[Leica] Leica Akademi - more impressions

[cummer at netvigator.com (Howard Cummer)]

Hi Alastair,
I sat next to David at the Akademi and can only second his excellent  
comments. I had one of the cameras with white balance problems and  
fireware 1.00. It exhibited the same characteristics as the prototype  
which I used briefly in Vancouver, thanks to Tom and Henning - that  
is in auto white balance when you turned on the camera the first  
picture was too blue and then the second and subsequent pictures  
would be corrected until the camera was turned off and turned on  
again. Sometimes the same problem would occur when you started the  
camera - sometimes not. A couple of cameras with fireware 1.04 also  
exhibited the same problem so it ain't fixed yet. Solms is very aware  
of the problem and working on it diligently. Hopefully when the  
cameras ship (plans now for November) the fireware will be stablized.  
As David said everyone participating in the morning shoot out and  
about in Wetzlar were very enthusiastic about the camera - including  
some locals who came up to ask about it. It is basically an M series  
camera with a digital capability and very intuitive to use. The  
rangefinder in my unit worked very well (although as David reported  
there were a few flare problems with a couple of units) and it is  
light years ahead of the only comparison - the RD 1 rangefinder.  
Shooting RAW and Fine JPEG together really uses up space - less than  
40 shots on a 512 SD card - but the capture One LE included with the  
camera looks to be quite versatile in getting a good quality out of  
the RAW file - here I confess to being a newby with a lot to learn. I  
use Photoshop CS which I am sure will eventually read the RAW files  
from the M8 using the DNG standard.
As one participant said in the summing up at the Akademi - Leica have  
hit a home run on this one - I just hope they can deliver on time and  
with few bugs. They really do deserve to win big on this one.
Cheers
Howard (back in HK with BIG Jet Lag and going to bed - even though I  
know it is the wrong thing to do)