Building an M8 and M9 kit..

[Logic108]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I have the 24 Elmarit and the 50 'lux asph and the M8.2. I'm soon to add a 75mm and then when supplies become available - the M9.

 

Waiting sometimes has benefits as I'm really loving my M8 and wouldn't sell it and see it as a future compliment to the M9. The 24mm Elmarit is great but I feel the 50mm 'lux would benefit from FF. It's looking like I'll get the 75mm cron and from what I've seen it looks great on the M8 as a 100mm lens.

 

So I'm building a kit based on two cameras and 3 lenses. I'll have the following FOVs - 24mm, 32mm, 50mm, 65mm, 75mm, 100mm.

 

I'll have great landscape and portrait lenses plus a great low light lens.

 

Does anyone have anything to add to this kit? I think it suits my shooting style and represents a nice balance between versatility and small size.

[sanyasi]

I now have my M9 and a 35 and 50. Should receive a 90 this week. From what I understand, you would be advised to consider the Leica magnifier once you go above 50. They come in 1.25 and 1.40. After speaking with my dealer, I have placed an order for the 1.40, which I understand to be a relatively new addition to the product line.

 

Of course, you may want to wait until you have the lenses to see whether you need the magnifier, but a magnifier is suppose to greatly improve focusing by making everything bigger.

 

I also purchased the Leica grip. I like it a lot, but from reading the list, there are alternatives and people have differing perspectives.

 

Good luck and have fun.

 

Jack Siegel

[Logic108]

I think I will check out the magnifier when I get my 75mm. Thanks. Basically I am building on what I have and am thinking of a 6 month time period to build this kit.

[Philippe D.]

Terve.

I have the 24 Elmarit and the 50 'lux asph ... I'll get the 75mm cron

Those three lens are great optics. Perfect on either M8 or FF.

I also suggest the use of a magnifier for the last two.

I use the Megaperls 1.35x magnifier that also allows diopter adjustment.

[250swb]

 

Does anyone have anything to add to this kit? I think it suits my shooting style and represents a nice balance between versatility and small size.

 

Here is a radical thought. You like the 24mm on the M8 because it gives you a 28mm (ish) view, so unless you use a OV you won't be using it on the M9. But you like your longer lenses on the M8 because they give you a longer view, which you won't get by using them on the M9.

 

So to stop the M9 being redundant before you start (and to save changing IR filters around all the time) here is the logical solution, sell the M8. Instead buy a 28mm Summicron or Elmarit, and buy a 90mm (or 135mm) tele and these will fill the voids that moving to the M9 will create in your current lineup. You will have an even more lightweight setup and not need two bodies clanking around your neck.

 

Be careful you are not planning to keep the M8 because of a sentimental attachment, it may just end up in a drawer and eventually you will be re-gigging your lens lineup all over again if you buy lenses with that body in mind instead of the M9.

 

Steve

[chris_tribble]

Be careful you are not planning to keep the M8 because of a sentimental attachment, it may just end up in a drawer and eventually you will be re-gigging your lens lineup all over again if you buy lenses with that body in mind instead of the M9.

 

Steve

Tend to agree - my experience was that the M8 + M9 is a very difficult combination to live with. If you're happy with the M8 and want a second body, get a clean used M8.2 A real bargain if it suits. Otherwise decide you want to work with lenses at their native FOV and go in the M9 direction. It hurts, but it was the way I went.

[delander †]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I tried with an M8 and M9 for about a month and found it very difficult as Chris has posted above. Having bought one M9 in the end I decided to go for 2 M9s. It is just so much more simple.

 

Jeff

[Logic108]

Interesting replies. 3 posters who find they cannot work with both the M8 and M9. Certainly gives me pause for thought. I love the M8.2 too much to give it up. I will definitely be keeping it. Hmm. Some thinking to do.

