Shutter Shake

[Bill Pierce]

Recently running some camera tests that included the M8. A few of the tests were handheld at 1/30, and when I looked at them at 100% they clearly showed vertical camera motion while cameras like the Panasonic Lumix G1 did not. No question the shutter in the first M8 is not as quiet as the horizontally traveling cloth shutter in the film M's. Has anybody else had experiences that it might not be as gentle and bounce-free at slow speeds?

Thanks for your help.

Bill

[Bill Pierce]

By the way, if you want to see what the G1 can do in the arena of "available darkness," the arena in which Leitz used to be king, take a look at

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...ark-side.shtml

from the always informative Luminous Landscape site.

[furcafe]

I agree that the M8's shutter certainly vibrates more than the old cloth shutter & also more than the better dampened metal shutters in the Hexar RF & Kyocera Contax G2/G1. In my experience, it's about the same as the Epson R-D1.

I haven't handled an M8.2, so can't say whether or not there's been much of an improvement. As it is, I think I can live w/the M8 rather than pay $1300 for the upgrade.

Originally Posted by Bill Pierce

Recently running some camera tests that included the M8. A few of the tests were handheld at 1/30, and when I looked at them at 100% they clearly showed vertical camera motion while cameras like the Panasonic Lumix G1 did not. No question the shutter in the first M8 is not as quiet as the horizontally traveling cloth shutter in the film M's. Has anybody else had experiences that it might not be as gentle and bounce-free at slow speeds?

Thanks for your help.

Bill

[Brian Sweeney]

It's well-known among SLR users that the vertically traveling "Copal Square" type shutter is more prone to vibration. Some SLR's use the mirror dampening mechanism as a counterbalance.

I still cannot understand why Leica insisted on a vertically traveling shutter in the M8, and that it was necessary for a focal plane array. The Nikon F3 has a horizontally traveling titanium foil shutter, and worked perfectly in the first-generation DSLR, the DCS-100.