[Leica] having met an m8, i've decided i don't need one ....

[bd at bdcolenphoto.com (B. D. Colen)]

Good God, Kyle - Think of how much better that project would be shot with an
M8 - You could call the book:
Gun Owners and Their Magenta Casts


On 11/19/06 5:19 PM, "Kyle Cassidy" <kcassidy@asc.upenn.edu> wrote:

> i went up to leica day at jim shulman's, had some lasagnia, then talked 
> with a
> bunch of luggers about gossen luna pro's and stuff, just like in the old 
> days,
> then we swaggered over to the camera store to meet the digital m8. from the
> moment i put my hands on it i was ... underwhelmed.
>  
> some thoughts:
>  
> * leica's basically asking us to drop $5,000 on a camera that's not as 
> good as
> a DSLR half it's price (or even a third) -- so in exchange it needs to 
> give me
> something -- it needs to get me feeling like i was years back when i used 
> my
> leicas and was in love with my camera (i am no longer in love with my 
> camera,
> but my pictures are better -- it's a sad trade, but if your goal is the
> picture, it's one i'll make, if reluctantly).
>  
> * the M8 _sort of_ feels like an m. but not really. immediately upon 
> picking
> it up i noticed two tactile sensations:
>  
>   1) it's not as solid feeling
>   2) it feels a lot thicker
>  
> the front view in the brochure makes it look like a beautiful classic m. 
> from
> the top, it looks like an m and a half glued together.
>  
> * i clicked the shutter and it went "clunk-whirr!" -- like an slr with an
> old-school winder. with all this going through my mind, one of the camera
> sales people said "imagine taking photos at two frames a second!" -- i'm
> already taking photos at five frames a second with my leica d200.
>  
> * having read the magenta article at jim's earlier in the day -- my brain
> connected the dots -- not quite an M, three times more expensive than a 
> better
> camera, released with bugs ....
>  
> like saul on the road to damascus, i had an ephiphany -- or at least a
> breakthrough. i saw the world in a clearer light. i want the m8 to be a
> digital version of the m6. i want that feeling i had five years ago, but i
> also want good photos, the best photos that my cameras can get me in the
> compromise of speed, size, and time. the m8 isn't going to help me, it's 
> just
> a $5,000 excuse to set me back slightly at the cost of dilluding myself 
> into
> thinking i'm having more fun than i am. like the Wedding Guest, i went 
> home a
> sad and wiser man.
>  
> this week i'll be in the pacific northwest photographing gun owners, and 
> i'll
> be doing it with the leica d200.
>  
> kc
>  
> 
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