[Leica] M8 and the WAR

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Both the D100 and M8 are digital "first outs" by the respective companies
Nikon and Leica.
And that's where their similarity ends.
The D100 is a plastic cameras which broke DSLR price barriers. It got me
into digital photography.
The M8 also broke price barriers but on the high end.
Is a very high priced piece of gear made  painstakingly in small batches...
By people who are perhaps more comfortable with watch like mechanisms than
electronic ones.
A NON DSLR. A rangefinder.
I hate to see them thrown in the same pile as far as use or results.
Apples and oranges.
I think the nikon is the apple but it could go the other way.


It was never 140 degrees F when I was taking pictures or my clock would have
stopped too.


If the D100 was not perfect it was ok was it was a grand and a half and the
D200 was a real camera made for serious use and we all just got that when
the time came. I don't even use the D100 as a back up body I use a D40x.



mark@rabinergroup.com
Mark William Rabiner



> From: Adrian Weale <adrian.weale@btinternet.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:03:09 +0100
> To: 'Leica Users Group' <lug@leica-users.org>
> Subject: RE: [Leica] M8 and the WAR
> 
> All very true.  When I went out to Iraq in 2003 (as a soldier rather than a
> photographer) I took my new Nikon D100 DSLR and my Leica M6.  The M6
> performed perfectly but the D100 was very erratic - I assume because of the
> heat as it worked perfectly back in Europe when I returned there.  Amongst
> the issue which plagued it in Iraq were frequent failures of the shutter to
> fire at all when I pressed the release, and occasional failures of the
> camera to record anything when the shutter had apparently fired.  
> Conditions
> out there are very demanding on all kinds of equipment and anything not
> built to cope will struggle.  Clearly the Nikon D100 wasn't up to it, and
> that may be the case for the M8 too.
> 
> Adrian
> 
> Frank Fillipone wrote:
> 
> The article represents one person's experience in one environment.  It is a
> harsh environment ( War PJ ) with significant demands on performance ( not
> pixels, but reliability, bad heat and care issues,  and speed of shooting)
> above and beyond the "normal" use from Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs
> or normal Joe's).  Yet the guy has several good comments to make in the
> overall use of the M8.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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