[guy_mancuso]

Wow interesting title, what does it mean. From the beginning of the M line ( i am new to the M but i watched it for years) it had a feeling that it was destined to be the stealth reportage camera that is small , lean and quiet to capture certain types of photography. Street work, journalist , wedding guys and so on but it was always the low light camera that no one dared put a flash on it never mind use a tripod. From the film days it was Black and white photography that the film was pushed , pulled and shreded to create artistic images ala the HCB era and it has been very successfull at that and also had some of the best glass the world made. That theory continues on with the new M8 or at least that was the intention from leica was to make a digital film m. they did and basically it followed the tradition of the film Line , hence it kept the M title.

Now as this camera was on the rumor boards and announcements made many of us thought this would continue to be the reportage camera that we know of the M. We and i include myself here thought great a digital M to do event work , PR stuff and wedding work that these camera's have been known for. This was my thought also i can get two of these and let the DMR do other duty like the commercial work and use these at higher ISO an do the other stuff. Flash forward

Okay now apparently 15000 people have these in there hands and as we get through some of the issues the noise is pretty darn good for most folks work some out there maybe better and some a lot worse and if we left it right there , It did the job leica designed it do be a digital film camera that can handle higer ISO for available light work.

STOP now put everything i just said and put it over in the corner on the table and leave all thoughts of this as a reportage camera just forget it exist.


Let's debunk that thoery of a reportage camera.

Now what we did NOT count on. Did anyone think this would be extremely sharp and carry micro contrast like no ones business and that it maybe good for god forbid something BESIDES a reportage camera. Did anyone think it would have the exposure range that is in the same park as the DMR and closely coming into the MF digital world. remember these are small MF backs inside the body. CCD no AA filter , Kodak sensors like the Phase One backs. Did anyone think the color, contrast and saturation of the lenses with a digital sensor would start to look like Kodachrome. BIG question did anyone stop and think this could be something besides a reportage camera. I DID NOT EITHER, BUT I DO NOW.

Ernest just rolled over and said oh shit. What have we done. well i will tell you . You gave us something different that was not expected. I can take this camera and do work with strobes and colored gells and produce images like i do with my DMR and probably better. We could actually use this to make 30 x40 inch prints. We can use this at low ISO and high ISO with or without flash. I can actually put it on a tripod and use a on camera flash. Pause okay i will wait from the fainting spell you all just had.

I sit here today and listen to all this high ISO crap and say who cares this thing can actually do something that it was NOT designed to do. Now should i be checking myself in to the guys in the white jackets or did i strike a different thought pattern. I don't know but i do know one thing it just ain't a reportage camera anymore ( bad English and all).

Something to Ponder