[Leica] Not Buying M8

[don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory)]

For John and all the other hold outs,While I respect personal decisions
especially when based on financials, not getting a digital camera makes
little sense.  The first question is about long term functionality.  This
question has been asked since electronics first appeared in consumer
electronics.  Yes, early adopters did pay a healthy price especially if you
look at companies no longer in the business like Zeiss Ikon and the Contarex
Electronic.  However, any reasonable person should believe that a Nikon,
Canon, or a Leica will still be repairable into the known future.  Your 20
year old F3 can still be repaired as is your AE-1.  Especially as the
shutter's are mostly Copal deriviatives the heart of the mechanism will
still click for many years.

Now, the real heart of a camera, imaging capabilities.  Here, digital wins
on all counts.  You have available a much wider choice of ISO's that are
truly useable.  6400 ISO is a current reality in a decent looking image.
 Color is also whatever choice you want; you can always have Velvia,
Ektachrome, Kodachrome, Tri-X, Panatomic-x in your camera for when you want
a special look.  Answering your creative side with digital you have a single
exposure or a 200 exposure roll in your camera whenever you wish.  Feeling
experimental?  With digital you will get immediate feed back to further your
creative side.

Yes, there are some changes to be made.  You soon forget what dilution of
Selectol Soft with Dektol to use for a hard negative.  You do have to learn
the underbelly of CSx or Lightroom/Aperture.

Last, specific to the cropped sensors mostly used by everybody.  Why is it
no problem to move from 6x9 to 6x6 to 35mm to half frame but it is a problem
to go to a 1.3 crop.  The image is what is in the viewfinder after all.
 Does it really matter if to get a 50mm look you are in fact using a 35mm
lens?  I will admit to some peevishnes at having to buy a 18mm to get a 24mm
look but hey, it is a great lens.

Now to the real question, is the M8 for real.  Well, it is very hard to find
a used one so it appears that almost all customers like it enough to keep
it.  Reality check on new electronic camera's; a good number are dead out of
the box.  This applies to 1Ds's as well as D300's and  40D's.  I have seen a
failure rate over 5% on these cameras.  Like any consumer electronic, buy
from someone who will take a return if defective then use the cr#p out of
the camera for the first eight days.  If the electronics hold up then it is
likely that your device will work for many years to come.

Embrace the future, quit paying $15 for 36 frames even if it is a devalued
US $.

Thanks for the bandwidth and as a good friend used to end it "Happy Snaps"

On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 11:57 AM, John Collier <jbcollier@shaw.ca> wrote:

> I was all set to buy an M8 after the announcement that it would be
> upgradeable in the future. With the recent change of heart (and
> management), I am going to wait and see. I am just a casual shooter
> with most years resulting in around thirty + rolls. I can justify my
> present Leicas (M6TTL, IIIG and a IIIF) with the fact that they last
> so long. A digital M is not only twice (or more) as expensive, it is
> also set to not be repairable in as little as five years. Heavy
> shooters and pros can easily justify the expense with the huge film
> and processing savings but I am not shooting enough to do the same.
> Yes I know it would free up my shooting, a fortune saved in
> processing, etc, etc and I agree with all those arguments. However, a
> digital camera also entails more frequent computer equipment upgrades
> as well.
>
> All this to say that I could justify the expense if I could be
> assured of a camera that would last, albeit with regular injections
> of cash. Even if I didn't do every upgrade, the fact that it is
> upgradeable means it also stays repairable. I could wait to until
> there were problems before upgrading. Will I eventually go digital?
> It sure looks like I will have to when chrome starts to dry up but,
> as things stand right now, I will wait until then.
>
> John
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
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>



-- 
Don
don.dory@gmail.com