[Leica] M8: "I think it's going to be all right" -- NOT!

[firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin)]

>>We love Leica because it is a quick, silent, unobtrusive
>
> None of which describe the M8.
>
> I still maintain that the M8 is failure if one looks at it from the point
> of
> view of it being a successor to the M7, MP, etc.
>
> Some people will accept it for it is.
>
> But it is simply is not an acceptable tool to replace a film M for much of
> the type of photography that the pre-M8 cameras excelled at.
>
> Period.

Dave, you are clearly very unhappy with the state of progress in the M
line, and I think your comments have some merit. Sadly, the M you want
would be "slated" by the general "run of the mill" digital world, which
demands the features of digital imaging built into the camera, not
"pre-loaded" from the computer. Design teams make compromises, and they
have unbalanced your love of the evolution of the M, but this does handle
like an M. It is slightly larger, but even some keen camera users I've met
with it have not noticed it to be anything but one of my usual quirkly odd
rangefinder cameras. "When are you going to get a digital camera" was one
comment ;-)

It is as fast as any M, it focuses the same way, the viewfinder is bright
and essentially unaltered. Until you press the shutter, there is no
difference. Then the image is taken with NO difference other than faster
shutter speeds THEN there is a solid noise, which distinguishes this as
the first digital M. The noise stops, and the camera is operating like an
M again, as long as you choose not to look at the image review screen.

Load your M's and enjoy the lack of this noise, but getting a rangefinder
digital to the market has not been easy for a small company, and I remain
haappy to have one ;-)


Cheers