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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

What's your experience with your M8 Leica Rangefinder?

Daniel Buck

New member
I would love to have a rangefinder with good 1600-3200 ISO performance, with a fast lens and a solid feeling body. The M8 (and fast lenses!) are out of my comfortable price range, and I don't think the high ISO performance of the M8 would give me what I want anyway. I hope someday there is a digital rangefinder for me!
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
D'uh. The links work. just click on them.
But they should be visible here without having to click. It worked before.
Hi Harald,

I can understand that you can get frustrated but there is no reason to take it out on us.
You have put in URL tags in between the IMG tags which prevents the pics from showing.
I have now fixed IMG links so that they show properly.

PS: You can do it the other way around. Start with the IMG tags first and enclose it in URL tags.

In the meantime, I have deleted the two posts of yours you've asked to be deleted.

HTH.
 

Harald Benz

New member
I would love to have a rangefinder with good 1600-3200 ISO performance, with a fast lens and a solid feeling body. The M8 (and fast lenses!) are out of my comfortable price range, and I don't think the high ISO performance of the M8 would give me what I want anyway. I hope someday there is a digital rangefinder for me!

I took the night shot in post #23 handheld at ISO 1250, with a 50mm Summilux at f1.4
It worked just fine, didn't it?
 
Last edited:

Harald Benz

New member
Hi Harald,

I can understand that you can get frustrated but there is no reason to take it out on us.
You have put in URL tags in between the IMG tags which prevents the pics from showing.
I have now fixed IMG links so that they show properly.

PS: You can do it the other way around. Start with the IMG tags first and enclose it in URL tags.

In the meantime, I have deleted the two posts of yours you've asked to be deleted.

HTH.

My apologies. The "D'uh" was actually directed at the "Ask Flickr !" comment by NC Iphone which wasn't really helpful.

I tried a few times to sort the picture/link thing out without realizing, I created more and more versions of the same post. That's all. Didn't mean to take it out on the forum. Knew an admin would sort things out for me.

Thanks for doing so.
 

Daniel Buck

New member
I took the night shot in post #23 handheld at ISO 1250, with a 50mm Summilux at f1.4
It worked just fine, didn't it?

hard to tell from just a web image. :)

I shoot a 1Ds2 with 85 1.2 at 1600 ISO sometimes, and even that is just barely enough to get 1/60th shutterspeed. I know it's asking alot when 1600 ISO at f1.2 still is barely enough, but I'm sure in the next few years 3200 ISO will get cleaner and cleaner. I just hope there's a rangefinder with a 1.2 lens that I can comfortably afford :)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This thread kinda fell asleep. Here are some more of my M8 photos. Maybe this will help get things rolling again. Btw, all shots = available light only.

These pictures are very welcome. There really are tw different subjects. This first picture is a close up portrait shot of a woman, looking perhaps like a "Madonna" (the material girl) and yet there is something unusual about it as is it is a picture of a photograph.

2927488238_d259f55d3c_o.jpg


The next two pictures appear to be some stealthy street journalistic style.

2927486850_0b833f70a3_o.jpg


Here we have an oblique shot of a poster with a bearded denizen leaning against the wall as if it's the same place one might find him tomorrow or a year from now.

2926633699_4cc1618969_o.jpg


This last picture is the most interesting and puzzling too. At first it's untidy and we wonder why we cannot see one important subject well. I realize now that we are looking between the foreground structures to a street musician playing on the other side of the road. This picture attempts to grab some sense of the ambiguity of the street without making a claim to clarity. It's as if either the scene is so rich and full of meaning that we'd "get it" or else that it's not important to define what's there.

I find this type of photography hard to take in more ways than one. Shooting on the go, grabbing a scene is what I do a lot, much to the chagrin and distaste of most anyone with me. However, I do a lot of planning and self-training so that I do try to achieve an image which can be interpreted.

I'd love to hear your own commentary on your pictures. I am interested in how you approach this type of photography (that is the last two pictures) and what does it mean to you. The last picture I do like and would like to see more in the series but with your own thoughts as a guide.

The girl is interesting too but I have a problem relating her to the street pictures. Do they belong together?

In any case, thanks for sharing.

Asher
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
........This last picture is the most interesting and puzzling too. At first it's untidy and we wonder why we cannot see one important subject well. I realize now that we are looking between the foreground structures to a street musician playing on the other side of the road. This picture attempts to grab some sense of the ambiguity of the street without making a claim to clarity. It's as if either the scene is so rich and full of meaning that we'd "get it" or else that it's not important to define what's there.

I find this type of photography hard to take in more ways than one. Shooting on the go, grabbing a scene is what I do a lot, much to the chagrin and distaste of most anyone with me. However, I do a lot of planning and self-training so that I do try to achieve an image which can be interpreted.

I'd love to hear your own commentary on your pictures. I am interested in how you approach this type of photography (that is the last two pictures) and what does it mean to you. The last picture I do like and would like to see more in the series but with your own thoughts as a guide.

..
Hi Asher,

You have almost voiced my own thought process on PJ and street photography. I have been thinking such thoughts a lot recently, also because it is one of my areas of photography.

Would it be a nice idea to copy this discussion into a new thread in the street photography forum?

Cheers,
 

Harald Benz

New member
Asher,

Of course, the photo of the girl has nothing to do with the other two. Just a random selection.
By the way, the girl photo is definitely NOT a photo of a photo. God forbid!
it does, though, have something fashion/style magazine like written all over it.
Btw, the photo is not cropped. it's intentionally shot like this.

