Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/10/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Carl and Armenne of Park Square Camera (now Camera Corner in Rockport) did a terrific job for us, just as you would have expected if you've ever been to one of their Seminars on Cape Cod. Rockport was its usual rock-bound beautiful self though a bit chilly at times. Ted may be mellowing with age. During the photo critique, his only response to some obviously bad shots was only stunned silence or, in one case, with only a minor snarl, "Would whoever took this picture please tell me after we're done what motivated you to take this shot?" It was a pleasure to meet many new people and make new friends, including Mark Davison and Ed Kowaleski of LHSA who appear in a couple of the photos below. It was great 3-day party. May the new "tradition" continue. Here are my impressions of the M8 after about six-hours with one in Rockport. It feels like a Leica M from the first touch and operates so much like one that my right thumb, as others have noted, went for the wind lever more than once. It's a bit lighter than the M7 and slightly thicker but in hand it felt so little different that I forgot about the differences almost at once. The three-position shutter release feels just like the one on my M7. The shutter sound is indeed like an M, but sharper and might attract attention in a quiet environment. One look through the viewfinder, which is remarkably bright, and you forget completely about it not being a full-frame camera. So what if that frame that looks so much like the 50mm frame on the M7 comes up when you insert a lens with "35" on the barrel, "it makes no never mind" as my grandmother used to say. You simply forget about it. 35 is the new 50; 28 the new 35! B&W mode gives you a B&W image on the LCD and B&W thumbs on the resulting JPG and DNG files, at least in Portfolio. The DNG file, opened in PS/CS, was in color, though. None of my lenses are coded, and they all worked fine. I tried my 50 current Elmarit (extended of course), current Summicron 28mm ASPH, and the current 35 Summicron ASPH. I haven't spent enough time with the images yet to say much about vignetting but there was none obvious with any of the lenses I used with the subjects I shot. It may be there, I just haven't looked for it very hard yet. I shot at ISO 160, 640 and 1250. Just never got around to trying 2500 for some reason but did see some images at that sensitivity from another user's files. On the camera's LCD the noise was hardly a problem at all, even enlarged. On the computer screen, the chroma noise was obvious and not really pleasant at 100% size but rather like some 3200 speed films I've used. At 1250, the noise wasn't bad at all to my eye and since this more than sensitive enough for what I do, the noise at 2500 is not an issue. Besides, I suspect some careful level setting and a trip through Noise Ninja might fix it "good enough" anyway. I don't expect ISO 3200 films to be grainless, so I don't expect ISO 2500 digital to be noiseless, either, especially with the minimal internal noise reduction (I'm told) intended to increase sharpness. I know Canon does better noise-wise, but that's OK given the relative sizes, weights and ease of use of the cameras. To my eye, the images are simply beautiful with all the detail and snap you expect from Leica lenses. Others on the LUG know far more about high-quality imaging than I, and I will let them address any detailed concerns they might have. To me, I open the images on my computer and often find my lips forming into a big "Wow!" Lots of detail, great sharpness, great contrast. Terrific! The pictures below, with one exception, are straight-from-the camera JPGs. Some need cropping, others I already know look better in B&W, but I want to show what the camera will do on its own. ISO 160 Outside, gray day, soft light, auto white balance http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010840_160_web.jpg.html http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000008_160_web.jpg.html Outside, clear day, harsh light, auto white balance http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010860_160_web.jpg.html Indoors, gray day, even light, auto white balance http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000018_160_web.jpg.html ISO 640 At 640 and above it begins to be interesting to look at noise and I've included 100% crops with two of these pictures. Inside, gray day, mixed light, auto white balance http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000036_640_web.jpg.html and it's 100% crop http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1000036_crop_640_web.jpg.html Inside, just after sunrise, auto white balance. This picture was rotated slightly in PS to straighten and lighten it slightly for presentation at the seminar but I made no other changes. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010838_640_web.jpg.html Inside, tungsten balance manually chosen http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010834_640_web.jpg.html and its 100% crop. This black lampshade has a darker black pattern running through it that is easily visible in the original JPG and which I hope will show up here. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010834_640_crop_web.jpg.html IS0 1250 Inside, tungsten balance manually chosen http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010823_1250_web.jpg.html and its 100% crop. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/ROCKPORT/L1010823_1250_crop_web.jpg.html Some quibbles and concerns: The on/off switch rotates around the shutter release and also selects single-shot, multiple-shot and self-timer modes. It's awfully easy to move it inadvertently. I accidentally took four or five pictures out of 138 in either the multiple-shot or self-timer modes. The sample I had tended to overexpose slightly with respect to the way I meter so I dialed in -1/3 stop correction and was happier with the results at all ISO levels. Deep reds tended to saturate and go magenta in some of my pictures. I was using PS CS to open the DNGs and don't know if the same thing would happen with Capture One. This may be operator error, or it might be built into the firmware, or the PS CS DNG converter. I just don't know. The camera I had used firmware V1.06. I'm told this is the release version. This ain't your father's M5 reborn as a digital, as a few have speculated here. It's a great camera. I loved using it and hated giving it back, so I ordered one. November delivery, I am told. -- Regards, Dick