Blasphemy

[erl]

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Some may even call it Heresy, but what ever, I'm saying it!

I actually have decided, after plenty of real world testing, that the Leica R8 is a faster shooting camera than any of the Leica M's, of which I have plenty. From the POV of sighting a target, raising the camera, capturing the image, after having manually focused. Most recently, my 'experimental' gear was an M10 with Summilux 50/1.4; V's the R8 with 80/1.4 Summilux.

In my hands, the R8 easily outstripped the M10 for nailing subjects on the move. I really believe the VF of the R8 is so easy to focus and does so over the entire screen. M's need to be focussed first, then recomposed to shoot. That is the critical difference, IMO. Note: I am talking about manual focussing, not zone focussing!

Just my idle musings.

[250swb]

I'm with you, although I have an R9, but the bright image pops into sharpness on the fresnel screen without having to resort to the split image, and which makes it for me especially good for wide angle lenses. It is also better in that respect to a rangefinder because you can see where the plane of focus is in front of the subject to estimate DOF (one third in front, two thirds behind) without having to move the camera away from the composition. Nikon got to a similar position with the FM3a, the last of the great Nikon manual focus film cameras and the brightest and crispest viewfinders they'd ever made and I would say equal to the R9.

[Stuart Richardson]

If you want to go into the stratosphere (for film cameras), you could consider a Nikon F6. I have had both the R9 (with and without motor drive) and the F6. I preferred the R9 lenses, but the F6 was certainly the more capable camera at capturing moments. 

[erl]

7 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

If you want to go into the stratosphere (for film cameras), you could consider a Nikon F6. I have had both the R9 (with and without motor drive) and the F6. I preferred the R9 lenses, but the F6 was certainly the more capable camera at capturing moments. 

Thank you for the thought. I will investigate, but a real part of my problem is the suite of Leica R lenses that I have and like. I am not rushing into any decision, but am keeping my R8 'limping along'. Considered a second hand available R8, but have not 'pressed the button'.