The M8 upgrade does not make sense at all!

[POINT OF VIEW]

My camera is better than your camera. All of this pro discussion is stupid. Has any member of the RFF ever taken a picture with what ever camera you own, that’s worth the price of the camera. I doubt all the photos of all the members on this thread alone aren’t worth $5000, or as far as that goes even $1000. The moral to my story is, who cares what camera you think is the best, It’s the pleasure you get from using it that counts.

 

[Rayt]

For a while I was obsessed with mountain bikes and all those super light weight titanium goodies you can get for them. But I agree it is not about the bike.

 

[BJ Bignell]

For a while I was obsessed with mountain bikes and all those super light weight titanium goodies you can get for them. But I agree it is not about the bike.

My bike is better than your bike! 😉

 

[JohnL]

At the time the M8 came out w. 10mp+crop, "pro level" already was 12-16mp + full frame. It didn't seem to stop anyone who had their heart set on an M8, either from buying one or standing up and proclaiming that it outresolves the 16mp Canon.

Ooops ... it stopped me 🙂

 

[rsl]

Thank you Leica for continuing to make something that lasts.

Seems to me that what we really want isn't so much something that "lasts"as something that works reliably enough that we can depend on it. If the product is broken and en-route back and forth for repair most of the time, who cares whether or not it "lasts."

 

[Al Patterson]

I can't imagine anyone buying a digital anything with an eye to passing it on to the next generation. Inside that M8 box is just another digital camera.

Oh, yeah. Leica is going to keep it state of the art forever. I forgot.

Well, digital stuff does tend to get smaller over time. I wonder how many megapixels the cameras will be in 50 years in our cellphones. And here some people will be carrying around this large M8. How early 21st century of them.

Or maybe we'll all have bionic eyes with zoom lenses...

 

[photogdave]

I can't imagine anyone buying a digital anything with an eye to passing it on to the next generation. Inside that M8 box is just another digital camera.

Oh, yeah. Leica is going to keep it state of the art forever. I forgot.

Yawn. Your broken record is starting to skip. We know you don't like the M8. We know you don't think it's a good idea to put a sensor in an M3. You don't seem to Like Leicas at all actually, which is just fine.
You've had some good points to make in other threads regarding photojournalism, the state of the business today etc. Can't you stick with that instead of endlessly repeating your negative views on the same subjects? It's BORING!
(tongue half in cheek)

 

[Haydn23]

Sitemistic wind-up

Sitemistic wind-up

Greetings all

I wonder what evidence Sitemistic has to back up her claim that the Leica M8 will be irrelevant in 50 years. Sounds like a wind-up to me!

Cynicism is suuuuuch a drag...

Haydn

 

[slm]

If a system (photographic or otherwise) that puts an end (or least slows) the disposable nature of products being produced today not have merit ? I believe that has relevance.

Cheers.

 

[Broke]

If a system (photographic or otherwise) that puts an end (or least slows) the disposable nature of products being produced today not have merit ? I believe that has relevance.

Cheers.

Hear hear.

I imagine many have seen this, but here goes anyhow:
http://wmarc001.bcst.yahoo.com/yahoo/chrisjordan.mov

Cheers,
JB

 

[jano]

My bike is better than your bike! 😉

I have stumbled into forums through research for various projects, education, or just plain curiosity where the members extol and flame against the strangest things, the same way people here gush with the most virtuoso and sincere eloquence about leica or zeiss optics, build quality, bokeh, leather cases, etc. It's no different here, any other site that discusses cameras, cars, boats, computers, tv's, radios, refrigerators, root beer, straight-edge razors, pens, and even sex toys. You hoomans are a funny species 🙂

 

[slm]

Interesting, you're suggesting that Leica will take the old shutters from upgraded cameras and put them into new M8 cameras. Hmm, I never thought of that. I guess my mind just doesn't think of underhanded and devious schemes that are possible. But you're probably right. Leica should be branded guilty based on assumptions. The evidence will surely show itself sooner or later.

 

[rsl]

Greetings all

I wonder what evidence Sitemistic has to back up her claim that the Leica M8 will be irrelevant in 50 years. Sounds like a wind-up to me!

Cynicism is suuuuuch a drag...

Haydn

Ever hear of a TRS-80 Model 1? Ever hear of an Osborne 1? The TRS-80 was released 30 years ago. The Osborne 1 was released 25 years ago. I'll bet that less than half the people on this forum have even a clue as to what they were, though both were on the cutting edge when they were released.

