[Leica] R Wildlife shooter

["Neil Cotty" <neilc@apphosting.com>]

Hi everyone,

New to the group! :) An intro - I'm considering getting into Leica from
Nikon. I shoot mostly close ups and wildlife - predominantly birds (not in
flight btw) and occasionally large mammals when I can make it over to the
'olds' in Tanzania. I use m/f almost all the time, so that and the quality
Leica lenses are my reasons for considering the (not inconsequential) change
in systems.

I have never been happy with the manual focusing of the Nikon lenses since
AF was introduced, and am not a fan of AF for what I shoot. Perhaps it's me,
but I find the AF Nikkors are 'dead' feeling in that dept. I never end up
where I want to be, normally just past or just ahead but hardly ever right
on the button (when it matters of course) and no I don't think it's my
technique <G>. ;)  My FG & collection of old Nikon MF lenses bare this out.
I tried an R8 today with a few lenses and was very impressed with the drag
and feel of the focus rings. Especially on the 100mm macro and the 180mm
f2.8 tele. Construction quality seems a cut above the rest (as you'd
expect!! $$).

I'm wondering if there are any wildlife shooters out there who would like to
comment on the larger tele's in the Leica range, ie the Modular systems and
the 280 f2.8 & 560 f4 etc. How they handle and which do you prefer ie std
tele vs modular. I have heard there are quality issues with the Modular
system wrt module-module fit and that Leica are pulling them - ??

A couple of questions for R8 owners, I'll think of more later <VBG>:

1. If you spot almost exclusively like me, do you find the spot size too
large and is a hand held meter a must with this camera? I hear the spot is
about 12% - ?
2. Which pro. flash unit do you recommend for fill flash? I saw a Metz but
only seems adjustable in full stop increments.

Cheers,
Neil