Bill Pierce said:
Sadly, it's absolutely true about about folks hearing the camera at thirty feet. At least, they immediately turn and look in my direction. I, and I think most folks, normally work even closer to subjects on the street with a rangefinder camera. People don't respond every time I shoot, but there is enough response to worry me. Bruce Gilden, the Magnum photographer, once told me that he had more people go after him when he was shooting on the streets of Manhattan than some of the more exotic locations we think would be more edgy. I'm getting too old to run and too grouchy to charm my subjects.
I've been hearing about this, and I'm beginning to wonder if there is some variation from batches of M8s to other batches of M8s. I say this because my M8 certainly makes noise, but nobody seems to mind the noise at all, except, of course, when you're in a concert hall with quiet/silent performance passages or at an absolutely quiet room.
I've shot mine within 3-10 ft. of other people in reasonably quiet places, and nobody has ever turned around; the only time I heard a comment was from a photo enthusiast, who at first thought I had an M7: "Oh, I also used to have an M7 ... it's an M8?!?" (honest).
It certainly is a heck of a lot quieter than my Canon 5D. I wonder if what helps is the Luigi case I have almost-permanently on it?
In any case, I too am very bugged about the shutter cocking mechanism. I really really wish they had put an "advance knob" that triggered the motor
when you want to. A simple interrupt circuit. Not too difficult. Perhaps next time?
I hope us current M8 owners could retro-fit it if Leica decides that we really really really want one. This way, you can take the photo, then move the camera to a part of your body where you can muffle the re-cocking sound.
I want to know how much they paid their consultants, and I'll take half of that. This shouldn't have been too hard to think about.
