Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/10/28

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Subject: [Leica] Rockport Leica Seminar - M8 Impressions
From: hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson)
Date: Sat Oct 28 13:37:57 2006

Well done, Richard. Interesting and informative. You're now enshrined in LUG 
history.
The ultimate endorsement in a user review, as well, you ordered one.
Cheers
Hoppy 

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org 
[mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Richard S. Taylor
Sent: Sunday, 29 October 2006 04:03
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] Rockport Leica Seminar - M8 Impressions

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

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In reply to: Message from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor) ([Leica] Rockport Leica Seminar - M8 Impressions)