The last of the three is indeed different. It is on the one side annoyingly loud, bold, full of promises and right in your face advertisement like, while at the very same time it gives a glimpse into someone's uneventful life. Some bored guy killing time, watching/listening to a street musician.
The person in question is one of those rickshaw drivers, sitting in his own vehicle while waiting for tourists in front of the Eaton Centre (Toronto, ON).
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
My apologies. The "D'uh" was actually directed at the "Ask Flickr !" comment by NC Iphone which wasn't really helpful.

I tried a few times to sort the picture/link thing out without realizing, I created more and more versions of the same post. That's all. Didn't mean to take it out on the forum. Knew an admin would sort things out for me.

Thanks for doing so.

Sorry Harald, you misunderstood me!

I use NC Ipnone ID when I'm on location and want to check OPF.
If you have ever tried to write something consistent with an Iphone, you'll understand my short replies under that ID!
BTW for security reasons, this ID doesn't allow me to moderate OPF, so in case my phone is stolen, there is no problem for OPF.

So back to my misunderstood remark: Flicker (as many free or cheap hosters) users oftenly encounter problem to post images, it is a question of what URL is to be copied and pasted. As I'm not a Flicker user, I would be of no help here, hence my remark.

Avec toutes mes excuses !
 

Harald Benz

New member
Sorry Harald, you misunderstood me!

I use NC Ipnone ID when I'm on location and want to check OPF.
If you have ever tried to write something consistent with an Iphone, you'll understand my short replies under that ID!
BTW for security reasons, this ID doesn't allow me to moderate OPF, so in case my phone is stolen, there is no problem for OPF.

So back to my misunderstood remark: Flicker (as many free or cheap hosters) users oftenly encounter problem to post images, it is a question of what URL is to be copied and pasted. As I'm not a Flicker user, I would be of no help here, hence my remark.

Avec toutes mes excuses !


Thanks for the clarification.
I completely misunderstood your comment.
My apologies.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
More than 2 years and 2 months since the last post here.

Now that there is the M9, how fares the M8?

imho, the M8 is doing very well. For what I use it for. Unobtrusive, super DNG upto iso 800, 1.3x crop, same excellent M lenses plus a few new ones.

I do not need a M9 ( neither can I afford one ), for 35mm full frame I have the D700 and the film Ms.

The one thing I sometimes wish for ( a passing wish mind you ) are a few more pixels to allow me to crop
a notch or two. I do not print poster size though.

All in all, I still love and use the M8.

I never leave home without it..and the M8.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fahim,

I would love that camera. I enjoyed a loan of one early example, but there were no corrective filters with it for the purple IR effects. Pictures of nature were simply fantastic, autumn being sublime! I must try out the M9! The unobtrusive part of the M8 should still be there!

Asher
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Hello there!

You asked about me. Good. I am one of twins adopted by this household. Treat us well, they do. But never babied us . We have to earn our keep.

We are getting old. About 4.5 years old. Guess very old in your lingo. Just like our adopted parents.

I had some intial problems. But Dr. Gunther, the specialist in Solms, had me up and running in no time. That seems such a long time ago.

p220358604.jpg

Dr. Gunther diagnosed me as having a broken shutter. No charge, he said.

Since then, we have paid vacations. We have flown around the world..well almost.

p53438813-4.jpg

In all sorts of weather. With our parents. The old man though drives us hard. The lady is the good one.

p333521595-4.jpg

Treats us real nice. We get to go to fancy places with her. The old man is a cheapskate, though.
Always taking us to the rough parts of town. Sits us down to eat there.

Well recently we saw some action in the desert. Man, I tell you it was hot! The old timer just kept on going.

We were glad we returned home in one piece..

p111861980-4.jpg

We overheard our parents planning a trip. A Long trip they said. Somewhere far we heard.

Means we get a shower and a cleanup. Yippee!

Y'all hang loose.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Almost another year since my last post in this thread. The previous images, as mentioned earlier, are in a mess. My apologies once again.

But how fares my M8. Almost 6 years. More than a lifetime in digital sensor terms. The camera is showing
its age..cosmetically. But my subjective opinion, the old, around 10mp Kodak sensor still delivers..better than the latest. I do not print over 13" and do high iso with it. 1250 b&w has been no problem.

This is all subjective. I still get a smile out of the M8 results as compared to my D700; which is no slouch
but heavy for me.

The process of taking a photograph is as pleasurable to me, maybe more so, as the result itself. Here the M8 has no peer. Old tech, uv/ir filters, small sensor, lousy lcd screen, crippled high iso capability, no autofocus, no video..but I love it.

It has served me well. Very very well. Not weather proof, but has gone from the desert to the highest altitudes with me. Rain and snow lashed ( briefly ) it has survived the cold, humidity and the heat.

It has become more of a camera to me, a constant companion when I want to point and shoot. I do it
without thinking.

A dependable friend for photography...

p25453074-5.jpg

Old friends are a treasure indeed! Above paired with the lux 50mm asph.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
I gently opened pulled back the sheets. There it was. The way I remembered her. Gently lifted her out .

With a soft brush, went through the motions of caressing her. Turned her over. Memories stormed back.

The times we had spent together. The quiet dinners, the walks, the climbs. Remembered the snow, the
mountains, the slopes, the deserts...oh! the times. Wonderful memories.

Time to bring her out of retirement. There now were others on the scene. More beautiful, seductive, sexy...whisper quiet, purring. My flesh was getting weak. I had to bring it back to life. A new battery and a sd card. Ever so gently, I woke her up from her slumber. She came to life.

Time to dance together. She loves to Tango, and so do I. Who needs artificial algorithms, she has it in her DNA.

Don't let me down hon, I whispered. Have I ever, she clicked...

p1478520406-5.jpg

Do you still love me, she asked tenderly.

Never stopped loving you, I said wiping a tear from my eye. And never shall, I whispered back to her.
 
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