Jump to content

M8.2 vs. M8--Is It Worth It?


photolandscape

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

About 1000 exposures and two weeks into using an M8.2, I now feel I am in a decent position to offer a personal evaluation of the advantages of an M8.2 vs. my M8.

 

I had my M8 for two years, and recorded about 25,000 images with it. Other than missing one shot of a night time liftoff of the space shuttle in Florida last March, it really performed quite well. I really was tempted to upgrade it however, mostly for the framelines and to a lesser extent, the shutter. Of course the more work you have performed, the lower the cost of each feature added as part of the upgrade. So once I did the math, I concluded that I'd be best off opting for the M8.2, and ordering from an British dealer due to the relatively weakness of the GBP vs. the USD. I wound up paying about $4,850, vs. the going price in the states of $5,995--give or take a few hundred dollars. It took two days for the camera to arrive, and it came with a full 2-year warranty. Here is what I have concluded:

 

--shutter: a slight improvement, though to me, not worth doing it as part of the upgrade unless yours has many thousands of actuations. It's marginally more quiet, but unless you're photographing indoors in tight quarters, not a major advantage

 

--vulcanite: a tiny improvement over the first generation fabric

 

--LCD Sapphire screen: kind of nice not to have to slap a screen protector on the LCD, but not a huge improvement really

 

--framelines: definitely an improvement for the kind of shooting I do

 

--charger: I was sure I was going to be happy to lose the brick, but on balance, I actually miss it. The new charger seems quicker and the 80% quick charge feature is nice, but when you combine the somewhat smaller charger with the power cord and plug, I really prefer my old brick. I am hoping Delkin will honor their endless commitments to all of us to produce an M8 compatible charging plate for their dual charger with built-in plug.

 

--other: the sensor arrived quite clean, with only two small specks of dust--no grease or oil spots thankfully. My M8's thumb wheel was always very stiff. The new one on my M8.2 turns very freely and easily. I like that. And last of all, I actually missed the 1/8000/sec. shutter speed last week in Arizona, Utah and Nevada in the bright desert on a few shots where I wanted to minimize depth of field and had the lens wide-open.

 

All things considered, getting an M8.2 at such a good price provides several marginal improvements over my M8. And best of all, I have two years of piece of mind with the new warranty. All in all, it is certainly an improvement--albeit an incremental one.

 

Those are my thoughts.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It sounds like you find very little to recommend the M8.2, and nothing what cannot be added to an M8 in upgrade. Did you sell your M8 or do you keep him? I found out I can find approximately $2300 to sell my M8, that added $1700 to upgrade the shutter, frames, and glass, brings me a total $4000. To buy an M8 from the UK as you did will cost still $1000 more. Yes it will bring one further year of warranty. That and the delay shutterwind are costing $1000. It is the question to ask if that is worth. I decide to upgrade, and save $1000 forward an M9, hopefully with more significant improvements than M8.2.

Link to post
Share on other sites

People from the US are amazingly risk averse and place a much higher value on a warranty than I ever would. I'm perfectly happy to carry any such risk myself. Thank you for your evaluation, it seems the changes are marginal at best and the core characteristics of the M8.2 are unchanged from the M8. No wonder they wanted to keep some firmware changes for M8.2 users only.

 

Do you remember those Wendy's advertisements with a little old lady, Clara Peller, probably long departed from this world, asking: "Where's the Beef?". She couldn't have been more right.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I almost bought an M8.2 today with a couple of lenses. BUT seeing the new BH price on the M8 at $3995 (new price, no rebate required) I could not justify the extra $2k even though I really wanted that black paint m8.2. With that $2k I was able to buy a Leica lens instead though I really wish I could of swung that BP M8.2! I had an M8 when it 1st came out and sold it months later and regretted it ever since. Enjoy your M8.2!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Now that the WB problem is s-o-o-o much better than the 2006 launch firmware, THE issue for me is the terrible shutter noise of the M8.

 

How I miss the silky "swoosh" of the M7! I'm sorry to hear that the M8.2's shutter isn't much quieter than the M8.

 

-g

Link to post
Share on other sites

... I'm sorry to hear that the M8.2's shutter isn't much quieter than the M8....

 

That was not my experience when I tested an M8-2 alongside my M8. I was instantly surprised by the noise improvement gains of the M8-2. I think that those who are curious really need to do the same side-by-side test to see whether the differences matter to them. For my part, I'm greatly disappointed that Leica didn't get the noise damping right for the M8, I still find it a significant error and if I could trade-up to the M8-2; I would.

 

................ Chris

Link to post
Share on other sites

The delayed cooking is important. it permits me to get away with shooting on sound stages and wind after the "cut", one can also hide the camera behind a coat to muffle the sound not to get in trouble with the sound engineer. BTW. the D-lux4 with black tape over the focus light is also incredible quiet and "set" friendly.

 

.

Link to post
Share on other sites

About 1000 exposures and two weeks into using an M8.2, I now feel I am in a decent position to offer a personal evaluation of the advantages of an M8.2 vs. my M8.

