Is the M8 sensor a drawback?

[david strachan]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Well the crop factor. But a 50mm becomes 67mm equivalence...nice for portraits and small groups. A cheapish 21mm becomes wide angle 28mm equivalence with no edge colour distortions.

 

The thin anti-aliasing sensor cover allows hand held IR photography. And the B&W use of the camera is famous. Personally the need for lens filters are a bonus, and must be used for colour images. They protect the lens, but cause flare against the light...as do almost all filters.

 

Banding seems to be inherent in all the Leica digitals if shooting in low light, and pushing the sensor. All Leica sensors seem to need extra cleaning compared to other digital cameras. The M8 sensor seems just as reliable as later models. Various forums report the M8 has a slight edge in sharpness compared to the M9. Review times are slow for chimping...my only complaint.

 

The sensor (camera) is now 7 years old. It's seems outstanding value (pre loved) and holds its own against modern stuff.

 

I'm talking here of the sensor, but if anyone wants to put up some positives on the general ergonomics, etc...please contribute.

 

cheers Dave S

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[lct]

I still use my M8.2 together with an M240. Only significant drawback of the former is colour noise above 640 iso. Otherwise both cameras look equally sharp within the limits of their respective resolution.

[david strachan]

I still use my M8.2 together with an M240. Only significant drawback of the former is colour noise above 640 iso. Otherwise both cameras look equally sharp within the limits of their respective resolution.

 

Very interesting lct. Some say the M8 DNG's are easier to process than M9. Do you find any difference with the M240?

 

:)cheers Dave S

[lct]

So far the M8 dng files are easier to process than M240's due to the reddish cast of the latter's WB as is but the forthcoming firmware update should fix this issue for good hopefully. No problem for photogs building personal colour profiles anyway.

[gfspencer]

Most of these things can be said for the other Leica M's but here goes -

 

+ I really like the files that I get from my M8.

 

+ The M8 is a great way to use Leica lenses if you already own several.

 

+ You can put an M8 and 4 lenses in a case that isn't much bigger than a shoebox.

 

+ Every time I pull out my 8M people smile. (I don't get that with my Canon.)

 

+ The M8 is easy for me to hold.

 

+ I can carry my M8 around all day long and not get tired.

 

+ I really like a rangefinder camera.

 

+ I really like setting a camera manually.

 

One of these days I hope to own an ME but until that day the M8 will do just fine.

[lct]

Again comparing it to the M240, my M8.2 has superior ergonomics with its top LCD and its frame selector as well as its slightly smaller weight and depth. Another superiority is the smaller size and weight of its telephoto lenses like 75 vs 90 and 90 vs 135. The lack of fast wides below 35mm FoV is a serious drawback though for those who don't like or cannot afford a Summilux 21 or 24 let alone wider lenses limited to the WATE, the big Zeiss 15/2.8 and the slow CV 15/4.5 and 12/5.6. Cost, size and weight are another concern as far as wides of similar FoV and speed are concerned like Leica 21/2.8 (vs 28/2.8), 24/2.8 (vs 35/2.5) or 28/2 (vs 35/2 or 40/2).

[-Lss-]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

For me the only real issue with the M8 sensor is the crop factor.

[LucisPictor]

I love my M8 and can't really see the need for an M9 (perhaps that's also because of the lenses I use ).

 

Anyway, a 1.3x crop is something I can really live with. I would have a bigger problem with the 1.6x crop of the RD-1.

[lct]

Matter of tastes. I prefer APS-C personally. This way 50mm lenses become almost perfect for portrait. On APS-C cams most of my pics can be taken with two lenses (28/50) whilst i need at least three of them on APS-H.