[Leica] IMG: M8 1st Shots and impressions.

[len-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier)]

Let me look for some 21mm stuff. I like it a lot. Turns into a 28mm.

Len


On Jan 18, 2007, at 5:37 PM, G Hopkinson wrote:

> Len the African Violets shot nearly put my eyes out!
> I like your sunrise, you must have good taste because it looks  
> remarkably like a shot I posted in the competition a while back ;-)
> It was a sunset from my backyard. Must be the time zone difference.
>
> That 21 looks to a great candidate to use on the M8. Do you have  
> some stuff to post taken with it with a film camera?
>
> 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
> Leonard Taupier
> Sent: Friday, 19 January 2007 02:20
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: [Leica] IMG: M8 1st Shots and impressions.
>
> I received my new M8 late yesterday afternoon. By the time the
> battery charged, it was already dark and pretty cold out. So I played
> around in the house experimenting with different lighting, lenses,
> and Ultra Violet photos.
>
> First impression. If you're shooting in tungsten lighting you better
> get the WB right for color or shoot b&w. My first color shots in my
> living room (WB tungsten) turned my blue chair purple. I expected
> that. So I took the same shot with a Tiffen hot mirror filter on the
> lens. The blue/purple chair turned brown. That I didn't expect so I
> took the same shot with my D200. Same tungsten WB, no filtering. The
> color came out exactly like the M8 hot mirror shot, brown chair. My
> only conclusion is I have some pretty screwy lighting in that room.
>
> I then decided to have a little fun. Put my Visoflex III and bellows
> II on the M8. Put an EL Nikkor 135 on the bellows and the whole thing
> on a tripod.  Pretty kludgy but everything fits perfectly. Didn't
> have anything to shoot except the leaves on my African Violet. No
> flowers in a couple months. Here it is. Black light and B+W UV
> bandpass filter.
>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LeonardT/M8/M8_UV1.jpg.html>
>
> I then spent the rest of the night trying to figure out why I
> couldn't put my photos on my computer. I thought I had a bad SD card.
> It was on Leica's list. Should work. It turned out my multi
> everything card reader doesn't like SD very much. I ended up using a
> little SD only reader I bought for my cell phone. Works like a champ.
>
> I then went to bed knowing at least that my camera works. Slept like
> a baby.
>
> This morning, after coffee, I went out to my cold, frosty backyard
> and looked for something to shoot in daylight. Took a few boring
> shots of hibernating shrubs and stuff but the sky looked pretty
> interesting so I shot that.
>
> <ISO 160, 21mm Elmarit ASPH, about f11>
>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LeonardT/M8/Dawn.jpg.html>
>
> A few impressions about the M8.
>
> It's an extremely well made camera. Mechanics and esthetics A+
>
> Capable of very fine images given the right lighting and camera setup.
>
> Purple problem doesn't bother me.
>
> Uses Leica glass. No vignetting with any lens I tried including the
> Noctilux at f1.
>
> Don't like jpg photos. Kinda dark in comparison to raw taken at the
> same time. Most noticeable on flash photos ( SF20 in A mode). RAW
> shots nicely lit. SF24D on order but I don't think that's the problem.
>
> Operation (mostly firmware dependent) not nearly as refined as any C
> or N digital I have ever used. (Many models, mostly N).
>
> I'm able to use CS2 to process raw files in exactly the same way as
> my C and N files. I did not install any other software on my Mac.
>
> I'm definitely not sorry I bought it. Need more time to learn it's
> idiosyncrasies. Like most of you I couldn't find a spare battery.
>
> Sorry for being so long winded but it's cold outside and I'm not
> going anywhere for awhile. Now to catch up with the last 100 or so
> LUG e-mails.
>
> Len
>
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