Re: The Leica R8 and moving up from Canon

[ted grant <75501.3002@CompuServe.COM>]

Pete wrote:

<<<I have had no real experience shooting an R8 with R lenses.>>>>

Hi Pete,

I had to get into this one. :)  And some of the guys out there in never-never
cyberspace will say, "here goes Ted ! :)"

There are some detractors of the R8 as there always are with any new product,
however let me say I have used one since a few weeks before Christmas '96 and it
is a very fine, actually beyond that, a damn good camera.

It is the best of the Leica SLR breed as far as I'm concerned and I've had
nearly all them all since the Leicaflex arrived in the world. Most importantly,
I use them generally three bodies and motors at a time as a working
photojournalist.

The R8 has the best viewfinder of all of them and compared to the other
manufacturers gear, it is light years ahead. (I'm going to get ragged over that
one!) :)

A few guys who received their cameras at the same time I did had a glitch at the
beginning, but the cameras were immediately exchanged. On the other hand mine
has been working steadily every week since then and I can only say I have
ordered two more and they will be delivered when they can be delivered with
motors.

Generally the R8 is a solid handful of camera with all the buttons and little
thingies we use, set just in the right places. If you have little bitty hands
you'll find it a tad on the big side, however it isn't any worse than the new
Nikon and Canon.

There isn't any comparison to Nikon-Canon, as the R8 stands above them in class.
(sorry I'm going to duck again) But like cars, there are chevs and there are
Porsches, well the R8 is the Porsche! And the others are the Chevs! :)

The metering system is without peer and the best I've ever seen in any Leica SLR
system. It has proven so accurate that on two projects we are working on at the
moment, (nightlight and a medical) we do not take any other meter handheld
readings and go right with what the camera is selecting. Obviously we still
bracket where we are working with transparency film, but the original camera
metered reading has always been dead on for a correct exposure!  And if it isn't
selected it was only because a richer saturation from the bracketing was
required.

Hey I'm going on a bit, but get it! You wont be sorry! 

There isn't anything to add to the quality of Leica glass, "It is the greatest
and the best!" Now I'm going to get nuked on that by the tech related folks, but
what the hell, "Stick with me baby and you'll end up laughing or wearing
handcuffs or both!" :)

But you'll be a happy camper R8 Leica user! :)

ted