Bill Pierce
Well-known
First off, apologies for not being around for awhile. On the road and one unexpected additional job really trashed the schedule.
I've been trying to think why I use a Leica M8 for so much of my personal work, when the Canon 5D's that I use for "professional" pictures do so well. I know that many on this forum are in a similar situation.
RF's used to have the advantage of better focusing accuracy, especially with high-speed wide-angles and normals used wide open. Current DSLR auto focus accuracy is dependant on a lot of factors, but it certainly is adequate for most work - especially if it is occasionally supplemented with a little manual focus.
The RF viewfinder gives you important information on what's outside the frame - and, at least in the finder, everything is sharp and observable. Sometimes that's an advantage; sometimes, a distraction. But, when needed, I tend to use bright line finders in the accessory shoes of DSLR's (with fixed lenses) and zooms can be quickly racked to a wide position if you don't want to take the camera from your eye.
As much as I would like to come up with some significant, important reason for using the M8, it really comes down to the fact that it is small (and DSLR's with zooms or high speed, fixed lenses are big, very big).
Now there are other small camera, but the sensor size and the lack of anti-aliasing filters give the M8 outstanding image quality.
That's it. I use the M8 because it's the small camera with the high quality. No other reason... But, to me, at least for personal work, those qualities override all the other things about the M8 that annoy the hell out of me.
So, there have got to be more intelligent and overriding reasons for using an extremely expensive camera than my "It's small." Would those who are the wisest among us tell us why we should use the M8?
Bill
I've been trying to think why I use a Leica M8 for so much of my personal work, when the Canon 5D's that I use for "professional" pictures do so well. I know that many on this forum are in a similar situation.
RF's used to have the advantage of better focusing accuracy, especially with high-speed wide-angles and normals used wide open. Current DSLR auto focus accuracy is dependant on a lot of factors, but it certainly is adequate for most work - especially if it is occasionally supplemented with a little manual focus.
The RF viewfinder gives you important information on what's outside the frame - and, at least in the finder, everything is sharp and observable. Sometimes that's an advantage; sometimes, a distraction. But, when needed, I tend to use bright line finders in the accessory shoes of DSLR's (with fixed lenses) and zooms can be quickly racked to a wide position if you don't want to take the camera from your eye.
As much as I would like to come up with some significant, important reason for using the M8, it really comes down to the fact that it is small (and DSLR's with zooms or high speed, fixed lenses are big, very big).
Now there are other small camera, but the sensor size and the lack of anti-aliasing filters give the M8 outstanding image quality.
That's it. I use the M8 because it's the small camera with the high quality. No other reason... But, to me, at least for personal work, those qualities override all the other things about the M8 that annoy the hell out of me.
So, there have got to be more intelligent and overriding reasons for using an extremely expensive camera than my "It's small." Would those who are the wisest among us tell us why we should use the M8?
Bill
