Leica M8 Photo Gold Mine [Archive] - Rangefinderforum.com

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roblumba

11-17-2006, 12:05

In my constant search for new Leica M8 photis I stumbled across a Flikr photo group that has quite a collection already.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/leica_m8/

You can also do a search on Leica M8 and find stuff too. Perhaps the same stuff.

MarkM6

11-17-2006, 12:31

AMAZING pictures! But I *hate* second-guessing myself every time I see purple, red or near-black colors.

roblumba

11-17-2006, 12:50

Hey, amazing is amazing. stick a filter on and forget about it. Or just shoot away and be amazed at the colors, whatever they are ;)

p.s. I know many of you have valid reasons to want exact colors without filters, etc. No need to recap here.

roblumba

11-17-2006, 13:12

Here's a good bunch of people photos on the M8

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/sets/72157594372947437/

ywenz

11-17-2006, 13:23

http://www.flickr.com/groups/leica_m8/pool/

What is so amazing about the M8 group's pictures? Just bunch of snap shots to me..

roblumba

11-17-2006, 13:47

ywenz,

So what about your website. Just a bunch of snapshots? I don't think you should really criticize someone else for posting something that resembles a snapshot when you have a bunch of them on your site. Perhaps you should reduce your site down to a few dozen amazing shots and then I'll be impressed. Meanwhile, I think it is good to see the day by day shots of people with their M8, especially since there are so many people on waiting lists, and wanting to see more. (e.g. me).

Anyhow, the group's photos really are just a little taste. Do a search on Leica M8 and there's a bunch of other stuff.

Here's a coupel favs from Christopher

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/294587559/in/set-72157594370916117/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/294587681/in/set-72157594370916117/

newyorkone

11-17-2006, 14:12

This is the best M8 Noct shot that I've seen yet...

http://static.flickr.com/101/299279963_ccd38e00eb_o.jpg

newyorkone

11-17-2006, 14:15

Another good one from flickr...

http://static.flickr.com/111/299097339_0d904b2e22_b.jpg

roblumba

11-17-2006, 14:26

That last one is the 28 2.8

newyorkone

11-17-2006, 14:31

M8 and Noct...what a combo. My only complaint, ISO 2500 isn't grainy enough :D

http://static.flickr.com/115/292067429_56c449ca67_b.jpg

roblumba

11-17-2006, 14:45

Can you post a link to the entire gallery? I'd like to see the rest of the snapshots. :p

boilerdoc2

11-17-2006, 17:38

That shot of the mariache players is drop dead gorgeous!
Steve

Patman

11-17-2006, 17:59

I believe in waiting till a new product proves itself before i run out and buy it. So far i've read nothing but bad things about the new M8 but all the photos i've seen look perfect to me. So i guess i'm going to join the club to, looks like a great camera to me!!

jlw

11-17-2006, 20:58

This is the best M8 Noct shot that I've seen yet...

Gee, she uses a Leica AND rolls her own cigarettes! Quite an unusual young lady!

IGMeanwell

11-17-2006, 21:25

M8 and Noct...what a combo. My only complaint, ISO 2500 isn't grainy enough :D

That's one of the funniest comments I have heard of the M8 so far :D

That group of candid portraits was pretty damn good

ywenz

11-18-2006, 07:10

ywenz,

So what about your website. Just a bunch of snapshots? I don't think you should really criticize someone else for posting something that resembles a snapshot when you have a bunch of them on your site. Perhaps you should reduce your site down to a few dozen amazing shots and then I'll be impressed. Meanwhile, I think it is good to see the day by day shots of people with their M8, especially since there are so many people on waiting lists, and wanting to see more. (e.g. me).

guy, i'm not proclaiming my website as a "goldmine" Stop taking it so personally. Most of the pics in this pool are garbage snapshots. I can say they are garbage because that is what they are, when you compare to the sample of pics from the normal Leica pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/leica/

Peter G1G2

11-18-2006, 09:33

I wish you would just keep your negative opinion to yourself sometimes ywenz.

Everytime I come to visit this - otherwise interesting website - and read different threads, you are in between there somewhere, always making negative remarks.

It's starting to get boring.

