So would you buy a used M8?

What ... an M8 thread with 40 posts and no sign of Ted yet? Should someone check and make sure he's ok? :angel:
 
I've scratched my M itch with an M6, which is a fabulous camera, and one I really enjoy using. My R-D1s does brilliantly for all my digital needs, and when it blows up irrepairably I'll buy something like the Pentax K10D and a couple of nice old K mount primes to replace it. So, no is the answer for me. I really can't see the point of the M8 for me.

Ian
 
Well, whether considered narrow-minded or not, or whether my opinion is worth reading or not...no, I wouldn't buy a used M8 or used digicam of any kind. No, I haven't handled the M8, but decided that I still love the look of film...enough so that I bought an M7 instead. When I need to use digital for work purposes, the D200 gives me much more flexibility than the M8 could give.
 
Richard Marks said:
Guys
Tell me that you have tried one out, and then tell me what you think.
Richard
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Why do you assume I haven't tried one? I have.

Ian
 
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I dont make that assumption Ian. I simply value comments based on experience. If you have tried one out it would be relevent to tell us what you think about it pluses and minuses. (I believ there are plenty of both!) This then becomes an informed debate.

Regards

Richard
 
I disagree. I think people who haven't tried something can still have an interesting opinion about it. And I can fully understand why some people do not find the M8 an attractive proposition, absolutely regardless of whether they have used one or not.

I only had a brief play with one. Handling-wise it's a nice enough camera, but I didn't find myself lusting after it at all. Too many known issues, and not an improvement on the experience of using a film M. Very good digital can be had elsewhere, and now I've reverted to shooting lots of film, I don't feel any need to worry about the long term future of the digital RF marketplace. If there's never another digital RF I won't worry too much. I really enjoy using my R-D1s, but when it dies I'm sure I'll manage to cope very well without a digital RF.

Ian
 
Richard Marks said:
Glad you like the car Jaap! Glad to say mine does not leak yet but it is only 10 years old. Maybe I have that pleasure to come! Lots of people say that they think Morgans have awful handling, and interstingly they have never driven one!

Nachkebia, I certainly would not acuse you of being narrow minded and can only assume that you have already tried out an M8 for a day or so? I trust that your posts are therefore the result of ballanced opion and are not based on either predudice or hearsay.

I also assume that you are not referring to me as a Geek.

Regards

Richard
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Just use a rolled umbrella to operate the accelerator!
 
Sure!

Sure!

Let's see. I'm 19 years old, raised in photography (my old man lived it and always had a dark room) and the new Nikon F had just come out. Vietnam is boiling and my old man has contacts in a Tokyo PX so he can get camera imports duty free. He buys a complete Nikon F outfit and the new M4 for himself. I blow my savings on an M4 with a Summaron 35 and Summicron 50 for myself (which I still own).

SLRs were the rage, like DSLRs are now. If I had the money would I buy an M8, used or not? Hell, YES!!! What's a Nikon F worth? Nada!
 
A Nikon F is worth exactly what the images are worth, the images you make with the F.
Same should be valid for the M8, for a DSLR, for any camera, used or new.

Or do you want to buy it as an investment? because then it's a different story.
 
No, I wouldn't buy a used M8.

The used price from a dealer would encourage me to find the money and buy new.

I think there is far more to go wrong with a digital M than, say an M7 or MP.
 
iml said:
I disagree. I think people who haven't tried something can still have an interesting opinion about it. And I can fully understand why some people do not find the M8 an attractive proposition, absolutely regardless of whether they have used one or not.

Ian I take your point that you can have an opinion about anything at all and it may well be intersting. But experience counts for a lot! I am sorry that you only had a brief play with this camera. One really needs to see how the images compare to the same lenses used on a film M. Do the M8 a favour, have a proper evaluation and then see if you still feel the same.

Best wishes

Richard
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Keith novak said:
What ... an M8 thread with 40 posts and no sign of Ted yet? Should someone check and make sure he's ok? :angel:
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I think he's still trying to figure out what kind of film his film-like M8 is like.
 
Richard Marks said:
iml said:
One really needs to see how the images compare to the same lenses used on a film M. Do the M8 a favour, have a proper evaluation and then see if you still feel the same.

