M8 recommendations for a newbie.

[shushi]

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After several years using M6, I am buying (in Montreal) an M8 and WATE w/milich adapter and filter during a holiday trip to NE North America. And take with me the lux35asph non coded.(Other lenses I own noncoded: 24 asph, lux35 non asph, lux50 asph, elmar 50).

 

I know is quite difficult to use a new camera in a new environment for me as is the digital one, but have no choice. No experience in digicams.

 

I use my computer all day round for non-photography business (mac osx).

 

Want to get some advice for:

 

a. in camera adjustments for travel and novice photography.

 

b. out of camera production. As I am from scratch, would like to know what software is friendly to use in order to get nice travel, family and people photography and can work on RAW.

 

Simple questions and not so simple answers, maybe.

 

Thanks for the high level of comments and photos in this forum.

 

Dan

[luigi bertolotti]

Daniel, you are almost exactly at the point I was 5 months ago : years of Leica M (4 for me), no digital experience, usual photoamateur goals, a good set of uncoded lenses, a single coded lens (WATE for you, 21 ASPH for me). I can give you some advices, maybe sparse, but this, for me, has been until now a "learning curve" of decent stepping.

 

1) Read a lot topics in this forum ; not a joke... there are very good and useful advisors hereby... is easy, in some time, to make your own "selection" and discover that member xxx yyy zzz and so on can really GIVE you something... be they professional photogs and not.

 

2) Is very easy to start shooting jpgs (high quality only, the lower quality I think is useful only for Net publishing) and use whatsoever Software for PP, but don't do it for long (2-3 weeks for me): it's good in the phase you acquire the basic confidence with camera, SD cards, battery management..., but to use M8 seriously YOU MUST START to shoot RAW, and this means to use a RAW developer: choose ONE: C1 (provided with M8) or Lightroom (from Adobe, cheap)

 

3) I found C1 not so friendly, and now I have acquired a good confidence in Lightroom, and plan to continue in this direction... but this is MY experience: C1 has a new version now in beta, and you'll have the right to install the officially released version: they say is more friendly, and seems to be a consensus that C1 has something more on LR... I do not know.

 

4) LR is friendly and has a LOT of functions, think the same for C1... for me is better to choose a developer and stay with one... you have always something new to learn (TODAY, reading the forum, I did learn something more on LR... and will use this).

 

5) A really important topic is MONITOR CALIBRATION : I made a mistake not doing and learning it from the start: is UNUESEFUL to understand well the subtle functions of RAW development and playing with them with an uncalibrated monitor.

 

6) I suppose that, with your M6, your final goal were PRINTS : well, for the moment, forget about serious printers: when you have finished to develop your RAWS, make TIFFs, put onto a CD/DVD, go to a lab. For myself, now I am at this point: I have acquired a cheap 10x15 printer, just to have the easy capabilty to make "family" prints, quick copies and so..., and go to lab for enlargements (A4, panoramics and so...). I still am tempted by HP 9180... but prefer to wait again for (maybe) the moment in which I can sincerely tell to myself "Ok, I have almost nothing important to learn abou RAW development, I make it QUICKLY RIGHT: let's learn something abou printer calibration, inks, papers..." ... but I'm not so sure that this moment shall arrive...

 

7) Keep CLEAN the sensor: trivial, but is an important action to learn to do.

 

8) The M8 DOESN'T WORK without battery : always keep this in mind and act in consequence: if the case, buying a spare battery (I haven't at the moment, but probably is my next buy).

 

9) Use the less menu functions you can : for me, the most useful is ISO setting... you can work from 160 to 640 with no problems; another good surprise for me, was that in interior light shooting you can be confident using the proper setting.

 

10) Just to conclude... ... I never owned a flash... I have nothing at all to say abou M8 with flash.

 

.... And of course, compliments for your choice of M8... there has been not a single moment in which I thought to have made a mistake buying my one...

[shushi]

Luigi,

 

Thanks for sharing your practical experience!!!

 

Dan

[lars_bergquist]

Hardware: It is possible to use the M8 just like a film M with slide film in it, i.e. just shoot. You can even do it on full manual. A 2 Gb card will do for a day's session in ordinary 'tourist mode'. You can look at your pictures at ease in the evening, and discard the failures. The manual is good and clear.

