Journey to Leica with an M8

[nCognito]

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Hi,

 

I bought a used Leica M8 in mid-November from ffordes in Scotland, so having introduced myself in another thread, I wanted to say hello here.

 

I have had a long road to Leica, firstly as a Pentaxer, then an Olympian through being a Nikonista and a Canoneer to finally becoming a Leicator. My father taught me photography with a Spotmatic he bought in Japan in 1971, then I completed an O'level in Photography using an OM1, that gave me the basics of composition, developing and dof. My interest waned then for 20 years until I came back through Astronomy with a Nikon D70, a few dedicated astro cameras followed along with a Canon 600D modified for astro and finally a 'normal' 600D. My interests have always been landscape photography and I bought a mirrorless EOS M to reduce weight while still letting me use the glass I already had. Now I have to admit that the EOS M has the most useless autofocus but it is great for landscape shots. Through all my digital adventures there was always something missing, I could never quite get the picture right, in the same way I had managed when a schoolboy with film.

 

So moving on, I saved until I could buy a used M9 but realised I couldn't afford any lenses, so I got the M8, 4723 actuations, and three Voigtlander lenses, 1.4/40, 4/25 and 4.5/15. The whole lot cost me £1,420.

 

I went to London at night and took my first picture, from Westminster bridge towards Hungerford Bridge and I felt absolutely sick! In the LCD there was a lot of flare and the colours seemed too much, I thought I had made a big mistake and I should have bought the 6D I had been planning on to make the move to full frame. Anyway, I carried on walking towards Trafalgar Square and then home. It was when I looked at the snaps on a computer that I realised I was wrong, the pictures were not bad, just different and in a way that took me to exactly what I wanted. As an astrophotographer, I understand the difference between CCD and CMOS, all my astro cameras are CCD and I think its this that has made the difference. I am also a big fan of the Kodak chips but that's probably a discussion for a different forum.

 

At the end of November, I took my EOS M and the M8 to the Lake District for four days of photography. I took 800 shots with my EOS and 60 with the Leica, I ended up keeping 40 from each batch. That told me a lot, initially I had been reluctant to go with Leica only but now I have every confidence in it.

 

There are some things the M8 is bad at, I would still use the EOS M for low light long exposure and I seem to prefer the Leica colour images over b&w.

 

So in conclusion, to me the M8 is special, there is something about it that works to take the sort of photo I want. Processing is a breeze, normally I shoot on aperture priority and the only changes I have to make are to presence in Lightroom, clarity, saturation and intensity. With the EOS M I spend ages messing around with the sliders to get what I want. It has also rekindled my interest in film, I have just bought a Mamiya C330 TLR and I still have the Spotmatic and OM1 to use.

 

If, like me you want a Leica digital and your budget, with lenses, will only go to a M8, go ahead and buy it. Yes there are risks, you may end up with a £850 brick on your desk but it will almost certainly work fine. I got a 6 month guarantee with mine, which other 7 year old digital camera could you get with any warranty? My only other expenses was two second hand Leica IR filters and a new B&W one for a total of £100.

 

I have put up pictures from London and the Lake District in the landscape forum, so I won't cross post.

[Loren]

Hi,

 

I bought a used Leica M8 in mid-November from ffordes in Scotland, so having introduced myself in another thread, I wanted to say hello here.

 

I have had a long road to Leica, firstly as a Pentaxer, then an Olympian through being a Nikonista and a Canoneer to finally becoming a Leicator. My father taught me photography with a Spotmatic he bought in Japan in 1971, then I completed an O'level in Photography using an OM1, that gave me the basics of composition, developing and dof. My interest waned then for 20 years until I came back through Astronomy with a Nikon D70, a few dedicated astro cameras followed along with a Canon 600D modified for astro and finally a 'normal' 600D. My interests have always been landscape photography and I bought a mirrorless EOS M to reduce weight while still letting me use the glass I already had. Now I have to admit that the EOS M has the most useless autofocus but it is great for landscape shots. Through all my digital adventures there was always something missing, I could never quite get the picture right, in the same way I had managed when a schoolboy with film.

