monochromeimages
Established
I’m a leica M shooter. For me an M, a roll of black and white film and a darkroom is photography. Having said that there are some occasions when colour is the better option and for those I use digital. I’ve been thinking about an M8 for a long time but I’ve been put off by horror stories of UV/IR filters, lens coding, criticism of the framelines, noisy shutter, crop factor and unreliability. Online forums such as this don’t always make the M8 sound like a good idea !
I recently had a long hard look at micro four thirds. Both the GF1 and the EP1 are quite nice cameras but the lack of a proper built in optical viewfinder finally proved to be a deal breaker for me. I know there’s EVFs and external OVFs but they just don’t seem to be the answer. In addition both cameras are just to ‘Japanese’ and ‘computerised’ for my liking.
In the end I concluded there was no real alternative and when the opportunity arose to buy a very near mint chrome M8 with just over 2000 actuations, a known history and 12 months warranty from a reputable dealer I went for it.
This is a truly superb camera. In use you soon forget that it is digital, it’s just an M. You shoot it like any other M and can forget all about LCDs and buttons. For me it really is pretty much the film M experience in a digital body. Exactly what I wanted. The image quality is, to my eyes, something special too. I can’t easily put it into words but the images from more or less all the digital cameras I have seen just look ‘digital’. The M8 images, especially if you shoot DNG really do have a more film like quality. Somehow more natural looking – even compared with some very up market DSLRs which I have used.
But what of all the problems the M8 has been so criticized for ? Well, for me at least, most of them don’t exist or are pretty much irrelevant. The shutter noise is just not a problem. It’s louder than a film M but not enough to be any worry unless you were shooting in a very noise sensitive location. The framelines ? They are fine. Really can’t see what all the fuss is about. Crop factor ? I shoot mostly with 35mm and 50mm, more 50mm. A 35 on the M8 seems just a bit wider than 50 on film. Suits me fine. I got three UV/IR filters with the camera to cover all my lenses so no problem there and in reality my 35 summilux with filter is going to end up permanently attached to the M8 anyway. Lens coding ? My 35 cron is coded. My 35 lux isn’t. I really can’t see any difference (and I did switch lens detection on).
That leaves reliability. The 12 month warranty gives me some confidence. I’ve checked the camera for known issues and it’s fine. Only time will tell.
So if you are sitting on the fence wondering whether to buy an M8 but are put off by all the negative comments you have read just go and do it. It really is a fantastic camera, far better than I believed it could be after all the doom and gloom I have read. It’s certainly not for everyone and if you are expecting or wanting it to shoot like a DSLR you need to buy a DSLR. This is something quite different and if your thing is a Leica M you will probably love the M8.
I recently had a long hard look at micro four thirds. Both the GF1 and the EP1 are quite nice cameras but the lack of a proper built in optical viewfinder finally proved to be a deal breaker for me. I know there’s EVFs and external OVFs but they just don’t seem to be the answer. In addition both cameras are just to ‘Japanese’ and ‘computerised’ for my liking.
In the end I concluded there was no real alternative and when the opportunity arose to buy a very near mint chrome M8 with just over 2000 actuations, a known history and 12 months warranty from a reputable dealer I went for it.
This is a truly superb camera. In use you soon forget that it is digital, it’s just an M. You shoot it like any other M and can forget all about LCDs and buttons. For me it really is pretty much the film M experience in a digital body. Exactly what I wanted. The image quality is, to my eyes, something special too. I can’t easily put it into words but the images from more or less all the digital cameras I have seen just look ‘digital’. The M8 images, especially if you shoot DNG really do have a more film like quality. Somehow more natural looking – even compared with some very up market DSLRs which I have used.
But what of all the problems the M8 has been so criticized for ? Well, for me at least, most of them don’t exist or are pretty much irrelevant. The shutter noise is just not a problem. It’s louder than a film M but not enough to be any worry unless you were shooting in a very noise sensitive location. The framelines ? They are fine. Really can’t see what all the fuss is about. Crop factor ? I shoot mostly with 35mm and 50mm, more 50mm. A 35 on the M8 seems just a bit wider than 50 on film. Suits me fine. I got three UV/IR filters with the camera to cover all my lenses so no problem there and in reality my 35 summilux with filter is going to end up permanently attached to the M8 anyway. Lens coding ? My 35 cron is coded. My 35 lux isn’t. I really can’t see any difference (and I did switch lens detection on).
That leaves reliability. The 12 month warranty gives me some confidence. I’ve checked the camera for known issues and it’s fine. Only time will tell.
So if you are sitting on the fence wondering whether to buy an M8 but are put off by all the negative comments you have read just go and do it. It really is a fantastic camera, far better than I believed it could be after all the doom and gloom I have read. It’s certainly not for everyone and if you are expecting or wanting it to shoot like a DSLR you need to buy a DSLR. This is something quite different and if your thing is a Leica M you will probably love the M8.