[D&A]

Hi,

 

I tend to look at this from two perspectives (and based on my own experienced). If using both an M8 and M9, with a complement of lenses to be used on both cameras...then it does get a bit "busy" (can't at the moment come up with a better word), constantly taking on and off UVIR cut filters and if necessary remembering to change menu settings and putting on or removing 1.35x mag on a particular body when using lenses 50mm or longer (in my own case. It also then would be important to select what lenses one owns, in order to maximize which focal lengths are primarily used on which body, to get the most out of them.

 

I approached all this slightly different which may or not be workable, depending on ones intended use of both cameras...and certainly I can't say it's ideal, but it's been for the most part quite efficient...as long as I stick to my own self-imposed guidelines.

 

Its not an absolute, but I relegated the M9 for lenses 50mm and wider...which the M8.2 almost exclusively with lenses 50mm and longer. This was my logic in doing so and the why's and how's.... Generally, when more pixels are needed, it's for those images that present an abundance of details, which is generally more likely to occur in shots taken with wide angle lenses (landscapes etc.)...hence the use of the M9 for lenses 50mm and wider (and it's primarily used with 35mm lenses and wider with the 50mm lens being the "swing" lenses used on both cameras). Since I wear glasses, the 28mm frameline (the widest in the M9 body) is hard to see..but that's alright, as I use pretty much the 35mm as my standard lens on that body and when I go wider, then an external finder is used. Lenses 35mm and wider DO NOT have a UVIR filter on them, nor is it needed on the M9. If I occasionally use the 50mm on the M9 (it's the swing lens for both cameras)...the UVIR is always left on that lens for use on the M8.2 also...and has little untold affect when occasionally used on the M9.

 

For the M8.2, which uses 50mm lenses and longer...all those lenses have UVIR filters on them as expected. Since the 35mm is generally on the M9 (providing a normal 35mm angle of view)...the 50mm which starts out on the M8.2, provides a nice mid length portrait angle of view of appox 67mm...a nice complement to the 35mm on the M9. I also sometimes will leave a 75mm on the M8.2...so then the two resulting focal lengths would be 35mm (on the M9) and 100mm on the M8.2 . Of course I generally take (have) more than two lenses with me....when I take both bodies. I should also mention that with this arrangement, I can leave a 1.35x mag on the M8.2 eyepiece at all times, aiding in focusing with these longer lenses, and I feel makes a considerable difference in nailing shots with the longer lenses...especially the 135mm which I often have need to use. The focusing patch is idea in size specifically for this use (with lenses 50mm and loner) and I can clearly see the 50mm framelines with this arrangement. It's proven both ideal and an advantage. generally the additional MP aren't needed in shots with these focal lenses,and if it ever came to it that they were...in a pinch, I can still put a longer lens on the M9...and even leave UVIR filters on, since it has little effect in most circumstances with that body (with those longer focal lengths.

 

The one area which I haven't yet found an ideal solution is while the 1.35x is left on the M8.2 at all times resulting in the focusing patch enlarged (and also has built in dipoter)...the only was to sort of equal this out with the M9 (so it didn't look jarringly different when focusing)...was to try using a 1.15x, so that I didn't loose the 35mm framelines in the viewfinder. Unfortunately the 1.15x I tried my have had an issue (or was misaligned)...so the jury is out on that one.

 

Again let me emphasize, I'm not saying this is ideal over having two M9 bodies...but actually have found in many instances an advantage to me...and even find the longer apparent reach of the 135mm on the M8.2 a boom...but certainly understand that using a 135 on the M9 and cropping down would essentially result in a similar image and file size. The M8.2 doesn't have the 135mm framelines (which is easy to get around)...but with the 1.35x always on that camera..90mm and 135mm shots due to focusing accuracy has ben a big plus, and lenses 50mm and wider benefit from the increased resolution of the M9, especially when printing large format prints...which I'm often required to do.

 

It all (what I've written) may sound complecated, but it isn't...and after a while becomes second nature. Just my own personal point of view.

 

Dave (D&A)

[wattsy]

Interesting replies. 3 posters who find they cannot work with both the M8 and M9.

 

Make that 4. It's not that I couldn't work with both an M8 and M9 (though I can see how it would be awkward, not to mention that the the default DNG conversions are quite different), it's more that I can't see the point.

