New M8 owner, anything I need to know?

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andrew00

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Hey,

Today I bought a used M8 from Leica and a Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon from a nearby store. I'm never owned a digital M before and despite the deal on the M240 I thought it would be a bit crazy to plunk for that off the bat so the M8 it is! I also bought a cheap IR filter from a local store to try out too.

I'm interested in a 'fun' camera, something I can take with me and just shoot with. I'm interested in the M8 for it's black and white's.

I was wondering if there's anything I need to know about the camera? Quirks, 'must dos' etc?

I was also wondering if there's any shoot tips and/or processing tips I need to know to get the best out of the black and whites?

Thanks in advance!
 
Congrats on your new M8. Make sure you code the lens if it isn't. Easy with a magic marker and a lens coding kit. That way in your photo info you will see 35mm, it will also correct the cyan color on the photo corners. Some people never code the lens. It will not matter if you are shooting B&W. Get an extra battery or two, the M8 battery's only last about 200 shots. Only use the Leica brand batterys, the cheap one are about 1/2 price, but some are not very reliable. I have shot some of my best shots with an M8. Sold all my M8 gear last year, couldn't stand it, I just picked up another one this weekend. Get out and shoot the camera, it has some low light limitations, but that never stopped me.

Enjoy your new camera.
 
Yes, code your lenses, or have them permanently coded. I sent mine to DAG and also asked for focus adjustment as needed, since digital cameras are pickier about focus accuracy.

Secondly, you need the UV/IR Cut filters on your lenses. I tried to get away without them at first and learned my lesson upon returning from an overseas trip. I even keep these filters on my lenses when using an M9 or M240 just because all of them allow some IR contamination through. It's just that the M8 allows in more than others. But, the IR can be beneficial for B&W.

Enjoy!
 
You need a UV / ir, not plain uv, filter to make colors right. I use B+W 486.

My new cards and format in camera. Never erase, reformat. Erasing makes fragmented files.

Learn how to sharpen. All digital needs sharpening.

M8 has no mass storage setting, only PTP. So downloading raw from USB is a PITA.
Shoot a basic JPEG so you can see what is on the DNG if you are going from the USB which is my preference.

Shoot RAW or RAW + JPEG.

Get a Whi Bal card and set white bal with it. Never use Auto unless pressed for time in strange lighting.
 
The M8 files are very sensitive to proper noise reduction and sharpening. Get the book by Fraser and Schewe: Real Life Image Sharpening. It will improve your output massively, especially at higher ISO.
 
Buy extra batteries (Leica OEM not generic). I can typically get away with 2 unless its cold outside. When its cold they get used up pretty quickly. Also, I use manual ISO only.

Congrats on the new camera! I love mine. Enjoy it!
 
Thanks for the advice.

Is auto ISO that bad? I set it to tap out at 640 as I read beyond that gets a bit sketchy.

A pal lent me a Fuji X-T1 and doing a side by side then converting to B+W in LR, I found that the M8 shots are a a fair way sharper. You can't see it unless you zoom in to 50% or so, but they are noticably crisper.

Is this common? I know the Fuji's can have issues with LR but I wasn't expecting such a noticeable difference in favour of the M8.
 
Nice shots Andrew. My only advice is to get some UV/IR filters if you intend to shoot color. I've been very happy with my M8 overall, but the IR problem is real. Before I got filters, I would just convert pics to black and white that had weird colors. I have an M9 now, so that's not an issue (I still have the M8, but not for much longer).
 
I actually had a UV/IR cut filter on the lens for those. To be fair it's a B+W one I got from Aperture in LDN for £15, so I've no idea if it's any good or effective hehe.
 
andrew00 said:
Hey,

Today I bought a used M8 from Leica and a Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon from a nearby store. I'm never owned a digital M before and despite the deal on the M240 I thought it would be a bit crazy to plunk for that off the bat so the M8 it is! I also bought a cheap IR filter from a local store to try out too.

I'm interested in a 'fun' camera, something I can take with me and just shoot with. I'm interested in the M8 for it's black and white's.

I was wondering if there's anything I need to know about the camera? Quirks, 'must dos' etc?

I was also wondering if there's any shoot tips and/or processing tips I need to know to get the best out of the black and whites?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Buy your lens coding kit from Match Technical on line.
Go to http://www.matchtechnical.com/Pages/default.aspx

Easy to use and your lens will come up in your camera's metadata. The digital M's will internally compensate for the lens that has been coded. It will save you time and effort during post processing on your computer. Remember to use your UV/IR filters if you have any. If not, buy some. The M8 is an excellent camera. I was very happy with mine until I bought an M9.
 
andrew00 said:
Thanks for the advice.

Is auto ISO that bad? I set it to tap out at 640 as I read beyond that gets a bit sketchy.

A pal lent me a Fuji X-T1 and doing a side by side then converting to B+W in LR, I found that the M8 shots are a a fair way sharper. You can't see it unless you zoom in to 50% or so, but they are noticably crisper.

Is this common? I know the Fuji's can have issues with LR but I wasn't expecting such a noticeable difference in favour of the M8.
Click to expand...

