less classic, more ergonomic

[hankg]

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What do you think? Sacrifice the classic profile to add a place for the thumb where the wind tab used to be and an anatomical grip for better handling. Put an ISO dial where the shutter release was and move the release to the grip.

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[Eoin]

Sacrilege, take that man outside and flog him

 

While I like the idea of the thumb cutout and the ISO dial, the enlarged handgrip add's unremovable bulk to the camera. Interesting concept though.

[Riley]

you can use a lot more subtle grip

the LC1 grip is quite enough even with a 2lb wide lens and Metz 54 on it

 

move the iso dial to the rewind position on the left

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[4season]

Yuck, the added bulk of an SLR without the TTL viewing!

 

Flogging's too good for him

[johnastovall]

I like it. Now put a better IR filter on the sensor and I'll buy it.

[plasticman]

What i find funny is that people equate their own personal preferences with an objective measure of ergonomy.

 

I personally prefer the flat shape of camera bodies - like the M's or my old Olympus OM's. I find that the lumpy 'anatomical' grips give no added holding benefit, and personally feel that they add fatigue when holding a camera for long periods of time (i have small hands, incidentally).

 

Plenty of other cameras you can buy with that ugly design. ;-)

[audidudi]

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While I like the idea of the thumb cutout and the ISO dial, the enlarged handgrip add's unremovable bulk to the camera. Interesting concept though.

 

More bulk to pack in a case, perhaps, but more bulk when in use? It looks to me that when the camera is in your hand -- which, of course, is where it should be when in use! -- then the extra bulk simply occupies the "wasted" space inside the curl of your fingers...

 

Personally, though, I don't like big grips and so far as my tastes-and-preferences are concerned, the LC1's "bump" -- it's too small to call a grip -- is about the upper limit for me.

[mat_mcdermott]

I personally prefer the flat shape of camera bodies - like the M's or my old Olympus OM's. I find that the lumpy 'anatomical' grips give no added holding benefit, and personally feel that they add fatigue when holding a camera for long periods of time (i have small hands, incidentally).

 

I agree entirely. Maybe it's a small hands thing...

[marknorton]

I think it's a pity they didn't take advantage with the M8 grip of putting a larger, longer life battery in the handle...

[jrc]

The optional M8 grip works pretty well, IMHO, and it's compact. As far as batteries are concerned, I wish they'd used a standard one of some kind -- maybe from Sony. You can buy a lot of those just in regular electronics stores. The battery wouldn't really be a problem if you could have a half-dozen of them, and they were cheap and readily available. But I think Leica saw this as another profit center; and it may be. If they sell 10,000 cameras and most people want at least 2 batteries, that's not a bad little return for a small company, on what must be a three-or-four dollar battery at cost...

 

JC

[Iron Flatline]

I switch ISO a lot, and wish I had a dial for it.

[puigvert]

I am not going to say the form of the camera, nor where to put a new dial, but a direct dial selection ISO and correction EV, for me serious practitioner.

 

Xavier Puigvert

[reprobit]

I love the tentative draft, make it modular, put a larger battery into the grip, add an external power supply plus a flash sync and you will be on the right track ....

 

 

Bernd

[ennjott]

Every single camera I know with an "ergonomic grip" incidentally has the grip filled up to the brim with batteries (80s cameras, when they started to use more power because of the electronic gizmos) or electronic components (nowadays).

Thus I think the grip was/is simply necessary for construction and the claims about ergonomics are pure marketing talk. A modern handgun with a double-layered magazine has about the same depth in its grip as a 70s/80s compact SLR or a Leica, now does one have a good grip on those or not?

 

The cameras could be a little higher to make room for the little finger, but apart from that, the small size is fine. It's a huge plus if it at least fits into a large pocket. Current SLRs can't be really used without a camera bag (or the camera dangling around your neck all day) which is a huge minus. Such a grip would be a step into that direction.

[MJLogan]

What i find funny is that people equate their own personal preferences with an objective measure of ergonomy.

