M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

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Lotusm50
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p.15 #1 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

dasrocket wrote:
If you only see a camera through the specs, you are limiting yourself! Sure the M8 cannot AF with a 135, and it cannot shoot at 12,800, and forget about macro..so what! It does less than a DSLR, but what it does, it does better!...and smaller!

And MUCH more expensively. (however, not convinced at all about the "better" part compared to a 5DII, especially with some nice Zeiss glass attached).

Jun 23, 2009 at 03:41 PM

dasrocket
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p.15 #2 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

I was refering to the process of taking a photo by "better", not the IQ; the 5D is better on a sensor-to-sensor basis.

Jun 23, 2009 at 03:45 PM

alexandre
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p.15 #3 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Meh. EP-1 is THE pocketable camera.

Jun 23, 2009 at 04:11 PM

ulrikft
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p.15 #4 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

I would jump all over the EP-1 if it had a viewfinder with a rangefinder or slr-like focus.

Jun 23, 2009 at 04:15 PM

dasrocket
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p.15 #5 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Rangefinder it would not, but if by SLR-like you mean speed, this remains to be seen. I heard a lot of good things about the G1 AF.

Jun 23, 2009 at 05:03 PM

ulrikft
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p.15 #6 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

slr like = EVF, rangefinder = patch. I just want a way to know that I have focus, and see where the focus is :/

Jun 23, 2009 at 06:21 PM

alexandre
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p.15 #7 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Live View man

Jun 23, 2009 at 08:40 PM

ovredal73
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p.15 #8 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Ouch, I just ordered a bargain M8 from Keh... I didn´t mean to, I swear. The mouse just happened to be over the "purchase" button and I didn´t notice when I pressed it. I thought I closed the window. Hm, well have to test it out then, since I own it anyway now.

I have a Nokton 50/1.5 for my Bessa. Should do me well at the moment, since it is pretty close to my fave FL 58mm... Oh, and I have to get a 35ish lens as well. And M lenses work on the EP-1, don´t they? Those look really nice. And my OMs work with them as well. And I must say I would love to try out a real Henri C-B camera like a leica M3. I should check ebay for one of those. Or maybe I would be better of with an M6. Hm. Oops. What did I do...

Jun 27, 2009 at 07:50 PM

Andi Dietrich
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p.15 #9 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

That is what is so nice about FM. Someone always buys it

Jun 27, 2009 at 09:44 PM

ulrikft
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p.15 #10 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Looking forward to see what you'll do with this Andrè!

Jun 28, 2009 at 12:36 PM

brainiac
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p.15 #11 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

ulrikft wrote:
Looking forward to see what you'll do with this Andrè!

Me too!

Jun 28, 2009 at 01:08 PM

ovredal73
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p.15 #12 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Richard, Ulrik - Thanks!

I was flipping through this thread just now and of course I see the issues with this camera and rangefinders in general, but to me it´s a tool to reinvigorate my way of working and instill me with a bigger confidence as a photographer, simply by using "the same" tool that great photographers in my field of interest have used. I think it is purely psyhological, not an interest in the technical side of it. I haven´t looked at a single test image from it, only casual, random shots posted here and there.

I think this interest in the M8 came about after reading a book on Henri Cartier-Bresson the last few days, getting really excited understanding that his method of approaching capturing an image was not that dissimilar to my own. So I have to try the camera the guy used as well! Well, not exactly the same camera, but I am sure you know what I mean

I have shot with rangefinders before, and if anybody has the slightest interest - here´s my Epson R-D1 blog from winter 2007

http://gatefoto.blogspot.com/

I sold the Epson after only 6 months - there were unfortunately so many issues about it I didn´t like. Some were related to it being a (1.6x) rangefinder, but mostly it was due to the camera simply having too many basic flaws. But I loved the handling and the feeling it gave me when using it

So here´s to the M8

Jun 28, 2009 at 03:35 PM

brainiac
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p.15 #13 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

André, I reckon I would love your pictures if you took them with this:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Jun 28, 2009 at 03:47 PM

ovredal73
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p.15 #14 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Haha, you have way too much confidence in my abilities, but thank you - it is very highly appreciated and to know somebody cares makes me strive harder

Jun 28, 2009 at 03:57 PM

ulrikft
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p.15 #15 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

I just love this one Andrè:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZdFzmFBtxNE/R2PfeWTomAI/AAAAAAAAAUE/NDxbnOg93SQ/s1600-h/EPSN1696X.jpg

Jun 28, 2009 at 04:43 PM

ovredal73
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p.15 #16 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Thank you! Taken from outside Ekeberg Restaurant

It looks like film, doesn´t it? The Epson gave great B/W files.

