WHY IS THE M8 STILL IN THE KIT?

The Leica M8 is one of the more controversial digital cameras. I suspect the most polarizing aspect of the Leica M8 is its sticker price. Lets be honest, $5,995 for a 10 MP camera in 2009 is absurd. Last fall after using the Leica M8 for a couple months I wrote the following in the Leica M8 Review:

“From a system performance perspective there are far cheaper alternatives delivering similar or better image quality. However, I do not believe an M8 owner buys a M8 due to its MP count, dynamic range or noise levels. They buy it because they want to shoot with a rangefinder and enjoy using a rangefinder. The purchase decision is more emotional, having less to do with specifications and price-benefit ratios and more to do with wants and preferences.”

Later on in the review I wrote that I would be selling the Leica M8 and sticking with the Canon 1Ds Mark III. So a half year later and the M8 is still here and the Canon 1Ds Mark III is gone. What happened?

BOSTON - AUTUMN 2008

Back home the next step was selecting pictures, editing, web galleries and so forth. Looking at the pictures as a whole, there was nothing that really stood out. They were the typical vacation pictures. I was irked about the M8 because I had high expectations and looked forward to some street shooting. While editing the 1Ds Mark III files there was also the usual feeling of “this could be better if it had been shot with a digital back”. Overall I was disenchanted with the 1Ds3.

MEXICO - WINTER 2009

Fast forward to February 2009; the 1Ds Mark III is sold and in its place is the Mamiya ZD and Leica M8. The Canon set-up was sold to finance the Mamiya ZD along with a small group of lenses for the Mamiya and other Leica M8 toys. Around December 2008 the Leica M8 was mostly still here by default. I could not sell the camera because it was at Leica New Jersey.

I was very upset about the Boston situation, so I was ready to sell the M8 as soon as it had a clean bill of health. Meanwhile there was a catch-22 because the Mamiya ZD is essentially an ISO 50 machine. While the Leica NJ situation was maddening, I was still impressed with how sharp the M8 images were. The M8’s dynamic range is okay and the upper ISOs are passable, but the high points for me are the sharp raw files (as in Phase One P25 sharp) and the M8’s compact size. And along the way I also bought the Leica 50mm F1.4 Summilux-M ASPH - supposedly among the best 50mm lenses ever made.

As luck would have it, Leica overnighted a replacement M8 and it arrived hours before the trip to Mexico. I did not know what to expect from an untested M8. During the trip M8 snapped ~750 pictures. The camera performed fine, focus with the 50mm Summilux ASPH was good and the whole experience was quite positive. Walking around with the M8 in Mexico was an eye opening experience. The weather was rather warm, certainly humid. Carrying the 1Ds Mark III would have been uncomfortable. And walking around with the 1Ds Mark III would have drawn far too much attention. We did not fear for our personal safety, but we stood out. Carrying a large dSLR with a large Canon L lens attached would have telegraphed to the whole world - touristas!

For the most part the M8 went unnoticed since it looked like the average-joe digital camera. Taking indoor pictures without a flash was pretty discrete too, though there are pro’s and con’s to not having a fill-flash. On the whole I think the M8 did nicely. I am not trying to justify the M8, because there is no justification. Shooting with such a small camera and getting good images was an liberating and certainly a pivotal point in my perception of the Leica M8. More pictures from Mexico in this gallery.