[Leica] M8 and non-converted Leica M lenses

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Brian Reid offered:
Subject: Re: [Leica] M8 and non-converted Leica M lenses


> We've been discussing this for a while.
>
> Nobody actually knows the answer. There is lots of speculation. Cynics are 
> speculating that the coding is good only for EXIF data. Computer 
> programmer types are speculating that the coding constitutes an 
> information interface that will be increasingly useful in the future. 
> Loyalists are speculating that the camera's firmware can correct known 
> lens issues if it knows what the lens is.<

Ok folks, you know it's old dumb butt here about this kind of stuff, so a 
question?

This EXIF data, is it crucial to taking pictures and producing good prints? 
I know from roaming around pushing buttons in the 20D and seen on a few 
other digi cameras, I find things that tell me what camera, what lens, what 
time of day and it seems the only thing missing, what the weather was like 
right along side the image. However, is all this stuff absolutely meaningful 
to a successful capture of a peak moment. IF NOT!  What's the big deal?

For instance, ROM lenses and non ROM lenses. Didn't we hear all kinds of 
worrying and disasters will strike if you didn't have ROM lenses with an 
R8-9 whatever? Bloody well nothing happened other than ..... you got to know 
what the flash was set for! Balderdash, such nonsense! And my gosh the world 
would end if you used a non-ROM on the body. Oh yes and many rushed to have 
their lenses ROM adapted! At I believe for a sum of $150. Doesn't this 
amount sound similar to the adapting of M lenses for the M8??

We shot film with M's, there wasn't anything to tell the film what lens it 
was? And without question many folks did a damn fine job of producing 
remarkable photographs.  So is this information absolutely crucial to the 
well being of our photographic results?

Oh and please don't give me some esoteric digital technical stuff answer 
when we have folks using un-marked lenses on an M8 and having excellent 
results. When others are sweating like stuck pigs about not having "perfect 
results" when using a lens with the tag on it for an extra $150.00 bucks!

Why not hang up this stuff until the crew of this list have maybe a 100 M8's 
out there and we get some real life results? And not a pile of hypothetical 
techie stuff before "real people" pound the hell out of M8's in a multitude 
ways of shooting.

OK that's it, back to the afternoon football game! ;-) Have a nice day! :-) 
:-)

ted