Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/12/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]OK.. I went there and read the following under M8 tech specs at the Leica USA site.... --------------------- To quote....... Shutter: Micro-processor controlled metal-blade slotted shutter with vertical movement. Shutter Speeds In automatic mode (A) steplessly from 32 s to 1/8000 s. Using manual setting 4 s to 1/8000 s in half steps. B for long exposures of any duration. Shutter action optimized for minimum noise. Driven by an electric motor -------------------- Having read that, I will repeat that the shutter in the M8 is only for a dust ( and overload) sensor cover. It does nothing for the exposure. Let me explain..... The sensor is gated fully under electronic digital control. It has nothing to do with a mechanical part anywhere in, round or under the camera. It is both easier to do it this way, it works, it needs no calibration, and it is cheap to make. It is totally electronic. The shutter COVER, or what you might call a shutter, does not do anything to the exposures. If it did, Leica would have to make an infinitely variable shutter accurate to 1/8000 of a second, and keep it in calibration. Ain't going to happen. Nikon proved that in the 8008 and other cameras. I think it is important that users know what they are getting in an M8 or other digital camera ... this mechanical shutter is probably ( maybe, maybe not) timed to open and close in some relationship with the exposure. It does not matter how long the shutter is open; as long as it is long enough for an exposure to be recorded. It can be a LOT longer the light is gated by a digital signal, not a mechanical device. Very similar to the baffle shutter in a Hasselblad 500 series. Notice carefully that Leica never claims that the shutter speed is mechanical nor do they claim the shutter is timed for any time duration... They claim the shutter is a vertically moving metal blade slotted shutter. The shutter speeds are the ones that are timed with specs on them. There is a big difference between the shutter speeds that affect the exposure, and the shutter that only covers the sensor. What I called a baffle. dPreview does not add any information. I am sure they are nice guys, but technically, anyone that claims the reason a M8 can have higher synch speed than a M7 is because of a different shutter is just plain not correct. The synch is digitally controlled as are the gating functions of the sensor. There is no mechanical association in a M8. There is in any previous film oriented M ( or LTM).. BTW, if you owned a M8, you could easily prove me wrong.... Try the shutter at different speeds with no lens. You should see the light baffle open and close faster with increasing speed, like a real shutter does. You do not have to be 100% accurate, you only need to note if the thing stays open longer with increasing exposure time.... It should be pretty obvious. If there is some evidence that the M8 has a mechanically timed exposure, I still have not seen it......If you, or someone else on this list, own a M8, check out the shutter /baffle/ whatever you want to call the thing that moves out of the way to allow the light to hit the sensor. Then we have some form of data that is not marketing speak..... I would promise to eat a bug if I am wrong, but Cal Worthington has already done that one..... Frank Filippone red735i@earthlink.net