[Logic108]

D&A thanks for your detailed reply. It made for a very interesting read. I agree with you about splitting the lenses for each camera. I think that would work. One reason for not wanting to seperate from the M8 is that I adore it's B&W image quality.

 

Well I have a long time to think about it and I'm in no rush to get the M9. I have lenses to buy first. Leica has got to me. I'm becoming a collector. But yes I think your reply clarified what I had in my mind about how the M8 and M9 could co-exist.

[hoppyman]

Everyone loves their M8 and its output... until you actually get your M9

I predict that you will be back saying you are finding you leave your M8 at home.

[Leicaiste]

Have both and since then the M8 is relegated to the role of a never used backup.

[Logic108]

This seems to be the common concensus. Perhaps I shoudn't buy an M9 after all.

[hoppyman]

Resistance is futile,. You will be assimilated.

[thompsonkirk]

My experience says 'Don't do it.'

 

I found it very easy to handle 2-M8u's at the same time, but not a mixed pair; so now you're up to 5 on folks who find the M8+m9 combination more than a little awkward to work with. From another thread I have the impression many of us were too optimistic about the ease of switching back & forth.

 

It's not just the filters. It's also that unless you buy the costly new f1.4 wide angles, you sacrifice an f-stop whenever you go back to M8 & use a 21 instead of a 28 Summicron, or the 28 Summicron instead of a 35 Summilux.

 

It's important to review what sort of work you want to do. If you print only up to A3 or 11x17 or occasionally 13x19 size, the IQ difference between M8 & 9 matters less than the convenience of having truly complementary camera bodies (& filter systems). Only if one regularly prints on 17x22 or above, or if one can't frame things well & must crop a lot, will the M9 offer a distinct IQ advantage.

 

At present my M8u is my constant-companion carry-around camera, but when I shoot purposefully, I always use M9 – because I can see an IQ difference when I make large prints. In the long run the M8 will be replaced by a 2d M9. I somewhat regret abandoning my pair of silver + black M8u's.

 

Kirk

[D&A]

Kirk Wrote ---> "you sacrifice an f-stop whenever you go back to M8 & use a 21 instead of a 28 Summicron, or the 28 Summicron instead of a 35 Summilux."

 

 

The above statement is precisely true, even for one who has an M8 and M9, but only if they take their M8 out shooting without the M9 body. I can't speak for others, but in reference to my lengthy sensrio I wrote quite a few posts above....if I did go out with only one body, it would be the M9...so a 21 will be a 21 and a 28 wil be a 28 etc. If I go out with two bodies (an M8 and M9) then the wide angle lenses as I described abovem would only need to be used on the M9 and the normal and telephotos on the M9.

 

Again permit me to empahsize, everyone is right, two M9's idelay are the way to go for most. All I was trying to show, was that for myself, I found a very convientient and even advantagous scheme to use a M8 along side an M9.

 

One additional advnatge is I often find myself doing IR work and the M8 excells at this, with ease. So by having the M8 along side the M9...I have this advantage at all time whn I take both bodies, besides what I consider an advnatge of deicating the M8 to telephoto use with a 1.35x mag.

 

One other thing in the equation is I've known quite a few that already have a M8 (or M8.2) and have just been able to afford one M9...and for now, cannot afford another M9, even if they sold their M8...so they have to find a way to work with this and have a back-up body...at least for the time being.

 

Dave (D&A)

[LuxBob]

I am neither an M8 or M9 user, although I am considering an M8 as soon as I can find some time to visit the right shop and do some tests.

I really dislike changing lenses, this was so in film days and I still use my R8 from time to time and is especially so in digital because of the risk of dust and messing around, sometimes juggling in not the best conditions. If I am forced to think of more than one lens I will take two cameras, one will usually be with a 35mm lens and the other usually with a tele zoom (DSLR). My mind boggles that anyone would want to carry around so many closely matched lenses. Choose one, travel light, spend more time concentrating on the composition and just move around.

On the other hand I am not a pro.