DSR Posted January 21, 2007 Share #1 Â Posted January 21, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi All: Â First post here.... This list has been great as I waited for my M8. Â I placed my order for an M8 on the day after they were announced and was first on my dealer's list for a black body. I was increasingly frustrated to see many other people get their cameras ahead of me (I live in the U.S. midwest and the cameras seemed to be going dispropotionately to the coasts). Finally, I got may camera yesterday. She is a beauty! Â Compared to serial numbers I have seen mentioned, mine seems like a later one. The camera did not have any signs of previous use. Â Things I like: Really does feel like an M. Excellent fit and finish. The user interface is very clean and straightforward: enough options to get the job done, but not so many as to overwhelm. Very M-like. Viewfinder is nice and bright. Can easily see the 35mm framelines even with my glasses (I will struggle a bit wih the 28mm framelines). My battery seems to have better stamina than I expected: Charged in 2.5 hours.... I have shot 150-200 test frames and it still reads full. Dynamic range is outstanding. Better still, I have none of the white balance issues that I was expecting. In daylight and mixed indoor light, white balance has been perfect. Have looked very hard at my blacks. Similar to what others have posted, the magenta problem really only is problematic under certain specific circumstances. I was easily able to produce it when I tried, but it would be wrong to think that all blacks will look magenta. Mostly they look good. The "stiffness" of my switch seems to be midway between what others have reported. Not exactly loose, but not exactly tight either. I have added an Abrahamson Softie to my shutter release. It overhangs a bit over the switch and makes it a bit harder to dislodge accidently. I think this will stay. Â Things I don't like: The screen on the back is already smeared by my face. Not unique to the Leica, but annoying. Mostly though, I HATE the sound of the shutter. I knew before buying that the shutter sounded different from my other M cameras, but I was not prepared for how loud and IRRITATING the shutter sound would be. I can tolerate the volume, but it is the lingering spring-like SPROING sound that I can't stand. Others have commented on this as well, but I can't figure out why Leica didn't try to "tune" the sound of the shutter better. Â Am still awaiting delivery of my 28mm lens and my extra batteries. I have a 489 but no 486 filters. Next step is to to sort the best workflow for RAW conversion. Â Best to all, DSR Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 Hi DSR, Take a look here I have a new M8 too!. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
grober Posted January 21, 2007 Share #2 Â Posted January 21, 2007 David, Â Welcome to the Ward. Â Regarding your last point (workflow): Capture One (C1) is an acquired taste for which I have yet to acquire a liking. Â However, I learned recently that Photoshop Elements 5 can handle DNG files. From what I've seen of C1 so far, I still prefer the familiar PSE workflow. Â I don't have PSE 5 yet but have added it to my list right after another battery, another SD card and TA's handgrip. Check it out if you have any Photoshop experience. Â -g Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tribble Posted January 21, 2007 Share #3  Posted January 21, 2007 David, Welcome to the Ward.  Regarding your last point (workflow): Capture One (C1) is an acquired taste for which I have yet to acquire a liking.  However, I learned recently that Photoshop Elements 5 can handle DNG files. From what I've seen of C1 so far, I still prefer the familiar PSE workflow.  I don't have PSE 5 yet but have added it to my list right after another battery, another SD card and TA's handgrip. Check it out if you have any Photoshop experience.  -g  Hi - my 2 cents ... I've just made the transition from ACR to C1 Pro - for colour this is a MUST. Download the right profiles from this list and images are more than usable even without the IE cut filters. ENJOY!  Best  Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
heninger Posted January 21, 2007 Share #4 Â Posted January 21, 2007 I use Lightroom mostly for processing all my raw images. I like the holistic workflow apporach the application takes vs. some of the other Raw converters out there. I do mostly black/white, but Lightroom rocks. Â And while its still in beta, you can download it for free and try it out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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