The M8 is nothing more than a computer with a sensor and lens attached. It's certainly going to be irrelevant in a lot less than 50 years; probably in less than ten if Leica stays on their current course.

The M8 sensor was a good one in its day, and the fact that the camera could handle most of the range of priceless Leica lenses was its biggest plus. But the computer in that box was way behind the rest of the industry, and now the sensor has become obsolete. "In its day" was about a year ago, by the way.

This isn't cynicism. This is fact.

 

[MartinP]

Ever hear of a TRS-80 Model 1? Ever hear of an Osborne 1? The TRS-80 was released 30 years ago. The Osborne 1 was released 25 years ago. I'll bet that less than half the people on this forum have even a clue as to what they were, though both were on the cutting edge when they were released.

Ooooh ! I remember using one of those when they were new, in our amazing rare computing course at my sixth-form college in UK. The more advanced students got to use a Vax over a phone-line to a local university . . . with a superb, state-of-the-art, teletype terminal complete with a paper-roll.

Actually, we all thought the Commodore 64 was cutting edge and the TRS was playing catch-up, but that might just be my memory. Now the average washing machine has a lot more computing power than either, of course.

😀

 

[Toby]

The Leica upgrade scheme is imply Leica's take on generating extra revenue. I'm pretty sure Leica can't afford to bring out a brand new digital model every 18 months. So what do the do? Offer upgrades to give themselves a revenue stream between models coming out, all the rest is just touchy feely marketing speak. Leica has to come up with ways to survive in the big bad digital age. That is what the upgrade program is about, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[rsl]

The TRS-80 Model one came with 4K of ram, basically a B&W tv without the tuner section as a monitor and used a cassette player as storage and to load programs from. They later added an interface to it that allowed more memory and the ability to add 5.25 floppy drives, single sided drives that held 70K on each floppy. My Model 1 without the interface cost $799. You had to pay for it up front and wait a few weeks for it to be delivered to the Radio Shack store.

Ah, when computing was still and adventure! 🙂

The added interface also would let you attach a hard drive. I paid $1,200 for a 10 megabyte drive on sale from Apparat in Denver. In those days, 2 meg was pretty much the standard hard drive. 5 meg wasn't uncommon, but 10 meg was way over the top. I thought I had more storage than I'd ever use in a lifetime. Nowadays that drive wouldn't hold even one of the images from my D3.

The "interface" was Radio Shack's way of starting a "perpetual care" system like the one Leica's embarking on. It turned out to be something less than perpetual. Right now Leica seems to be living in some dream world. I wish they'd get with it and admit they screwed up, move on and build a real pro camera. I'd love to have a reliable M9, but at the moment it looks as though if anyone builds a reliable digital rangefinder it won't be Leica.

 

[slm]

Actually, nextreme, I decided to simply ask Leica straight out. Because I work for a newspaper, I contacted them through their press office and put the question to them directly. I await an answer (and companies usually answer inquires from media rather than leave such a suggestion on the table).

Really ? You asked them "Are you going to take the shutters of upgraded M8's and install them into new M8's (and I assume not divulge this) ?"

 

[slm]

That'll be interesting.

 

[infocusf8@earthlink.]

Fred, the interesting thing to me is that Leica has chosen to sell new M8's with old spec shutters, rather than just install the new shutters in M8 from this point. That is different. Which lends itself to the question I asked them. It's the obvious question. There is simply no good reason to keep selling M8's with the old spec shutter unless you are going to reuse the shutters taken from the upgrades. Otherwise, it means they have to manufacture two different shutters for the M8 moving forward, an expensive move, and without any point I can figure out.
You're assuming (again) that everyone is going to get the new shutter upgrade. Those who don't will probably need new ones or parts for theirs at some point in the future. What was that newspaper you work for and is all the reporting done on assumptions?

 

[rick oleson]

All the stuff about how no camera can possibly be worth anything when it's 50 years old is ... well, sort of ... interesting. Most of the cameras that I use are close to 50 years old, a number are older. But, of course, at the current rate of technological change, today's digitals will be very lucky if they're of the slightest interest to anyone this side of a landfill at 10 years, much less 50. It's not that there's anything wrong with them, that's just how it is when things are changing and improving rapidly. Some day the technology will stabilize again, and at that point it may again be reasonable to think in terms of passing a camera down to your children. I don't think I'll live long enough to see that happen with digital imaging though....