 

So moving on, I saved until I could buy a used M9 but realised I couldn't afford any lenses, so I got the M8, 4723 actuations, and three Voigtlander lenses, 1.4/40, 4/25 and 4.5/15. The whole lot cost me £1,420.

 

I went to London at night and took my first picture, from Westminster bridge towards Hungerford Bridge and I felt absolutely sick! In the LCD there was a lot of flare and the colours seemed too much, I thought I had made a big mistake and I should have bought the 6D I had been planning on to make the move to full frame. Anyway, I carried on walking towards Trafalgar Square and then home. It was when I looked at the snaps on a computer that I realised I was wrong, the pictures were not bad, just different and in a way that took me to exactly what I wanted. As an astrophotographer, I understand the difference between CCD and CMOS, all my astro cameras are CCD and I think its this that has made the difference. I am also a big fan of the Kodak chips but that's probably a discussion for a different forum.

 

At the end of November, I took my EOS M and the M8 to the Lake District for four days of photography. I took 800 shots with my EOS and 60 with the Leica, I ended up keeping 40 from each batch. That told me a lot, initially I had been reluctant to go with Leica only but now I have every confidence in it.

 

There are some things the M8 is bad at, I would still use the EOS M for low light long exposure and I seem to prefer the Leica colour images over b&w.

 

So in conclusion, to me the M8 is special, there is something about it that works to take the sort of photo I want. Processing is a breeze, normally I shoot on aperture priority and the only changes I have to make are to presence in Lightroom, clarity, saturation and intensity. With the EOS M I spend ages messing around with the sliders to get what I want. It has also rekindled my interest in film, I have just bought a Mamiya C330 TLR and I still have the Spotmatic and OM1 to use.

 

If, like me you want a Leica digital and your budget, with lenses, will only go to a M8, go ahead and buy it. Yes there are risks, you may end up with a £850 brick on your desk but it will almost certainly work fine. I got a 6 month guarantee with mine, which other 7 year old digital camera could you get with any warranty? My only other expenses was two second hand Leica IR filters and a new B&W one for a total of £100.

 

I have put up pictures from London and the Lake District in the landscape forum, so I won't cross post.

 

Congratulations!

 

Remember, the M8 requires a UV/IR cut filter on each lens.

 

Failure to use the filter may introduce some very strange color exaggerations. I keep mine on all the time. There are lots of posts on the internet about M8 and UV/IR filters.

 

I find the LCD pretty useless for any critical review of the shot. The histograms are useful if you enable them.

[nCognito]

Congratulations!

 

Remember, the M8 requires a UV/IR cut filter on each lens.

 

Failure to use the filter may introduce some very strange color exaggerations. I keep mine on all the time. There are lots of posts on the internet about M8 and UV/IR filters.

 

I find the LCD pretty useless for any critical review of the shot. The histograms are useful if you enable them.

 

Sure, I have 3 lenses and three filters, getting one to fit into the Voigtlander 4.5/15 was entertaining but all done and its taking beautiful pictures.

[wda]

Welcome! The M8 remains an extremely capable camera, used within its operational limits. For night work I would try and use a tripod, either full-size or table-top. The latter is most useful when used on any convenient riverside wall of pieces of street furniture where big tripods cause trouble with the law.

 

Around the house I get a lot of pleasure using a small table tripod, either the Leica one or the exceptionally compact and elegantly designed PIXI which lives in my camera bag and is most useful when visiting museums or churches, for example. Then you can work at base ISO and obtain optimum quality. When such methods are inappropriate, practise in low light using your fastest lens and experiment with rising ISO values. In post-processing, you can reduce noise to a certain extent and thus determine your optimum method.

[Jeff S]

If you're not happy with b/w results, consider PP factors rather than the files, which I find outstanding and extremely flexible. I assume you're shooting DNG. Can't speak, though, for your lenses, as I use Leica, but that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Jeff

[bender73]

The M8 was sort of a basic no frills Leica body in 2006 and nothing has changed in 2015. It makes great photos with almost no technology (relatively speaking). That's why I love it. SIMPLICITY in a time when everyone wants ISO 1,000,000 and lightening fast AF.

