Heart vs Head / technical questions

[Want-a-leica]

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Something occurred to me recently. I have two cameras : an M8 and a Nikon D7000. The 7000 can do several things the M8 can't in terms of performance: it has AF (and good AF, too), the high ISO performance is absolutely miles better (you can shoot at 6400 without the slightest hint of noise), it shoots 5FPS without breaking a sweat, it records video, etc ad nauseam.

 

Yet I've seriously considered, and am still seriously considering, selling it and putting the money towards either a spare M8, or another lens for my current one. I've considered this knowing full well that this makes no logical sense whatsoever in terms of what I'd be giving up in terms of "convenience". The bottom line is that shooting with the 7000 just doesn't feel anything like as good as shooting with the M8. And while I did get some nice night shots with the Nikon, the shots I get in daytime just don't have that "je ne sais quoi" that the M8 can produce when you nail it. There's something slightly generic about the pics I get from the 7000. It's a damn nice camera, make no mistake, but I know that I could sell it off tomorrow and not think twice.

 

This must be what people talk about when they say that you buy Leica with your heart, not your head. Anyone had a similar experience?

 

On a separate note...what's the longest lens that you can use on an M8 and get accurate (ish) framing for? 75? 90? 135? If I'm not mistaken, the longest framelines are for a 90, but how accurate are they? What then do you do with a 135? Guess?

 

Lastly, if I end up getting a 28 or 35, I'll want to have it coded for maximum performance. Does this automatically entail sending it to Germany, or is this something a decent Leica dealer could do? If it's the latter, I could probably take it to Tokyo (some time down the line when Tokyo isn't in full blown crisis mode). If I send it to Germany, how long should I expect it to take?

 

Thanks in advance!

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[colonel]

Something occurred to me recently. I have two cameras : an M8 and a Nikon D7000. The 7000 can do several things the M8 can't in terms of performance: it has AF (and good AF, too), the high ISO performance is absolutely miles better (you can shoot at 6400 without the slightest hint of noise), it shoots 5FPS without breaking a sweat, it records video, etc ad nauseam.

 

Yet I've seriously considered, and am still seriously considering, selling it and putting the money towards either a spare M8, or another lens for my current one. I've considered this knowing full well that this makes no logical sense whatsoever in terms of what I'd be giving up in terms of "convenience". The bottom line is that shooting with the 7000 just doesn't feel anything like as good as shooting with the M8. And while I did get some nice night shots with the Nikon, the shots I get in daytime just don't have that "je ne sais quoi" that the M8 can produce when you nail it. There's something slightly generic about the pics I get from the 7000. It's a damn nice camera, make no mistake, but I know that I could sell it off tomorrow and not think twice.

 

This must be what people talk about when they say that you buy Leica with your heart, not your head. Anyone had a similar experience?

 

On a separate note...what's the longest lens that you can use on an M8 and get accurate (ish) framing for? 75? 90? 135? If I'm not mistaken, the longest framelines are for a 90, but how accurate are they? What then do you do with a 135? Guess?

 

Lastly, if I end up getting a 28 or 35, I'll want to have it coded for maximum performance. Does this automatically entail sending it to Germany, or is this something a decent Leica dealer could do? If it's the latter, I could probably take it to Tokyo (some time down the line when Tokyo isn't in full blown crisis mode). If I send it to Germany, how long should I expect it to take?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Think of when you might need to use the D7000 for.

 

I keep a Sony NEX5 with 18-200mm for zoom work, and my wife uses it for school concerts and other things. It also does great video which the M8 doesn't

I use the NEX5 for indoor shots at night. I recently used it for a gig and got some great shots from the back at ISO 3200.

 

Not selling NEX5, just saying that there are some things the M8 can't be used for and there is a large chance you will buy back some kind of CSC or DSLR camera, so consider that when you sell the D7000 at a loss.

 

If you can get a good price for the D7000 you might want to consider buying a Samsung NX11, sony NEX5 or other good CSC and get some net cash your D7000 sale that could be used towards a lens.

 

With 135mm you have to guess, but could use something like this to help:

Leica Camera AG - Photography - LEICA VIEWFINDER MAGNIFIER M 1.25x & 1.4x

 

If you upgrade to the M9 in future that has a brightline for a 135mm but would personally still get the magnifier.

 

On the M8 the 90mm summarit makes the most sense to buy new IMHO. Otherwise look for a second hand f2.8 elmarit or foresaid summarit.

[Luke_Miller]

This must be what people talk about when they say that you buy Leica with your heart, not your head. Anyone had a similar experience?

 

I have a small business which does travel and event photography. I use one of my Nikon DSLRs with a zoom lens mounted. The ability to autofocus and quickly change focal length are very important to my work.

 

When I am not working I shoot with my M8.2 and (normally) my 28mm Summicron. My view is that if you use a camera to produce a product the Leica often is not the best choice. But, if you use a camera because you love photography the Leica is hard to beat.

