I am about to buy an M8!

[jmanivelle]

Originally Posted by raid

I just opened the parcel that arrived today, and it contains a beautiful M8!
I will be meeting next week with Brian, so he will hopefully get me started on using the M8. The camera is still sealed by Leica from its last maintenance visit.

Perfect purchase,
bought mine on eBay sealed by Leica as well, cannot be any safer for a second hand camera.
Check w/ Brian your LTM lenses' calibration, a digital camera is less tolerant than film bodies.

[jmanivelle]

Originally Posted by raid

Thank you Jean-Marc.
I have the second version pre-asph 35 Lux. Does this lens need some adjusting?

Probably you'll have to remove that protective ring, mine is the version II as well #2899420 year 1978.
Then the rear element is exposed !

[tmfabian]

Originally Posted by jmanivelle

Perfect purchase,
bought mine on eBay sealed by Leica as well, cannot be any safer for a second hand camera.
Check w/ Brian your LTM lenses' calibration, a digital camera is less tolerant than film bodies.

Forgot about that. Absolutely digital is more finicky with lens calibration. I had a 50 pre-asph matched to one of my bodies for this reason.

[raid]

Originally Posted by jmanivelle

Probably you'll have to remove that protective ring, mine is the version II as well #2899420 year 1978.
Then the rear element is exposed !

This sounds tricky; I will ask Brian about it.

[raid]

Originally Posted by tmfabian

Forgot about that. Absolutely digital is more finicky with lens calibration. I had a 50 pre-asph matched to one of my bodies for this reason.

It seems that I have to devote some lenses to the M8 in the end.

[jmanivelle]

Originally Posted by raid

This sounds tricky; I will ask Brian about it.

It is very simple when you know how to open the lens, I watched a lens tech do it for me in about 5 minutes time !

[raid]

Can the lens be used on another camera after such a modification?

[JohnTF]

Igor talked to Don Goldberg, who said he had to modify some lenses to focus properly on the M8. I never had much problem, but perhaps I had it stopped down?

He said he had some IR cut filters on his web page, BTW. Call him if you have questions.

I have some, but may sell them with the camera, have not used it since I got the M9.

John

[raid]

I will explore the M8 step by step, John. I have to learn how to use the camera. This includes using IR cut filters.

[jmanivelle]

Originally Posted by raid

Can the lens be used on another camera after such a modification?

Yes,
I've used it on my CL . It's just a protective lid nothing to worry about but it won't fit into the M8 properly.

[raid]

So I may have to remove that part.
Brian will have his M8 with him next week, so I can hopefully learn a few things from him on using the M8.

[JohnTF]

Originally Posted by raid

I will explore the M8 step by step, John. I have to learn how to use the camera. This includes using IR cut filters.

I agree, and it would be interesting to know exactly what Leica did to yours, I never found a big problem with focus. The first software upgrades were interesting and helpful, your's should have the latest and greatest stuff.

As I said, I did have some problems with too much blue in shadows, and I tended to shoot with a bit of exposure correction. It never was much of a problem, but was less after Leica went over the camera. Buying a new camera with a dirty sensor was a disappointment, but I got over it.

Am sure you have some subjects ready willing and able, on vacation from school? ;-)

Let me know when Brian gives a symposium on lenses, and I will try to attend. ;-)

No point losing sleep over problems you may or may not have, I only modified one lens, the CV 1.2 35mm which I bought before the M8 was out, and that was a well known problem with a specific solution from Cosina, they returned the ring they took off, the new one had a groove.

Of course, the dual range would not mount at all, and it is on my mental list along with a lot of other stuff that I should put up for sale, I find it easier to buy than to get organized to sell. I have shot mostly C 41 since I cut the tendons in my left leg, and the good news is that I am putting off the knee replacement on the other side -- all stuff that can keep you out of a basement darkroom.


Regards, John

[Peter Klein]

The original CV 35/1.2 had a baffle on the back that would bump into something inside the M8 (or M9) at not-quite infinity. All that was needed was for CameraQuest or Photo Village to replace the baffle with a smaller one. No big deal at all.

There are a few other lenses that don't fit, and they are well-known.

The main problem is that M8/M9 tolerances are more critical than a film M. Film has thickness, so as long as the light comes to focus somewhere within the emulsion, it will excite some silver halide molecules, and all's well. A sensor is an effective flat plane as far as focus is concerned. So a lens that focuses perfectly on film may be slightly off on a digital M. I had to have DAG adjust a couple of my lenses. One that was done, the lenses worked equally well on both my M6 and M8. No big deal. Which lenses will be exactly right and which won't is mostly a matter of luck. Faster and longer lenses are more critical to focus, so they are somewhat more likely to require adjustment. Some 90mm lenses might never quite be right, they can be more critical than the system can accomodate.

[raid]

Originally Posted by JohnTF

I agree, and it would be interesting to know exactly what Leica did to yours, I never found a big problem with focus. The first software upgrades were interesting and helpful, your's should have the latest and greatest stuff.

As I said, I did have some problems with too much blue in shadows, and I tended to shoot with a bit of exposure correction. It never was much of a problem, but was less after Leica went over the camera. Buying a new camera with a dirty sensor was a disappointment, but I got over it.