[boliston]

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What.....no face detection even??

[jedi996sps]

Welcome. The M8 when i had mine, brought back the joy in photography for me.

[jcraf]

If you're not happy with b/w results, consider PP factors rather than the files, which I find outstanding and extremely flexible. I assume you're shooting DNG. Can't speak, though, for your lenses, as I use Leica, but that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Jeff

 

+1.

 

Congratulations on your purchase, and welcome.

 

The M8 is capable of fantastic results in B&W. I have just been looking at some old M8 images and they compare extremely favourably with B&W conversions from my later digital Ms, and indeed with my MM.

[nCognito]

If you're not happy with b/w results, consider PP factors rather than the files, which I find outstanding and extremely flexible. I assume you're shooting DNG. Can't speak, though, for your lenses, as I use Leica, but that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate you taking the time to make them. The M8 is certainly a very special camera and I am so very glad I bought it.

 

I am certainly not unhappy with the b&w results but I can and did get similar with my Canon. There are two photos below with links to full size, the b&w is good, it has picked up a certain mistiness and I am happy with it. However, to my eye the colour is special, I just cannot get similar results with my Canon. Both images have been adjusted for presence and noise. I do shoot DNG and I do like the b&w but it is the colour that I think makes this a special camera.

 

 

http://imagemonk.net/wp-content/gallery/leica-lake-district-2014/L1010316-2.jpg

 

 

http://imagemonk.net/wp-content/gallery/leica-lake-district-2014/L1010316-3.jpg

[david strachan]

Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate you taking the time to make them. The M8 is certainly a very special camera and I am so very glad I bought it.

 

I am certainly not unhappy with the b&w results but I can and did get similar with my Canon. There are two photos below with links to full size, the b&w is good, it has picked up a certain mistiness and I am happy with it. However, to my eye the colour is special, I just cannot get similar results with my Canon. Both images have been adjusted for presence and noise. I do shoot DNG and I do like the b&w but it is the colour that I think makes this a special camera.

 

 

http://imagemonk.net/wp-content/gallery/leica-lake-district-2014/L1010316-2.jpg

 

 

http://imagemonk.net/wp-content/gallery/leica-lake-district-2014/L1010316-3.jpg

 

Nice subject and composition. The green grasses on the edge look a little fluorescent (on my monitor). Maybe too much presence???

 

Nice all the same. I like the M8 colours too. Often I use a white handkerchief for manual colour balance/temp.

 

The B&W has good tones.

 

cheers Dave S

[farnz]

What.....no face detection even??

There is indeed but it's provided by the operator not the camera.

 

Pete.

[Undead]

Nice subject and composition. The green grasses on the edge look a little fluorescent (on my monitor). Maybe too much presence???

 

Nice all the same. I like the M8 colours too. Often I use a white handkerchief for manual colour balance/temp.

 

The B&W has good tones.

 

cheers Dave S

 

I too thought that the colour scene is a little bit over cooked, until I recently saw a similar scene and the light that coming through storm clouds was almost magical and I could not believe how fluorescent the grass appeared. I knew that is I posted the scene as seen, it would be suggested as over cooked. But I swear that it looked just like this scene.

 

Sometimes reality looks just surreal.

 

I too love my M8 and have not yet noticed any need for a UV filter.

 

Tony

[nCognito]

Thanks for your comments.

 

I think the monitor makes a difference, on my calibrated monitor in TIFF, it is less garish, (greens/browns rather than greens/orange) the exported files have lost some subtlety. I think this is definitely one to print out! I pushed the presence and clarity because there was a bit of mist around which especially affected the central mountain and the whole central background of the image. I was also trying to develop the granularity in the clouds.

 

Partly however, it was just one of those days, the clouds were directly ahead coming at me at 90 degrees to the river, Further to the right and the left, we had skies clearing to blue. One thing I love about England is it is so green, the water meadows were a beautiful lush green which faded as you go higher.