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M9 - are we happy and who's buying one?


ptarmigan

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Low ISO (80)............................Yes...............................HOPEFULLY this can be a firmware upgrade for M8 please?

 

It's a "pulled" 160. The EI is 80 but you lose about a stop of dynamic range at the highlight end. If you think 1/4000 sec max is a problem, this is only a partial solution.

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Guest BigSplash
I see that all of the threads are so very positive ...great I wish you all well.

 

Certainly it seems that Leica have executed a brilliant piece of technology through to production and have demonstrated yet again that they are masters of industrial design to get 1000 piece parts to fit together in an elegant package.

 

I bought my M8 in July this year and I remain happy. I have given thought to the M9 but looking at the spec I see the following:

 

Good points:

Full Frame...............................Yes

18 MP sensor..........................Yes ( I guess)

Low ISO (80)............................Yes...............................HOPEFULLY this can be a firmware upgrade for M8 please?

High ISO..................................Maybe good, but I am not oo texcited by this

Manual Lens Selection .............Yes and V.Good ............HOPEFULLY this can be a firmware upgrade for M8 please?

Shipping this week....................Well done leica...it is a real achievement.

 

 

Bad points

No Glass Monitor Cover ........... NOT good and No committed Upgrade path is Terrible

Price .......................................At roughly £2000 more than M8 it does not in my opinion give much extra. Candidly I am delighted to have bought the M8 at a much lower price.

1/4000 shutter...........................No 1/8000 is an issue I think.

No Maestro Chip.......................Surprising ( I guess this is for the M10)

 

I am sure that the thing takes good pictures although there seems to be already some threads that are less than positive about IR magenta colouring.

 

I forgot to mention:

Good point

ISO button...............................seems to allow with the rotary dial selection and the selected ISO is shown on the LCD monitor .......................HOPEFULLY this can be a firmware upgrade for M8 please?

LCD screen.............................now shows details of each picture and battery state etc..................................................................................HOPEFULLY this can be a firmware upgrade for M8 please?

My belief is that the M9 camera is cheaper to produce than M8.2 if only because of the screen protection and year to year price decrease of sensors

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Guest BigSplash
It's a "pulled" 160. The EI is 80 but you lose about a stop of dynamic range at the highlight end. If you think 1/4000 sec max is a problem, this is only a partial solution.

 

John I do not understand what you mean by dynamic range in this context. It seems that you saying that "pulling" (I guess via firmware in the DSP) the sensor's "normal 160" to 80 causes some negative impact...what in concrete terms is the negative impact?

 

Presumably the Leica M9 will also have the same issue?

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I rang my dealer as soon as the UK price was confirmed and ordered a black one... No doubt I'll have to wait until the backlog clears... :(

 

My M8 is now living on borrowed time, as is my Bessa R3A... Maybe I'll thin out some of my CV glass too - a black M9 would look good with a 35mm Sunmmarit.

 

I wonder if we can get black dots to replace the red? :rolleyes:

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Yes. Oh yes, indeed. I can't afford it. But then I've not been able to afford any Leica I've ever bought.

 

Hopefully I'll have a steel gray M9 within the week. The year or so of bag lunches will be well worth it...

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I've paid for mine and am picking it up tomorrow morning in London

 

Had 3 happy years with my M8's

sold them both last week on ebay for a stonking price and lost very little money overall.

 

I couldn't be happier.. all i ever wanted was editorial DPS resolution (~18mp) and full frame.

 

Better iso, easy access exposure compensation and a price that isn't totally bonkers are welcome bonuses.

 

I'll probably be partnering it with a secondhand D700 at some point too.

 

Just need to get away form this place ASAP before all the moaning and bitching starts up again. You would normally associate the Leica brand with mature intelligent adults but this is the single most infantile forum I have ever witnessed. Keep similing people & enjoy your new toys.

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Or I could use a 24mm 1.4 on my M8 and still have money left

I thought about it but the 24mm Lux weights 500grams and the external viewfinder is almost a must.

The 35mm Lux Asph has framelines that are similar to 28mm on M8 and is a much smaller lens.

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I've paid for mine and am picking it up tomorrow morning in London

 

Had 3 happy years with my M8's

sold them both last week on ebay for a stonking price and lost very little money overall.

 

I couldn't be happier.. all i ever wanted was editorial DPS resolution (~18mp) and full frame.

 

Better iso, easy access exposure compensation and a price that isn't totally bonkers are welcome bonuses.

 

I'll probably be partnering it with a secondhand D700 at some point too.

 

Just need to get away form this place ASAP before all the moaning and bitching starts up again. You would normally associate the Leica brand with mature intelligent adults but this is the single most infantile forum I have ever witnessed. Keep similing people & enjoy your new toys.

Great to hear, congrats.

I was surprised to see that there is a menu for exposure compensation setting.

You can either use only the wheel to modify it or use half shutter press + dial. The menu also allows throught the menu only compensation which I do not see the advantage off. The wheel only feature is great and works like a charm.

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I've paid for mine and am picking it up tomorrow morning in London

 

Had 3 happy years with my M8's

sold them both last week on ebay for a stonking price and lost very little money overall.

 

I couldn't be happier.. all i ever wanted was editorial DPS resolution (~18mp) and full frame.

 

Better iso, easy access exposure compensation and a price that isn't totally bonkers are welcome bonuses.

 

I'll probably be partnering it with a secondhand D700 at some point too.

 

Just need to get away form this place ASAP before all the moaning and bitching starts up again. You would normally associate the Leica brand with mature intelligent adults but this is the single most infantile forum I have ever witnessed. Keep similing people & enjoy your new toys.

 

Looks like Milton Keynes were telling my dealer porkies. MK said they had had none so far but would only be getting them in after about 10 days. Ho Humm MK up to its old tricks.

 

Wilson

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Guest malland

I don't know whether I'll get one. I like not having to use the IR/UV filters and the full frame allowing my Elmarit-21 ASPH to have a 21mm EFOV, but am not happy with the LCD being the old 230,000 and not being sapphire as on my 8.2 — a huge marketing mistake, I think. Having a 900,000 LCD is useful when shooting in bright places like Bangkok when you want to check exposure from time to time.

 

Erwin Puts writes that the M9 has "the sensor has the same basic characteristics of the Kodak sensor built into the M8: the noise at higher ISO values is still unpleasantly high." See:

 

M9, part1

 

I'll have to see Sean Reid's review tomorrow. The high ISO performance would be the most important thing for me.

 

—Mitch/Potomac, MD

Bangkok Hysteria©: Book Project

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I hope they engraved it free of charge for you.

 

Yeah sure, "do not resell" :) Mark has a reputation by now :)

 

I am very happy about the M9: no IR filters, FF, ISO button, exposure bracketing... I will be getting one, but I need to get all my ducks lined up in a row first. I am tempted to sell both M8u and Sinar e54LV, to be honest. I have so little time for photography these days that the only camera getting any exercise is the M8u.

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I pre-ordered as well but as of today my dealer really hadn't got their act together. I had to tell them price, part numbers and the fact that cameras were in customer's hands (worldwide at least) today. Disappointing experience with the buyer and one of the staff (not my regular guys).

 

The good thing that came out of the experience was that I did ask them to get me a Steel Grey (10705) version and I'll wait as long as it takes to get one. Get it sooner, they'll get my money sooner!

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