 

I personally prefer the flat shape of camera bodies - like the M's or my old Olympus OM's. I find that the lumpy 'anatomical' grips give no added holding benefit, and personally feel that they add fatigue when holding a camera for long periods of time (i have small hands, incidentally).

 

Plenty of other cameras you can buy with that ugly design. ;-)

 

When I set out to buy a DSLR almost a year ago, I discovered that there was not a single model on the market which I didn't find hideous. I waited for the Digilux 3, and I'm happy. The little wedge-shaped grip is subtle enough for me, and the rest of the design is super-clean--even cleaner than its twin, the Panasonic L1. I realize that this preference marks me out as an old fogey--and a shallow one at that--but I just can't "bond" with an ugly camera. I'm just glad that the one DSLR I think is beautiful has Leica-designed glass as well as a Leica-inspired body.

 

The M8, of course, is more beautiful still--and at a much higher level of quality as a photographic tool. Maybe I'll be able to aford one in a year or two...

[larry]

Why would anyone want to Frankenstein the beautiful, functional, classic M design into a hideous gameboy that looks like it was cobbled together from some other camera company's parts bin? Go buy a Canon P&S and save yourself some money.

 

Larry

[hankg]

After a quick read of the general consensus here I can now see why Leica has not yet and will probably never put a built in grip on the M

[ChrisC]

Hank - I often enough feel really out of place on this forum and you posting your M8ish mock-up does nothing to settle the unease I have about the poor legacy design decisions in the M8. I wish Leica had broken with the film body design that had served them well, but in the context of a digital camera especially; was ready for a change.

 

The anatomical grips of my Nikon dslr and also my Mamiya 7 allow me to lightly and safely carry each camera with my finger tips when I so wish. With the M8 I have to take it as it is of course, but your casual mock-up is already closer to how I would have preferred it to be.

 

I absolutely agree with your shutter release position and the ISO dial seems OK, but I would add a thumb-wheel for rapid incremental shutter speed control for accurately nailing of manual exposures. Would I choose a flash connection over the absurd base plate? Without hesitation. Would I buy an slr which always showed me frame lines of a different lens in the viewfinder? No of course not because I don't want anything in my viewfinder which distracts me from the high concentration business of making photographs. The much vaunted mythological cleverness of Leica is turns out to be just that - a myth. I have bought into the M8 in-spite of the wretched legacy, not because of it. The design should have been so much better than it is. I wish it was.

 

...................Chris

[sean_reid]

What do you think? Sacrifice the classic profile to add a place for the thumb where the wind tab used to be and an anatomical grip for better handling. Put an ISO dial where the shutter release was and move the release to the grip.

 

Hank,

 

Looks like you've gotten some pretty harsh responses. I think that kind of camera shape suits some better than others. I do find, however, that the M8 grip greatly improves the ergonomics for me.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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[jaapv]

Hank - I often enough feel really out of place on this forum and you posting your M8ish mock-up does nothing to settle the unease I have about the poor legacy design decisions in the M8. I wish Leica had broken with the film body design that had served them well, but in the context of a digital camera especially; was ready for a change.

 

The anatomical grips of my Nikon dslr and also my Mamiya 7 allow me to lightly and safely carry each camera with my finger tips when I so wish. With the M8 I have to take it as it is of course, but your casual mock-up is already closer to how I would have preferred it to be.

 

I absolutely agree with your shutter release position and the ISO dial seems OK, but I would add a thumb-wheel for rapid incremental shutter speed control for accurately nailing of manual exposures. Would I choose a flash connection over the absurd base plate? Without hesitation. Would I buy an slr which always showed me frame lines of a different lens in the viewfinder? No of course not because I don't want anything in my viewfinder which distracts me from the high concentration business of making photographs. The much vaunted mythological cleverness of Leica is turns out to be just that - a myth. I have bought into the M8 in-spite of the wretched legacy, not because of it. The design should have been so much better than it is. I wish it was.

 

...................Chris

 

I don't know.. You guys are turning this into a DSLR-shaped thing. For me, the shape cannot be improved. But then my hands have grown gnarled around Leica M bodies over the last three decades. But the grip- not for me. At any rate,as long as there is no shutter release on top of it.