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Leica M8 - It's official!


marknorton

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While there is no reason why an M9/10/11 can't be a film M, this seems highly unlikely. The M7 & MP are already highly refined. The only thing that Leica might want to do is to modify the rangefinder of these to accommodate the new wide-angle lens/lenses that will be released for the M8.

 

What I think will happen is that Leica will wait for a year or so to see how well the M8 and M7/MP are selling and then decide what to do. It does seem likely that in the not too distant future the M7/MP will only be available to special order.

 

Firoze.

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i do like the m8 name too. it is very simbolic and important as noticed by other members here.

 

and about m7 and especially mp - what exactly should be changed there??? :-))))

just keep on doing it - especially the mp - it is the dignity of leica and my most beloved photo tool :-))

 

and the price of the m8 seems to be ok. i hope (and belive) the quality will be as expacted from leica.

 

does anybody knows what are the plans for the new lenses (for the m8)????

is there any plan to make 21 summicron so that it will be like 28 summicron?

any plans to make a kind of new tri-elm for the m8???

or even shoulld i go further - an upgrade for 35 summilux or "35 noctilux" ????

 

please, leica officials, allow some info about the lenses - i belive it is important to all your potential customers of m8. please, other members join my call :-)

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My money is on a 15mm f2.8 and a new 28mm f2.8, the 15mm f2.8 to provide the equivalent angle of view as the 21mm (more or less) and to compete with Zeiss, and the 28mm f2.8 to fill the hole left by the old Elmarit and to provide a (slightly) more economical wide angle option.

 

If Leica is to stick to its commitment that all new lenses can work with film cameras, producing a line of lenses 21, 28, 35 which are one stop faster than we have at the moment will be difficult and expensive.

 

The existing Tri-Elmar is, if anything more useful in M8 land - "slightly-wide, normal, slightly-long" instead if "wide, slightly-wide, normal" as it is with film.

 

Historically, Leica have given us a new or revised lens once every 1 - 2 years, so I'd be surprised if there were more than 2 lenses waiting.

 

Depending on what the viewfinder can do, they will also have to do a revised auxiliary viewfinder for the 21 and 24mm lenses as well as one for the 15mm lens.

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mark,

with the viewfinder - it is intresting question of course, but what metters here is angle of view. so, the 0,72 will show the image taht is done with 21 mm lens on m8. and that is ok. personally, i have 0.85 mp which is specially important for fast 50mm, but i do use alot 28 too, and no problem - auxilary viewfinder for if i want to be precise in framing, or guess of frame if i want to be precise in focusing at f2 or 2.8, and have to use the rangefinder.

 

im dont know about all the intentions of leica, but i think taht a dedicated lenses for digital will be great - unless they plan to make the m9 in the future as a full frame :-)

 

about the tri-elm...

i dont have tri-elm. it should be nice to have it but too expenssive for casual use (in my case). the quality and the confidanse of fast lenses in various lightings is more important to me. but with digital - maybe it is possible to make a dedicated lens which will be faster.

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I did a poll on RangefinderForum.com to find out how many Leica-M film users were interested in a 15mm lens. The answer is not many, especially at the likely price of the lens. That suggests there is a case for making a smaller, lighter, cheaper lens for just the M8. Certainly, €6500 for a 15mm M FF lens will see few takers.

 

I favour a dual magnification viewfinder which would allow you to select "wide-nomal" or "normal-tele" but who knows what they have done?

 

The Tri-Elmar is a great lens if you can live with the F4 maximum speed.

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mark,

there is little voigtlander 15mm wide helliar lens. it is much cheaper.

about the quality...

i dont know that zeiss lens or what leica will do, but the quality is good for what it is, dont know how it will be on digital - but should be not bad, cause the performance in the center area is good. of course - u have to live with f4.5 with this one.

 

about the marketing issue of 15mm. well, i dont know if maker (leica or zeiss or cosina) should relay on forum inputs only. 15mm = 21mm. and there r people who use it. there will be people who will buy it if u give them this option. but again - making this lens a dedicated digital will do an eassier life both for maker and for potential buyer.

 

about te viewfinder - i like that idea very much :-)))

 

and about tri-elm kind of lens...

21-50 summicron for m8, and i have no more questions about the lenses (even if it very expenssive) :-)))

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With 20/20 hindsight, of course not, but on the old forum, there was a long thread debating the name of the new camera. M8 was one possibility but so too was MD1, M7d, D1, dM1 and so on. It's significant because it really does draw a line under film Leica Ms.

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I used to think that M8 was not the ideal moniker for this new camera but I have changed my mind about it.

 

M8 is a rather elegant, nonchalant designation indicating business as usual. Just another M. This happens to be digital. So what? Cute.:) :) :)

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Honestly I think a 17mm would be much more popular on the M8 than a big 15mm at a very expensive price.

I agree. A 17mm F2.8 should be a lot more practical than a 15mm. I dare say it would also be easier to design and more affordable if it was released in a 1.3 reduced frame format. I know, that is heresy of the worse kind.

 

Rex

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While checking through the box my lenses came back from coding in, SWMBO discovered a pink envelope containing a leaflet in 6 languages which confirms the name of the Leica digital M as "Leica M8".

 

Mark--

Thanks for the photos of the coded lenses and thanks for the official word on "M8."

 

But what does "SWMBO" mean?

 

And when you say the leaflet is "in 6 languages," how do you know? Do you read all six of them? I've always thought when I saw something like that that someone may be pulling my leg by putting up a lot of squiggly characters. :)

 

I mean, if it's a non-language, wouldn't most of us just say, "Oh, I guess that's just one I can't read"?

 

And yes, I am serious about "SWMBO."

 

--HC

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I am sure many of us have our expenditure monitored, however covertly!

 

The leaflet is in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. The obvious ones missing are Japanese and Chinese.

 

As for languages, I speak English, French and German and read Italian, to varying degrees of competence. Spanish is not unlike Italian and Dutch is not unlike German. Show me Hungarian or Finnish and I haven't a clue!

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Well Mark, the Finnish and Hungarian language are related, suppose you know. Except for some regional dialects on the border were people do understand one another, standard Dutch and Hochdeutch are not mutialy understood, unless learned at school.

With my new M8 camera it'll be easy to make a picture and mail it to Timbuktu without any need for translation. How about that!

 

 

Frc.

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“any plans to make a kind of new tri-elm for the m8???”

 

My understanding is Leica will come up in September/October with a new Tri-Elmar 16mm, 18mm & 21mm (x 1.33 for digital) for the M8. This will be the equivalent of 21mm, 24mm, and 28 mm. I also hear there will be no single wide angle lens available at this moment for the digital camera.

 

I don’t know the maximum aperture, but I suppose to will be f4.0. Then the question (for me anyway), becomes whether to buy the 28mm Summicron, or go with the new Tri-Elmar. I hope the M8 will be available with a higher magnification viewfinder like the 0.85 - if so I assume frame lines for the 28 will be present, and we can use the 28mm setting of the Tri-Elmar with the regular viewfinder, and resort to the auxiliary viewfinder for the two wider focal lengths.

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