 

Next, do some experimentation and find out about that wonderful aid, the histogram (under the 'info' button). Find out what over-exposure and under-exposure look like. This is great in tricky lighting, and nearly (but not quite) as good as an incident light meter. The auto exposure of the M8, like the M7, is quite good however, in spite of its seeming primitivity. In most cases it does handle even backlighting out in the open without any compensation. If you must compensate, don't use 'set' menu settings, switch over to manual and work like with an M6. This way you won't forget the changed setting.

 

Settings: The default settings are good enough for a start; you may of course prefer a higher ISO than 160. 320 is also very good, and 640 for low light work. Changing ISO by way of the 'set' menu is quick and easy. You will save a lot of battery mileage by setting Auto Review ('menu' button) to Off. You will soon want a spare battery, however.

 

While we are under 'menu', DO NOT try to change the menu language! You may get stuck in Japanese or Mandarin and never find your way out ... Your camera will use English as the default language.

 

Software: Shooting JPEG Fine will give you splendid A4 prints and save oodles of card space. Let Raw (DNG) wait until you have time to experiment at your ease. If you go this way you don't need any special software except what your laptop comes with (iPhoto in case of a Mac). In the camera box you will find a CD with Capture One Light which is a very competent raw converter, for later use. If you register it, Phase One will send you nice email messages and tell you when the coming upgrade is out (soon).

 

This I think is all you need. The manual's introduction will tell you all you need to get started.

 

The old man from the Age of Box Cameras

[shushi]

Lars and Luigi,

 

That's what i want to hear.

 

Thanks for not mentioning about vignetting or cyan, magenta and all the rainbow distortions. haha.

 

Hope can show some pictures when back to Buenos Aires.

 

best

 

daniel

[Maggie_O]

I've been using iPhoto to manage my M8 photos and even do some basic editing. Its sharpen tool is one of the best I've seen. (I've got Photoshop CS3 for the heavy lifting, too.)

 

I also found that (if card space isn't an issue) that shooting DNG + JPEG Fine is a great learning tool, as you can use the JPEG as a standard to shoot for with your RAW (DNG) files. The color rendering in the Leica JPEGs is just absolutely lovely to my eye.

[MrEd]

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Daniel,

Don't forget to get enough SD cards in case you won't have access to your computer until you get home.

The M8 is a wonderful tool, you won't regret it.

Regards,

Ed.

 

 

 

 

.

[shushi]

I've been using iPhoto to manage my M8 photos and even do some basic editing. Its sharpen tool is one of the best I've seen. (I've got Photoshop CS3 for the heavy lifting, too.)

 

I also found that (if card space isn't an issue) that shooting DNG + JPEG Fine is a great learning tool, as you can use the JPEG as a standard to shoot for with your RAW (DNG) files. The color rendering in the Leica JPEGs is just absolutely lovely to my eye.

Maggie,

 

Your recomm about iPhoto it is an antistress for me. thanks

[shushi]

Daniel,

Don't forget to get enough SD cards in case you won't have access to your computer until you get home.

The M8 is a wonderful tool, you won't regret it.

Regards,

Ed.

 

 

 

 

.

Ed,

 

My MacBookPro comes with me.

What brand of SD do you think is better with the M8 or just anyone from the official list?

thanks

dan

[grduprey]

I use the Sandisk Extreme III 2G cards. If you want larger,then I hear the Trascend 4G cards work with the M8.

 

Gene

[carstenw]

Some people, myself included, have had some hiccups with the Extreme III cards, but I think everyone using the Ultra II 2GB cards haven't had problems (except that in the back of my head, someone did have problems once). I use the Ultras with the built-in USB plug.

[Eoin]

I've had issues with the Sandisk III's on the MBP, sometimes difficulty in the card showing up when connected. I now use several Sandisk II's, the ones which snap in half to revel the USB plug and then just plug directly into the MBP USB slot. Works 100% all the time and I have not noticed any real difference in write speeds. No card readers or extra items to carry, sweet!.