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The M vs the D800E


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I love my M8 but I am looking for an update. I know some of you guys have Leica and also a D800, I have seen the files of the 800 and have been blown away by the size and quality of the files. The question is, as I am most interested in landscape do you think that the quality of the new M will compare, should I wait, or save a few £ 's and get the 800.

Interested to know what your take is.

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I love my M8 but I am looking for an update. I know some of you guys have Leica and also a D800, I have seen the files of the 800 and have been blown away by the size and quality of the files. The question is, as I am most interested in landscape do you think that the quality of the new M will compare, should I wait, or save a few £ 's and get the 800.

Interested to know what your take is.

 

If you want to save a few $, keep the M8 and add a compact to the bag:

Max landscape IQ for the smallest amount of $ = Sigma DP2 Merrill.

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why are you looking for an update is the question. I do not agree with Ansel Adams' statement to bring to largest camera you can carry for landscape photography. He meant probably the largest format you can carry. Anyway, I prefer the most compact solution for a reasonable level of quality and no zoom lenses.

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After all the hype I'd agree that the biggest bang for buck to compete with the D800 would be the Sigma DP-2 Merril. I never thought I'd think such a thing, but on the bright side the art of photography shouldn't just be about 'resolution', hopefully.

 

Steve

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They are really different animals aren't they?

 

There are no test samples from the new M yet, so it's hard to tell. It doesn't feature an AA filter as before. Live View will be handy for placing ND grads for landscape work.

 

However you are back to comparing a large dSLR with a compact rangefinder. Really depends how you view the trade off in size. Depends on the lenses you already have too. If you don't mind carrying around a big camera bag and tripod, there is a lot to be said for the D800e. Landscape is kind of its reason d'etre.

 

Then again if you want something a bit more pocketable, maybe not!

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS
So how do you like the live view function of your M? ;)
I dont have live view on my M.............I have LV on the D800e but never use it. Do you like live view???
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I dont have live view on my M.............I have LV on the D800e but never use it. Do you like live view???

 

Um, it was an attempt at a joke. You bought a camera that isn't yet available from Richard Caplan. :)

 

The OP's question in this thread was: "The question is, as I am most interested in landscape do you think that the quality of the new M will compare, should I wait, or save a few £ 's and get the 800."

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS
Um, it was an attempt at a joke. You bought a camera that isn't yet available from Richard Caplan. :)

 

The OP's question in this thread was: "The question is, as I am most interested in landscape do you think that the quality of the new M will compare, should I wait, or save a few £ 's and get the 800."

Mine is a new M9-P it dosent have live view
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I dont have live view on my M.............I have LV on the D800e but never use it. Do you like live view???

 

"M" refers to the brand new Leica M.......whereas you have the M9-P. When you said you had both......it sounded like you were saying you had a "Leica M" which is the brand new camera that hasn't officially started being delivered ;)

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS
"M" refers to the brand new Leica M.......whereas you have the M9-P. When you said you had both......it sounded like you were saying you had a "Leica M" which is the brand new camera that hasn't officially started being delivered ;)
OK Thanks
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The question is, as I am most interested in landscape do you think that the quality of the new M will compare, should I wait, or save a few £ 's and get the 800.

Interested to know what your take is.

 

I am going to throw a fly in the ointment and wonder if you have tried shooting multi-shot "stitched" landscapes with your current camera. I often do this handheld with various cameras while on vacation and get very detailed images. It is quite easy to shoot them and stitch with modern software such as Autopano or Photoshop. You can learn to rotate the camera close to the center of the camera (don't move the camera over an arc.) And you may only need a pano head if you have subjects close to the camera. If you are willing to use a tripod and pano head you can even shoot precise multiple rows with longer lenses for very wide extreme resolution images.

 

I have made a tiny pano head for my p&s camera and use it handheld even on ski slopes. The images are excellent.

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I am going to throw a fly in the ointment and wonder if you have tried shooting multi-shot "stitched" landscapes with your current camera. I often do this handheld with various cameras while on vacation and get very detailed images. It is quite easy to shoot them and stitch with modern software such as Autopano or Photoshop. You can learn to rotate the camera close to the center of the camera (don't move the camera over an arc.) And you may only need a pano head if you have subjects close to the camera. If you are willing to use a tripod and pano head you can even shoot precise multiple rows with longer lenses for very wide extreme resolution images.

 

I have made a tiny pano head for my p&s camera and use it handheld even on ski slopes. The images are excellent.

 

Yes I do,infact I have just spent this afternoon (on hols) doing just that.( I will post below but might get moved by mod) I love the whole process, and if you are careful and a little bit lucky, as you say you can get good results.

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  • 1 month later...

This all depends on the size of the print and if you can hold a camera still and the quality of the lens a and stop it is used.

 

At 11x14, no difference, at 16x the M9 pulls away, at 20 x, the 800e wins.

 

There is only a 30% linear advantage to the 9 over the 8. I have run a few comparisons of M8 and M9 images at 100% on a 27" screen and I can see a difference, but not much.

 

The M9 and D800`s can be compared on imaging resource website. Put the test photos up next to each other.

 

If you want the sharpest, the Nikon wins at the expense of big volume lenses so of which are unbearably heavy. The body size is not Leica small either. It is recommended you use only the modern G lenses. This makes them 50/75 % bigger diameter and longer. All that AF stuff has to go somewhere.

 

I would submit you will only see a difference if you pixel peep large prints.

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I love my M8 but I am looking for an update. I know some of you guys have Leica and also a D800, I have seen the files of the 800 and have been blown away by the size and quality of the files. The question is, as I am most interested in landscape do you think that the quality of the new M will compare, should I wait, or save a few £ 's and get the 800.

Interested to know what your take is.

Well, given that nobody has seen a decent file out of the M yet, except the betatesters and they are under NDA, we are stuck with an unanswerable question...:rolleyes:

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