My fist week with M8.2

[super7668]

Just back from Banff and Lake Louise, I took only the M8.2 with my only lens at this point, the Summicron 50/2. My other two CV lens are still sitting in Canada customs, I have no luck to bring them with me for the trip. This is my first RF camera, however it's surprisingly easy to use, I don't found any difficulty.

My impression:

The good:

Image quality is super, way better than my old D70.

The shutter is GREAT, very very quiet. I can easily hand held to 1/4 S.

M focus is nice, remind my old FM2. Focus is very precisely, no shift focus at all.

It is very small, easy to carry around, and didn't catch attention, it's a good thing to me.
There's a guy in my touring party, brought a huge Canon lens and a huge tripod, I saw him took it out only once in the first day. It actually makes me laugh, I was in the same position 10 years ago, two bodies and tow lens in the lowpro backpack. I feel great to use a RF every time I saw his huge backpack and the big iron on his neck. I felt his pain absolutely.

The bad:

Battery sucks. I have to charge daily, since it only last for like 200-250 shots max, and my wife usually will check photos on the bus from time to time.

I bought Mr. Zhou case and strap, it fits quite tight on the M8, the case has some cutting problem I guess. So it's not easy to take it out change battery or SDHC card. It's a traditional design I know, but hard to use with a case on.

Do I like the M8.2? Are you kidding? I absolutely LOVE it! I don't care about M9, this baby is good enough for me! I don't feel enjoying to shoot in a long time!

Please check some more pics on my flickr, and leave your comments too!

[super7668]

More.....

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Glad you are getting on with the M

Though you may want to edit the post a bit, it looks like some of the images are double ganger's.

.

[super7668]

Originally Posted by Bo_Lorentzen

Glad you are getting on with the M

Though you may want to edit the post a bit, it looks like some of the images are double ganger's.

.

Thanks, I must don't have enough sleep.

[stunsworth]

The battery life depends on how you shoot an how much you review the shots. It can easily handle 500 images under the right circumstances.

Can't comment on your Flickr images since there's no link to them, but looking at the images you've posted - and yes, some of them are duplicated - you need to edit more.

[super7668]

Originally Posted by stunsworth

The battery life depends on how you shoot an how much you review the shots. It can easily handle 500 images under the right circumstances.

Can't comment on your Flickr images since there's no link to them, but looking at the images you've posted - and yes, some of them are duplicated - you need to edit more.

I already removed duplicate one, thanks folks.

Here's the link, it didn't show up in my signature:

Banff & Lake Louise - a set on Flickr

[malland]

Glad you like the M8, but you might want to step back and look a bit more carefully at your picture many of which, particularly the third one above, look like they were shot by a refugee from the "maximum aperture school of photography", who would benefit from shooting only at f/5.6 and f/8 for some three months. You might want to read Mike Johnston's articles on depth of field.

—Mitch/Paris
Bangkok Hysteria©: Book Project

[super7668]

Originally Posted by malland

Glad you like the M8, but you might want to step back and look a bit more carefully at your picture many of which, particularly the third one above, look like they were shot by a refugee from the "maximum aperture school of photography", who would benefit from shooting only at f/5.6 and f/8 for some three months. You might want to read Mike Johnston's articles on depth of field.

—Mitch/Paris
Bangkok Hysteria©: Book Project

Thank you! I also noticed that I always tend to use larger aperture, and didn't consider DOF that much. Thanks for the link, I will keep learning.

[malland]

Looking at my post I see that I sound more sarcastic or snotty than I intended, but the recommendation to read the Mike Johnston articles is completely straight. I think that they're a good tonic for the desire to "isolate the subject" by blurring the background, which, in my view has been overdone to the point of cliché in portrait shooting. Make sure to read Johnston's earlier articles as well at these links:

The Online Photographer: Depth-of-Field Hell

The Online Photographer: What's a 'Fast Lens'?

The second link above, in the postscript, has a link to the following picture, which illustrates the issue:

http://pliki.optyczne.pl/ep1/17/foto09.jpg

The trouble being is that, going by pictures often posted on the web, many people seem oblivious to the ugliness of the background because they think that they are "isolating the subject".

—Mitch/Paris
Wild Beasts of Botswana

[biglouis]

A great collection and you are certainly demonstrating a good understanding of how to use this camera. I particularly like the night time shot of the hotel sign - and the cleverly caught picture of the bird (I suspect a big lump of iron would have scared the animal away). Not sure I agree with Mitch's comment, one important feature of the M-system lenses is that you can shoot at very wide apertures with confidence.

LouisB

[jaapv]

Happy that you're happy, and there certainly is merit, but you might want to consider a few things:
1. Posting one or two strong photographs in one thread is far more effective than a mish-mash of unrelated images.
2. Composition. All your images are centric. You were so happy with the camera that you focussed on the main subject and pushed the button. The only one where it is different (the girls) is the same but you appear to have missed focus. Learn about the rule of thirds, strong points, etc. Learn to focus-recompose.
3. See the shot before you take the photograph. Take the photograph only when you see the shot in the viewfinder. You'll take fewer but better photographs.
4. Switch off autoreview!! More shots were missed by this than by anything else. The action was in front of the photographer, but he never saw it, because the natural narcissistic trait of humans had taken hold of him: he was admiring his own work on the LCD....
5. Get your wife her own chimping battery

[Steve Ash]

Regarding the battery "problem" there are three options:

1) argue with your wife to stop reviewing
2) get a spare battery
3) get a "spare" wife

No.1 will instantly fail
No 2 is the cheapest option
No 3 is the most expanisive approach


Steve

[SJP]

4. get your wife her own M8 to play with (slighly cheaper than 3)

[hunghang]

Originally Posted by malland

Glad you like the M8, but you might want to step back and look a bit more carefully at your picture many of which, particularly the third one above, look like they were shot by a refugee from the "maximum aperture school of photography", who would benefit from shooting only at f/5.6 and f/8 for some three months. You might want to read Mike Johnston's articles on depth of field.

—Mitch/Paris
Bangkok Hysteria©: Book Project

Sure, you may as well dump all your M8.2 & lenses and invest in the GRD/GRDII and get the gritty B&W images with infinite DOF that everyone has to love. You have obviously wasted your money on fast lenses...

C'mon... that was harsh... just because you don't like it does not mean that others don't. Show me a photo that's not cliched.

[Mystic]

Gratulations to your new camera, I wish I would own such a nice thing too .