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M8 - still a good choice?

BlackDE

By BlackDE
in Leica M8 / Leica M8.2

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pgk
pgk

The M8 can still produce superb images - just add a photographer.

barcoder
barcoder

I was worried. What happened to those M8 photos? The ones that I used to love. The ones that were made when the M8 was still fairly new. The ones that made everyone want to buy the new digital Leica.

dirk_d
dirk_d

I bought a used m8 upgraded to m8.2 and it still is a very good choice... i stopped looking for other cams at dpreview or where ever. the last time when i had the same feeling was when i bought a m6 a

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GAS

GAS

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Got one fairly cheap! Just wanted to play around with it for a few weeks and then sell it again! Well - that idea has turned out to be a mistake! Starting to sell some stuff - it's not the M8 though ;-)))

Just love it - and I have been a passionate film waster for so long...

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jevidon

jevidon

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Absolutely. I have been using my M8u for almost four years and never a failure. Images are great up to and beyond a 13x19 print size. ISO between 160 and 640 are excellent and ISO 800 still very good.

Above that, color noise becomes very noticeable, but for black and white it's excellent for the full ISO range.

 

Buy it from a reputable dealer who will stand behind their products and enjoy the

quality camera along with the superior quality and, of course, bragging rights if that is important to you.:)

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stefano60

stefano60

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OF COURSE it is an excellent choice, around here that is a rhetorical question! :-)

 

jokes aside, the fact that it is still holding its value is one simple confirmation that it is, in fact, still very much relevant.

so much so in fact, that i cannot justify to myself the price difference with an M9, i honestly cannot see much difference (at least not enough to justify the $$$ difference!).

 

go ahead, take the plunge. IF by any chance you do not love it, it will not be hard to resell it and you will not be losing money ... a no brainer, really!

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ezc203

ezc203

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Kind of begs the question: "a good choice" ...... for what? What kind of photography do you do?

 

I think you can get a reasonably good conditioned second-hand M8 for ~$2000. On top of that, you'll need to drop at least $1000 on a decent lens to pair with it. So really you're looking at about $3500. So you have to ask yourself, is there a better option more suitable to your shooting needs for $3500?

 

That said, I love the M system. In my opinion it just can't be beat. And the M8 is the only game in town if you don't wanna drop $10k+ on an M9 system.

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BlackDE

BlackDE

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Got one fairly cheap! Just wanted to play around with it for a few weeks and then sell it again! Well - that idea has turned out to be a mistake! Starting to sell some stuff - it's not the M8 though ;-)))

Just love it - and I have been a passionate film waster for so long...

 

I have done a similar thing: I sold most of my DSLR stuff since I am back to film. However, now that I have a few Leica lenses I was thinking to complete my equipment with a digital M. The M9 ist just out of reach for me.

 

Bernhard

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BlackDE

BlackDE

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Kind of begs the question: "a good choice" ...... for what? What kind of photography do you do?

 

I think you can get a reasonably good conditioned second-hand M8 for ~$2000. On top of that, you'll need to drop at least $1000 on a decent lens to pair with it. So really you're looking at about $3500. So you have to ask yourself, is there a better option more suitable to your shooting needs for $3500?

 

That said, I love the M system. In my opinion it just can't be beat. And the M8 is the only game in town if you don't wanna drop $10k+ on an M9 system.

 

Thank you for your comments. You are right. I mostly do wide angle shooting. My 21mm Super-Angulon works great on my M3. It won't on the M8, I believe. I am looking for a second body to go with the 35mm and or 50mm.

 

Bernhard

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colonel

colonel

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Posted (edited)
I have done a similar thing: I sold most of my DSLR stuff since I am back to film. However, now that I have a few Leica lenses I was thinking to complete my equipment with a digital M. The M9 ist just out of reach for me.

