[Leica] A non-scientific comparison of the E3 and M8u

[cummer at netvigator.com (H&ECummer)]

Hi Richard, and others who have commented.
I have an M8u and had an E3 - sold last summer to a birder in  
Saskatchewan.
It took me three tries to get a fully operational M8 and I am happy  
with it for what it does.
I am not rushing to buy an M9.
I used an Oly 330E for several years with my Leica R lenses and  
adapters and liked it well
enough to upgrade to the E3. The E3 is a well built, competent camera  
for its time, but its CMOS performance
has been outpaced by more recent full frame DSlrs like the Canon 5D  
MkII and the Nikon D700.
As everyone on the LUG knows I really like the D700 and rebayonted R  
lenses and have posted a lot of
pictures to illustrate the qualities of the combo.

See: <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/R+lenses+on+Nikon+D700/ 
 >

The point of this rambling is that I think comparisons should be made  
between like tools.
So if you are comparing the E3 to anything perhaps you should compare  
it with other Dslrs and in that case
I think the E3 will fall short of the Canon 5D II or the Nikon D700 -  
newer updated models with FF chips.

For the comparo, Richard, I looked at four photos and was able to pick  
out the M8 every time based on colour rendition.
I didn't think, like Nathan, to look at the picture dimensions.

But, what does it matter? The M8u is a great travel camera with superb  
fast lenses which overcome the less than stellar
high ISO performance. The E3 is a very strong competent platform for  
its matched zoom lenses and for R lenses with adapters.
Nothing wrong with the images from either - but they are different  
horses for different courses in my view.

My 2 cents - and just for fun on a Sunday morning, (I don't mean to  
bend anyone out of shape) - where the village next door is practicing  
a loud barong dance - free entertainment.
Cheers
Howard (just awake in Bali)