ALTERNATE WAYS TO ACCOMPLISH EXPOSURE COMPENSATION

On the previous page I ranted about Leica not including the quick access EC feature in the M8 upgrade. First and most important, not every shot needs exposure compensation (EC). I shoot mostly landscapes and when working the sun or bright reflections, an EC adjustment is often needed. But for most normal shooting such as candids of the family or quick snaps of a row of Cadillacs planted in the ground, the M8’s metering will probably do just fine as is. All the images thus far have been taken with Zeiss 50mm F2 ZM. The Zeiss and M8 meter well wide open with a slight tendency to over-expose by 1/3 to 1/2 of a stop as the lens is stopped down. I have seen the same metering behavior with manually lenses mounted on the Canon 1Ds Mark I, II and III. On the Canon 1Ds Mark III I would adjust the exposure slightly, but a 1/2 stop either way isn’t going to make or break a file.

If a scene does require EC adjustment (this only applies to A-Mode) I usually use one of two methods. Option one is to pick a point that should be properly exposed. The M8 meters the point (area), then I half-press the shutter to lock the exposure and then re-compose & focus as needed. I like this method best because it is quick. If there is not a good area to use a metering reference point, then the second option is to meter the scene and see what shutter speed the M8 suggests. Then I set the shutter speed to that value and adjust as needed. Option two works well when the scene (exposure) does not change much.

These work-arounds may sound tedious, but it really is not any more effort than Canon 1Ds Mark III. With the 1Ds Mark III in Av mode I shoot a scene, check the histogram and re-shoot as needed with the appropriate EC adjustment. Sometimes I use exposure lock (the asterisk button on the 1Ds Mark III), but not too often. It is usually easier just to re-shoot. The main point here is - either way I am adjusting settings on either camera. The only difference is “how” those adjustments are made. If I had a Leica M8.2 with the quick access EC feature, then adjusting EC on the Canon and Leica would be essentially identical.

Aperture priority mode (Av) is my most commonly used mode on the Canon 1Ds Mark III when shooting outside the studio. I will continue to shoot the Leica M8 in A-Mode; it is workable but I am not 100% happy. I hope Leica adds the quick access EC feature to the Leica M8 firmware.

FOCUSING THE M8

The “focusing” section of the review is a work in progress. In about a week the 1.25x magnifier and a -2 diopter correction lens will arrive, so focusing with the M8 should be much easier.  Thus far focusing has gone well, certainly better than expected. The only real difficulty has been losing the patch in a complicated or busy scene such as foliage, fields, trees, etc. With a very busy scene it is difficult to tell when the patch is probably lined up. The patch is really just an elegant split screen and split screen work best when there is a nice vertical line at the focus point.

With the M8 I am guilty of focusing and then recomposing. This is a sin in the digital age, but I do not know how else to avoid it with a rangefinder. Focusing and recomposing results in the subject being further away than original focus point, so I am trying to add a small amount of back focus and then stopping down 1 or 2 extra stops to improve the odds of a sharp image. So far that has been working - surprisingly!

KEEPER RATES

The Canon 1Ds Mark III has an amazing viewfinder with a .78x magnification factor. It is bright and the resolution is very high. The 1Ds Mark III has been the easiest dSLR for me to focus - ever. Kudos to Canon on the viewfinder. Depending on which lens is being used with 1Ds Mark III, the manual focus keeper rate is between 50-80%. I am happy with those results since my eyesight is no where near 20/20, hence the -2 diopter for the M8! The worst manual focus experience was with the Mamiya 645AFD II. For some reason my keeper rate (outdoors) was probably less than 20%. The Mamiya 645AFD II auto focus was fairly accurate, but slow. And the 645AFD II only has a center auto-focus point which does not do much good if the subject is off-center. So, most of the time I manually focused the 645AFD II - and missed... ALOT!!!

So far the keeper rate with the M8 has been about 50-50. With the 1.25x magnifier and the diopter correction lens, I think the keeper rate will improve to the 70-80% mark. This does not mean that the M8 is without frustrations. Pink-out happens frequently - this is when a finger blocks out the viewfinder or the frame lines window. Pink-out isn’t too annoying, but the fingerprint oil is. The oil reduces the contrast and makes the viewfinder blurry, so I am cleaning the viewfinder frequently. I prefer to carry a camera, so the fingerprints usually happen while holding the camera between shots. Using a neck strap would probably help reduce the chance of fingerprints.

I am having difficulties with infinity focus. With the Zeiss 50mm F2 ZM it looks like I am going beyond infinity focus. I do not think this is a M8 or Zeiss lens issue. At infinity the details are so small in the patch that I can not distinguish between in focus versus going beyond infinity focus. Hopefully the 1.25x magnifier will help. Also, when focusing at infinity I will use the distance scale and probably set focus just slightly ahead of the infinity mark and stop the lens down to F5.6 or F8. I have had these same issues with manual lenses on the Canon 1Ds, 1Ds Mark II and 1Ds Mark III. The logical conclusion is - my eyesight sucks! I have used a M8 before with the 1.25x magnifier and the magnifier made very a noticeable improvement.