The cover glass over the M8's sensor is very, very thin (thus the IR sensitivity) which is in part why the M8 renders such sharp files (sharper than the M9 even, which has thicker glass). Fujis have very thick sensor cover glass, and this impacts ultimate resolution and is why Leica glass on Fuji cameras suffer horribly.

Additionally, the non-standard Bayer pattern of the X-Trans sensor improves luminance resolution, but sacrifices color resolution to do it. So what you get is cleaner, higher resolution files at high ISO but lower resolution images at base ISO when compared to a conventional bayer pattern. You'll especially notice the loss of detail if you take a photo of a bright red flower, or the like.
 
andrew00 said:
Hey,

Today I bought a used M8 from Leica and a Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon from a nearby store. I'm never owned a digital M before and despite the deal on the M240 I thought it would be a bit crazy to plunk for that off the bat so the M8 it is! I also bought a cheap IR filter from a local store to try out too.

I'm interested in a 'fun' camera, something I can take with me and just shoot with. I'm interested in the M8 for it's black and white's.

I was wondering if there's anything I need to know about the camera? Quirks, 'must dos' etc?

I was also wondering if there's any shoot tips and/or processing tips I need to know to get the best out of the black and whites?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I had an M8 which I liked so much, I sent it in for the M8.2 upgrade. I now own an M9P.

I recommend that if you use 3rd party batteries, check them occasionally to see if they have a swelling problem. Otherwise they may be hard to extract from your camera. If you can afford it, use genuine OEM Leica batteries.

Be certain to shoot with the UV/IR cut filters. Otherwise you may get some weird purpleish coloration with some black objects you photograph due to the high IR sensitivity of the sensor. I found little difference between the Leica and B+W branded filter. The B+W's are less money. Coding is important; more so for 35mm and wider focal length lenses. It is less important for 50mm and longer focal lengths.

Save some money on coding by ordering a coding kit from Match Technical.
It utilizes a marking pen and template kit for all Leica lenses. It works fine with non-Leica lenses as well. Just choose the lens template closest to the lens you are coding. While you will be told that using a marking pen is only temporary, I have never had the marks wear off.

The Zeiss lens is top notch. I bought the 50mm Planar and the 35mm Biogon for my M9. If you chose to add lenses, CV lenses are excellent and some of their lenses will match Zeiss and Leica with respect to IQ, but not all.

Subscribe to Reid Reviews. That will give you the most comprehensive information regarding Leica digital cameras and all lenses available for the M mount. The cost of subscription will be saved by utilizing his reviews in making your buying choices. You may find that there are some relatively inexpensive CV lenses that will meet or exceed the IQ of the competition.

Good luck and enjoy your M8.
 
Huge caveat: I don't own an M8, but I've researched one extensively and one thing that stuck with me was that some users mentioned that for BW work they prefer to leave the UV filters off. The additional UV infrmation supposedly gave them nicer tonality.

I cannot speak from first hand experience but the posted images looked very good.

Then again, I notice you seem to prefer a high contrast look (from your post above), so maybe tonal range is not your cup of tea, in which case it would be more convenient to keep the UV filters on all the time.
 
froyd said:
Huge caveat: I don't own an M8, but I've researched one extensively and one thing that stuck with me was that some users mentioned that for BW work they prefer to leave the UV filters off. The additional UV infrmation supposedly gave them nicer tonality.

I cannot speak from first hand experience but the posted images looked very good.

Then again, I notice you seem to prefer a high contrast look (from your post above), so maybe tonal range is not your cup of tea, in which case it would be more convenient to keep the UV filters on all the time.
Click to expand...

You probably mean "IR" (meaning Infrared) and not "UV" (meaning Ultraviolet).
 
I have found I get best results by (a) shooting in RAW then converting after in post processing if I want mono images (b) being very careful about exposure. The M8 is sensitive to badly exposed images. Best results generally are achieved by treating it much as you would with an old film camera with basic metering (and the M8 has basic metering). In other words, if lighting is in the least bit suspect, take an exposure reading off a middle grey subject (e.g. a roadway or something like this) and lock exposure (half click of the shutter button) or use full manual exposure setting with this technique. This will give you a better exposure. I find the latter works best as the half click on the M8 is very sensitive and its easy to shoot by accident. This is frustrating. Also (c) use low ISO settings. I make it a rule never to shoot above ISO 640. Beyond that I think its pretty poor. Below that it can give great images. You can use auto ISO but set the maximum upper limit to 640. Nothing like my NEX camera where I routinely shoot at 1600 or even 3200 when conditions demand it. Finally (d) try to stick with one or two lenses. I found that the M8s rangefinder is very picky. With some lenses it struggles and with others it is fine. I have had to have mine adjusted professionally to get good accurate focusing with my favourite lens. It can be a frustrating camera. I frequently find myself annoyed at its limitations and still think that it used old sensor technology from the first day it was made. Now its positively antiquated. But I keep using mine and am occasionally surprised by how nice the results can be but make no mistake. This is no point and shoot and you do have to know what you are doing, work at it and persist.
 
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