The new M8 - 2.0 Firmware is online

[JHAG]

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Not many M8 users in those shops... Why push it. Imo it is idiocy to put 3000 eggs in one basket.

 

 

Could'nt agree more.

And avoid Sandisk too — I have 5 Lexar Pro and 5 Sandisk Ext. III

 

Lexar never failed.

2 Sandisk failed in one year : one for bad circuit, the second suddenly

fell apart… of course in a very tense moment when shooting an official

function.

Many fake in circulation — mine was genuine, though.

[ArtZ]

I take that to mean that you have found the Extreme III to be faster. Could you quantify that? How many shots can you shoot with in 30 seconds? How long can you go before the buffer fills up? Which brand and model of Class 6 card are you referencing?

 

 

v.b.

 

geoff

 

No, I find faster the writing times when I use a Transcend SDHC Class 6 card (16 Gb) than my previous SanDisk Extreme III 2 Gb cards.

 

At ISO 160 shoting "DNG+JPG Fine" in continous mode

 

- with Transcend SDHC 16 Gb class 6: Fill buffer 10 pictures, blinking red light 80 sec

 

- with Extreme III 2 Gb: Fill buffer 10 pictures, blinking red light 123 sec

 

But when I use my M8 normally (in "S" mode) the blinking red light (recording images) is noticiable shorter with the SDHC than with the Extreme III (I haven't mesured) even when you're shooting "DNG + JPEG Fine". On DNG only it's difficult to observe a difference.

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[geoff]

Information from several shops selling them

 

 

That leaves so many variable in play from being dead on accurate across all 32GB SDHC cards down to just one brand and/or model of card. Are they all the same brand and/or model? How wide of a sample is this?

 

Are the dealers stating any particular reason for instability or just speaking generally?

 

32GB is a bit over-the-top for my shooting sessions, but 8GB or sometimes even 16GB would serve me better in my situations.

 

 

v.b.

 

geoff

[terencechong]

love it... auto iso is brilliant!

[ArtZ]

Mine says : " take a M7 along the M8, just in case.."

 

I did, I bought a Mamiya 7..

 

Bon dia, bonic!

 

El M8 ets més raro que un gos verd... Translation must be different for each country

[Olsen]

My compliments to Leica designing a simple and straight forward way of firmware updating. It took me less than 2 minutes and it was working! I spent most of a day to find out how to up-date my 1Ds III - struggling with an illogical and idiotic procedure, very Japanese, like 'how to perform harakiri without a sword' - type of a thing. You Canon-guys go f... yourself!

 

And now I have this 18 months old and quite worn,- but loved, M8, - now with an AUTO ISO! Amazing!

 

To you guys down there in Solms; thanks!

[Philippe D.]

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Hasn't anyone experienced, loading the new firmware, a quick pop up in the LCD saying :"Dear M8 user, why not upgrade to 8.2" ?

Yeah.

And if you take a picture of your old M8, you get a JPG file to print on paper.

It's a $2000 refund voucher.

[ArtZ]

AUTO ISO! Amazing!

 

I'm really surprised quite M users here find "Amazing" AUTO ISO.

 

I think ISO and APERTURE have to be set ONLY by the photographer, not by the camera. I don't mind shooting with AUTO SPEED... but I think, personally, I could never use "AUTO ISO" fonction in any camera (including P&S).

[stunsworth]

Well it is optional, and not something I'm likely to use, but I can imagine that for certain photographers it _would_ be useful.

[the warrior]

I agree, but I can't really fault Leica for it. It's not Leica that's going the full-automation route, it's their customers and the market. There's a very small set of people who are willing to actually learn how to take photographs. We used to call those professionals, but even the profession--perhaps all professions--have been moving away from skill skill and towards production. As much as I detest that general trend, I understand it--pros need to make money, and to do so they feel they need blindingly fast AF, 21 MP, 30 frames per second, and 14TB cards. And many consumers, particularly those with money, want to look like pros. Or --as is more often the case-- consumers with money. I think we all know that the market is really not about the photography anymore.

 

Just browse the threads from the last year. People ask if the next M can have autofocus. Autofocus! Or Live View. Live View!

