Shot a wedding with the R-D1 ...

[Kevin]

... and really enjoyed making both film and digital images with rangefinder cameras. As a result of this experience I am now looking at the M8 as a possible primary digital rangefinder for event photography.

My question is hopefully easy to answer. How well will my lenses perform on an M8, especially the 35 Summilux aspherical lenses I have. Are there any known focus problems or other issues I should be aware of?

I started to look for previous rff threads on this topic but was impeded by the search engine - it does not allow me to enter 2-letter words such as 'M8'.

Thank you!

 

[jasoncohen]

I am shooting mine a bit on weddings and I am shooting the CV
28 1.9, pre asph 35 lux, and the canon 50 .95 all on the m8, all without any problems... i wouldn't think that you should have any problems, but if for some reason you do you can always send the camera/lens in to dag camera repair to have them calibrated.... hope that helps

 

[Riccis]

Kevin:

I've been using M8 for about a year now for my wedding work with no problems. I started with the 35 cron (the only lens I could purchase new back then) and now use the following combinations...

- 28 cron and 50 lux or 0.95
- 35 lux and 75 cron or lux

I am a firm believer in less is more and have shot complete weddings just with the M8 and a 35, even church weddings with plenty of backups in the bag, of course...

I believe I sold Jason Cohen one of my Canon cameras once I went to the M8 last year and look at him now... He is going to shoot a wedding with me in December, this will be the first time that I'll have a second shooter using M8s with me... That's going to be fun!

Feel free to visit my blog and site if you want to check any of my work... Actually, don't go to my site since the stuff there has not been updated in about 2 years... I have a new site going live (I hope later this week) that will feature only M8 work (you can see some of the images I'm putting together at http://www.riccisvalladares.com.temp.livebooks.com/)

The latest Leica day took place here over the weekend (which unfortunately I couldn't attend since I had to go out of town all of the sudden) and they had a few of my images printed at 20"x30". I saw them today and was blown away by the quality of the prints. Hopefully some of the forum members that attended and saw the prints can chime in.

I am in the middle of a very busy travel schedule, but please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Riccis

 

[Arvay]

... and really enjoyed making both film and digital images with rangefinder cameras. As a result of this experience I am now looking at the M8 as a possible primary digital rangefinder for event photography.

My question is hopefully easy to answer. How well will my lenses perform on an M8, especially the 35 Summilux aspherical lenses I have. Are there any known focus problems or other issues I should be aware of?

I started to look for previous rff threads on this topic but was impeded by the search engine - it does not allow me to enter 2-letter words such as 'M8'.

Thank you!

Kevin,
A friend of mine is going to marry soon and I'd like to make some pictures at his wedding ceremony. It will be first time I'll take a RF to the wedding. I have used SLR before.
So, the question is what focals did you use and what did you find the most apropriate focals judging by photos made?

 

[Gary Sandhu]

The M8 has a better sensor than the RD-1 and I found all images to be better on the M8. The 35 summilux asph has definite focus issues, but not particular to the M8 -- just more noticeable given the greater sensor resolution. It was discussed at length in a recent LFI issue.

 

[Kevin]

... i wouldn't think that you should have any problems, but if for some reason you do you can always send the camera/lens in to dag camera repair to have them calibrated....

Too true but shipping expensive goods to the US from Europe and back puts the customs office official into a frenzied state.

 

[Kevin]

...Hope this helps. Cheers, Riccis

Indeed I have seen your work before and it is very classy. Thanks for the tips.

Kevin

 

[Kevin]

...what focals did you use and what did you find the most apropriate focals judging by photos made?

Hi Arvay,

I started out with the 15mm Heliar on the R-D1 at the bride & groom's home but realised straight away that I was having a problem with tilted framing.

Note that I was also using a radio transmitter on the R-D1 to ocassionally fire one or more remote flashes. This configuration put the external viewfinder further away from the hotshoe than it normally would have been.

After arriving at the courthouse I swapped the Heliar with my 35mm f/1.2 Nokton, which stayed on the R-D1 for the rest of the day/night. On one or two occasions I popped on the 28mm Ultron but I probably wouldn't use that lens again unless I had a second body ... I don't like switching lenses at unpredictable events!

Best Regards
Kevin

 

[Kevin]

The M8 has a better sensor than the RD-1 and I found all images to be better on the M8. The 35 summilux asph has definite focus issues, but not particular to the M8 -- just more noticeable given the greater sensor resolution. It was discussed at length in a recent LFI issue.

Okay now this is what I recall hearing last year sometime. I'll send Solms an email and see what they have to say about this combination.

Best Regards
Kevin

 

[kalokeri]

Too true but shipping expensive goods to the US from Europe and back puts the customs office official into a frenzied state.

Focus shift with a 35mm ´lux is said to be possible, but it´s easy to have camera and lens calibrated in Germany. I would suggest to call the Leica Customer Service. They will be very helpful.

Depending on the dealer you will buy the camera at they can be helbful, too. I assume someone like Meister Camera in Hamburg or Berlin knows how to handle problems with focus shift with the 35mm ´lux.

Thomas

 

[tomasis]

Good to have a m8 as main camera and rd1 as backup. I love Rd1 vf too much to part with but Im gonna sell rd1 soon to fund noctilux buy 😉 One can always to add rd1 later when one buys m8 at first. it costs less than third of m8 price.

backup is important in such events, I suppose

 

[jasoncohen]

Too true but shipping expensive goods to the US from Europe and back puts the customs office official into a frenzied state.

sorry I didnt see where you were at... although you shouldn't have much of a problem finding someone in Germany to look at the lenses 🙂