 

Bernhard

 

I have used the M9 and M8

 

The M9's main advantage is the 18mp, as you can crop more

Also it has a quieter shutter compared to the M8

The metering is also slightly more diffuse then the M8 (not an advantage, just different)

 

The perceived ISO advantage is just because you have more pixels you can PP. If you crop the centre 10mp of a M9 picture its identical to an M8

 

I'd say its only worth getting if you have the money, not worth stretching yourself for. (if you have the money, definitely get it of course).

 

In the UK the M9 is £5,000. You can get ex-demo ones or excellent second hand for between £4,000 and £4,200.

 

If an M10 is announced in photokina at the same price of the M9 (which I have no idea if it will go up) I would except second hand M9s to drop by £1000-£500. i.e. an excellent M9 might be £3,000 to £3,500. I would expect the M8.2's value to drop slightly and the M8 to drop hardly at all.

 

So if you can't afford £4,000, then wait until the end of the year with loads of "Leica Men" trading in their M9s for M10s.

(That is when I intend to buy another M9 ;))

 

The M8 is an excellent stand in to acquire Leica glass and make beautiful pictures until then. You never know, you might not even want to upgrade as the M8 is so excellent!

Edited by colonel
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delander †

delander †

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So if you can't afford £4,000, then wait until the end of the year with loads of "Leica Men" trading in their M9s for M10s.

(That is when I intend to buy another M9 ;))

 

 

You may well be correct, I did in fact trade in my M8 for an M9 fairly promptly when the M9 came out. But the M9 is such a good camera (for me) that I intend to wait and see if I really need an M10 as opposed to just 'want'. Lets hope it remains a real M camera. Of course I'm sure that Leica's hype will make it the most desirable digital M yet, they are very good at that!

 

Jeff

 

PS lets hope they can make enough.

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daubsphoto

daubsphoto

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Thank you for your comments. You are right. I mostly do wide angle shooting. My 21mm Super-Angulon works great on my M3. It won't on the M8, I believe. I am looking for a second body to go with the 35mm and or 50mm.

 

Bernhard

 

This is the rub with the M8. I love mine very much, but the 1.3 crop factor makes the wide-angle work much more expensive and usually with slower lenses. That 21mm focal length can be achieved with a 15mm lens, but you're looking at a monstrously expensive lens purchase to have the results you're after, with something like the 18mm S-E for $3,200. Or, you can do what I did and get the CV 15 F4.5 for about $600 new, which is really too slow for a lot of the documentary work I do but as good a solution as I can afford right now.

 

This limitation of the M8 is my primary rationalization for "needing" and M9...but that kind of cash is very difficult to come by.

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colonel

colonel

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The M8 has been introduced in 2007, I believe, and is still expensive today. Is it still a good choice?

 

Please give your thoughts. Thx.

 

Bernhard

 

This is the rub with the M8. I love mine very much, but the 1.3 crop factor makes the wide-angle work much more expensive and usually with slower lenses. That 21mm focal length can be achieved with a 15mm lens, but you're looking at a monstrously expensive lens purchase to have the results you're after, with something like the 18mm S-E for $3,200. Or, you can do what I did and get the CV 15 F4.5 for about $600 new, which is really too slow for a lot of the documentary work I do but as good a solution as I can afford right now.

 

This limitation of the M8 is my primary rationalization for "needing" and M9...but that kind of cash is very difficult to come by.

 

 

This is a very interesting point

Actually, if you are running many modern lenses then the body cost becomes fairly irrelevant

For example, looking at Panny, oly, Sony, canon, Nikon, etc. it does matter whether you buy a 5dii or a 600d but the good quality lenses cost the same and the body cost becomes minimal.

 

All the lenses I am running on the M8 cost more then the body :)

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wda

wda

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....

If an M10 is announced in photokina at the same price of the M9 ...

Historically, this has never happened before. The increase is usually quite substantial. Much depends on the amount of new technology incorporated.

 

That is slightly off topic because the OP has largely ruled out getting an M9. Lust aside, the M8 is a truly highly capable digital rangefinder. Unless your work or needs demand constant use of a super-wide angle lens, you will enjoy it immensely.

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