[Leica] Using the R8 --long--

["GBicket" <GBicket@email.msn.com>]

Thomas,

Your English is far better than many LUGgers German, so I wouldn't bother
with any apology.  Quite clear and fluent.  When all become as fluent as you
in a second language, we'll address it!

As to your questions about the R8, I have to say that from your comments, I
get the impression you will find the R8 quite satisfactory.  This is a
camera which has set itself apart by ignoring the mainstream, and greatest
common denominator, and has a distinct personality.  From LUG comments you
can see that most seem to love it or hate it.  The camera certainly has the
best ergonomics of any camera I've picked up, and held, and used for a
length of time.  As others have pointed out, this is at least partially a
function of the size of one's hands, and it either fits, or it doesn't.  I
believe this is true, and there are those whose hand size makes the R8
uncomfortable and unwieldy, --or-- nearly perfect.  I think one should
approach a camera with such distinctive ergonomics with tactile preferences
high on the list.

This is a camera with a clear design target, one that will be delightful for
those who "fit" the camera, and offers no apologies to those who don't.  So
first, check this out.  Handle it.  Get your dealer to give you a loaner,
and spend a weekend with it.  I think there are indeed individuals whose
hands and sense of ergonomic fit are perfect.  A pity that camera
manufacturing economics don't permit offering small, medium and large.  The
shapes that make up the R8 make it a joy to hold for me.  Leica has
promotions that encourage people to use the camera, and to my mind this is
genius, as the size and distinctly different shape haven't taken the market
by storm.  But the simple process of using the camera communicates one of
its most important benefits.  It is a joy to use in making photographs.

With its shape is bulk.  For those on the LUG as well as others that like
small bodied cameras, the R8 is not a likely candidate.  But again, its
ergonomics make it a pleasure to handle, and as to weight, it makes a fine
balance for the R lenses, especially some of those you mention, are not
lightweights.

As to function, I came to the R8 after many happy years of using a Nikon F3
with and without an MD-4 motor drive.  As with the F3, the R8 control layout
makes sense to my fingers, and I've acclimated quickly, and everything is
where my fingers feel as if it should be.  The camera had a clear design
target, as I mentioned, and that either fits people's sense of what it
should be or it does not.  I prefer to do my own metering, and find myself
annoyed a the minor AF motor adjustments reminding of the dentist's chair.

While many in the SLR market seek AutoFocus, my affinity for my old F3, and
my dislike of cameras whose lenses buzz at me did not encourage me to seek
an AF replacement.  My F3 had been retired for a Hasselblad outfit--I went
there for the image size and the glass.  I was thrilled, and I spent a year
and a half falling in love with both.  But the portability and the ease of
use of 35mm kept making me think about going back.  I was trying to apply
the wrong camera to the type of photography I was doing, which required
mobility and the ability to go without a tripod as necessary.

I kept thinking about going back to 35mm, but I wanted to retain as much
glass quality as possible.  If I couldn't have that enormous transparency to
work with, at least I wanted the best glass I could obtain.  So for me, my
arrival at R8 was very easy.  Erwin can better put things scientifically,
but I believe there is a tangible quality to the way Leica lenses render
light onto film that I like better than any other I have used.  I love the
glass.

R8 meters very, very accurately, and in a variety of modes.  Its shutter
trips consistently in the travel of its release button.  And the shutter has
an enormous range of speeds.  R8 is more than a dark box on which to perch
exceptional lenses, it's my favorite camera to use, of any, many I've had
the good fortune to use.  It shows signs of reliability, despite some of the
problems experienced with the early manufacturing runs, and I expect to use
mine for years.

No professional by a long shot, I think myself discriminating in the results
I expect.  But there are several professionals on the LUG who have opinions.
The R8 puts me well into the range of results being due to pilot skill, or
error, and that is where I seek to be.  The emergence of the new motor drive
offers you as a professional, faster wind/recock cycles than the winder, but
it is still no speed demon.  The winder is sufficient for my use, which is
primarily as an electric thumb.  One of the things I appreciate about R8 is
the clever on/off design of the winder and the motor drive permitting easy
use without either.  When noise and weight are important, having an outboard
motor is a plus.

Certainly in the lens ranges you describe, one can find some exceptional R
lenses.  Others have waxed poetic about the 19mm, a lens I have mounted on
my camera, but do not yet own.  The other two, the 100mm APO and 80-200
zoom, are in my bag, and I am delighted with both.  The 100mm APO is the
best lens I have had the pleasure of using so far.  You might prefer the
70-180 APO zoom, as Leica isn't kidding about quality when it applies its
APO labels.

I find the extremes of opinion regarding the R8 interesting in that they
clearly delineate how very well Leica has met its design target for some,
while missing horribly for others.  Unlike many cameras, however, it is not
designed to an "average" design target, Leica had very specific targets, and
that necessarily leaves some preferences out.  The R8 helps me capture the
image in my mind's eye at the moment I trip the shutter, and does so with
greater fidelity than with any other camera I have used.   For me, it's as
perfect as picture making machines have become so far.

Enjoy the light.

Greg Bicket