allowed me a much greater control on exposure.
Now: I still use my M8 for photographying people as I prefer the rangefinder "philosophy", but I really feel somewhat cheated by the brand: beside the "old" qualities of the M system (rangefinder and lenses) anything new has been largely under the expectations.
If I had known what I know today I would not buy this camera again. And selling it today, with some little use marks and with the Leica "buy back" program which has made it less expensive than when I purchased it, would make me lose quite a lot of money, making the experience even more painful.
I was tought by my marketing teacher that a Brand is a promise. I truly don't feel Leica kept its word.
I've been reading the forum for some time but this is my first post here.
I have been an avid Leica user for nearly twenty years and my M6 is the best camera I could dream to have.
I mainly shoot people in different occasion, always with available light, often in very light conditions and during long trips and the M6 have given me everything I wanted, allowing me to shoot in every occasion always delivering the best I could sort out of the film.
I went digital with a Canon 5D, which I find excellent, but I missed the compactness and ability to put my in contact with the subject of the M6, so I decided to make the jump to the M8 in January, expecting to find the same allround qualities of the M6.
Unfortunately I didn't.
Yes, lens quality and compactness are there, but anything new in the camera is disappointing, and I would say unacceptable (in my humble opinion) for a camera that's branded Leica and that is sold at that price level.
First big disappointment is the sensor: even though I am not a fan of noisless images I find images shot over 640 ISO nearly unusable.
White management is just crazy: maybe it is my camera but I find differences (heavy differences in color balancing) even in two consecutive shots with exactly the same conditions.
The shutter is nothing near what it used to be: noticeably noisy and vibration inducing: with the M6 I could easily shoot at 1/4 without any problems, here even at 1/30 I am afraid of having unwanted blurred pictures.
I personally find focusing trickier, probably due to the backfocusing issues with some lenses.
Add all this to the fact that the 1.3 cropping factor obliges you to use shorter lenses to have the same results and that if you are used to a 35mm you have to go to a 28, loosing at least one stop of maximum speed, you will see that shooting in low light conditions become a very difficult situation, while (for my personal experience) it was the strenght of the M6.
There are also some practicalities that are disappointing:
Battery duration is deceiving: I can barely shoot some 200/250 raw images without using the LCD. It may seem much, but it is not if you are travelling in remote places where access to energy is not granted every day.
The capacity of accepted SD cards is limited to 2GB. I know there are a few 4GB cards accepted, but I couldn't find them on the market. If you shoot Raw this means around 180 images, so a pack of cards (or a backup system) to be brough in a long trip.
It is true that in the old days you had to bring packs of films with you, but seeing what other manufacturer are doing (I have the example of the 5D which battery is incredibly longlasting and it easily accepts high capacity cards) it is really hard to understand the reason of these limitations
Also (and I understand it is a question of tastes) I personally find questionable the choiche of the center average light metering, compared with the M6 semi spot which allowed me a much greater control on exposure.
Now: I still use my M8 for photographying people as I prefer the rangefinder "philosophy", but I really feel somewhat cheated by the brand: beside the "old" qualities of the M system (rangefinder and lenses) anything new has been largely under the expectations.
If I had known what I know today I would not buy this camera again. And selling it today, with some little use marks and with the Leica "buy back" program which has made it less expensive than when I purchased it, would make me lose quite a lot of money, making the experience even more painful.
I was tought by my marketing teacher that a Brand is a promise. I truly don't feel Leica kept its word.
