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Leica M8 - a well kept secret!!


Bij

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I recently bought a M8 though not entirely sure why.

My M9 been away for a sensor clean after a trip to India. My local store loaned an m8 to me over a bank holiday weekend.

My 24mm Elmar3.8 was on the table so took it out for a spin (plus I only have a 46mm UVIR).

 

Amazing results. I was smiling at the computer screen when viewing it that evening. Camera raw and VSCO seems to like the DNG files. 

Went back to the sore after the break and paid for it..........Will figure out why later..

 

 

Tried the 24 and 28mm elmarit and well as the 35 and 75 summarit. Great leica pictures but not the same feeling i from the elmar 24.

 

The Zeiss 50 bokeh was more distracting than it on the M9 but the Zeiss 35 f2.8 was lovely. 

The lens i wanted to love was the 50mm summilux non- asph as i own it. Harder to focus at f1.4 than on the M9 and i have to convince myself the some of the out of focus areas are not smeared. Will need more time with it.

 

The camera handles well, its one of the upgraded versions.

OK - ISO best at 160, Exposure metering not exactly as on the M9, ACR not as kind to the underexposed areas as the M9, battery metering poor.

Still - Gets some Fab pictures and forgiving of the Sunny 16 rule.

 

I know many Leica user graduating up from M8 to M9 to the CMOS Ms but no one had been forth coming as to how great this tool is. A well kept secret.

 

This is my first post - keen to see if anyone has experience with the elmar combo.

Attached some files at low resolution

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That's a magic set of pictures right after getting the M8. I like those cross diagonals in the clouds. I've been eyeing an M8 to use as a second Monochrom. I had one briefly that I had to return because of vertical streaks in dark areas at high ISO. I keep going back in LR to enjoy the pics it gave. In retrospect maybe I shouldn't have bothered with the streaks .

 

Sent from my EVA-L29 using Tapatalk

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The M8 camera is also great for Black and White. At lease one professional photographer on this forum compares his M8.2 favourably to the mk1 Monocrom.I also have an M8.2 and a Monocrom and am more than just pleased with the results in B and W from my M8.

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The M8 camera is also great for Black and White. At lease one professional photographer on this forum compares his M8.2 favourably to the mk1 Monocrom.I also have an M8.2 and a Monocrom and am more than just pleased with the results in B and W from my M8.

 

BrianP, you get such good results with Leica's "retro" digital? (It's a decade young this month...I have two, born in 2006.)

 

Bij, it uses the light through the middle of the lens...some consider this important.  The files are lovely to work.

 

cheers

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I now own my 4th M8 (long story) along with the M9. Although I must admit that the M9 is simply a more mature camera, the M8 is really complementary as a second body.

 

Advantages of M8 IMO compared to the M9:

- it crops but that makes some frames easier to see with glasses. e.g. I do not like the 35mm frames on the M9 but I like them on the M8 because they are the largest you can see with glasses on without moving your eye around.

- the crop makes it an ideal 'tele' M. If you know you will have to crop the M9 shot anyway, why not use the M8? take a 90 or 135 and if you need to 'zoom' closer than 135mm on FF you can use the M8 just as well as the M9

- B & W pictures have this little extra...

- 1/8000 exposure time for shooting wide open with fast lenses

- 24mm frame available, and if you use the edges of the VF, a 21mm can be used without external VF

- great for older lenses with edge or corner issues, because it only uses the center part of the glass

- the files are lighter and still plenty for the prints I make

 

Disadadvantages:

- color is unusable IMO without UV/IR cut filters. I can not see how Leica imagined us using this camera without filters.

- Even with filter, the color of the M9 is better

- cropped, so less ideal equivalent focus length e.g with 50mm

- does not have a manual lens picking menu, so if you shoot a lot with older lenses like me, the wide angle ones (40 or shorter) actually need encoding before they are as they should be. I think Leica could solve this if they wanted by a firmware update, but of course this will never happen.

- one stop less in dynamic range. I really always shoot RAW and ISO 160 so that I can 'push' only the necessary amount in PP. Sometimes this will save a picture because it happens that I overexpose up to one stop by accident.

 

 

As you can see the M8 is really a viable alternative to my M9 in most situations. This is remarkable for a 10 year old digital body!

Edited by dpitt
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I now own my 4th M8 (long story) along with the M9. ...

Disadadvantages:

- color is unusable IMO without UV/IR cut filters. I can not see how Leica imagined us using this camera without filters.

 This is remarkable for a 10 year old digital body!

 

Yes, perhaps see it as "tuning the light for the sensor"... drawing a Long Bow, but that's how I see it.

 

cheers...

 

PS not an argument as I see you know the M8 well... ;)

Edited by david strachan
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Where has all the UV IR filters gone ??

Strugglling to find a E43.

Ebay is empty, none in leica stores or used sections.

In case you really don't find one... I have a B+W E43 UV IR (less slim the Leica original... so that on my old Lux I cannot mount reversed hood + cap on it) and given that now I mostly use my M240 I can renounce to it for my (beloved, anyway, and still fine working) M8. Send me a PM in case. And compliments for your pictures ! 24 is really one of the best focals for M8.... and I am partially regretted to have sold my Elmarit 24 asph whne had to fund some new glass for M240... :(    

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I now own my 4th M8 (long story) along with the M9. Although I must admit that the M9 is simply a more mature camera, the M8 is really complementary as a second body.

 

Advantages of M8 IMO compared to the M9:

- it crops but that makes some frames easier to see with glasses. e.g. I do not like the 35mm frames on the M9 but I like them on the M8 because they are the largest you can see with glasses on without moving your eye around.

