So what do you use your M digital for?

[jaapv]

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Well, you need not put it in the signature under all your posts, in fact that is not allowed for "commercial" sites (I seriously doubt though that I would rate yours as such ) but you can certainly list it in your User CP to make it appear in your Public Profile.

[Clive Murray-White]

I think what's important here is people like me pick up a Leica believing or having a hunch that its got something that can help me and through the camera itself and the helpful advice that people so freely offer the magic starts to reveal itself.

 

There is a very strange thing about marble and photographing it, I'd say it fools light meters or contains more light than the meter can pick up, I regularly have to stop down 2/3 just to get something that's not blown out.

[pico]

Yes, I certainly do believe that this limits people's perception of its capabilities. I think that the M is also the ultimate camera for... cat portraiture. I'd really like to see more cat pictures around here. Most photographers don't fully comprehend how difficult it is to take a cat's picture. Fast moving children are the domain of the DSLR, but the cat, that is the domain of the M. Different horses...

 

I agree but with one modification of technique. For cats I appreciate the Jean-Jacques Audubon method of posing the animal for painting or, in this case, for photographing.

 

And some wonder why his work is often bizarre! (And I know the Great Heron IRL)

[250swb]

A cat that can be photographed, you are kidding me, what did you do, drug it or something?

 

Despite only ever managing to photograph the blurry end of a cats tail exiting the frame I use my Leica for all things, there are no rules. On a tripod (I know that winds people up) for landscape, hand held grainy high ISO, with a pinhole lens, with old lenses or new lenses. And I like to use colour if colour is appropriate, or B&W if that is. I like to sometimes see vignetting even though the camera usually suceeds in removing it, I like to see lens aberrations like flare in some images.

 

But what I definitely don't do is ever press the shutter and leave the image as the camera dictates at that moment. So I don't worry about White Balance because that can be dealt with in post processing. And although I rarely crop, its not a rule, Leica can't help it if they haven't got the proportions of the framing right every time, and I happily help them out by adjusting it so as their camera doesn't look bad. I don't obsess about not having grain in photographs even if the image out of the camera is grain free, it depends on what suits the image. So I think I often use the M9 in a way contra to what some people think are the typical Leica ideals of demonstrating ultimate image quality. But it does mean my camera isn't a one one hit wonder and can turn its hand to many things.

 

Steve

[wda]

Its a serious question....

Do others think that to consider the Leica M as a 'street camera' is to limit people's perception of its capabilities?

It is all you describe and more...! I use mine much as you use yours but enjoy stretching it. A few months ago I had an unexpected visit to Gerald Durrell's rare animal sanctuary on Jersey. Wild animal photography was definitely outside my comfort zone. I took two lenses, one a 1960's 135mm Elmar which most certainly was not designed for the digital era. I waited patiently outside one enclosure and shot a picture or an orang-utan leaping from a tree. So inexperienced was I that I failed to set the shutter on continuous shooting. Yet that one frame accurately caught the animal airborne and amazed me and others. Now serious wild animal photographers might smile at my ineptitude and no doubt given more practice I would extract even more quality from that genre. But it showed how versatile the modern digital M camera can be when used beyond the obvious subject range.

[jaapv]

I guess I am a serious wildlife shooter - and I do not smile as you did it exactly right. Sequences are a gamble - if you shoot a series of six over three seconds, your shutter will be open for about 0.2 seconds - and closed for 2.8 seconds - giving you a chance of 1 in 14 of getting the shot - If you push it once at the right time you have 100% chance of nailing the moment.

 

You will find very few wildlife photographers using a camera on continuous - just like most hunters do not use a machine gun.

[Jeff S]

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...although the M8.2 lead my overall transition to digital.

 

I just noticed my own poor grammar (too late to edit the post); of course the M8.2 led my digital transition. Can't help myself.

 

Jeff

[mmradman]

I guess I am a serious wildlife shooter - and I do not smile as you did it exactly right. Sequences are a gamble - if you shoot a series of six over three seconds, your shutter will be open for about 0.2 seconds - and closed for 2.8 seconds - giving you a chance of 1 in 14 of getting the shot - If you push it once at the right time you have 100% chance of nailing the moment.

 

You will find very few wildlife photographers using a camera on continuous - just like most hunters do not use a machine gun.

 

Maybe off subject but here is a master class in wildlife sequence shooting by German Photographer Stefan Krause I had pleasure encountering on Nikon Cafe (clue is in the brand name).

 

ITS-Network | Websolution & Photography

 

You may need log on to view full sequence of 54 consecutive images - all sharp.

 

http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=192918&highlight=namibia&page=12

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Everybody,

 

I think I would have to agree w/ Jaap. For me "The Moment" is the issue & capturing it in 1 exposure is part of the challenge. A lot like using Kodachrome (Are we still allowed to use that word?) instead of negative film.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[bill]

I guess I am a serious wildlife shooter - and I do not smile as you did it exactly right. Sequences are a gamble - if you shoot a series of six over three seconds, your shutter will be open for about 0.2 seconds - and closed for 2.8 seconds - giving you a chance of 1 in 14 of getting the shot - If you push it once at the right time you have 100% chance of nailing the moment.

 

You will find very few wildlife photographers using a camera on continuous - just like most hunters do not use a machine gun.

 

I've never been big on wildlife, but in my youth I did a lot of cricket photography. It involved setting up a camera with a long lens on a tripod and watching the action. Sometimes I wasted frame after frame, but occasionally everything came together. A bit like wildlife, I had to watch and learn the behaviour of my subjects, then anticipate and THINK. "Spray and Pray" is not a good strategy.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[IWC Doppel]

I use my Leica M8 for pictures of friends and family (mostly in B&W), I like shots indoors so ultimately chasing a better ISO sensor of faster glass. we have a lovely whippet who is very photogenic and patient, so I take pictures, playing with depth of field as she is quite happy to pose for hours

 

Having said that I am sure I can see the same slightly unamused look now and again that my girlfriend can give !

 

I have even managed speed shots by setting everything up and simply tracking and shooting when it all comes together (whippets do 40mph and are very manoeuvrable, so I make sure it's only when she is focussed and chasing her favourite ball on a rope !)

 

I like 'moment' shots and living between Herts and Bath, I enjoy taking cafe shots in Bath as people take pictures of the city it's easier to take people pictures in Bath as well.

 

I also take pictures of cars, but find this quite tricky to get that 'EVO' look. I also like interesting things and old buildings, decaying grandeur

[tobey bilek]

My M8 is new to me for just a few weeks now, but I used Nikon digi for years and still do. Film Leicas for decades before that.

 

For me the convenience of digi is overwhelming and it frees me from spending time developing film. I rather dislike developing color film and even more the chasing of harder and harder to find chemicals. I do enjoy mixing D76 from raw chemicals and processing the film. I even like the bench winder and brass cassettes. But it is all time.

 

The M8 is easy to carry and fits into an old Billingham Hadley plus 2 to five other lenses.

 

I can use it for most anything except sports where auto focus is king. I have no idea how people got good shots before AF. About all I could do was prefocus where I thought the action would be. I never mastered manual focus tracking.

 

Family events, nature, and landscapes, which is most of my work, remain Leica land. Digi M8 makes it as convenient a Nikon.