[Leica] Initial M8 impressions

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 7:08 PM -0800 1/31/07, Robert Rose wrote:
>It has been a bit over a week now with my M8, and I am getting some images
>to upload to the Gallery.  Overall I am really happy with the camera.
>
>To summarize my two cents on the M8 issues:
>
>1.  Shutter sound.  It is not much different than the M Winder.  Since I use
>the winder on the M7, this is no problem.  It is less intrusive than the
>mirror slap on my Nikon DSLR's.
>
>2.  Magentaville, or IR Hell.  Yes, it is very real for tungsten lit scenes.
>But I have two filters coming from Leica, and 3 Heliopans on order from B&H.
>I have one Heliopan IR cutoff filter, and that corrects 100% of the problem.
>I have always used a filter on my Tri-Elmar, so no problem there.  I got the
>color profiles for Capture One that are supposed to correct this without a
>filter, but I am still learning Capture One.  Long term I consider this to
>be a non-issue.
>
>3.  IR Heaven.  I love to shoot IR film in the M7, and the M8 promises to be
>even better, in my first tests.  The Leica lenses have no significant focus
>shift for IR (IMHE), and with an 87 filter on the lens you can still focus a
>rangefinder.  That would be impossible with a DSLR.  So, I put the 87 on the
>lens, set the exposure to manual, Color to B&W, and I intend to fire away!

With an 89b or B+W 092 filter, you can leave the camera on 
autoexposure. It meters accurately.

>4.  Battery life.  I bought two extra batteries, after the first one needed
>recharging after 150 shots.  But, I shortened the review time to 1 sec (or
>even better turn it off), set the camera off time to 2 minutes, set the
>monitor level lower for User Setting 3 where I have high ISO levels set, and
>use an external unit to download the SD card (an Epson P2000).  This seems
>to have made a big difference, and I bet I get closer to 300 shots now.
>
>5.  SPOTS on the Sensor!  Well, not really.  What appeared to be tiny dust
>spots started appearing on the images.  In some images they seemed to be
>faint dark circles.  Turned out they were all on images from the Tri-Elmar,
>which had a dirty UV filter.  At small f/stops the dirt actually resolved
>onto the image.  At large f/stops the dirt as a dark fuzzy spot.  So, I will
>have to keep those new IR filters clean!
>
>6.  DNG issues.  Adobe seems to do a nice job with DNG (it is their creation
>after all), but other companies need to support it.  I am still learning
>Capture One, but meanwhile PS and Bridge are fine.  I am shooting DNG+JPG
>which works well.   On the Epson P2000 (which doesn't show DNG files), I can
>see the image from the JPG file.
>
>7.  B&W mode.  This makes the JPG into B&W, while the DNG file still retains
>the color information.  Best of both worlds.
>
>8.  Coding.  I have not tried a coded lens yet.  My widest lens is 28, so
>maybe this is not a problem.
>
>9.  Exposure.  I have found almost all of my images are right on using the A
>setting, and if not, I can see it immediately.
>
>Overall I am delighted with the camera.  I am taking it everywhere I go,
>with the T-E, which is like having a 35-70 zoom.  The handling is just like
>an M7 with a winder, and the images are beautiful.
>
>Regards,
>Bob Rose
>
>
>
>
>
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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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