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The M8 puzzle game


cboudier

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I care about one thing only: the quality of my photos. Period. The M8 should provide that and more. It will ot be perfect, and even if it were, someone would find something to complain about.

 

My nephew is building the camera described below for NASA. I will post the photos of it on Photo Forum.

 

Nephew:

I've attached two photos of the camera we're currently working on. It's a

4 Mpix 165 mm f/1.3. It can resolve stuff smaller than one pixel with a

dynamic range of about 13.5 stops in a single exposure. It's capable of a

6 hour exposure without any detectable increase in noise. All of that

matters, but I bet the noct. takes more appealing pictures... except in

the regime where this one can capture shots of things that have never been

seen before.

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Still no iso setting...:rolleyes:

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I used cameras like this and I can live with it if the menu is well designed. I preset these parameters before a serie of shot and I access the screen to quickly review the pictures anyway.

So even if I would prefer a direct access like the DMR, I also appreciate they kept the M8 as simple as possible.

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It would have been nice if they didn't have the protrusion on the cover door. I suspect it's going to snag on clothing etc. ... but we shall see. I like the way Epson have done it on the RD-1 with a cutout slot where you pull open a spring loaded door with your fingernail. If it's the cover for a data port that's used infrequently it would make even more sense to do it the Epson way.

 

 

Bob.

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The big deal is that the camera is totally battery dependent, unlike the MP or even the M7.

JC

 

As a professional who has worked with digital since 2000, I would argue that it's very important to be able to see battery level in a gauge that's on all the time. If one is in the middle of a shoot, such as a wedding ceremony, sports event, etc., it's essential to have warning that he or she needs to switch batteries before the current one fails. One doesn't want to have a battery fail at a critical moment during the shoot. I scan my battery gauges constantly during a busy shoot and swap when I'm at about 1/4 to 1/3 charge.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

http://www.reidreviews.com

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To set the ISO by means of a direct control is not so important (I agree with Pascal), but to see the ISO status directly is very convenient. It would have been easy to add ISO information to the frame counter and battery status information, or into the viewfinder.

 

Anyway, minor flaws are just that.

 

The basic design of the camera seems to be great.

 

I am very interested in Sean Reid's comments and conclusions on the M8 camera and the 28/2,8 ASPH lens. I suppose many lens tests made with the R-D1 will be repeated now, using the M8 instead. Many Leica users will be very interested in how their lenses perform in this new camera.

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The Rangefinder Forum photos published a couple of weeks ago seem to be accurate so far. If this holds true, it means we have two more buttons on the right side of the LCD screen; it's hard to tell from the rrf photos, but one appears to be "Menu," and the other, at the bottom, is uncertain. There's also a multi-switch. Damn. I wish just one of them was user programmable. I wonder if it's possible that the round screen on the top left might have more than frame and battery?

 

If what we know is correct, the biggest problem will be the lack of direct access to ISO. This is important on digital photos, because in digital, it's another immediate shooting parameter like shutter speed and lens stop; scrolling thumb access to ISO can be very handy.

 

JC

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If what we know is correct, the biggest problem will be the lack of direct access to ISO. This is important on digital photos, because in digital, it's another immediate shooting parameter like shutter speed and lens stop; scrolling thumb access to ISO can be very handy.

 

Can't agree more with you, John ... the capability of bumping ISO on the fly is the first major advantage shooting with digital,

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Guest guy_mancuso

Well we will know for sure in 5 days and counting, Okay i was trying to keep a lid on this one but heck with it , 5 days left and let's let the cat out of the bag, i am not under a NDA so what can they do. The word is the ISO noise on the M8 is better than we expected , i am hearing around ISO 1600 or more before noise starts setting in. Compared to the DMR which is about 800 the maximum. :D

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i'm curious what's behind the door. a usb/firewire port seems silly (and i think unecessary) but possible... though for there to be that extended latch maybe the access is for something else that would be used more often?

 

if adjusting exposure compensation quickly is a hassle the 1/3 stops available on the zeiss lenses look real nice! haha...

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whai is "Protect"?

 

is intentional overexosure by one stop any different than cutting the iso in half? so the question is, do you need an exposure comp button or an iso button?

 

Sean: were you able to give any feed back to Leica and were they able to make use of it?

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Guest guy_mancuso

I would bet it is Firewire which one can either download camera from but more important shoot tethered to a computer. The DMR is firewire . Also they may have a video out .

 

With digital you can't compensate by cutting or raising the ISO. This is not film at a certain ISO , you change the ISO in digital and so does the controls to match it. You need and have to have a exp. compensation control. Without it than this is worthless.

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I don't think ISO is going to be a problem. It's not on the DMR. You select iso on the Set wheel, push the Set button, and select an ISO speed from the LCD by turning the selection wheel. The only difference with the M8 is there is no wheel associated with the Set button. At most this will add one step. This is not menu intensive, and is a hell of alot simpler than changing film. It's important that ISO doesn't change inadvertently.

 

I've never had difficulty reading the DMR info LCD in the sun, just hold the camera so the LCD is shaded.

 

Exposure Commpensation is a different story. I think Leica knows how important it is. Isn't the lever just forward of the shutter button likely to be for Exspoure Comp?

 

I'm more concerned about the added fore and aft girth taking away from that great M feel in the hand.

 

I think this is going to be a great camera.

 

Best,

 

Mitchell

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John,

 

When you change the ISO button on a film camera, you are just changing the light meter's sensitivity. You are not changing the speed of the film. But, with a digital camera, changing the ISO, changes the speed or sensitivity of the sensor. It is like putting in a faster or slower film. That why you need a Exposure Compensation button to expose more or less. Hope this makes sense.

 

Best,

 

Mitchell

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