Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/01/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I am fairly happy with my M8u. I actually find the default processing by LR a bit too saturated for my taste but looks like it's just me. I am seriously considering just slapping the "convert to grayscale" as default in LR :-) I owned a R-D1 and shot well over 10,000 frames with it. The M8 is definitely more a Leica than the R-D1, and I never thought about the so called crop factor. Portraits? Slap on the 50. General walkaround? Either 35 or 25. I wish I can afford a 24/1.4, but then I would just get a M9. A no brainer really. Once in a while, I see some weird artifact, like band of light, so I just don't shoot at lights :-) If someone makes a decent "low price" (e.g. < $2000) 24/2 for the M mount, that would pretty much render a M9 non-starter for me (not that it's much of a starter now...) I also went to the big PhotoLA show and while of course most people are shooting digital, the equipments never get mentioned. No one cares about whether it's Holga or a IDMkXX, the image is the thing that matters. On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 6:16 PM, Geoff Hopkinson <hopsternew at gmail.com> wrote: > Mark we'll continue to disagree on the M8 then. Consider the M8 history > again. After the initial introduction period (3-6 months?) what new issues > emerged over the next 30 months or so of its product life? That's what I > meant by stable and mature. But of course the M9 is a great choice. It also > costs 3 times as much new as a used M8 now. I got one. I love it. > The M9 ended up coming to market for what Leica viewed as a relatively > small > increase over the price of a new M8 then. So the judgement was that it > would > no longer be attractive in the range. Seems like a reasonable call to me. > I wouldn't buy one new now either (at the old retail price). Meanwhile the > practical result is that you can pick up a used M8 for a fraction of the > new > price now. They do work just the same. As far as I know you've never owned > one? That's fine, you can form your own opinions based on whatever you've > read but many thousands of owners and users disagree with you. > ?Cheers > Geoff > http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman > > > 2010/1/25 Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> > >> > Rabs, please excuse my edit for focus. >> > I agree that the M9 is the ideal purchase for M users of course but the >> M8 >> > is still the same enormously capable camera it was prior to September 9. >> I >> > used mine for all of my photography for 2 years and it never hiccupped >> once. >> > Leica considers that a used M8 can be an entry path to M digital these >> days. >> > Locally the price is around one third of that of a new M9 (still in very >> > short supply of course). Especially if you have the M lenses that you >> want, >> > that can make a lot of sense. I was just ?pointing out another option >> (aprt >> > from the mentioned demo) if a buyer was concerned about the very well >> > publicised issues with the first M8s to come to market. Its been a >> > stable >> > mature camera since those were addressed and many thousands of us have >> use >> > them to our satisfation with great results and no issues at all. >> > ?Cheers >> > Geoff >> > http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman >> >> >> You're in the minority in the photographic community in your view of the >> M8 >> as a "stable mature" camera where it is widely viewed as just the >> opposite. >> Its a first out. And a rocky one. And at this point in the game its being >> a >> cropped format is not good timing. >> More to the point the M9 DOES seem to be a stable mature camera; and the >> current accepted serious format. . And its the camera Leica is making now. >> I predict it will quickly acquire an acceptance the M8 never got. >> (this is where our friend goes ballistic but I didn't use the word "top" I >> guess) >> >> No the M8 is not a viable entry level camera into the Leica digital M >> system >> at this stage of the game. The smart advice would be to wait. Wait till >> one >> had the capital to procure an M9. >> >> Why wouldn't Leica continue making the M8 instead discontinuing it? >> Thus giving a photographer a choice in "formats". And provide an entry >> level >> option? >> Because the camera was a disaster that's why. And the cropped format is no >> longer a serious option. >> >> [Rabs] >> Mark William Rabiner >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > -- // richard m: richard @imagecraft.com // w: http://www.imagecraft.com/pub/Portfolio09/ blog: http://rfman.wordpress.com // book: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/745963