The purchase dilemma.

[rolo]

Whist the M9 is very desirable, a used, near mint M8 is terrific value and will do most of what you want. You can have 3 for the price of one M9. The M9 doesn't take better images, that's down to you, but whatever you capture will enlarge over 30" if that's a requirement.

Appreciate that off-loading all your Nikon gear places you in a position to buy the M9, but there are many intermediate positions where one DSLR body plus the M8 gives more flexibility.

When you have a clear view of what you want is the best time to make a move.
🙂

 

[ulrikft]

I think if I felt I needed to poll a bunch of strangers, no matter how amiable and helpful they might be, to make a personal decision involving a large sum of money, I would have to admit to myself that I need more time to evaluate my priorities.

I would say that the advice here, is quite valuble 🙂 And quite helpfull when it comes to evaluating my priorities.

Thanks again folks! Lots of nice advice here.

 

[rpsawin]

Ulrikft,

Is it possible for you to rent the equipment you need for the sports shoots? Many large camera stores have rental equipment available. If that is an option I think your decesion might be easier.

Best regards,

Bob

 

[jl-lb.ms]

I have a Nikon D200 that I use for the appropriate purpose; e.g. macro, tele, sports. In the heat of the M9 flurry, I did the (?) sensible thing and bought an M8! Kept the D200 for use when needed. To partially finance the M8, I sold an R-D1 that wasn't getting much use. Now my go-to cameras are the M8 and a Leica D-Lux 4.

 

[BillBingham2]

Urlikft,

Size does matter. You might want to look into a Nikon D60 body and some CV SL II glass. It's chipped so it will work with all metering modes, manual focus. There is a service out there that will chip older Nikkors so you migth get your 35/1.4 or a 28/2 chipped. Lots of folks out there (on this site) use older non-AI lenses and use the histogram after the fact to evaluate exposure. Me, I'm thinking of using my hand held to get me close and shoot RAW.

While the D700 rocks image quality wise, it's way bigger than I want to carry over my shoulder all day long. There may be some like new CV SL II lenses for sale on the classifieds here in a day or two (20mm and 58mm).

B2 (;->

 

[Richard Marks]

One thought if you are planning to ditch the D700 I would do it fairly soon.
The 300s is out so expect the D700s fairly soon. Not necessarilly a big advance but it will knock quite a bit off your resale value.

Richard

 

[JNewell]

Ben's response is right, but since you asked...

Unless you are really sure the M9 will do everything you've done in the past 24 months or so with the D700 and any similar previous camera, I would keep the Nikon gear and buy an M8 (not an M8.2, btw).

Then again, maybe I'm saying that because that's exactly what I did recently! 😉

My only additional comment would be to seriously consider buying a refurb M8, which will carry a one year Leica warranty, which seems prudent in light of the potential cost of things that could be wrong with a used camera.

Speaking of renting, although I've been using M cameras for almost 40 years, I did rent an M8 for a week before deciding to sell most of my film M bodies to cover the cost of an M8. You might want to look into that - it was very (amazingly) economical and very, very good pre-purchase diligence.