Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/01/19

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Subject: [Leica] New M8 + cold fingers + nighttime = a tough first day
From: kanner at acm.org (Herbert Kanner)
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:22:51 -0800
References: <0800AF3B-5638-4D1A-8347-F6846533EABB@gmail.com>

Other people have said this, but I'll offer some reinforcement. When 
using SLRs, I always used a diopter corrector at the eyepiece because 
I felt I could not see the center and the corners at the same time 
through glasses. When I got a Leica M6, I did the same for the Leica 
at a ridiculous cost of about $90. I bought an M9 about a year ago. 
My eyes have changed now to where the distance part of my tri-focals 
merely corrects a minor amount of astigmatism, so I can use the 
camera as is. However, taking the glasses on and off is a nuisance, 
and after a while I discovered that with the Leica viewfinder I can 
see all that I need to see while wearing glasses. Try it.

Herb


>Well, I made it out there. My train got into Penn Station at 8PM.
>Once I got settled into my hotel and had some dinner, I set out to
>try my new (used) M8. Wow, what a difference from my Canon DSLR. I
>love the sound of the shutter. I feel like I am making something
>substantial with each click. Like there is work involved, lots of
>hard work, and then someone blows the whistle.
>
>My biggest problem seems to be with getting my eyes to focus in the
>viewfinder. I normally wear glasses, so those had to come off. The
>LED numbers seem blurry in there. And oftentimes, I found that the
>focusing screen just never seemed to be crisp. What do you guys do?
>Wear contacts? Get a corrective attachment?
>
>So, I tried shooting everything. It was dark, very dark. And it was
>cold, verrrrrrry cold. So, my enthusiasm wasn't at 100%. Anything
>that was moving? ended up being blurry. I fiddled with the ISO
>settings, etc. But it was just dark. Plain ole lack-o-light. Now
>that I have to focus on (err) focusing, I have been trying to
>gestimate which focal setting to put the lens at before aiming. I
>was practicing getting faster at getting my subject in focus. To no
>avail? Most times, when I would bring the camera to my eye, I was
>hunting back and forth trying to find the right direction to rotate
>the focus ring at all. I was always headed in the wrong direction.
>So, that will take some practice. Static objects seemed to work a
>bit better.
>
>Of the 45 pictures I managed, only these 3 seemed to be acceptable
>enough to share:
>
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsbardsley/sets/72157628934782221/show/
>
>I'll try again in the daylight. Hopefully some light will help me
>learn what I am doing wrong.
>
>All in all, I am very happy with my new, and first,  M8. Anyone got
>any tips on how to get the damn thing into "Picture" mode so I can
>tweak the ISO settings? I don't understand the menu well enough to
>do it consistently. It feels like I need to click my heels, face
>NorthNortheast, pray, and then the Menu button will bring it up. I
>don't get it.
>
>Click. Click. Smile.
>
>Ryan
>Boston, MA
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

-- 
Herbert Kanner
kanner at acm.org
650-326-8204

Question authority and the authorities will question you.


In reply to: Message from rbardsley at gmail.com (Ryan Scott Bardsley) ([Leica] New M8 + cold fingers + nighttime = a tough first day)