I really do not need to know your personal opinion about every other photo. Specially when it's a negative one.
Please don't come down on me shouting you have every right to call other peoples work 'garbage'. Of course you do. It's just a matter of being polite if you leave other people be, now and than.
It's not like your pictures are God's greatest gift, you know.

Please. I'm not trying to get in to I fight, I don't want to insult you. Just wanted to react to something that's been bothering me on this friendly and interesting website.

For what it's worth, to all the people who's pictures are referred to here:
I very much liked to look at your photo's. thanks for sharing.

Peter

Peter G1G2

11-18-2006, 09:59

double post.
sorry.

gogopix

11-18-2006, 10:08

I don't know what's so amazing about comments on these threads. Just a bunch of random words to me....

a suggestion from another thread comes to mind

..... IGNORE THEM....

ywenz

11-18-2006, 11:25

Peter G1G2

11-18-2006, 11:38

I've just been irritated by the lowering of the bar for quality images when it comes to the M8.

I can understand that. Maybe that's because people are just enthousiastic, and wish to share their first results ASAP.
I have a feeling that with some patience, great pics will start to pop-up soon...

BTW, what do you think of these?

http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essays/color.aspx

Cheers,

Peter

humanized_form

11-18-2006, 12:54

I am afraid that there are more people than I can imagine who can go no further than appreciating a picture that is a rectangle with an object in the middle of it, which they can identify. They don't care what is around the object as long as nothing interferes with the object itself, right in the centre. Even after the lessons of Winogrand and Friedlander, they don't get it. They respect their work because they are told by respectable institutions that they are important artists, but what they really want to see is a picture with a figure or an object in the middle of it. They want something obvious. The blindness is apparent when someone lets slip the word 'snapshot'. Ignorance can always be covered by 'snapshot'. The word has never had any meaning. I am at war with the obvious.

William Eggleston
From a conversation with Mark Holborn, Greenwood, Mississippi, February 1988

rvaubel

11-18-2006, 13:06

U guys are right, I'll try to keep my comments to myself from here on out. I've just been irritated by the lowering of the bar for quality images when it comes to the M8. I'm not lashing out at anyone directly.

Ywentz

As a member on the waiting list for the M8 I am looking for a cross section of any pictures, good or bad. The bad ones, in some ways are as interesting as the good ones. In other words , evaluating the M8 picture taking qualities requires a wide range of picture qualities.

What is not helpful is the frequent comment " The photoghrapher and his picture suck.....therefor the M8 sucks"

Actually about 99% of the photographs I have reviewed are better than or equal to the best 5D or 1Ds2 files I have seen . Notwithstanding the poor exposures, focusing, etc.

Rex

roblumba

11-18-2006, 15:45

ywenz, don't take it personally, but I think your credibilityis close to zero. All the photos are garbage? I don't think so. Garbage is a very ultimate judgement. It's like saying they have zero worth and deserve the trash. Perhaps in your house.

Anyhow, there are several members that update their sites more than the Leica group pool. Check out "Susan NYC". She usually posts a few new ones everyday. They are not all trash. Photography is also a personal art that involves relationships between people. Those relationships and moments bring value to photos.

AShearer

11-18-2006, 16:04

ywenz

11-18-2006, 16:28

ywenz, don't take it personally, but I think your credibilityis close to zero. All the photos are garbage? I don't think so. Garbage is a very ultimate judgement. It's like saying they have zero worth and deserve the trash. Perhaps in your house.

Just to set the record straight, I said "most" of the pics in the M8 pool are garbage, relative to the normal Leica pool. They have zero worth as a picture that is presented in a "public" pool. I'm done now.

roblumba

11-18-2006, 16:59

Ywenz, I think you have a lot farther to go before your record is straight. It still fairly crooked.

Susan_NYC

11-18-2006, 17:44

That shot of the mariache players is drop dead gorgeous!
Steve
Thanks! The mariachi picture on Flickr is mine.

SolaresLarrave

11-18-2006, 18:02

The truth is... I'm glad there's something good said/written about the M8! :) All the whining was getting to be a little tiresome.

Nope, don't have my name in any M8 waiting list, don't have anything against digital either.

