Leica M8

freebooter · 6 Nov 2006 at 15:02

Colin_da_Killer said:
maybe you could make a special request for a white leica lens with a nice little red circle at the end?

That would be like buying a ferrari and putting a Ford badge on it

FranchiseJuan · 6 Nov 2006 at 16:15

I am the local Pentax supporter (lover), due to the fact that I shot Pentax for much of the time when I first started with DSLR, but I persoanly think that while the M8 is very nice, a Pentax DSLR with a 50 F1.4 or 31 F1.9 Limited would be more usefull when you need to work fast. All but 2 or 3 of the Pentax primes form 28mm to 100 macro are 49mm filter thread or below, and if you put a Pentax limited lens is just a beautiful piece of workmanship (not to mention that a 77 limited is instantly recognisable by its bokeh).

aztechnology · 6 Nov 2006 at 23:57

cyKey said:
Yeah I hear the only difference is Panasonic processing vs Lecia processing.

And if you shoot and Process RAW, the only difference is £300 and red badge (given the choice though, I'd get the badge

)

Raymond Lin · 9 Nov 2006 at 15:53

Someone posted this in another forum which is interesting

Radiohead said:
There are some quite bewildering scenes going on over at Leica forums. A good deal of people have now got their M8's to find out that it has a little trouble dealing with blacks - it's being called a 'magenta cast'. I should bloody coco:

That's how the M8 sees the black background.

This chap is wearing a black suit:

30 minutes in CS2 as the owner managed to get this:

That's a £3000 body, and it's been released to market like that.

Leica's response so far? Buy an IR filter for your lenses. Or don't use Auto WB.

Nice.

a Canon 5D with a L glass would be cheaper and better surely ! May be a bit bigger but you won't have this problem.

cyKey · 9 Nov 2006 at 15:54

Wow thats crazy. Set your white, grey and purple points in the levels

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 9 Nov 2006 at 16:09

Shocking

Raymond Lin · 9 Nov 2006 at 17:32

There is also Magenta Banding, and look at that, everyone wearing purple !. LOL :eek:

And remember, this is a £3000 body camera. I expected better for £30 digital P&S.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1038&message=20744273&q=magenta&qf=m

The EXIF is still embedded in the photo.

I think my phone can shoot photos with less problems than this.

FranchiseJuan · 9 Nov 2006 at 17:35

But if you are shooting something that is critical work you should be using custom white ballence, and if you are not, then it matter little. Not a huge deal either way. 20D has shocking white ballence, and yet does the job.

Raymond Lin · 9 Nov 2006 at 17:39

FranchiseJuan said:
But if you are shooting something that is critical work you should be using custom white ballence, and if you are not, then it matter little. Not a huge deal either way. 20D has shocking white ballence, and yet does the job.

Its not about critical, its about getting something very simple right. Unless you want to tweak every shot you take all the time. For £3000 you think it'll spit out A2 prints as well.

Leica is living on its past reputation, how can one have faith with them when you can even take a shot of something black and for it to come out purple is just unacceptable.

I am sorry, white balance is one thing, everything comes out purple is another.

cyKey · 9 Nov 2006 at 17:50

FranchiseJuan said:
But if you are shooting something that is critical work you should be using custom white ballence, and if you are not, then it matter little. Not a huge deal either way. 20D has shocking white ballence, and yet does the job.

Its not that bad. I mean I've never had blacks come out as purple on my A70, 10D, 30D or K800i.

Raymond Lin said:
I am sorry, white balance is one thing, everything comes out purple is another.

Agreed. Its really shocking how this has happened. Is it a bug somewhere like with the D70 and moire?

SDK^ · 9 Nov 2006 at 17:54

More info here : http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/8937-official-leica-statements.html

danza · 9 Nov 2006 at 17:58

Raymond Lin said:
a Canon 5D with a L glass would be cheaper and better surely ! May be a bit bigger but you won't have this problem.

Spie already has the 5D

As for the M8, not looking good. Hopefully this be a firmware upgrade at worst.

Raymond Lin · 9 Nov 2006 at 17:59

SDK^ said:
More info here : http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/8937-official-leica-statements.html

Rendering of black synthetic fibers
The elimination of color fringing and the improvement of image resolution results in higher IR sensitivity. This causes some synthetic textiles to appear an artificial-looking purple.

They knew about this? :confused:

and

The high IR transmission may also be a creative advantage for applications in the area of infrared photography.

Sounds like they are just making stuff up now. It used to be if you want to take IR photos, get a filter. Not if you don't want everything purple, then get a filter.

cyKey · 9 Nov 2006 at 18:01

Leica M8.1 Now with 50% less purple.

danza · 9 Nov 2006 at 18:03

cyKey said:
Leica M8.1 Now with 50% less purple.

Lol

Leica are apparently supplying filters to cut down excess IR, but I guess these are at cost. Sounds like a real knife & fork bodge to me.

SDK^ · 9 Nov 2006 at 18:18

I posted on the first page that it would probably be difficult to 'label' a print taken on a M8 to one that was taken on a much cheaper point and shoot.
Well, the same site/person that reviewed the M8 on Luminous Landscape has also made this observation in his review of the Canon G7 when viewing A3 sized prints.

Much as I would like to pretend otherwise, it sometimes was difficult without close examination to be certain which A3-sized print had come from which camera. Yes, a close look would almost always show the G7 files to have a slight "digital" look, while those from the M8 did not, but it was remarkable how well the G7 did. I showed mixed-together prints to several technically knowledgeable and experienced photographers and it took each of them close examination to tell the cameras apart simply from the sample prints, and even then not always.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/Canon-G7.shtml

The G7 also looks to be an excellent camera choice for those wanting D-SLR like quality in a smaller package.

cyKey · 9 Nov 2006 at 18:28

SDK^ said:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/Canon-G7.shtml

The G7 also looks to be an excellent camera choice for those wanting D-SLR like quality in a smaller package.

Yeah the G7 does seem like a great package. Gotta wonder why it doesn't have RAW.

Raymond Lin · 9 Nov 2006 at 18:45

cyKey said:
Yeah the G7 does seem like a great package. Gotta wonder why it doesn't have RAW.

It is strange, they took away RAW from the S80 too, but then added continous video shooting instead. My S70 can shoot RAW but only 3min video length. I don't see any reason removing RAW from the camera.

divine` · 9 Nov 2006 at 19:03

Raymond Lin said:
It is strange, they took away RAW from the S80 too, but then added continous video shooting instead. My S70 can shoot RAW but only 3min video length. I don't see any reason removing RAW from the camera.

Force people to move up from S80 to 350D/400D if they want RAW, and let's face it, if you are that fussed about having RAW you're going to be taking photography at least half seriously and would probably quite happily consider the move up to the budget DSLRs. More £££ for Canon once the lens upgrades etc. start rolling in off the back of that 'small jump up'

ElDude · 9 Nov 2006 at 19:12

I suppose it's one way to avoid purple fringing. MAKE EVERYTHING PURPLE!