M8 Preview

[sircarl]

Here's an extensive "hands-on preview" of the M8 that just appeared on the dpreview Website:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/leicam8/

[Gabriel M.A.]

First thing that stood out:


Incompatible lenses:
• Hologon 15 mm F8
• Summicron 50 mm F2 with close focusing (aka DR)
• Elmar 90 mm F4 with collapsible tube

[Gabriel M.A.]

For those who were wondering about the viewfinder:

Viewfinder bright-line frames
• Automatically matched for the lens used
o 24 and 35 mm
o 28 and 90 mm
o 50 and 75 mm

Sounds like the one you would find on the M2, except for the "extra" 24, 28 and 75 framelines (with the 35, 90 and 50, respectively)

[Socke]

And an unusual range of ISO sensitivities.

Edit:
And made from magnesium alloy! So here we go, can a camera not made from brass be any good?

[greggebhardt]

How about it does DNG file format! YES!

[Terence T]

Sample of the shutter noise, it's not all that bad...

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/LeicaM8/Samples/Audio/m7-then-m8.mp3

[Chuck A]

Phil does a nice job on the preview. He give lots of photos even some great photo comparisons to the M7. All the specs are there as well. He also compares the shutter sound to the M7. It looks like a great camera, all that is left is the image quality stuff.

I wish that I could afford it.

[ampguy]

Interesting review. Lots of cool features. Some very Leica-ish things, like taking the thing apart to get to the battery and sd card!!

[ffttklackdedeng]

'Wrong way' shutter dial :)

What's about that 3D matrix metering?!

Like this guy's humour!

[nksyoon]

It comes packaged with Capture One LE for raw conversion - what happens with the automatic vignetting correction which is triggered with the lens codes? Does Capture One LE have profiles for vignetting correction? Otherwise the vignetting correction wil only work with jpegs?

Link: http://www.phaseone.com/Content/Software/LESoftware/ProductOverview/WhyGoPRO.aspx#

Any experienced Capture One LE users here?

[Gabriel M.A.]

It comes packaged with Capture One LE for raw conversion - what happens with the automatic vignetting correction which is triggered with the lens codes? Does Capture One LE have profiles for vignetting correction? Otherwise the vignetting correction wil only work with jpegs?

Link: http://www.phaseone.com/Content/Software/LESoftware/ProductOverview/WhyGoPRO.aspx#

Any experienced Capture One LE users here?
Now *that* is interesting.

I stopped using Capture One (C1 DSlr Pro) over a year ago; found Adobe Raw to be much better for my needs. Although Capture One is still great if you're doing batch conversion; but I didn't like their noise/sharpening handling; I left it at v 3.6.x, mind you, so who knows.

Hmm.

[nksyoon]

Or is it the case that the M8 raw is not really raw? That the DNG file will have vignetting correction applied if you've selected lens recognition and the lens has the appropriate code?

[sreidvt]

And an unusual range of ISO sensitivities.

Edit:
And made from magnesium alloy! So here we go, can a camera not made from brass be any good?

Dunno, but actually the top and bottom covers are still brass.

Cheers,

Sean

[rvaubel]

Dunno, but actually the top and bottom covers are still brass.

Cheers,

Sean

Actually, the material choice is the best of both worlds. You can't beat a magnesium casting for shear strength with low weight. And the brass machines the best, has high charpy (resistince to impact cracking).

The nice thing about brass is when the black finish wears off you get a really nice patina effect. All of the M8 surfaces subject to wear are brass, so we should get cameras that have that classic "brassing" look.

Rex

[rvaubel]

Dunno, but actually the top and bottom covers are still brass.

Cheers,

Sean

Actually, the material choice is the best of both worlds. You can't beat a magnesium casting for shear strength with low weight. And the brass machines the best, has high charpy (resistince to impact cracking).

The nice thing about brass is when the black finish wears off you get a really nice patina effect. All of the M8 surfaces subject to wear are brass, so we should get cameras that have that classic "brassing" look.

Rex

[ampguy]

you turned off lens detection in the menus? I would expect that no correction would be applied??

It comes packaged with Capture One LE for raw conversion - what happens with the automatic vignetting correction which is triggered with the lens codes? Does Capture One LE have profiles for vignetting correction? Otherwise the vignetting correction wil only work with jpegs?

Link: http://www.phaseone.com/Content/Software/LESoftware/ProductOverview/WhyGoPRO.aspx#

Any experienced Capture One LE users here?

[AndyPiper]

RE: RAW and lens correction - the review says RAW files are not affected by the vignetting correction. Strictly for jpeg, as with sharpening.

Good question as to whether Leica paid for DxO profiles and had Capture One include those ready-to-go. Sounds like the kind of thing Leica might do. OTOH I bet I can build my own vignetting presets for all my lenses in about 10 minutes in C1 OR Adobe.

Oh, and Rex - I hate to tell you, but black CHROME doesn't wear down to the brass. It just wears to a gun-metal gray underfinish. This from the owner of M4-2 and M4-P cameras, which have 20 years of aging and brass covers. There is a silver chrome (or some other primer plating) before you get to the brass - and chrome wears VERY slowly.

[rvaubel]

Oh, and Rex - I hate to tell you, but black CHROME doesn't wear down to the brass. It just wears to a gun-metal gray underfinish. This from the owner of M4-2 and M4-P cameras, which have 20 years of aging and brass covers. There is a silver chrome (or some other primer plating) before you get to the brass - and chrome wears VERY slowly.

Andy

Black CHROME not PAINT?? Oh no. I'll have to do something about that.

Rex

[Bob Ross]

And an unusual range of ISO sensitivities.

Edit:
And made from magnesium alloy! So here we go, can a camera not made from brass be any good?
The top plate and body of the M6 is made from a zinc alloy rather than brass.

[ampguy]

much more tech. info. / examples than dpreview:

http://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/m8report/t006.html

noise and lack of low pass filter make the 5D a clear winner IMHO.

[ampguy]

That gear noise sounds like my Zorki 4K.

Sample of the shutter noise, it's not all that bad...

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/LeicaM8/Samples/Audio/m7-then-m8.mp3