And, by the way, I do like the mariachi and the girl-in-bar shots, and I'd like them whether they had been made with a Leica or not.

ywenz

11-18-2006, 18:05

I consider these M8 pictures to be excellent. A goldmine at the link below.

http://www.koo22images.com/-/Koo22images/gallery.asp?cat=42923&pID=1&row=9

Keith

11-18-2006, 18:05

Is this...........umm........ where am I.......oh s**t I thought I was on P.net for a moment? :eek:

Excuse me ... I seem to be lost ... I thought RFF was here! :D

R ...really

F ... friendly

F ... fotographers

roblumba

11-18-2006, 19:13

Ywenz, good come back. There are definitely some excellent photos there. Thanx. ;)

inuaart

11-19-2006, 07:43

Nick R.

11-19-2006, 08:41

To be fair to Ywenz and Christopher, neither one of them is asking you to judge the quality of a $5000 camera via snapshots posted in their galleries.

ywenz,

So what about your website. Just a bunch of snapshots? I don't think you should really criticize someone else for posting something that resembles a snapshot when you have a bunch of them on your site. Perhaps you should reduce your site down to a few dozen amazing shots and then I'll be impressed. Meanwhile, I think it is good to see the day by day shots of people with their M8, especially since there are so many people on waiting lists, and wanting to see more. (e.g. me).

Anyhow, the group's photos really are just a little taste. Do a search on Leica M8 and there's a bunch of other stuff.

Here's a coupel favs from Christopher

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/294587559/in/set-72157594370916117/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/294587681/in/set-72157594370916117/

roblumba

11-19-2006, 12:26

Good point, there is no explicit mention of the purpose of these photos. However, they are photos taken with the new M8. Of course, people will judge the performance of the new camera.

When I look at the photos in these galleris, I look at the lighting conditions, the ISO setting, focus, shutter speed, DOF, color, constrast, etc. I inevitably compare it to what I typically come up with under similar circumstance for my 1D MarkII.

I think we still need to see a variety of properly profiled pictures with good post processing for exposure, contrast, white balance, etc.

boilerdoc2

11-19-2006, 13:04

Yes, they are really nice scenics. Color is beyond reproach. Starting to see the 'good stuff' now! Keep it up folks.
Steve

Jamie123

11-19-2006, 13:04

don't mess with mr. cent

Toby

11-19-2006, 13:45

Just as an aside, I've more or less decided that I'm going to get an Eos 5d or its sucessor soon. When I look at M8 shots I think to myself "I did the right thing selling film gear to buy Canon L lenses, these M8 shots are nowhere near the 5D or 1Ds II". I'm pretty much using the problems of the M8 and the posted pictures to justify my own choices, and I hold great stock in good 5D photos whilst ignoring the dross. With the greatest respect, I think prospective M8 are doing the same, we see what we want to see. The bottom line there is probably no justification in spending £000's on a hobby when that money could supply clean water for an african village and save the lives of many children. But none of us like to hear that do we? Our lives in the West are often built on the misery and hardship of others, but yet we all sit here and talk about £500 for this and £1000 for that as if this was in some way important. I couldn't live in a state of hair-shirted self righteousness, and I'm as guilty as anyone of wasting money on frivilous hobbies. But at the end of the day, there are so many more important things going on in the world than the M8, and there are so many better ways to spend $5000 than on a camera you couldn't hope to get the best out of, and may never reach its own potential. Not that I'm saying I'm first in the queue to give my money away, just that we should try and gain some perspective.

blakley

11-19-2006, 18:39

Just as an aside, I've more or less decided that I'm going to get an Eos 5d or its sucessor soon. When I look at M8 shots I think to myself "I did the right thing selling film gear to buy Canon L lenses, these M8 shots are nowhere near the 5D or 1Ds II".

Really? What exactly are you looking at - internet JPEGs, files straight out of the camera, adjusted files, or prints? The M8 actual files are fantastic. I've not spent a lot of time looking at actual files from 5D or 1DsII, since I own neither. But if they're a lot better I'll be very surprised.