Jun 28, 2009 at 05:02 PM

gmanp
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p.15 #17 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

ovredal73
This photographer now uses M8 cameras with great results:
check out her galleries and her blog
http://www.tinamanley.smugmug.com/

Jun 29, 2009 at 07:46 PM

ovredal73
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p.15 #18 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Dear gmanp - thanks a lot for that link - great images. Bookmarked. Some fantastic captures. That use, those places and people are what that camera was meant for.

Jun 29, 2009 at 07:58 PM

telyt
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p.15 #19 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Tina Manley's two M8s have been soaked in downpours & rivers followed by several days of nearly 100% humidity with no problems.

Jun 29, 2009 at 10:22 PM

ovredal73
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p.15 #20 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Wow...

Jun 29, 2009 at 10:35 PM

Spyro P.
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p.15 #21 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

ovredal73 wrote:
I was flipping through this thread just now and of course I see the issues with this camera and rangefinders in general, but to me it´s a tool to reinvigorate my way of working and instill me with a bigger confidence as a photographer, simply by using "the same" tool that great photographers in my field of interest have used. I think it is purely psyhological, not an interest in the technical side of it. I haven´t looked at a single test image from it, only casual, random shots posted here and there.

Well the photographers that made Leica famous, were (are) shooting with a specific style which is a little irrelevant to what is being discussed here: Bresson, Winogrand, Gilden, Trent Park, Abbas, Constantine Manos, Nikos Economopoulos, Mark Cohen, I could go on forever... I've read countless bios/interviews/books and these guys never even mention their camera, maybe just pracical things, like how durable or reliable it's been. You will notice that 90% of their photos are in good light or with flash, wide & slow lens (bar HCB and his beloved 50mm), zone/hyperfocal focusing, quick intuitive framing with an emphasis on subject and composition. P/J-street type shooting, not sure how popular this stuff is at FM. If thats how you shoot, then yeah, you'll probably feel like Winogrand

But low-light/shallow d.o.f./tripod work/macro/commercial etc, I'm sure this camera can do just fine, but it sure is not what made it famous.

The link posted above with the B&W set from Honduras etc, what makes these photos so nice to look at is that the photographer has kept a consistent style in pp and has managed to create a coherent & cohesive set of images around a specific theme. Nice light, nice subject, nice composition, right time to press the shutter button. She could've used her son's p&s, I would still like her set for these reasons. The way I see it, no matter how much we pay, every camera is but a combination of comprimises, just gotta pick the combination that interferes the least with one's shooting. If this is a Leica then Leica it is, but I reckon its different for everybody. I dont believe in silver bullets

Edit: spelling

Edited on Jun 30, 2009 at 03:33 AM · View previous versions

Jun 30, 2009 at 01:37 AM

ovredal73
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p.15 #22 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Well I do believe in silver bullets

Jun 30, 2009 at 03:24 AM

Spyro P.
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p.15 #23 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Too many draculas in Norway?

Jun 30, 2009 at 03:35 AM

Tariq Gibran
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p.15 #24 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

You have to love this quote by HCB:

“All I care about these days is painting—photography has never been more than a way into painting, a sort of instant drawing.”

Great read here:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/c-b-n05.shtml

Jun 30, 2009 at 04:18 AM

Tariq Gibran
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p.15 #25 · M8/Leica People I'm Thinking About Switching

Spyro P. wrote:
Too many draculas in Norway?

I thought silver bullets were for ware-wolves.

Jun 30, 2009 at 04:19 AM


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