Am sure you have some subjects ready willing and able, on vacation from school? ;-)

Let me know when Brian gives a symposium on lenses, and I will try to attend. ;-)

No point losing sleep over problems you may or may not have, I only modified one lens, the CV 1.2 35mm which I bought before the M8 was out, and that was a well known problem with a specific solution from Cosina, they returned the ring they took off, the new one had a groove.

Of course, the dual range would not mount at all, and it is on my mental list along with a lot of other stuff that I should put up for sale, I find it easier to buy than to get organized to sell. I have shot mostly C 41 since I cut the tendons in my left leg, and the good news is that I am putting off the knee replacement on the other side -- all stuff that can keep you out of a basement darkroom.


Regards, John

I am still using film cameras most of the time, so I may just pick a couple of lenses to adjust for the M8, and I will leave the 75 Lux and other tele lenses intact for film cameras.

Yes, my two little models are out of school, and they don't mind a few minutes of photography here and there.

Good luck with the knee, John.

[raid]

Originally Posted by Peter Klein

The original CV 35/1.2 had a baffle on the back that would bump into something inside the M8 (or M9) at not-quite infinity. All that was needed was for CameraQuest or Photo Village to replace the baffle with a smaller one. No big deal at all.

There are a few other lenses that don't fit, and they are well-known.

The main problem is that M8/M9 tolerances are more critical than a film M. Film has thickness, so as long as the light comes to focus somewhere within the emulsion, it will excite some silver halide molecules, and all's well. A sensor is an effective flat plane as far as focus is concerned. So a lens that focuses perfectly on film may be slightly off on a digital M. I had to have DAG adjust a couple of my lenses. One that was done, the lenses worked equally well on both my M6 and M8. No big deal. Which lenses will be exactly right and which won't is mostly a matter of luck. Faster and longer lenses are more critical to focus, so they are somewhat more likely to require adjustment. Some 90mm lenses might never quite be right, they can be more critical than the system can accomodate.

Won't the M8 show the image whether it is in focus or not before taking the photo? I thought that this will make focusing easier on it than on an M film camera, Peter.

edited: Of course, I am wrong here.

[Lss]

Originally Posted by raid

Won't the M8 show the image whether it is in focus or not before taking the photo?

Do you mean via liveview? M8 does not have that. You focus using the rangefinder.

[raid]

This is true. So if the rangefinder and the lens don't totally match, then the resulting image will be unsharp. You are right.

[jdriffill]

Originally Posted by JSU

I felt I wasn't making a fair contribution so I deleted my post.

If you want to check the number of actuations, this works well:

Turn the camera on.
Press the right arrow key 4 times.
Press the left arrow key 3 times.
Press the right arrow key 1 more time.
Press the info button.
Scroll down to body debug data.
Press Set.
Scroll down to NUMEXPOSURES.
Turn camera off to exit

The M8.2 and M8u shutter should be good for many tens of thousands of actuations. I haven't heard any data on the original M8 shutter with the 1/8000 upper limit.

So I'm looking at this thread, and decide to follow JSU's suggestion for finding out how many times my M8 has been actuated. It works, for a second, but the camera's lcd screeen goes blank, nothing but white with some dark lines running across. And that's the way it has remained since. I guess it is just coincidence that the lcd has chosen this moment to fail. I am not totally surprised. In Janaury it developed a white band 1 or 2 mm wide down its right-hand edge, so there was something wrong already.

I'll have to send the camera in for repair. I hope it can be done and will not take too long. I bought it new in Jan 2009, and have used it fairly little since then. When it was new the clock did not work, and was repaired under warranty. Then it developed the coffee stain in the LCD, and that was repaired under warranty in 2010. It has had a chequered history!

Not sure if I'll get another M8, an M9, or just wait until the next M comes out. Or maybe this is a cue to get a Fuji X1, or a NEX, or a Ricoh GXR.

Last year the electronics on my M7 went funny and had to be repaired at some expense.

Hmmm!!

[raid]

You have not been having lots of luck with your M8, and this is troubling that a modern camera can have so many problems. I hope that the M8.2 has some of these issues resolved.

[jsrockit]

I'm a huge fan of the Fuji X-Pro1, so much so that I sold my M9. However, part of that was that the M9 would not be my main camera and I couldn't (personally) have that cash held up in a camera that I don't consider my main camera. However, I must admit that I miss having a digital RF... so I purchased a M8 with a CV 35mm 2.5 lens. That should take care of my RF itch when I need to scratch it. With the M9 cash I bought a Canon 5d MKII with two lenses, a M8 with one lens, and still put a few grand in the bank. I feel good about that decision.

[raid]

I listened to Brian's advice (who owns an M8 and an M9) to start out with the M8. I could get an M9 if I wanted to, but I do not have to "lust" yet for it.

[jsrockit]

Raid, that is probably a smart move. Much easier to get rid of a $2000 camera than a $5000 camera (used) if you don't like it.

[raid]

I have not even unwrapped the M8 so far. Digital imaging is something that I need to try to like.

[SteveM_NJ]

You display a hint of strong will power - - new "toys" still wrapped.

smiling...
good luck with it.

[raid]

I am fine with it. I will let Brian do the honors and unwrap the camera.