The Leica Moment

[Sailor Ted]

I just had a horrible thought. Any delay between depressing the shutter button and firing the shutter on the M8? For me one of the really, REALLY BIG REASONS I abandoned the SLR back in the mid-nineties in favor of the M6 was the instant firing of the shutter when the "button" is depressed.

Anyone remember the "Leica Moment?" If the M8 is a camera that has electronic "gears turning" just below it’s surface (like the awful Digilux-2) and if these "gears" mean the shutter hesitates before firing then this camera is instantly off my list- period. If the M8 fires as quickly as my R-D1s then it will be a brilliant camera. If not it's a second R-D1 (as one will always be in the shop so it seems) and I'll wait on a digital Zeiss.

The Leica Moment- don't buy a digital camera with out it!

 

[Matthew]

I haven't used the R-D1, but on the one occassion that I handled the M8 I noticed no difference in shutter lag in comparison to my M6. The sound is different, slightly louder and more metallic than a film M, but far better than an SLR or even other rangefinders with metal shutter (ie: Voigtlander). Of all the reasons one may choose not to buy an M8, shutter lag is not one of them. If you've got the money, plunk it down and be prepared to wait a couple of months to get your camera...

 

[Sailor Ted]

Good news- I can live with the other issues (non issues at this point?) Hopefully others will chime in as this is my only lasting concern.

 

[summilux]

i have played around M8 again yesterday in a shop, it seems M8 does have more shutter lag than say M7, maybe I am not acustomed to it. the LCD play back is also rather slow, slower than a lowly Nikon D40. It is also the lightest M body, some might like it. The battery performance, again comparing with my Nikon D40, is no where near.

 

[krimple]

No more shutter lag than R-D1

No more shutter lag than R-D1

I have the 5D, R-D1 and now the M8 (can someone say SOMETHING HAS TO BE SOLD ON EBAY?)

I would not give up the M8 except to get the streaking at high ISO fixed (that is a major cramp for my copy). I'm sending mine in after Christmas, and shooting any tree/lights pictures at low ISO w/flash or with my 5D.

The shutter lag is about the same as the R-D1. It takes a little bit to start up (a second or so) from suspend, but the battery doesn't ever die (I have yet to completely exhaust one and that's with filling several 1GB cards over and over again).

The shutter click is at the beginning of the shutter noise, and a recocking sound takes the rest of the time. One note for me is during picture review it can sometimes take a few shutter taps to get it to get out of review mode, but I'm hoping the firmware update fixes this.

Ken

 

[Sailor Ted]

Ken you were the shooter I was hoping to hear from on this. So the shutter lag is associated with "waking up" the camera from "sleep" mode? If so this I can handle just as I do with my R-D1. If it's been hanging on my neck for a while I just hit the button as I'm lifting the camera to my eye or before taking the shot and it's awake for the shot- simple.

As to your streaking problem I am fairly certain this is a defect in a circuit board and will be remedied although I would not want one of those first batch cameras if I were you : ( Perhaps you can just return it and get a second run camera?

One last question to you sir- is the camera’s image quality everything you had hoped after your first excellent series of image posts? I certainly do hope so and I do hope your camera gets fixed to 100% of your expectation- for yours and Leica’s sake.

 

[summilux]

the shop demo display

 

[boilerdoc2]

Summilux, that was a mean thing to do by posting that teaser display shot! If it weren't so far away.....
Steve

 

[Huck Finn]

Good news- I can live with the other issues (non issues at this point?) Hopefully others will chime in as this is my only lasting concern.

Erwin Puts (www.imx.nl) did not include his usual measurement of shutter lag time in his review of the M8. He simply says that it is not the hair trigger of the mechanical M's, that it has a slight hesitancy after you depress the shutter release. He attibutes this to the electromagnetic shutter release, yet the M7 also has an electromagnetic shutter release & its shutter lag is virtually the same as an M6. In any event, he calls it "a minor issue."

The M8 has been discussed at length in prvious threads on this forum. Sean Reid (www.reidreviews.com) contributed to these discussions, based on his tests of the M8. He describes shutter lag as "inconsequential."

I would trust Sean on this one as he uses an M8 & an Epson R-D1 in his professional work.

 

[johnbuckley]

I have shot about about 500 pictures with my M8. It fires as instantaneously as my m7.

 

[AusDLK]

>Any delay between depressing the shutter button and firing the shutter on the M8?

As much as I dislike the M8, I cannot complain about shutter lag. If there is any, I never noticed it.