DMR vs M8 musings

[Guest umb]

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be it as it may be, if choose non-Leica you're left with plenty of money to make your trip to hell much mor enjoyable. :D

[pascal_meheut]

Why would one want money in hell ? Rather spending it here on nice cameras and lenses such as Leica

[adan]

umb: you're forgetting two prime principals of life and death.

 

1. "You can't take it with you."

 

2. "He (or She) who dies with the most toys - wins!"

[wbabbott3]

Louis,

 

After 20 years with a Rollei TLR for family and travel pix, I switched to an M4 for 15 years, always with my trusty Weston light meter or, later, a Leica MR meter.

 

I then changed to an R4 and then an R7 specifically to use zoom lenses for slides. Seemed like the thing to do at the time and it was; I became hooked on the "experience" of the R with the zoom, and the built-in metering.

 

Then, at about age 65 or so, I drempt of returning to the smaller, lighter M world and tried to do it, twice, first with an M6 TTL and then an M7, determined to make the M System magic (now with metering) work again for me.

But my eyes and brain said no, I was so used to composing in the finder with zooms and the ergonomics of the R bodies that I couldn't go back to the formerly simple, trouble free operation of the M. The change in optics and ergonomics was just too big for me to be comfortable.

 

The arrival of digital photography complicated everything and I resolved the whole ball of wax with an R9, DMR, and, depending on what I am doing, a couple of marvelous zooms or a couple of fixed focal-length lenses in my bag.

 

My brain, my eyes, and my hands made the decision for me.

 

With all best wishes,

 

Bill Abbott

[4season]

I can't get into details but from my sources the M8 is a hot rocket ready to explode on the scene.

 

This has nothing to to with Sony lithium-ion batteries, I hope

[biglouis]

Bill

 

Thanks for your input on my thread, after all this time. I find your experience very interesting, so thanks for sharing. Since September, when I first posted this thread, I've gone full circle and I've just invested in a cheap s/h M4-2 and am on the hunt for a suitable lens.

 

I just wanted to try film photography one last time and I figured, hey, it has to be with a Leica of some sort.

 

In between times I tried a (gasp) Nikon D1X DSLR which to me is a BIG slr camera, equally as large and bulky as the R8/9. It was absolutely fantastic - so beautifully built. However, after a month it hurt me so much to hoist the b*gg*r up that I passed it on to a new grateful owner who appears to have stronger hands and more developed shoulder muscles! I'm afraid the experience bought home to me that big cameras are not for me.

 

I love my little D-LUX 2 and the obvious next stop would therefore be an M8 but frankly I'll have to save for several years before I can make that leap. I hope in the meantime that the D-LUX 2 and my M4-2 will keep me happy.

 

Mind you, if I really like film photography I might be tempted towards a R8, so as they say in the classic, never say never (again).

 

Regards

 

LouisB