With the X100, will you keep your M8? or pick up a used one?

[noimmunity]

I have to admit that I find everything I hear about the X100 to convince me that this is going to be a digital camera that in a large percentage of situations would substitute for those times when I use/want to use my M8, including situations like low light high ISO uneven illumination when the M8 is what I want to use but really can't.

I don't think I would sell my M8 until there is a dRF alternative within my reach.

I expect such an alternative to be available "soon enough."

I like the optical VF/RF too much, as well as the M/LTM lenses I have, plus I won't stop shooting film. I'm committed to M mount bodies with minimum VF requirements but I DO wanna have a digital platform (with less than 1.5x crop).

But I'm very tempted to get the X100--pending high ISO performance (which can't be worse than the FF M9, can it?)--as the way to wait through until the dRF I'm waiting for arrives.

 

[Instantclassic]

Great question. Time will tell.
I am tempted by the X100 like everyone else. Hardly use anything else but 35mm anyway. But need a quick process to get pictures sometimes. Something the secret box of a Leica M2 can not give me until film is processed and scanned.
But M8? Soon obsolete and why not buy something really disposable instead?

 

[ZeissFan]

The digital holy grail has arrived again.

This and the M8 are different cameras with the primary difference between interchangeable lenses.

 

[ndnik]

The x100 is surely an interesting concept. I hope it turns out to be agreat camera (but I would have preferred a larger than 0.5x viewfinder and interchangeable lenses. Would have made it great competition to the Leica M). But why anybody would make decisions about this camera before it is released and can be tried out is beyond me.

 

[johannielscom]

I sold my M8 last year. I got really tired screwing with the UV filters. I also shot the same lenses on c-41 film loaded other M's I carried and could not just leave them on. That, and the UV-filters reflections when working street in bright light was like flashing a 500W lamp through the street. People would actually respond to the filter reflections on more than one occasion.

The X100's 0.5 viewfinder would be the only thing keeping me from it, for as far as I can estimate now.

Time will tell if that X100 is any good to carry along with an M3.

 

[LChanyungco]

Time will tell if that X100 is any good to carry along with an M3.

it will at least be good enough to take pictures of your M3 😀

 

[saxshooter]

i wonder if the x100 can focus discreetly (no AF illumination light please) with the lens wide open in a dark bar?

 

[tomalophicon]

I wonder if the Fuji can fetch my slippers.

 

[cam]

i will not let go of my M8. it is a completely different camera, IMO, plus i have some superb glass to go with it. and i truly enjoy the rangefinder experience.

the X100 would actually be one of the cheapest digital options to get me a 35mm FOV. i can't afford an M9 and i prefer faster glass which makes buying a lens equivalent for M8 too costly.

plus, i was really impressed with the focus speed of the prototype and there are some situations where i would kill for that! and, as i like to shoot in the above-mentioned dark bar situation, there are times i covet my boyfriend's EP-1 with live view. he has sometimes been able to get shots with the Nocti where these old eyes have failed.

dare i also mention that the idea of shooting closer than .7m is thrilling?

 

[jaapv]

It is better to have a camera for the things it does than for the way it looks...🙄

 

[cam]

It is better to have a camera for the things it does than for the way it looks...🙄

oh but, Jaap, you know i lust after each and every body you own 😛

 

[Ken Ford]

I've considered picking up a used M8 numerous times, but what's stopping me is glass. I rely on the signature of my "normal" (a 35 ASPH Cron) on film and I simply can't afford to replace it with anything comparable in a Leica 24mm.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It is better to have a camera for the things it does than for the way it looks...🙄

People buy M5's. Of course Leica put the M4 back into production after the M5 was out.

 

[raid]

By the time I was warming towards getting an M8, another option comes along and confuses me too just like it is confusing other people here.

Maybe a M9 would be "unique" and without competition.

On the other hand, I am quite happy right now without any digital camera except fora P&S. Still, I would love to try out a really good digital camera to see what I can do with it and how the results woul differ.


The X100 may be a good option here.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

Too early to tell. $1200 to $1700 for an x100 goes a long way to an M9.

 

[Ken Ford]

A long way? Maybe a long way to a down payment...

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I will keep the M8, maybe sell one of the two EP2's.

Not sure if I will buy the X100, but I will take a look. Will sell one of the two Canonets, maybe the "Panda" Ql17l.

 

[John Robertson]

It is better to have a camera for the things it does than for the way it looks...🙄

could not agree more, I think some of us are getting carried away, or should that be getting taken away🙄

 

[Ken Ford]

Have you ever shot a M8.2 with a 28 Summicron?

For my sense of photo vision the adjusted 36.4mm FoV of the 28 Summicron used with the 1.3x crop factor is pretty damn close to what I have been seeing with the various 35mm lenses I have used since 1972. And if anything, the actual image quality of images from the combination of the M8.2 & 28 Summicron may be better than that of a 35 Summicron-ASPH on a FF body because of the crop factor.

I have a pair of M8.2's and my 28 Summicron is nearly always on one of them, with either a CV 15/4.5 or a 75 Summicron on the other. It might be said I like my 28 Summicron & M8.2. When I eventually get a M9 I will have to seriously consider my long love affair with my 35 Summicron v4 which lives on one of my M6's.

That's right, I forgot the M8/.2 is 1.3x crop, not 1.5x. That would make things slightly easier.

I've been toying with the fun thought that an M8 or M8.2 tuned to a Nokton 50/1.1 would be a gas for a DOF isolation portfolio, but that's pretty specialized - not the kind of thing for which I'd be using an X100.

 

[willie_901]

Since you asked, I will never buy a M8.