[Leica] M8 takes a hard fall....and works fine.

[tlianza at comcast.net (tom lianza)]

I was recently at the old Mount Washington Hotel and while I was lifting 
a pint, the strap on my M8 opened and camera fell onto a rock floor.  I 
finished my beer and then picked it up, expecting the worse, but as it 
turns out it just seems to need a range finder realignment.  I continued 
taking images and I've posted some on the LUG gallery.  I thought that 
you would like to see how the camera performs in available darkness and 
with the 12 mm Heliar .

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/tomlianza/M8+images/stacia+and+terri.jpg.html

This image was taken in the ambient light of a club.  I had to focus on 
a glint coming from Statia's pendant.  The exposure was 1/4 sec at iso 
2500, at f1.4 (summilux 35) Naturally, the image is a little soft.  The 
noise is definitely there but the image recording capability of the 
camera is juts fine given that I couldn't see either face when I took 
the shot.  There are very hard saturation artifacts in the background 
due to the high luminance fluorescent lamps in the various beer ads in 
the club.  There were no IR filters on the camera

This image:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/tomlianza/M8+images/railroad+bridge.jpg.html

Was shot with the 12mm. There was no compensation applied for the field 
uniformity due to vignetting.  The whole lens coding scheme makes no 
sense to me.  I think that Leica is creating a monster with these tinker 
toy digital band aids to compensate for the IR issue.  The fact that 
they are using thin film filters for the IR removal task is really 
nonsensical, especially with  wide angle lenses.  I would use a piece of 
1mm thick Schott BG39.  This will not cause an off- axis drift in 
color.  I use this in many of the products that my team has designed 
such as the Xrite i1Display and the Pantone Huey calibrator. The filter 
appears visually Cyan, so I think some people might have some issues 
with it, but it works fine with a bit of white balance shift and it 
won't create any off axis shift problems.  Actually, it is probably the 
same glass that covers the sensor, only the right thickness :) 

I like the m8 quite a bit, although the user interface leaves a little 
to be desired.  The "set" button is not really well named, but I don't 
have a better alternative.   The EV adjustment should be before the ISO 
adjustment on that menu, but for all I know, it may be programmable.  
The manual is extensive and I haven't really sat down with it.  I really 
wish that they had an external adjustment of ISO ( like the RD-1) and a 
manual way to change EV (like the R8/R9 DMR).  The DMR and Nikon D2x 
represent cameras that address the needs of the pro, particularly with 
respect to intelligent use of controls.  Both provide a very quick 
mechanism to see the current camera settings.  The M8 falls down a bit 
in this area.  It is a real trooper, has excellent tonal capture 
capability, and works with all the lenses I own.  If you have the bucks 
and love Leicas, treat yourself.

My other digital cameras are the R9/DMR , Nikon D2x, Nikon D200,  Epson 
RD1, Olympus E1, and a Canon s80.   I can't say that I really have a 
favorite.  Each of them can deliver a good image (although the Canon s80 
and Oly E1 are very much out of the class of the others).