[SJP]

Personally I do not like high ISO images from many cameras that are claimed to be "better" than the M8/M9 etc. The "on chip" noise reduction for me makes the images rather uninteresting. Maybe this is just me but I prefer "texture" to "no noise". Leica provides texture,

 

If you want to do video you can get plenty of decent (and cheap) videocameras for such occasions, maybe $200 or so.

[pico]

Something occurred to me recently. [...]

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Something occurred to me too!

No, wait. That wasn't me.

 

You are welcome in arrears.

 

.

[farnz]

... On a separate note...what's the longest lens that you can use on an M8 and get accurate (ish) framing for? 75? 90? 135? If I'm not mistaken, the longest framelines are for a 90, but how accurate are they? What then do you do with a 135? Guess? ...

I have a 135/4 Elmar that I use with my Visoflex but I don't think that's what you want to know. The field of view covered by a 135 on the M8 is very close to the rangefinder patch and some people use that for framing.

 

Or there's the 135/2.8 Elmarit that has its own set of goggles that magnify the image and I believe has 135 frame lines (I feel sure someone will correct me if I'm mistaken:rolleyes:).

 

Remember that the 135's field of view on an M8 is nearly 180 mm owing to the 1.33 crop factor.

 

Pete.

[Want-a-leica]

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I have a small business which does travel and event photography. I use one of my Nikon DSLRs with a zoom lens mounted. The ability to autofocus and quickly change focal length are very important to my work.

 

When I am not working I shoot with my M8.2 and (normally) my 28mm Summicron. My view is that if you use a camera to produce a product the Leica often is not the best choice. But, if you use a camera because you love photography the Leica is hard to beat.

 

I think you just said in 15 words what I was trying to get at in my OP. Perfectly put.

[jaapv]

I have a 135/4 Elmar that I use with my Visoflex but I don't think that's what you want to know. The field of view covered by a 135 on the M8 is very close to the rangefinder patch and some people use that for framing.

 

Or there's the 135/2.8 Elmarit that has its own set of goggles that magnify the image and I believe has 135 frame lines (I feel sure someone will correct me if I'm mistaken:rolleyes:).

 

Remember that the 135's field of view on an M8 is nearly 180 mm owing to the 1.33 crop factor.

 

Pete.

Even more practical - push the lens release button and rotate the lens against the stop. That brings up the 90 mm framelines. 135 mm is about halfway between the rf patch and 90 mm framelines. The Elmarit has the 90 mm framelines that get "shrunk" to a 135 mm frame by the goggles.

[pico]

FWIW, Leica has a note about using a 135mm lens on the M9.

 

From the instructions (quote)

 

Despite the high precision of the view and range-

finder on the LEICA M9, exact focusing cannot

be guaranteed when using 135mm lenses at full stop

due to the very shallow depth of field. Stop-

ping down by at least 2 stops is therefore recom-

mended."

 

Do have no similar note for the Noctilux.

 

Regarding the original question, “The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.” -- Blaise Pascal

[Sailronin]

HI Want-a-Leica

I have a Nikon D700 which was purchased before my M8. The Nikon is a great system, versatile, reliable and produces outstanding images. The M8 is limited in that ISO, long focal lengths and macro work is not really practical.

It is surprising that the M8 gets twice the use of the Nikon. I take it with me everywhere when traveling due to the small size of the camera and lenses and the beautiful images it produces. The Nikon is pretty much relegated to macro and long telephoto wildlife, and even then I usually carry the M8 for landscape shots with the 24mm Elmar.

As the Brits say it's "horses for courses" so buy (or keep) the system that best fits your subjects.

[Clive Murray-White]

I think these gear rationalisation quandries must be something that many new M8 owners go through, my work and play situation is almost identical to Luke's but I came to Leica via Olympus (E3) after I started using Leica R lenses on it.

 

I've kept the E3 (weather proof & built like a truck) rationalised the lenses down to 11-22 (= 22-44 with 2x crop factor) does all the quick stuff for company web/blogs etc and a 70-300 (x2) because once a year our little village has Ride-on-lawn-mower races. I'm a co-sponsor of one of these insane vehicles and take it on myself to provide pretty reasonable documentation of the event.(needs telephoto)

 

But I'm a cameraholic addicted to eBay and therefore prone to irrational justifications for spontaneous purchaces, my latest an Olympus EPL-1 was justified on the basis that it could take both the Oly & Leica lenses and doubles their focal length - sure it does all that and more very well but it certainly isn't a very pleasurable little plastic thing to hold and use!............but I have sneaking suspicion that it'll get a lot more use than the E3.

[CharlesL]

For an Elmar 135, I too use the rangefinder patch. For most shots at that length it is an issue to get some background around the subject instead of having it crowd the entire frame. Being conservative with the patch is a way to do that. The old Elmar 135s are low contrast, making for a wonderful portrait lens.

 

The Canon Serenar 85/2 is also good for portraits, but putting an IR filter on it for an M8 is a clumsy affair.

 

I believe most of the Leica image magic is the lenses. The non-Leica lenses for M-mount are different, but their makers know they must provide an image experience, too. And the old lenses, while often not resolving as well as current ones and lower in contrast, offer image interpretation, too.