[Leica] M8 and me

[freakscene at weirdness.com (Marty Deveney)]

I like to have things a while before I decide what I think of them.

I bought an M8 last November:

It's my first _serious_ foray into digital.  I'm the kind of photographer
who undertakes personal projects, often with significant effort in a
short space of time, but I am not a professional photographer, nor do I
try to make a serious living out of it.  It's been pretty tough, I've got
to say and ironically, one of the biggest motivators for working with my
M7 over the last few months has been the desire to cure the frustration
of working with the M8.

Everything you've read is true and wrong at the same time.  Some things
will hit some people harder and some things will be irrelevant.  Having a
digital camera that works like my M7 and retains the viewing system is
important to me.  The 1.3 crop is neither here nor there, neither are
many of the other problems like noise (I rarely rated film faster than
640 in my M7).  One of the things that isn't immediately apparent is that
good digital sensors punish poor technique.  You learn right away, too. 
Things that would look okay on film even at 8x10 just do not hold up,
because the temptation to view at '100%' is there and it's so easy to
do.  So even if your files print okay at 8x10, you'll know where the
limit lies - this didn't really happen with film.

The system really can take full advantage of the lenses.  Resolution
exceeds any 35mm film apart from carefully developed microfilms.  Colour
rendition is better than anything apart from Kodachrome.  The Kodak
sensor has many, many advantages, even if the Canon and Sony sensors have
other, different strengths.  And it's small and handy and has a clear,
bright viewfinder.  And it uses my M lenses.

But more than anything, it's made my photography constant, rather than
sporadic.  It's just easier because I can change the ISO at will and it's
free.  We went to an Indian wedding, hung out with friends, their kids
and pets (I like cats, but I HATE cat photos but found myself taking
some).  I shot during dinners at conferences and workshops and got a
quick snap of a dying friend and mentor.  I'm using more colour, because
my B&W conversions still suck and the CCD records highlights differently
from film (and I like the way highlights look on film and have become
sensitive to how they look from printing loads of negs).  But I'm easy
about it too; Hoppy took it for a day and I was completely unconcerned. 
It's just become something I've got and use all the time.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene/mate/

If I wasn't into Leicas, an Oly 410 would probably suffice.  But I got
used to looking straight through and focusing years ago.  And with the
M8, I'll have a better and more complete document of my life.  I'm not
pretending that anyone will care, except me.  Neither am I saying that
anyone else should necessarily get or use this camera, but I like it.

Marty

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