Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/27

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Subject: [Leica] First M8 experience
From: jplaurel at spectare.com (Jim Laurel)
Date: Sat Jan 27 10:43:29 2007

Well, despite my better judgement and the sage advice of some here,  
B.D. not least, I decided to purchase an M8.

My experience so far has not been encouraging.  I seem to be  
experiencing every M8 foible in the book in tests with my Summicron  
28 ASPH mounted.  Shooting last night under tungsten light, people  
with navy blue shirts came out MAGENTA.  Color balance is  
unpredictable, rendering the jpg mode essentially useless.  Test  
shots outdoors in high contrast scenes exhibit the most unbelievable  
chromatic fringing.

Perhaps I should reserve my opinion until I get my lenses coded and  
the IR filters in place (I don't have either yet), but side by side  
comparisons with my Canon 1Ds are no comparison.  The M8 photos are  
indeed show better resolution, but who cares when high contrast areas  
have such overwhelming purple fringing?  The 1Ds photos aren't as  
crisp, but you can sharpen them up and at least the colors look  
natural and your photo doesn't look like someone drew all over it  
with a red marker.

For those of you who are using the IR filters and have your lenses  
coded, please tell me that this camera is actually usable with those  
things in place.  Otherwise, it looks like eBay time...

Cheers - Jim Laurel


Replies: Reply from gregj.lorenzo at shaw.ca (GREG LORENZO) ([Leica] First M8 experience)
Reply from len-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier) ([Leica] First M8 experience)
Reply from s_gregory1 at mac.com (Scott Gregory) ([Leica] First M8 experience)