[Leica] Some time with an M8

[editor at frontenachouse.com (Rose Scollard)]

I love #17.  David
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wade Heninger" <heninger@adobe.com>
To: "LUG Leica" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 7:52 AM
Subject: [Leica] Some time with an M8


> So, post battery-troubles, I finally got to spend some quality time with 
> my
> M8.  We were heading to Victoria for a bit of work and some family time, 
> so
> I was excited to put the camera thru my normal paces...
>
> I popped in a 4 gig Transcend card, attached my TA soft release, charged 
> all
> three batteries and mounted my trusty Summicron 50 (sans IR filter) and
> began shooting - on the ferry, on various walks, in the hotel, and at the
> various places we visited.
>
> So after about 800 exposures, I can state I'm quite happy with the camera.
> It works mostly like I had my M6 in hand, which is more than I can say for
> any other digital I've ever had.  I *love* having my summicron back 
> pointing
> at the world and I love having an M in hand again.  I pretty much ignored
> everything except the shutter aperture and the ISO - what bliss.  It just
> feels right in my hand and I'm swooning - its so good to be back shooting 
> an
> M after those awful DSLR monsters.  Good riddance (well for 90% of my
> shooting anyhow).
>
> Random observations in a quaint "stream of consciousness" fashion:
>
> I do find the shutter a bit different than the M6 - I like the old shutter
> sound better, but its nothing to get up tight about.  I completely forgot
> about the fact that it is a bit thicker after 2 minutes.  I love the Set
> menu for shooting parameters (less clutter for the good stuff).  The 
> buffer
> is big and while you can catch up to it, its hard, and you can wait a few
> seconds and continue tacking onto the queue. DNG rocks - makes it much
> easier to manage the Raw file (and its archival)! I've set it to show the
> preview for a few seconds in B/W too (that may be a firmware bug, but I 
> hope
> they never fix it).  No problems with the on/off switch getting moved
> back/forth.  My frame selector is a bit sticky for some reason, but I'm
> going to just ignore it for awhile.  The 50 Summicron is a bit too tight, 
> so
> I just ordered a used 35mm Summicron. I'm going to consider Tom's grip 
> when
> it comes out as well. The soft release is made for this camera - I got 
> some
> sharp shots at 1/8. I can put at least 300 exposures on the card before 
> its
> time to change the battery (wish just this one part could be like the
> Nikons) but its acceptable.
>
> But here is the best part: when I loaded them into Lightroom and converted
> them to b/w (which is mostly what I plan to do) they just popped - it
> reminded me again why I use Leica lenses.  Sharp, contrasty, and they
> require so little mucking with (unlike the Nikon stuff I've been messing
> with while waiting for the M8).  The ISO at 160/320 is fine grained.  640
> and 1250 is a bit grainier and totally acceptable.  2500 is hit/miss, but 
> I
> didn't usually shoot at that with film, so I'm happy.  Will print a few 
> when
> I get back, but I have no reason to doubt they'll look as good on paper as
> on screen.  I've not looked at the color at all - probably won't - and as
> soon as I can get a "always preview in B/W" option in Lightroom, I'll
> probably never see it so the IR and WB issues just are not an issue for 
> me.
>
> Here are a few pictures:
>
> http://www.heninger.org/gallery/victoria/
>
> Enjoy...
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> w a d e  h e n i n g e r
> u s e r  e x p e r i e n c e
> a d o b e  s y s t e m s ,  i n c
>
>
>
>
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