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M8 Q's


bkunze

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Hello,

 

despite the initial teething pains I have purchased a used M8 (< 2k clicks) to backup my M9.

 

There were some reports of M8 locking up, was that fixed in the recent firmware upgrades? Anything else I should be taking care of specifically for M8? Not sure if I upgrade some parts...

 

Ah one more. Do you keep your IR filters always on or just for specific use cases?

 

Thanks,

Bernd

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You might want to try not using the IR filters to see for yourself whether that's acceptable. I tried to avoid their use initially, and decided they were necessary on any lens. And it's hard to predict when you'll face strong IR contamination, so I just leave them on. I even use them with my M9, whose built-in IR filtration is less effective than the add-on UV/IR filters.

 

I think you'll also want to code the lenses you plan to use with the M8, as it doesn't have the M9's manual selection feature. I had most of my lenses coded by DAG, and also checked/adjusted for correct focus.

 

As I recall one of my M8's did lock up once early-on, and I don't now recall the circumstances. Good luck and have fun!

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Hi Bernd,

 

I also found that I needed a UV/IR filter on every lens when I started to use it. It is a great camera never-the-less and provides tremendous value for the money. For me the 28 Cron works best, but that is obviously a personal preference. These days I mainly use the M8 for B&W and deliberately leave the filters off.

 

Cheers, Chris

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In > 4 years I experienced only 2 locking events : one in a very frozen environment with battery that was already rather low and went 0% all of a sudden (and hadn't a charged spare with me); the other in a complicated and quick intermix of single and continuous shots (in which I probably operated too quickly on the switch lever) - simply took out and reinsert the battery and all went OK. I find M8 very reliable.

 

UVIR are better to be kept permanently... only warning is if you are taking pics in dark environments with some spot lights (interiors, street lamps, candles...) : these, depending on some factors (position, focal length, angle of taking) can cause "2nd order" reflections due to filter, which result in greenish spots in the frame... a matter that has been reported several times in the forum, and me too did experience... usually can be corrected in photoshop (they are tiny spots often easy to clone away) but better to be avoided taking away the filter.

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One thing to mention. I have found that the battery meter in unreliable

i.e. if it is saying anything less then full it actually could be quite low

 

when the battery goes the whole camera goes dead.

 

when my battery ran out the first time on an M8 the meter was still half way and I thought the camera had died, until I recharged

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In > 4 years I experienced only 2 locking events : one in a very frozen environment with battery that was already rather low and went 0% all of a sudden (and hadn't a charged spare with me); the other in a complicated and quick intermix of single and continuous shots (in which I probably operated too quickly on the switch lever) - simply took out and reinsert the battery and all went OK. I find M8 very reliable.

 

UVIR are better to be kept permanently... only warning is if you are taking pics in dark environments with some spot lights (interiors, street lamps, candles...) : these, depending on some factors (position, focal length, angle of taking) can cause "2nd order" reflections due to filter, which result in greenish spots in the frame... a matter that has been reported several times in the forum, and me too did experience... usually can be corrected in photoshop (they are tiny spots often easy to clone away) but better to be avoided taking away the filter.

 

Yes, that gave my the shivers over christmas with my M9, I considered a sensor defect first-:(

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Locking up occurred after the quiet release upgrade when shooting continuously. A later firmware upgrade fixed the issue.

 

At the first sign of battery status change I arrange a recharge as soon as the job in hand is complete.

 

Re filters, it is safer to leave them fitted on the M8 unless you are deliberately seeking IR results. But that is a different subject.

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