- the crop makes it an ideal 'tele' M. If you know you will have to crop the M9 shot anyway, why not use the M8? take a 90 or 135 and if you need to 'zoom' closer than 135mm on FF you can use the M8 just as well as the M9

- B & W pictures have this little extra...

- 1/8000 exposure time for shooting wide open with fast lenses

- 24mm frame available, and if you use the edges of the VF, a 21mm can be used without external VF

- great for older lenses with edge or corner issues, because it only uses the center part of the glass

- the files are lighter and still plenty for the prints I make

 

Disadadvantages:

- color is unusable IMO without UV/IR cut filters. I can not see how Leica imagined us using this camera without filters.

- Even with filter, the color of the M9 is better

- cropped, so less ideal equivalent focus length e.g with 50mm

- does not have a manual lens picking menu, so if you shoot a lot with older lenses like me, the wide angle ones (40 or shorter) actually need encoding before they are as they should be. I think Leica could solve this if they wanted by a firmware update, but of course this will never happen.

- one stop less in dynamic range. I really always shoot RAW and ISO 160 so that I can 'push' only the necessary amount in PP. Sometimes this will save a picture because it happens that I overexpose up to one stop by accident.

 

 

As you can see the M8 is really a viable alternative to my M9 in most situations. This is remarkable for a 10 year old digital body!

 

I wrote this over 4 years ago, expressing my preference for the M8.2 over the M9....  http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/179836-why-choose-m9-over-m8/?p=2017553

 

[Note....the stock M8 could be upgraded in 3 ways (one or all)...frame lines, sapphire screen and shutter (which sacrificed 1/8000).....the M8.2 had these features along with a few other differences, e.g., camera cover, black dot on black camera, etc]

 

I now prefer an M240 for my shooting style, using a 35 Summicron instead of a 28 Summicron, and now printing bigger at times than back then.  But the M8.2 still is a fantastic camera, fully capable of producing wonderful files to use in a disciplined print workflow.

 

Jeff

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Disadadvantages:

- color is unusable IMO without UV/IR cut filters. I can not see how Leica imagined us using this camera without filters.

 

 

Dear dpitt,

 

http://www.eliebescont.com

 

All color pictures were shot with the M8 and without the IR filter, except :

- The picture of the woman wearing a yellow stripped apron and smoking a cigarette (Leica M2 with Kodak Ektar).

- The picture of the man with a denim vest smoking on a bridge (Leica M2 with Kodak Ektar).

- The picture of the red car marked '18' (Leica M2 with Kodak Ektar).

 

Most black and white pictures were shot using the M8 too except one shot on TriX and another one with the Monochrom.

 

The Leica M8, as you can see, is perfectly usable without UV/IR filters and gives very good results if you are good at processing your files. :)

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In case you really don't find one... I have a B+W E43 UV IR (less slim the Leica original... so that on my old Lux I cannot mount reversed hood + cap on it) and given that now I mostly use my M240 I can renounce to it for my (beloved, anyway, and still fine working) M8. Send me a PM in case. And compliments for your pictures ! 24 is really one of the best focals for M8.... and I am partially regretted to have sold my Elmarit 24 asph whne had to fund some new glass for M240... :(    

Got a used chrome one which has seen a lot of better days for £50. Should have looked at B W. Anyway, thanks for the offer.

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My M8 has 3000 exposures on it.  I will not sell it.

My M8 only just above 1000. Earlier this year I was thingking of selling it but when I looked at the pictures again I decided to keep it. And only a few weeks ago I got the Elmarit 28 2.8 ASPH, new at a bargain price lower than second hand prices. Previously I used the Voigtländer 2.0 on my M8, but always wanted the small Elmarit. It's a little slower lens but that is not a problem for the type of pictures I take.

 

Best

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Dear dpitt,

 

http://www.eliebescont.com

 

All color pictures were shot with the M8 and without the IR filter, except :

- The picture of the woman wearing a yellow stripped apron and smoking a cigarette (Leica M2 with Kodak Ektar).

- The picture of the man with a denim vest smoking on a bridge (Leica M2 with Kodak Ektar).

- The picture of the red car marked '18' (Leica M2 with Kodak Ektar).

 

Most black and white pictures were shot using the M8 too except one shot on TriX and another one with the Monochrom.

 

The Leica M8,

as you can see, is perfectly usable without UV/IR filters and gives very good results if you are good at processing your files. :)

Hi Elie,

 

Thank you for proving me wrong. The M8 is useable for color without filters.

These are lovely pictures. You probably are better than me in PP, or simply more determined to make the M8 file work for you. I also noticed it may depend on the lens you use and some lighting conditions. When I see pictures taken by someone else it is easier for me to ignore some IR contamination artifacts, because I simply can not compare with either M9 pictures from the same scene or from memory.

 

In some of your pictures I seem to notice the IR issues a bit in skin tones and greens, but that is only noticeable if you know the M8 well like I do, I suppose. All I can say is that if it works for you the M8 is even a greater camera than it is for me.

Enjoy!

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Dear Elie and Dirk

 

It's the tree leaves and vegetation which give me most trouble...if I don't use the filter. 

The greens tend to olive colours...which can be difficult.  Depending on the plant, intensity of sunlight, etc seems to make a difference with intensity of oliveness.

 

Elie does not have many images of full sun and green plants, so I'm finding it hard to determine if they are able to be correctly processed.

They are lovely images.

 

cheers

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