 

As much as I'd love to see Leica draw a line in the sand and say "we make tools for the photographer--let Canon, Nikon, etc. make photo-taking machines for the masses", it's clear their ability to do so has a limited lifespan. Leica's, and Ms in particular, are already a niche market and who knows if Leica is actually turning a profit in this sector after R&D and all the quality mishaps (recalls, fixes, etc.).

 

Well, we can at least find some solace in the fact that Leica has made these features optional. I don't know that I've ever used the "A" setting on my M8. Maybe once. But I didn't buy my M8 to be an expensive Elph. I bought it to help me feel like I'm actually taking photos again--like I'm part of the photo-taking process, not just a bipod for a photo machine with a button which makes all the decisions for me.

 

Anyway, I'll get down off the curmudgeon box now.

 

 

 

 

 

:)

 

Totally in agreement.

I buy my Leica M8 seeking to traverse of canon-nikon automation, I want to do my photos, do not want the whole automation me do not permit to think and to enjoy.

 

The way AUTO ISO is really good??

[msadat]

the new faster speed only shows in the new nikon d90 that has the technology built in

 

What card were you using before?

 

I just checked the Sandisk site and they have both 20mb/s and 30mb/s Extreme III SDHC cards. The SD version only goes to 20mb/s.

 

If you buy new SDHC cards, make sure the Extreme III you purchase are the 30mb/s edition. They show it as 200x speed.

 

Robert

[DeLallo]

The instructions for the M8 2.0 firmware says the setting options for the Auto ISO is on page 121 of the instructions for the M8.2. How can I access the M8.2 instructions?

[ndjambrose]

I'm really surprised quite M users here find "Amazing" AUTO ISO.

 

I think ISO and APERTURE have to be set ONLY by the photographer, not by the camera. I don't mind shooting with AUTO SPEED... but I think, personally, I could never use "AUTO ISO" fonction in any camera (including P&S).

 

Depends on what you photograph, surely?

 

If you're walking around taking leisurely snapshots of whatever you fancy then you've got all the time you need to set ISO. But if you're photographing in a highly pressured environment with sudden and frequent changes in light levels then it's going to be very useful.

[Olsen]

I'm really surprised quite M users here find "Amazing" AUTO ISO.

 

I think ISO and APERTURE have to be set ONLY by the photographer, not by the camera. I don't mind shooting with AUTO SPEED... but I think, personally, I could never use "AUTO ISO" fonction in any camera (including P&S).

 

I don't know yet. I have to try it out. I have never had a camera with a AUTO ISO before. So far I have set the ISO on my M8 at either 160 or 640 (which is closer to 800 compared to Canon) and have never ventured further. In certain situations 'the motive' plays the most important part and the photographer have to be prepared for changing light under marginal conditions. I will try it out.

 

Regardless; it's nice to have, he?

[gesper]

Since Auto ISO is optional and only a firmware change, why not have it? "Serious" photographers can ignore it and those who want it can use it. Anything that encourages more people to buy M8s and keep production of them financially viable without interfering with the traditional manual functions has to be a good thing.

[larry]

I think Ed mentioned this earlier, but the camera's startup time seems much faster.

 

Larry

[Philippe D.]

I never use 1250 ISO, what should i do with 2500

 

I want 50 ISO !

[scott kirkpatrick]

There will be additional releases coming after this. None of the new lenses that were announced are defined in the lens recognition table of the new firmware. I've read the introductory sections and don't see a part in the initial XML which distinguishes the M8.2 from the M8, but there may be more subtle ways of telling the difference.

 

scott

[DeLallo]

Got it in my M8.

 

The S sign on my exposure wheel showed up !!!!!!!

 

Green blob is still here....

The rest seems to work...

 

-seems faster wakeup-at least the numbers show up earlier.

-framelines are definitely tighter. I can compose now as I always wanted to.

 

What"s the S sign?

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Hallo,

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[scott kirkpatrick]

What"s the S sign?

 

snapshot mode. Only seen when you buy an M8.2 or drink two Italian expressos while installing the new firmware in an M8. The High ISO performance also improves for these lucky owners with the new firmware, and a very few (those who chase the expresso with some grappa) have experienced autofocus.

 

scott