Leica M8

kmlc

kmlc

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Katy
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Hi!!

Has anyone had or have a Leica m8 camera?
It looks amazing, the reviews i have read, i was just wondering what you lot thought of this beast of a copmpact/rangefinder?
For some reason, i cant find a price?? I think i am going blind
:cuckoo:
Kate x
 
when you say 3k, do you mean 3 thousand?
*faints*
I am just bat to splash out 2k on 5d, i dont think i would be able to stretch that far!
*sobs*

OMG, just read the link scott, thats some serious bit of kit. amazing!
amd the price!!!!
 
Great camera and although it's digital, it's a real Leica in the M tradition.

Just be aware though, that there are issues with the sensor in this camera, which Leica don't seem to be able to fix, in fact they're furnishing customers with a special filter to try to resolve the problems which are some sort of banding issue I think.

I'd love one - who wouldn't, but I'm not in the market anyway, and I think for the sort of money this camera costs, I'd wait for the sensor issue to be sorted, which looks like being in the next model.
 
I also thought this looked a great camera, but sort of missed the point. I always thought of a Leica as simply an incredibly robust and reliable holder for (a) a great lens, and (b) whatever film you want to put through it.

Since sensor technology is moving so fast now, and will continue to do so, the "future proofing" is gone from it. I reckon a £3,000 Leica M8 is going to look pretty poor in a very short amount of time, as other cameras way surpass it for noise, ISO range etc.

Really nice idea, but doesn't (yet) work well in digital IMO.

Also, have you seen the price of glass?!!??!?!? :gag: I'd only picked myself up off the floor at the price of the body!
 
Somebody on here has one, cant for the life of me remember who. If I remember rightly he sold a couple of Canon bodies for one a 50mm f/2 lens.
 
King_Boru said:
Somebody on here has one, cant for the life of me remember who. If I remember rightly he sold a couple of Canon bodies for one a 50mm f/2 lens.
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Pretty sure it is Dougdarter?

:)
 
Dalton said:
Pretty sure it is Dougdarter?

:)
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It was indeed Doug Darter. Sadly we don't hear from Doug these days and I know he wasn't in the best of health.
 
It's a bit of a niche product to be honest and for a Leica I can't help feeling they've dropped a clanger with the sensor issues. For £3K I can think of a lot of cameras I'd rather have than this one. :shrug:
 
CT said:
It was indeed Doug Darter. Sadly we don't hear from Doug these days and I know he wasn't in the best of health.
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I bought his 1d MkIIn because it was to heavy for him to cart around (it is a heavy bit of kit mind you).

Im sure i saw a post from him a couple of weeks ago.
 
CScottMcQueen said:
I bought his 1d MkIIn because it was to heavy for him to cart around (it is a heavy bit of kit mind you).

.
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Well Doug was actually in a wheelchair anyway, so it must have been a wrench for him to pack in his bird togging, which he was managing to do, but the kit started getting just a bit too much... hence the M8.
 
I never spoke to him, but i do hope he is well!
And as for the price son the lens, man alive!!
I thought L glass was pricey. haha
 
The Camera was given an incredibly positive review on the Luminous Landscape web site.
 
Doug was good enough to send me over some full size files when he first got his M8, so I was lucky enough to pixel peep at my leisure.

I came to the conclusion that while the shots looked a little different to those from a good canon/nikon/pentax.... body, they were not really any better.

What was totally evident though was that this camera worked in a different way so lent itself to a different style of shooting and far more importantly, it engendered a passion for picking up a camera that only something very special could ever do.

For that alone, worth every penny and more. :thumbs:
 
I usually do an image search on anything photography related on flickr, to see any images that may come up.
I did one for the leica m8, and wow, they do come up wiht some wicked shots, but i cant help but think that you can have similar effects with photoshop.??

I agree on what you said dazz, it does seem like a camera that awakens something inside a persons mind!
:)
 
I read somewhere that panasonic are now making the bodies for leica compact cameras,does anyone know if this is true ? as they do look very similar
 
They have been for a while. You can get a panny version of most of the leica compacts for about 1/2 the price and most pannys have leica written on the lens.
 