The bottom line there is probably no justification in spending £000's on a hobby when that money could supply clean water for an african village and save the lives of many children. But none of us like to hear that do we?

Mmmm? So wait - you're going to buy a 5D instead of an M8. How much does this leave for the African village? What on earth does any of this have to do with M8s or any other topic relevant here?

Our lives in the West are often built on the misery and hardship of others, but yet we all sit here and talk about £500 for this and £1000 for that as if this was in some way important. I couldn't live in a state of hair-shirted self righteousness, and I'm as guilty as anyone of wasting money on frivilous hobbies. But at the end of the day, there are so many more important things going on in the world than the M8, and there are so many better ways to spend $5000 than on a camera you couldn't hope to get the best out of, and may never reach its own potential.

So the translation here is what? That neither art nor personal happiness is important? No one - most especially those who are starving or suffering - believes that. That we should help those less fortunate than ourselves? Do you think this is news, or that your audience doesn't understand that, or that they aren't actually DOING it? That your upcoming 5D purchase is somehow more virtuous than an M8 purchase? Really, you're just not being coherent here.

Photos documenting injustice reduce injustice. Photos documenting beauty preserve beauty. Photos documenting ugliness reduce ugliness. Art inspires, heals, saves, and educates. Art ennobles the artist and the viewer. As individuals and as societies, we allocate resources to sustenance, to justice, to progress, to art, to charity, and to other things. Don't like my choices? Make your own.

roblumba

11-19-2006, 20:09

Toby, I understand how you might feel the discussion it not meaningful in light of starving in Africa, but there is a time and place for taking a moment to think about starvation in Africa, and there is a time and place for thinking about how to invest that $5,000 in an M8.

Photography is actually a very powerful tool to bring the suffering of other nations at the doorstep of people in wealthy nations. Because of my religion and the photo journalism of organizations like WorlVision and Compassion International, I donate and support children in other nations and often send extra support in emergency times. Photography gives a face to suffering and a story to go with it.

Also consider that these discussion are important for people who are spending a good amount of money. Who wants to be frivolous with $5,000? I think people here are trying to be wise about spending this amount of money. If you really want to be frivolous, spend the $5,000 on an M8 and stick it in a draw and forget about it! That's truly frivolous. The discussion here are about uncovering the truth about the M8 and it's capabilities as a camera.

I think the M8 has shown itself to be a powerful tool. The 5D is definitely an excellent camera too. I personally have a 1D MarkII. As a hobbyist, it's pretty much paid for itself with the wedding gigs and portraits I've done on the side. I've also had the opportunity to use it in charitable ways with Church, the workplace, family and friends. I don't think it's just frivolous and self-righteous. I think it has geniunely brought people joy and provided a snapshot of casual and important moments in life. I've always enjoyed photography and it's been a way to have fun with the art and give and connect with others. Photos often go hand in hand with relationships.

Rangefinders and DSLR's are two different worlds. And the file quality from an M8 looks extremely encouraging. I'm not quite sure that it can perform as well as the Canon DSLR's in the variety of lighting conditions. Perhaps it's just the poor-post processing we are seeing in some cases. I'm currently on the waiting list for an M8 but still on the fence.

Toby

11-20-2006, 00:09

Roblumba, sorry, my post was a bit heavy handed. I'm just trying to get across the idea that I personally and perhaps others try justify purchases like expensive cameras in rather one eyed ways when really in absolute terms you either can't or you don't need to - you just buy it because you want it. That's why I don't really get trawling round the internet looking for M8 jpegs. The M8 gallery here is by far the weakest on the site, but the camera is new and it will take months even for very skilled amateurs to get the most out of it, and then produce a body of work. So you can't prove very much from it, and anyway just because someone else produces good/bad work doesn't mean you will produce the same. If an M8 purchase is really on your agenda I think I'd wait firstly to see how big the 'issues' are once the hubbub has died down, and secondly to check that Leica doesn't bankrupt itself trying to fix them.

roblumba

11-20-2006, 05:05

Definitely good advice. I'm hoping my turn doesn't come up on the waiting list before I'm certain what I want to do.

The excitement and disappointment can definitely be contagious. A safe, neutral perspective can be hard to keep.