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'.

[Aram Langhans]

On 10/2/2025 at 4:42 PM, erl said:

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'.

So, have the best to two worlds.  Adapt your R glass to the Nikon.  I shot for years my R glass on my Nikon DSLR's but would work fine in an F6.  The 100 APO, 50 cron, 35 cron , 35-70 f/4, and 180 f/4,  Outstanding results.  Of course I could not use them on my R8 that sat idle for many years.  I have now gone to the Nikon Z mount, converted all my R glass back to original and taken the R8 out for a spin a few times. I can still use the R glass on the Z mount with the appropriate adapter.  That 100 APO is soooooooo  sweet.

So, if you are so inclined, I did not use the expensive Leitax mounts but rather bought the cheapest mounts I found on Ebay from China and they worked just fine.  Converted all my lenses for the price of one Leitax. 

[erl]

OK. I bit the bullet and bought a second hand R8 from Japan. Great condition and working fine. I particularly use the Spot light meter function of the R8 and of course the fabulous VF brightness. Currently am a happy camper.

[250swb]

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On 12/10/2025 at 3:14 AM, Aram Langhans said:

So, have the best to two worlds.  Adapt your R glass to the Nikon.  I shot for years my R glass on my Nikon DSLR's but would work fine in an F6.  The 100 APO, 50 cron, 35 cron , 35-70 f/4, and 180 f/4,  Outstanding results.  Of course I could not use them on my R8 that sat idle for many years.  I have now gone to the Nikon Z mount, converted all my R glass back to original and taken the R8 out for a spin a few times. I can still use the R glass on the Z mount with the appropriate adapter.  That 100 APO is soooooooo  sweet.

So, if you are so inclined, I did not use the expensive Leitax mounts but rather bought the cheapest mounts I found on Ebay from China and they worked just fine.  Converted all my lenses for the price of one Leitax. 

I used the Nikon F-Z adapter for my converted R lenses but like you converted them back to R spec when I decided to get another R body (I got two, an R-E and an R9). To convert them to F mount I used an Urth kit which I guess is simply a quality controlled Chinese conversion kit, but they worked very well. I now use a Novoflex R-Z adapter to put my R lenses onto my Nikon but as it's only a spacer any cheaper adapter would be as good. The larger diameter Z mount certainly makes things easier.