And R8 hint of the future?

[MyersPete@aol.com]

Hi LUGnuts:

I can not help but throw in a word or two about the R8 since my "coversion".

Perhaps a hint towards the future: if you read in the stock holders report
for the company, digitals backs are mentioned a lot. The R8 body itself is
suppose to be designed to be on the market for a good while. It may become an
R9 with autofocus, but this is the building block body.

You would not need an autowinder built into the camera if you had a digital
back. Further, the way the winding mechanisum is built in, it is quite easy
to never put one in the body housing.

The F5 body is giving Kodak fits as to an upgrade path for their digital
cameras because of the built in winder.

As far as the matrix metering goes: I now have a bit more time on the R8. I
have been shooting the Canon 1N for quite a while now. It has a 16 section
matrix - weighted to the focal point (when selected). I am actually finding
the R8 metering to work as well or better then the Canon. I also feel that
there is a bit of an upward bias to preserve the shadow details. I would say
that it appears to be optimized for negative material - which I prefer
myself.

I rated my Reala at ISO 50 in the 1N. My tests with the R8 indicate that I
might go to ISO 64 or even a bit more with the R8. I've got more work to do
on this, but the negs are a bit thicker then I would normally like.

I hope the issue of the winder will give us all pause to wonder about a
digital back coming soon.

Pete Myers