Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/10/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]LUG: I am so impressed that Dick and Mark have already posted photos from the M8! I had one at Rockport for 3 days and took 696 photos, all DNG, that are now stored on my external hard drive. My poor old laptop computer can't begin to handle that many big files so I'll have to wait until I get back home to look at them closely and post some. My impressions: I didn't realize how much I had missed the M's until I started using the M8. It's just like coming home again. I absolutely love holding and handling it. I, too, kept reaching for the film advance with my thumb but I'm sure I'll get used to not doing that eventually. I have one ordered and can't wait to get it. The M8 will be the camera I carry with me all the time. I used it with a 21, 35, Noctilux, and 90 and I used it at all available speeds. The 2500 ISO does seem pretty noisy but if it's a case of not getting the photo or using 2500, I'll use it. Ted's lectures were wonderful, as usual. I hope he'll forgive me for taking the M8 away from him ;-) He was far too busy to use it, anyway. I agree that he has mellowed in his criticisms. There were some photos that he could have really trashed but he was kind. Jay Coleman, formerly of the LUG, won first place on his birthday with a wonderful seascape. It was interesting to see the mix of film and digital shots. It did seem to me that most of the "What were they thinking" shots were film, not digital. Maybe editing is more efficient on a computer than a hand held slide viewer? It was a wonderful seminar but I celebrated on the last night with too much wine :-( Don't let me near the free wine again!! My headache is just now getting better! Lagavulin wouldn't have been as destructive. I'm in wet and windy Danbury, Connecticut, after traveling through the Berkshires. New York tomorrow and home on Monday. I have several overdue projects, but hope to have some M8 photos posted ASAP. The M8 is the camera I've been wanting and wishing for since I switched to digital. Leically, Tina At 02:03 PM 10/28/2006, you wrote: >Carl and Armenne of Park Square Camera (now Camera Corner in Rockport) did >a terrific job for us, just as you would have expected if you've ever been >to one of their Seminars on Cape Cod. Rockport was its usual rock-bound >beautiful self though a bit chilly at times. Ted may be mellowing with >age. During the photo critique, his only response to some obviously bad >shots was only stunned silence or, in one case, with only a minor snarl, >"Would whoever took this picture please tell me after we're done what >motivated you to take this shot?" It was a pleasure to meet many new >people and make new friends, including Mark Davison and Ed Kowaleski of >LHSA who appear in a couple of the photos below. It was great 3-day >party. May the new "tradition" continue. > >Here are my impressions of the M8 after about six-hours with one in >Rockport. > >It feels like a Leica M from the first touch and operates so much like one >that my right thumb, as others have noted, went for the wind lever more >than once. It's a bit lighter than the M7 and slightly thicker but in hand >it felt so little different that I forgot about the differences almost at >once. > >The three-position shutter release feels just like the one on my M7. The >shutter sound is indeed like an M, but sharper and might attract attention >in a quiet environment. > >One look through the viewfinder, which is remarkably bright, and you >forget completely about it not being a full-frame camera. So what if that >frame that looks so much like the 50mm frame on the M7 comes up when you >insert a lens with "35" on the barrel, "it makes no never mind" as my >grandmother used to say. You simply forget about it. 35 is the new 50; >28 the new 35! > >B&W mode gives you a B&W image on the LCD and B&W thumbs on the resulting >JPG and DNG files, at least in Portfolio. The DNG file, opened in PS/CS, >was in color, though. > >None of my lenses are coded, and they all worked fine. I tried my 50 >current Elmarit (extended of course), current Summicron 28mm ASPH, and the >current 35 Summicron ASPH. > >I haven't spent enough time with the images yet to say much about >vignetting but there was none obvious with any of the lenses I used with >the subjects I shot. It may be there, I just haven't looked for it very >hard yet. > >I shot at ISO 160, 640 and 1250. Just never got around to trying 2500 for >some reason but did see some images at that sensitivity from another >user's files. On the camera's LCD the noise was hardly a problem at all, >even enlarged. On the computer screen, the chroma noise was obvious and >not really pleasant at 100% size but rather like some 3200 speed films >I've used. At 1250, the noise wasn't bad at all to my eye and since this >more than sensitive enough for what I do, the noise at 2500 is not an >issue. Besides, I suspect some careful level setting and a trip through >Noise Ninja might fix it "good enough" anyway. I don't expect ISO 3200 >films to be grainless, so I don't expect ISO 2500 digital to be noiseless, >either, especially with the minimal internal noise reduction (I'm told) >intended to increase sharpness. I know Canon does better noise-wise, but >that's OK given the relative sizes, weights and ease of use of the cameras. > >To my eye, the images are simply beautiful with all the detail and snap >you expect from Leica lenses. Others on the LUG know far more about >high-quality imaging than I, and I will let them address any detailed >concerns they might have. To me, I open the images on my computer and >often find my lips forming into a big "Wow!" Lots of detail, great >sharpness, great contrast. Terrific! > >The pictures below, with one exception, are straight-from-the camera >JPGs. Some need cropping, others I already know look better in B&W, but I >want to show what the camera will do on its own. > >ISO 160 > >Outside, gray day, soft light, auto white balance > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010840_160_web.jpg.html > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000008_160_web.jpg.html > >Outside, clear day, harsh light, auto white balance > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010860_160_web.jpg.html > >Indoors, gray day, even light, auto white balance > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000018_160_web.jpg.html > > >ISO 640 > >At 640 and above it begins to be interesting to look at noise and I've >included 100% crops with two of these pictures. > >Inside, gray day, mixed light, auto white balance > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000036_640_web.jpg.html > >and it's 100% crop > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000036_crop_640_web.jpg.html > >Inside, just after sunrise, auto white balance. This picture was rotated >slightly in PS to straighten and lighten it slightly for presentation at >the seminar but I made no other changes. > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010838_640_web.jpg.html > >Inside, tungsten balance manually chosen > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010834_640_web.jpg.html > >and its 100% crop. This black lampshade has a darker black pattern >running through it that is easily visible in the original JPG and which I >hope will show up here. > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010834_640_crop_web.jpg.html > > >IS0 1250 > >Inside, tungsten balance manually chosen > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010823_1250_web.jpg.html > >and its 100% crop. > >http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010823_1250_crop_web.jpg.html > > >Some quibbles and concerns: The on/off switch rotates around the shutter >release and also selects single-shot, multiple-shot and self-timer modes. >It's awfully easy to move it inadvertently. I accidentally took four or >five pictures out of 138 in either the multiple-shot or self-timer modes. > >The sample I had tended to overexpose slightly with respect to the way I >meter so I dialed in -1/3 stop correction and was happier with the results >at all ISO levels. > >Deep reds tended to saturate and go magenta in some of my pictures. I was >using PS CS to open the DNGs and don't know if the same thing would happen >with Capture One. This may be operator error, or it might be built into >the firmware, or the PS CS DNG converter. I just don't know. The camera >I had used firmware V1.06. I'm told this is the release version. > >This ain't your father's M5 reborn as a digital, as a few have speculated >here. It's a great camera. I loved using it and hated giving it back, so >I ordered one. November delivery, I am told. > >-- >Regards, > >Dick > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information