DaveEP wrote:
I had 2 Leica M8s and lots of Leica glass too, so I am coming from an informed point of view.
I sold them for many reasons, but the reasons include:
1) Reliability issues - The sensor on one camera developed two different faults (at different times) and also the power switch because defective on that body too. It had to go back to the factory twice, and I never felt I could rely upon it as a work tool.
2) The high ISO noise was not acceptable. For a tool that is supposed to be a low light specialist, it failed. Even my old Canon 400D had better high ISO performance, was not that much bigger, was actually lighter to carry around and had lots of other benefits too.
3) The focus patches were wwaaaayyyyy off in terms of being any where near accurate. Of course this was different for every lens too, and while it was possible to make some assumptions and estimates, it was never good enough for what I wanted. Framing was next to useless, and I almost never got the \'frame\' I was expecting. Yes, I practiced and practiced hoping to get it down, but realistically this was a killer for me.
4) White balance was not good (err... terrible) so everything had to be shot raw, no excuses.
5) It was actually louder than my Canon DSLR, which for a \'discreet\' camera was not good enough.
6) In really low light there was no way you could focus using the focus patch, so I had to resort to the old skills of estimating the distance and dialing it in on the lens. That\'s OK provided you aren\'t already wide open (say f1.4) meaning the DOF was likely to kill you anyway!
7) The need to use IR filters was a complete PITA! Getting lenses coded meant spending more money and losing the use of the lens for up to 8 weeks while they went to Germany! Leica refused to add a menu to the camera whereby you could have told it what lens you had. Crazy!
There were some advantages, like at lower ISO, the files could stand a lot more pushing and pulling in PP than my 400D files could, the color and general rendering from some of the glass was also better than some Canon/Nikon DSLR glass, but TBH it wasn\'t enough for me to put up with all the other things that were just dragging me down. I was actually relieved when I sold the lot and went back to DSLRs.
Different tools suit different people. Even though I grew up with a Leica rangefinder, for me, they are no longer the right tool for the job. Sorry Leica. I so much wanted it to work.
1. That is quite possible - there were indeed teething troubles with some cameras. From what I see on forums, those times are long past. Leica M8s are as reliable as anybody could wish for. Not 100% unfortunately, but then, what camera type is?
2. High-Iso noise- well, there is enough of that in this and many other threads
3. The new focus patches ( I assume you mean framelines) have been made more user-friendly in the M82 and upgrade. Theoretically wrong - but folks seem to like them.
4. AWB has been improved sometime early last year to a point where it is as good as any DSLR
5. This issue has been adressed too in the M8-2 and (partly) upgrade. You would be hard put to find a more discreet camera to shoot with nowadays, except for the totally silent point and shoots of course.
If DSLR suits you better, that is fine. You are part of a vast majority. But rest assured for Leica -in its small way, it works just fine.
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:45 AM
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