[Leica] Re: Outdated M8

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

On Sep 13, 2006, at 11:07 AM, Ernie wrote:

> I looked at the video - the M8 looks glorious but............ it's a
> piece of computer equipment with a lens attached and as such it will
> become outdated in the next 24-36 months.  This is a radical
> departure for Leica..... the M series for the last 30 years was
> already outdated and static for the most part.  That WAS the nice
> part about the M series.  As it turns out I don't even have the money
> to pay the sales tax on the upcoming M8 but even if I did I would be
> leery of spending so much ( as an amateur) on such a camera.  Just my
> $0.02.  I'm not anti- digital but for now I'm satisfied with my
> Pentax DSLR.  Just my two cents.


Just because a piece of equipment has been supplanted by a new model  
doesn't mean that the original has lost its function. When the M9  
comes out, your M8, if you buy one, will work just as well as it ever  
did. If it was worth the price to you when you bought it, it will  
still be worth its price in functionality if not in real dollars. The  
only thing that would make the M8 obsolete is if the M9 comes with a  
full frame sensor. That might force many M8 buyers, who frankly will  
buy the M8 because it can use M series lenses, to reconsider.

But you are certainly right that the original M series cameras were  
obsolete when they were introduced half a century ago. They contained  
nothing that was new to the photographic marketplace, save the fact  
that they could accommodate all previously manufactured Leica lenses.  
I still use a M3 that is 52 years old with perfect satisfaction.  But  
remember that the M camera body is just a box with a shutter,  
rangefinder and film transport mechanism. The thing that keep old  
Leicas viable is that you can take advantage of progress in optics  
and film technology using that old box. I'm writing this on a six  
year old G3 Mac laptop running the latest Apple operating system. At  
my typing speed, the computer functions as well as the latest model.  
Has it lost its functionality because newer equipment is available?

The real decisions you have to make when considering the M8 are:

1. Do I have enough older Leica lenses to justify spending a few  
kilobucks on a digital body which will let them function using only a  
portion of their capacity?
2. Is a 10MB sensor sufficient for the type of photography I am  
likely to do in the foreseeable future?
3. Do I want to put up with many of the ergonomic shortfalls inherent  
in the Leica's 50 year old design?
4. Do I love Leica enough to want to suffer the compromises involved  
in putting modern digital technology in an antique camera?

It's short of like shoehorning a modern V8 engine into a Model A Ford.

Larry Z