Official announement by Leica

[Gabriel M.A.]

I have an M4-2 that I purchased new in 1983 for $800 plus a lens. I have 35mm, 50mm and 90mm lenses for it. I have ZERO interest in a M-8.

At those prices, they can keep them. That's the French for you.

I bought a Canon 20D new for $1300 last year. I have lots of lenses. I have ZERO interest in the Klan from Orange County and vicinity. That's the irrelevant for you.

BTW, Solms is in Germany. Advanced PhD. Geography.

 

[greggebhardt]

DNG file format - it is about time!

 

[pessoa00]

M8 dimensions

M8 dimensions

Is it me, or aacording to dpreview, the m8 is actually slighty thinner and lighter than the m7:

m8: 139 x 80 x 37mm 545g (without battery) or 591g (inc. battery)

m7: 138 x 79,5 x 38mm 610g (without battery)

 

[visiondr]

🙁
According to the DPReview page, the M8 will not accept the following lenses:

• Hologon 15 mm F8
• Summicron 50 mm F2 with close focusing
• Elmar 90 mm F4 with collapsible tube
• Lenses with retractable tubes can only be used with their tubes extended otherwise you risk damaging the camera

i.e. no more elmar 50/2.8, 50/3.5, 90/4 collapsable lenses... 😕 🙁

I love my elmar. I guess it'll have to stay on my MP...

Ron

 

[rvaubel]

🙁
According to the DPReview page, the M8 will not accept the following lenses:

• Hologon 15 mm F8
• Summicron 50 mm F2 with close focusing
• Elmar 90 mm F4 with collapsible tube
• Lenses with retractable tubes can only be used with their tubes extended otherwise you risk damaging the camera

i.e. no more elmar 50/2.8, 50/3.5, 90/4 collapsable lenses... 😕 🙁

I love my elmar. I guess it'll have to stay on my MP...

Ron

Keep loving your Elmars. You just have to be careful about collapsing your lens which you may not (or will not) be able to collapse all the way. You can put a collar of sone sort to prevent the lens from collapsing too far. For the user to determine.

Rex

 

[dcsang]

I've had very little time to read today but I am impressed so far at what I see..
very interesting - I still like my film but this is a nice start for Leica in the Digital arena wrt something they can actually call their own (vs rebadged Panasonic or such).

Dave

 

[irees]

Advanced PhD? Like, above and beyond a normal PhD? 😛

 

[dll927]

I'm well aware of where Leicas come from. But there has been quite a to-do about some French outfit buying up a bunch of stock and insisting on putting prices out the reach of most of us peons.

My sister has a PhD, but I don't recall anything about it being "advanced", whatever that may mean. When I attended her commencement, the program said that they didn't give "honors" ratings on PhDs because they are the last degree possible. It would appear that a PhD is about as advanced as one can get, unless they want go go for a second one!!

 

[Harry Lime]

🙁
According to the DPReview page, the M8 will not accept the following lenses:

• Hologon 15 mm F8
• Summicron 50 mm F2 with close focusing
• Elmar 90 mm F4 with collapsible tube
• Lenses with retractable tubes can only be used with their tubes extended otherwise you risk damaging the camera

i.e. no more elmar 50/2.8, 50/3.5, 90/4 collapsable lenses... 😕 🙁

I love my elmar. I guess it'll have to stay on my MP...

Ron

Read it again. You can still use your collapsible lenses, you just can't collapse them in to the body without hitting something. Same thing with the M5 and I believe the CL.

 

[Rich Silfver]

I like the shutter comparison:
1st click - an M7
2nd click - an M8

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/LeicaM8/Samples/Audio/m7-then-m8.mp3

 

[rbiemer]

I've been resisting the M-mount cameras/lenses(pretty easy for me as I really don't have the $ to spend). But the M-8 will pressure me to re-consider that...The camera itself sure is pretty and, I'm hoping, will lead lots and lots of M-system users to part with their extra/secondary/back-up bodies. The reason: the new Tri-Elmar. Apparently usable with flm cameras(this is based on a couple of reviews I've read--I hope it's true).
Folks, the camera is very nice, I think, but man o man, that lens is getting my attention!
Rob

 

[dll927]

A little more on PhDs. By this late date in time, most of them are so specialized that, even if they are nominally in the same subject area, they don't speak the same language. (Woodrow Wilson is long since dead, being, so far as I know, the only President with an earned doctorate, and George McGovern didn't make it.)

My sister's happens to be in clinical psychology, as if there weren't already enough of them around (think lawyers). There must be around 97 specialties in psych, and she doesn't pretend to be all-knowing in all of them.

 

[irees]

I think I might win the prize for most specialized PhD (well, when I finish in a few years):

Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics

 

[visiondr]

Read it again. You can still use your collapsible lenses, you just can't collapse them in to the body without hitting something. Same thing with the M5 and I believe the CL.

For the record, I did read the specs carefully. However, my post wasn't as careful as it might have been. I meant to say it would be a shame not to be able to collapse collapsable lenses with the M8. After all, why have a small lens if it isn't really small? Though, this minor limitation wouldn't be a deal breaker on the M8 by any stretch.

Ron

 

[hth]

The M8 looks totally awesome I must say! (apart from the M7 speed dial, I do not want that). I will definitely keep monitoring the progress of this camera and see how it keeps up in real use.

I like that pancake 28 too! Small lenses rule!

I almost feel religious, today we entered a new era! Finally a digital camera that does not suck!!!! 😀 😀 😀
(With an exception for the Epson RD-1, but it was a bit off for me).

The price you quote is not too bad, being a new Leica M. I can almost consider spending that money for it, but I think I will buy it where the sales tax is lower.

I want one! (but with old style speed dial)

/Håkan

Just received the official italian prices (20% VAT included), with the availability date:

Leica M8.............................€ 4195 - late november
Tri-Elmar 16-18-21 asph......€ 3100 - december
Elmarit 28 asph...................€ 1350 - october

 

[jano]

I bought a Canon 20D new for $1300 last year. I have lots of lenses. I have ZERO interest in the Klan from Orange County and vicinity. That's the irrelevant for you.

What's Orange County have to do with this?! Santa Maria is the valley THE VALLEY. Pffft. Geography my buttocks. 😛 😀

edit... oops, I though santa clarita. Santa Maria is up along the coast, 101. Still far from orange county.

 

[halabar]

I have ZERO interest in the Klan from Orange County and vicinity.

Why must pretentious-Prius-owning liberals bring politics into everything?...

 

[egpj]

The information has just been flooding the internet about the M8 today. Hats off to Jorge though for breaking out the first pics. After reading the review on Luminous Landscape and seeing some of the product lit. on the Leica forum I called Tony and put in a order. I am so weak.😱 But, because no software tweaks will be applied to raw images I decided it was worth a go.😀 Milled brass on the top and bottom plates was a nice touch. hhhmmm, M8 with a patina, sounds obscene.😛 You should still be able to hand hold really slow shutter speeds because of the nice heft of the camera.

 

[kshapero]

seee www.dpreview.com/ for all the latest announcements on Leica's new digital products.

 

[dll927]

I was also wondering how Orange County got into this. Santa Clarita (Valencia) is where Magic Mountain is - on I-5. Santa Maria is on 101, about 32 miles south of San Luis Obispo (de Tolosa) and depending on how you go, about 55 or 70 miles above Santa Barbara. It's a pretty decent place, especially climate-wise, since we don't have the 105 degrees of West Covina (where I lived for 27 years) or of Santa Clarita.