Panasonic have always made leica's compacts. It's part of the symbiotic relationship they have. Leica manufacture panny's lenses for them. All the leica comapcts are just rebadged panasonics lol.

If you can't stretch to the M* then it may be worth looking at the sigma dp1, canon g9 or ricoh gx100.

All very good pro compacts. The sigma especially as it has a c sized sensor similar to your dSLR.
 
dazzajl said:
They have been for a while. You can get a panny version of most of the leica compacts for about 1/2 the price and most pannys have leica written on the lens.
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So have panasonic taken them over altogether or is it just the bodies they make ? as i also heard that the leica store in Holborn London was shutting down.
 
Don’t have an M8 mostly because I can’t afford one but funnily enough I was talking to a chap today who does have one today.
He likes it a lot. He told me it was like rediscovering photography and the results were excellent.
For a Lecia stockist try Richard Caplin in Bury St London. Tel 02078079990, worth popping in if you are in that part of town as it’s a fantastic showroom.
 
dazzajl said:
Doug was good enough to send me over some full size files when he first got his M8, so I was lucky enough to pixel peep at my leisure.

I came to the conclusion that while the shots looked a little different to those from a good canon/nikon/pentax.... body, they were not really any better.

What was totally evident though was that this camera worked in a different way so lent itself to a different style of shooting and far more importantly, it engendered a passion for picking up a camera that only something very special could ever do.

For that alone, worth every penny and more. :thumbs:
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I said the same thing when he posted those samples here. I got a bit slated and people were saying that I didn't see the Leica magic in the shots. But I love Leica cameras and the shots produced by them. The film shots I've seen do have that Leica magic, that feel to them. The digital looks just like any other DSLR. I plan to get an M6 at some point. I don't yet see the need for the M8 simply due to the cost. I could get a 5D instead. But I want the M6 for the same reasons you said. Its a totally different way of taking photos. Its how Cartier-Bresson saw the world and I want to be able to see things like that too. Its also meant to be the best street camera. A friend of mine has one and he said the same things. It changes the way you take photos, for the better. When you throw an f/1.0 lens on it you can have so much fun.
 
I'd rather have a M6/7 with the 50mm Nocti... That'd be an amazing combo for street and available light.
 
OK I'm new to photography and I don't get what all the fuss is over an expensive limiting compact camera. Why an earth would someone who is into togging either as a hobby or even more so as a pro opt for this camera over nikon/canon and their plethora of lens and other kit? What in a nutshell am I missing?
 
Its not limiting. Thats the point. You can get a 50mm f/1.0 lens. That pretty much unlimits you. Take a look through some of these images. Its also one of the best cameras ever made. Can you say that in 30 years your random bit of digital tat will still work?
 
The thing with the Leica is it's build quality - you'd need to handle one to appreciate it - they're a bit like a Swiss watch. With a whisper quiet shutter, it's a very discreet weapon for candid/street photography, but above all you get those Leica lenses, which make pretty well everything else look like it was taken through the bottom of a pop bottle. Those lenses come at a price though, so you need to be pretty well heeled to seriously invest in them.

That's Leica M Series generally, not necessarily the digital M8 which has the issues mentioned.
 
I wonder whether LensforHire will buy one? haha
And the camera body too? ;)
then i can hire it, and see how it feels! :)
:nuts:
although, going by what i have seen and heard, prob best to do some financial risk analysis here...
 
for the cost of the M8 you could probably get a good film body, a lens and a top notch scanner.

Now that may well yield the best digital images you can get from a 35mm (style) camera.
 
I really am obsessed with film and digital cameras alike. I just want em all!! or atleast to try them all. :)
 
kmlc said:
I really am obsessed with film and digital cameras alike. I just want em all!! or atleast to try them all. :)
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You need to try to get over that. When you find the secret though - let me know will you? ;)
 
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