Re: [Leica] Doug Herr tries R8!

[thibault collin <tc-lnc@u-picardie.fr>]

Thanks for your R8 review Doug.
Actually, I looked at your web page and really enjoyed your pictures. I was
even amazed that you did all that with either Nikon F or Leicaflex SL.
So you're still using these old dinosaurs?
I have a SL2, a SL a SLmot and a R6. I prefer the SLs for main purpose but I
like the metering of the R6 as well as its lightweight. I was also a long
time Nikon F user...
Thanks again,
Thib.

At 23:15 14/11/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Those of you who have met me probably have figured out that I'm something
>of a traditionalist or minimalist.  I prefer manual cameras, DOS over
>Windoze, my simple ol' f/6.8 Telyts over any new-fangled gee-whiz
>Super-AFS-D-USM-IS-L-800mm f/2.8 lens, and the SL over anything else.  This
>weekend at Point Lobos State Reserve (in California) I had an opportunity
>to use an R8 for a day, thanks to Tom Brichta, Leica sales rep, and Jim
>Brick, who organized the Northern California LUGfest in the Monterey area.
>
>I used the R8 with no winder, and with the standard viewscreen, on my 400mm
>and 560mm f/6.8 Telyts, and my "new" 250mm f/4 Telyt.  All lenses were used
>with Leica shoulder stocks.  A pair of Black Oystercatchers obligingly
>appeared in the Weston Beach area and gave me many opportunities to test
>the R8.
>
>The Black Oystercatcher is a quail-sized bird with long legs and a long
>chisel for a bill.  It uses this bill to pry limpets and other mollusks off
>the rocks along the shoreline, and having removed the mollusk from its
>rock, picks the morsel out of the shell.  The bird is a charcoal-black
>color with chalk-colored legs and a red bill.  Fortunately the eyes are not
>black; they looked nearly white to me.  Backgrounds were either wet rock
>(nearly black) or surf foam (nearly white).
>
>As I expected, the varied and rapidly-changing backgrounds, plus my need
>for exposures of a black, yet detailed, main subject gave the matrix and
>averaging meters fits.  I resorted to using the R8's spot meter in manual
>mode and after an initial adjustment period found it to be simple to use,
>precise and gave me readings identical to those of my trust SL.  This is
>the first electronically-controlled camera I've used that handles as well
>in manual mode as my SL does.
>
>The Oystercatcher is an active bird; most of the time using a tripod would
>have been an excersize in frustration.  Handling with the long Telyts and a
>shoulder stock is a big deal to me.  Add in the fact that I use my left
>eye, and I need to keep my hand on the camera body (see exposure notes
>above; it means I don't use an electric release with the shoulder stock's
>handgrip) and I've got a set of demands few cameras can meet.  This is
>where the R8 is at its best.  My grip on the camera body is secure and far
>enough from the viewfinder that using my left eye is comfortable, and I can
>still work the meter pattern switch, film advance lever and shutter speed
>dial with ease.
>
>The viewfinder: the info bar below the viewscreen is simple, clear, easy to
>understand at a glance, unobtrusive and gives me all the info I wanted.  If
>I had never used and SL, I'd say the viewscreen is the brightest and
>easiest to use of any SLR.  Having used the SL for 20 years I can see the
>R8's viewscreen is one of the best, but it's not as good as the SL.  My
>only disappointment with the camera.  I used a few rolls of Kodachrome 64
>in both the R8 and the SL  I'll need to wait a couple of weeks to get the
>chromes back, to see if there's a difference in the in-focus ratios.
>
>The Verdict?  Listen to Ted and Eric.  This is a wonderful camera.  Simple
>to use, flexible enough for nearly any task, solid, reliable and a joy to
>hold.  If I had hadn't already been using the SL for 20 years I'd rate it
>an unconditional "buy".  With my SL experience I'll say that if the
>brightest, clearest, easiest-to-focus viewscreen with slow lenses is
>important to you, the SL (or SL2) is king.  If you are using faster lenses,
>or the need for TTL flash or a winder or auto-exposure or interchangeable
>viewscreens or any one of the R8's features is greater than your need for
>the SL's viewscreen, the R8 is IT.
>
>Doug Herr
>Sacramento
>http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt
>
>