Leica M8

You're buying into the ultimate in lens quality. It's not a sports shooter but if that's not your thing it should be amazing. It will be interesting to see how well the sensor performs but you'd expect it to match the rest.

Looking forward to seeing your review ;)
 
It does look like a nice camera indeed. It should be pretty compact, and as dod says, excellent optics are in its favour, if not outright speed of use.

I wouldn't say no :cool:
 
Costs a fair wad though!!

Spie - I seem to remember that you have a 5D and were thinking of getting the 85 L F/1.2 - how are they coming along? Got any photos to share with us?
 
It is M eight. The CCD is made by Kodac, has no AA filter so resulve more detail then you would think. Has good dynamic range (in the DMR and R8/R9). The lenses will be compact, and very very expensive. The camera is manual focus only, which might put some people off.

If you want great prime lenses with compact kit, then go get a Pentax, and some limited primes. The are simply awsome.
 
AdWright said:
Spie - I seem to remember that you have a 5D and were thinking of getting the 85 L F/1.2 - how are they coming along? Got any photos to share with us?
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Yes I have a 5D, but didn't go for the 85mm len. It's a great camera but I still find I reach for my Ixus 700 most of the time, because of the 5D's bulk. This is why I'm interested in the M8, although it doesn't have built-in flash.

My pics aren't good enough to be posted here. You lot are streets ahead of me.
 
Spie, as you seem to have sufficient funds to support your expensive addictions, I would like to apply for the job of personal assistant and decision maker in the audio visual department.

I hear the usual pay for this sort of things is free use of your equipment and 74p per mile for travelling costs.

Look forward to hearing from you :)
 
Spie said:
This is why I'm interested in the M8, although it doesn't have built-in flash.
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Built-in flash should be banned from cameras. The light it produces is just nasty. Better to up the ISO but as Joe says the M8 isn't that super above 360, which is kinda depressing.
 
I don't think the M8 is bad at all in the noise dept. There's a very in-depth review of the M8 here where the author compares it with what he considers to be the lowest noise camera available - the Canon 5D.

Having shot many thousands of frames with the Canon 5D since it came out a bit over a year ago I am comfortable stating that there is essentially no visible difference, especially on prints, even large prints, at ISO 100, 200 or 400. Even at 400 the camera is practically noise free. To its credit the Leica M8 similarly has no significant difference in visible noise at either its base ISO of 160 or at ISO 320.

At ISO 640 where the 5D shows just a smidge of noise, the M8 does show a bit more. Again, nothing to concern oneself with, and really only visible on screen at 100% and hardly in prints. I regard ISO 640 on the M8 as perfectly usable even for critical applications. Indeed, when I convert to B&W, the grain reminds me of a 200 ASA film developed in a high accutance developer like Rodinol. Just visible, but doing more to add texture than be an issue.

The bottom line on noise with the Leica M8, to my eye at least, is as follows. ISO 160 and 320 – no noise whatsoever. ISO 640 – a very small amount of noise which isn't even worth removing. It gives the file character. ISO 1250 – some noise. You can remove it or not. Not a problem, especially in B&W. ISO 2500 – visible noise, but easily cleaned up. End of pixel peeping.
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Of course the Canon 5D is much bigger and heavier and has 13MP CCD.
 
Yeah I guess its not exactly a replacement for the 5D. You're not going to be using it in all the same places, like shooting gigs perhaps where you'd want ISO3200. It is a great candid camera though. Nice and quiet allowing you to get shots where your 5D would be making loud shutter noises.
 
Just a quick check to make sure you realize that the M8 is a manual focus rangefinder camera, If you have not used a rangefinder before, try and find one to try out somewhere first.

They are going to be pricey, you will probably be looking at £3.5K for body and a single lens. (Robert White has the M8 at 2.5K body only, M series lenses are about £500 to £2K) I don't think there are any M series zooms available, so you might need to budget for that.

It's not as compact as your Ixus 700, and is about 1/2 the mass of your 5D about c500g v c900g (without lens).

It does have a sensible sized CCD though.

Personally If they where £500 id get one, £3.5K is beyond me though.
 
It's good to see Leica still in the camera business, a couple of years ago it was touch and go as to whether they were going to survive.
Fast forward to the present day and the M8 is probably the best built camera available and you just know it's going to produce stunning images.

I guess it will take time to get used to handling the camera, it's not exactly a point and shoot which means that although it is a bit smaller and lighter than the 5D I think you will still be going for IXUS for those quick photos.
I also think that unless you're going to be printing large then it will be hard to see the quality difference. So that just leaves the pleasure in owning a Leica as a (BIG) plus point :)
 
SDK^ said:
...you just know it's going to produce stunning images.
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In the right hands of course. In the wrong hands it'll be just as useful as a 5D on auto. No offence to Spie or anything but if you feel that you're images aren't good enough to be posted here, where we have everyone from point and shoots to 1D's, then aside from bragging rights is there really any need for a M8? Yes its smaller, but so is the 400D which can also produce stunning images. I wonder if the 400D + 50mm f/1.4 is smaller than the M8 + 50mm?
 
cyKey said:
Built-in flash should be banned from cameras. The light it produces is just nasty. Better to up the ISO but as Joe says the M8 isn't that super above 360, which is kinda depressing.
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I completely dissagre. Built in flashes on cameras such as a 400D or 30D can be really usefull for situations where you need to use some fill during the day. Most DSLRs with built in flash let you control the power of them, and they can be an acceptable alternative to carrying a 430 EX or something that size.
 
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