 

I had my M8 for two years, and recorded about 25,000 images with it. Other than missing one shot of a night time liftoff of the space shuttle in Florida last March, it really performed quite well. I really was tempted to upgrade it however, mostly for the framelines and to a lesser extent, the shutter. Of course the more work you have performed, the lower the cost of each feature added as part of the upgrade. So once I did the math, I concluded that I'd be best off opting for the M8.2, and ordering from an British dealer due to the relatively weakness of the GBP vs. the USD. I wound up paying about $4,850, vs. the going price in the states of $5,995--give or take a few hundred dollars. It took two days for the camera to arrive, and it came with a full 2-year warranty. Here is what I have concluded:

 

--shutter: a slight improvement, though to me, not worth doing it as part of the upgrade unless yours has many thousands of actuations. It's marginally more quiet, but unless you're photographing indoors in tight quarters, not a major advantage

 

--vulcanite: a tiny improvement over the first generation fabric

 

--LCD Sapphire screen: kind of nice not to have to slap a screen protector on the LCD, but not a huge improvement really

 

--framelines: definitely an improvement for the kind of shooting I do

 

--charger: I was sure I was going to be happy to lose the brick, but on balance, I actually miss it. The new charger seems quicker and the 80% quick charge feature is nice, but when you combine the somewhat smaller charger with the power cord and plug, I really prefer my old brick. I am hoping Delkin will honor their endless commitments to all of us to produce an M8 compatible charging plate for their dual charger with built-in plug.

 

--other: the sensor arrived quite clean, with only two small specks of dust--no grease or oil spots thankfully. My M8's thumb wheel was always very stiff. The new one on my M8.2 turns very freely and easily. I like that. And last of all, I actually missed the 1/8000/sec. shutter speed last week in Arizona, Utah and Nevada in the bright desert on a few shots where I wanted to minimize depth of field and had the lens wide-open.

 

All things considered, getting an M8.2 at such a good price provides several marginal improvements over my M8. And best of all, I have two years of piece of mind with the new warranty. All in all, it is certainly an improvement--albeit an incremental one.

 

Those are my thoughts.

I had two upgrades done on my M8, the new shutter and the frame lines. I find the upgraded shutter is significantly quieter than the old one. The one year extended warranty that comes with the upgraded shutter is hard to place a value on except another year of peace of mind. The frame lines are an improvement the 35-50-75 are spot on but the 28 still leaves a little out of the final image. I rarely use the viewfinder as most of my work is done in hyperfocal but I sometimes do head and shoulder shots when traveling. I don't mind the cover that comes with the M8 and I already had a Giottis cover on my screen. The delayed cocking mechanism on the M8.2 is not really much of a draw but I have to admit the M8.2 is a sexier looking bastard than the M8.:D

Link to post
Share on other sites

M8.2 at such a good price provides several marginal improvements over my M8.

 

Odd that you don't mention the delayed shutter re-cock and ISO shift. After a lot of souI (and wallet) searching I bought the 8.2 mainly because of the discreet shutter actuation and I haven't regretted it a moment - similarly the upgrate I did on the M8. I now have the framelines I want, a body that I can use in all the contexts where quietness matters (so much better than my 5D2) and a second body that gives me the flexibility I need when I'm working quickly in reportage situations.

 

Worth the money? Too difficult to call - Michael Reichman's recent essay on value for money (Quality Vs. Value) gives food for thought. Worth it to me?

 

Definitely.

Link to post
Share on other sites

But what about the black dot, paint job and covering? I bought my own black dot for $20. Covered it myself for $40. Went for the shutter and frameline upgrade. Put savings toward a lens. When the M9 comes out I probably could sell the lens with a profit to put money toward it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest malland

Clearly, the difference is worth it for people to whom a (very) quiet shutter and delayed re-cocking and the other M8.2 features, such as the new framelines, are important. To others, it's merely an extravagance to have the latest thing.

 

Reminds me of when a Japanese friend visited me in Washington. When we were going to a sushi bar I told that there were two really good ones, of which the cheaper one cost one-third but had 95% of the quality of the more expensive one. He said. "Let's to go the expensive one, because for sushi, it's the last five percent that natters.

 

—Mitch/Turks & Caicos

Bangkok Noir©: Book Project - a set on Flickr

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've sent my out of warranty 15000 activations M8 in for the shutter, frames and LCD cover upgrade, and will get a CLA and year's warranty when it makes it out of Israeli customs this week, next or whenever. I got a slight savings deal on an early M8.2 and have been very happy with it. I am frequently in situations where the new shutter sound, with or without delayed recock, is a benefit. And I have an M8 which I don't plan to upgrade, as it still works fine, looks good and has a year and a half to run on its warranty in case I manage to do something which jams its shutter.

 

So I agree with everybody. You're ALL doing the right thing.

 

scott

 

ps If in another year or so I find the framelines on the unmodified M8 to be frustrating, I'll just sell it then. Can't see investing in another upgrade at the current prices. I received 2008 pricing for the one I upgraded.

Link to post
Share on other sites

There are two advantageous things that make the M8 unique:

 

- The M8 has a gunmetal finish (black chrome) compared to the M8.2 which is painted. I like the slight patina that you can see on the black chrome of the M8.

 

- The 1/8000 shutter speed allows you to use fast lenses in bright environments without closing aperture.

Link to post
Share on other sites

My experience is that my M8.2 is much smoother operating (shutter release etc) than the M8, a great deal quieter (similar to my M7 sound when the M8.2 is in delayed recocking mode) and the new framelines are quite good indeed.

 

Since I do much work very close to people, the delayed recocking makes a big difference in getting the picture or not.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...