[Leica] Some time with an M8

[grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey@mchsi.com)]

Wade,

Nice set of photos, like them all.  Did you shoot these in color then 
convert to BW or did you shoot them in BW?  Not sure I understood which.  
Either way very nice.  Glad to see you have got the battery problem solved 
and happy with the M8.  I was down in Dallas last week and visited Cooters 
Cillage Camera again and did some more handling of the M8 they have on 
display.  Still want one, but will have to wait for funds.  ;-)

Gene


-------------- Original message from Wade Heninger <heninger@adobe.com>: 
-------------- 


> 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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