Best wishes

Richard
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I did just that. Used one for an entire day. Myy heart sank around 4PM when it shut itself off and refused to turn back on but after a few tries it came back alive--that was the end of the experience for me, I hurried to return it before it could conk out again and I would have to hand my friend his M8 back inoperable. The image quality (C1-PRO +CS2, my friend's fine-tuned workflow) is excellent, dare I say superb. Not better than my 20D shots after my usual processing routine, and not better than the shots from the 5D I borrowed from the same GAS-infected friend, and all three were not as detail-rich as the 4000dpi scans I have from Velvia slides. But it was only through nitpicking, pixel-peeping examination that I could spot anything significantly different. Nor could my friend, who owns a very successful graphic arts company and has had several gallery exhibitions of his personal photography and despite his GAS has a very objective eye toward image quality. I should say that the foregoing applies to low-ISO shots. Once the speed jumps above ISO 400, then the 5D followed a whisker behind by the 20D just shoots film scans and the M8 out of the sky...unless you want the gritty effect, and then the film-emulations in DxO do a much better job at looking "film like" than high ISO on the M8, which in turn looks better than fast film scanned, grain and all, at 4000dpi.

Ergonomically I loved the M8, but that's hardly a revelation because it's so much like my M6. There the Canons have my undying contempt. Big, bulbous, claptrap and chockablock with buttons. Reminds me of when I was a kid trying to learn the accordion.

The M8 I used only with IR filters, and I did not see any ill-effects from them. I did not shoot at night under street lights or inside under spotlights though, that was planned for the evening but like I said, I handed the camera back after it hiccupped.

I won't rule out ever owning an M8, but I am not in an all fired rush to get one until the major bugs are worked out. By then we'll see.
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So Ben
I really believe you tried this. It shows. The images are 'superb' and it handles like an M. This is all that one might expect. This is clearly blighted by technical failures. And it must be said the launch of this long awaited camera was inept. Cant say fairer than that. But assuming the technical failures are easily remedied, you have the camera very close to your velvia slides, but remeber velvia is asa50, this machine is close at much higher ISO settings. If you are using this machine apperture wide open, 1/15 second for available light, it really starts to deliver. I honestly dont know anything else that comes close. You would be struggling with velvia! If there is a limitation for me, it is black and white. Digi B and W just looks like colour with the colour channels turned off!
Regards
Richard
 
NO

Huge marketing mistake NOT checking the Pre-Production out 100%. That would of avoided the "IR" filter problem BEFORE RELEASE.

Like buying a Rolls without OEM Seat belts installed. Than Rolls gives you 2 free removable lab belts to "FIX" the problem.

Shame on Leica :(

Leica should produce udated M8's an REPLACE EVERY M8 sold that had NO IR filter on the Sensor. PERIOD !!!!!
 
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heninger said:
Most naysayers have not used one.
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And the rest are trying to justify the $5k on an imperfect camera......

I work in the software industry and a whole lot of money is wasted on untested improperly designed software... pretty sad actually...
 
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usayit said:
And the rest are trying to justify the $5k on an imperfect camera......

I work in the software industry and a whole lot of money is wasted on untested improperly designed software... pretty sad actually...
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What utter nonsense. The perfect camera is as elusive as the perfect woman. Yet most most of us find it justified to spend more than 5000$ on our loved ones... Plus the M8 is judged , on analysis, to be somewhat underpriced. The "rest" as you choose to call them are simply trying to counteract the uninformed and sometimes even malicious nonsense spewed on the internet by pointing out that the results the M8 delivers are pretty darn good and that the camera is, for somebody who is able and willing to handle a rangefinder camera, the best possible digital choice on the market today and for the forseeable future. I would like to add, that the critics of the M8 on this and other forums that are to be taken seriously admit to the above, as serious defenders of the camera are not blind to the problems associated with it.
 
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usayit said:
And the rest are trying to justify the $5k on an imperfect camera......
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And if the camera had no IR problem and cost $7k and was available a year later, people would bitch about Leica never being on schedule and outrageous pricing and how the lack of an advance lever rendered the camera imperfect and unusable and scarred them emotionally. There are people who hang around in forums rejecting the thing on principle and just use the IR issue now as a hook to voice their discontent, which is not about IR but some diffuse principle of the thing. If the IR issue wasn't there, they would hook up on something else. My hypothesis is that it's just a way to kill time on the Internet, with the added benefit that it's controversial.

I tend to agree with Jaap that the perfect camera doesn't exist. Instead of hunting for perfect cameras, grab an imperfect one and take pictures. If the M8 is not for you, like it isn't for me, get a Zorki or Canikon or whatever.
 
1 word NO...
If you want an expensive headache I would reccomend it...Hell I would probably reccomend one to my worst enemy but anyone else I would tell them to avoid it like the plague.

Just seems stupid that people know the camera is a pile of crap and has tons of problems yet they still buy it and then complain about the camera having problems once they get it. It would be like buying firestone tires when you know they are prone to blowouts and flipping your car over...

I would def. wait till all the hardware problems are fixed if you really need a digital leica. I mean hell $6000.00 for a digital camera and it doesnt have a full frame sensor...I say shoot film till that happens or buy a nice digital SLR with a couple nice lenses...

Just my 2 cents but what do I know, I am talking about a camera that is worth more than the car I drive....(1983 Mercedes 300d)
 
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