New M8 Owner with Questions

[SuperSixONE]

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Hi, I've just purchased a nice used Leica M8, and have some questions about some of the settings. First off,

1. Is there any way to shoot raw on the camera? What is better, JPG Fine or DNG

2. Do I need to use lens detection + UV/IR if you are using an IR filter?

3. What does the protect button do?

4. When I try to set Sharpening, Color Saturation, and Contrast, I can't, they are all grayed out.

5. Are there any major fixes with Firmware 2.024? I have 2.014.

6. I know the lever to the left of the lens adjusts the viewfinder brackets, but what is that for, dif. length lenses?

 

And if you guys have any tips or advice that would be very appreciated.

I know these are dumb questions, but thanks in advance for the help!

Edited August 17, 2015 by SuperSixONE

[Isfoto]

Hi 

There is a way to shoot raw with the camera. You have to use a service menu and it will give you assess to 16-bit raw. I can recommend that you look at Arvid's site www.m8raw2dng.de for details. By using the info describer there you really can push the limits with the great M8 camera.

 

Regarding sharpening, color saturation and contrast - I think they are greyed out because you have chosen DNG. If you change to JPG it should work.

 

Best

Michael

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[Mark Pope]

Welcome to the forum.  Apart from the firmware question, answers to all of the other questions can be found in the user manual.  Did yours come without a manual by any chance?  If it did, then I'd suggest downloading one and having a quick read.

 

The camera does shoot raw - these are the .dng files.

The protect button enables you protect an image from being deleted.  Personally, I've never found a need for it.

Lens detection is used with six-bit coded lenses.  You need to have uv/ir filters rather than UV filters, as these help to correct a colour shift caused by the heightened IR sensitivity of the M8 sensor.

IIRC, if the sharpness, saturation and contrast settings are greyed out, it means the camera is shooting raw (i.e. .dng).

The lever on the left selects different sets of framelines.  So, if for example, you have a 35mm lens fitted and want to see how a picture would look with say a 50 or 90mm lens, you can just move the lever one way or the other.

 

As far as the difference between the firmware levels is concerned, there may be some improvements, but more likely, it's to allow support of newer lenses like the Summarits or 18mm super-Elmar.  Other forum members will be able to provide a more reliable, comprehensive answer.   There may also be something in the wiki.

 

Enjoy your new camera!

[jaapv]

Well, in fact  DNG is raw. However, the service menu trick is the way to get uncompressed raw. It has certain advantages to do so, but in daily use it is not worth the hassle. The compression algorithm used by Leica is more than good enough for most daily photographic situations.

 

At the top of the M typ 240 forum you will find the M FAQ thread. It is general, so some posts apply to other M models, but it is well worth while to read it through.

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/216580-leica-m8-m82-m9-m9p-mm-mtyp240-faqs-questions-with-answers/

 

Btw, if sharpening etc. is greyed out it means you are in pure raw (AKA DNG) mode; Those settings only become active when using JPG, which can be  recommended for Black and White photography. (Use DNG+JPG fine - B&W mode to get a monochrome LCD display)

In general the most practical shooting mode is DNG+JPG fine, to have the best of two worlds.

[david strachan]

It's nice to shoot raw +jpg's fine set in colour B&W mode. Bump up contrast.  Beaut way to see your colour confused world...tones and geometry.

Still have the DNG's to have colour too!

cheers Dave S

[carbon_dragon]

Welcome to the forum.  Apart from the firmware question, answers to all of the other questions can be found in the user manual.  Did yours come without a manual by any chance?  If it did, then I'd suggest downloading one and having a quick read.

 

The camera does shoot raw - these are the .dng files.

The protect button enables you protect an image from being deleted.  Personally, I've never found a need for it.

Lens detection is used with six-bit coded lenses.  You need to have uv/ir filters rather than UV filters, as these help to correct a colour shift caused by the heightened IR sensitivity of the M8 sensor.

IIRC, if the sharpness, saturation and contrast settings are greyed out, it means the camera is shooting raw (i.e. .dng).

The lever on the left selects different sets of framelines.  So, if for example, you have a 35mm lens fitted and want to see how a picture would look with say a 50 or 90mm lens, you can just move the lever one way or the other.

 

As far as the difference between the firmware levels is concerned, there may be some improvements, but more likely, it's to allow support of newer lenses like the Summarits or 18mm super-Elmar.  Other forum members will be able to provide a more reliable, comprehensive answer.   There may also be something in the wiki.

 

Enjoy your new camera!

 

Typically, even without an IR cut filter (a filter designed to filter out infrared light) you seldom have color shifts I can detect. You have to be taking pictures of stuff like certain black fabrics to have it show up. So I don't see this as a big disadvantage. And if you put an actual IR filter on the camera (a filter designed to filter out VISIBLE light and let infrared light though) you get some pretty good infrared photography and without all the expense of "converting" the camera for infrared. I see this as a major advantage of the M8 over the M9 (though I own both).

 

The camera automatically selects the right frame lines based on the lens mount. For Leica thread mount lenses which are converted to M mount by use of the Leica adapter, there are three adapters each of which select a different frame line set. The lever lets you override this and show the framelines that are not automatically selected.