Got my first Leica - M8 - broken shutter right out of the box??? - Page 2

Tessar. · 01-10-2013

When I received my M8 last week I was expecting it to be loud as I'd been reading a lot about it on the forums before I bought. Within 5 minutes I'd checked the firmware level and set the shutter to discrete mode and I haven't really thought about it since.

Image quality is amazing with my Summaron too, the only thing I've owned that comes close is my DP2s.

KenBPhotos · 01-10-2013

I used an iPhone 4 to record that so it's not exactly a professional recording. I could perform a really accurate recording of it, but I don't think it's necessary at this point

I guess I overreacted with the shutter. It's really good to hear that it's nothing serious.

It was mentioned here that I have a warranty with keh. I looked it up and it's true so that's a huge relief. They offer a 6 month warranty on it. I would call ahead if you're going to order from them though. I'm not sure how you could mix up a silver camera from a black one, but I'm actually kind of happy it's silver. It looks so nice. I keep starring at it and picking it up. It's bordering on perversion haha.

I looked up the summicron 40 and it looks like a great value. I might actually go with that unless I can find a reasonable 35 cron. I think demand is going up for the 40 though as it seems to be in the $1k+ range for a decent one. It seems like a $500 lens to me, but supply and demand is a fact of life so I might take the plunge. For $1k though I keep thinking the biogon is a better deal. Plus it's new so I won't have any surprises when it shows up. I really want to put a Leica lens on it so I guess I've got some thinking to do...

jaapv · 01-10-2013

The Summicron 40 (Please don't adopt that nasty cron and lux habit

) is exactly as good as the Summicron 35 version iv, so there is no real reason to prefer the latter. Personally I think that it is one of the most if not the most suitable lens for an M8. The minor drawbacks that it has a weird filter thread, brings up 50mm frame lines and needs to be coded by a third party cane be overcome with very little problems; Heavystar sells a series 5.5-39mm adapter and hood, any technician can adapt the mount for 35 (perfectly suited framelines too) and coding is not really needed.

Godfrey · 01-10-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaapv

The Summicron 40 (Please don't adopt that nasty cron and lux habit

) is exactly as good as the Summicron 35 version iv, so there is no real reason to prefer the latter. Personally I think that it is one of the most if not the most suitable lens for an M8. The minor drawbacks that it has a weird filter thread, brings up 50mm frame lines and needs to be coded by a third party cane be overcome with very little problems; Heavystar sells a series 5.5-39mm adapter and hood, any technician can adapt the mount for 35 (perfectly suited framelines too) and coding is not really needed.

The Summicron-C 40mm len is excellent, but if you can find a Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f/2, generation II, it is an even better performer due to multicoating. AND it has the easy to find filters for JIS 40.5mm filter thread.

(The Summicron-C 40 was made by Leitz for the CL, the M-Rokkor 40 was the exact same design manufactured by Minolta for the Leitz/Minolta branded CL. The generation II model was the same lens, with multicoating, released for the Minolta CLE. I've had all three, and the M-Rokkor 40mm II is the best performer of the bunch: less flare.)

KenBPhotos · 01-10-2013

Haha, I'll do my best to avoid the lux, cron abbreviations. I guess it's a Leica faux pa. You gotta admit it's quicker though!

This 40 summicron sounds like a great choice. I just have to find one that's the right price and not a huge hassle to get. I want to shoot this weekend! I seriously have no patience. It's really bad haha.

I decided to snap a few shots of my 'new to me' M8. I'm really shocked at how old this camera is and how clean it is. It must have just sat around most of its life considering the low shutter count. It's kind of sad really...

Leica M8 by KenBPhotos, on Flickr

digitalintrigue · 01-10-2013

Sent you a PM, Ken. Nice looking M8.

Tessar. · 01-11-2013

Cheaper than the Summicron, small, 39mm filter thread and just as good as the Summicrons and Biogons.

jaapv · 01-11-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenBPhotos

Haha, I'll do my best to avoid the lux, cron abbreviations. I guess it's a Leica faux pa. You gotta admit it's quicker though!

Nails on a blackboard....

KenBPhotos · 01-12-2013

^ Haha I know what you mean. I get like that with certain phrases too. I hate when people say bokeh like bokeh of flowers. It's boke-ah not boke-eh.

I ending up going with the 50 Planar Zeiss. I'm a little concerned with it being too long on the M8, but I've always enjoyed shooting the 70-200 on my Canon and I used a 135 for street photography a lot so hopefully it works out on this system too. I'm actually going to sell my 135L to fund some more stuff for the Leica. I bought it for street photography on my 5D III cause I have a 70-200 2.8 IS II that was too heavy to carry around for that stuff so I'd use the 135L with it to get some reach and keep it light. It's redundant to have both, but I've sold that lens before and I regretted it a lot because the bokeh is insane on it (it's an f/2 lens as opposed to 2.8 on the 70-200 too). I think I'll buy a 28mm for the Leica at some point or maybe even wider. I noticed there aren't many fast options in the 28mm range though. Any suggestions?

Also, I hear the Zeiss 50 Planar is actually more like a low 40mm lens. Not sure if that's true or not. Anyone have any experience with that lens?

jtm6 · 01-12-2013

"Bokeh" is an unfortunate and intentionally incorrect Romanization of the Japanese word "boke" (bo:ぼ + ke:け) which is pronounced "boh-kay" with long O and and long A vowels. Someone bent the Romanization rules and added an "h" because people not familiar with Romanized Japanese would probably pronounce "boke" like "poke". Instead, almost everyone gets the "ke" wrong now.