A Different Way of Shooting
The Leica M8, from a DSLR User's Perspective
About two months ago I decided to add a new camera to my proverbial photographic bag of tricks. Tired of the weight and bulk of a DSLR, I wanted something smaller – and simpler – to use. While the economical decision would have been to pick up a pocketable point and shoot, I wasn't prepared to sacrifice image quality for size.
That left me with the worrisome prospect that what I really wanted was a rangefinder, and a digital one at that. The prospect was worrisome out of sticker shock alone: my only option, apart from the now-discontinued Epson RD-1, was the Leica M8. As a wide to normal prime lens kind of guy, I wasn't put off by the lack of autofocus, zoom, and extreme telephoto options. So, after a bit of procrastination, some additional hesitation, and the like, I was suddenly the owner of an M8 and 35mm Summilux lens.
What the M8 Is Not
A lot of what has been written about the M8 is critical of what it is not. It is not a DSLR, it is not a bang-bang-bang continuous shooting camera, it is not a camera suited for a war zone or the sidelines of a football game, it is not a 35mm full-frame camera, and it does not have dozens of autofocus points or live view.
If your needs dictate a professional camera with the aforementioned features, take a look at the Nikon D3 or Canon 1Ds Mark III. It wouldn't be fair to expect the M8 to sport all the functions of a professional DSLR, any more than it would be fair to complain that the D3 does not fit in one's shirt pocket.
That said, let's take a look at what the M8 is.
Digital Rangefinder
First and foremost, the camera is a rangefinder as opposed to an SLR. Even dilettante photographers are familiar with the SLR mechanism – a mirror reflects the image from the lens into an optical viewfinder. Ergo, what you see is what you get.
In a rangefinder, there is no mirror mechanism. The photographer looks through an optical viewfinder, which has a bright rectangle in its center. The rectangle will display a double image when out of focus. As focus is adjusted, the two images line up to form a single image.
Users who are new to this method will have to go through a short adjustment period. Once the technique is mastered, focusing can be achieved more quickly, and in darker conditions, than traditional split-prism focusing screens found in film SLRs, and certainly with more accuracy than the bright focusing screens found in most DSLRs.
The M8 has three pairs of bright-line frames that show up in the viewfinder, depending on the focal length of the attached lens. The pairs are 24+35mm, 50+75mm, and 28+90mm. These bright-line frames are very close approximations, as the field of view of a lens will change slightly as focus is adjusted.
Framing a shot is something I had to get used to. I chose a 35mm lens to match the field of view I was most comfortable with—my most used lens on an APS-C DSLR being a 31mm focal length. Still, when reviewing shots taken during my ‘learning period' with the camera, I found that there was often too much headroom at the top of the frame. Easy enough to correct, but still something I have to be conscious of when shooting.
Ergonomics
Johnny Cash might have described the M8 as a fair to middlin' size, as it lies somewhere between "big" and "small" in the world of cameras. In more quantitative terms, that translates into 5.5 x 3.2 x 1.5", with a weight 19.2 oz.
I opted to add the optional grip accessory. Replacing the baseplate, the grip adds a cylindrical protrusion to the right front of the camera. This makes the camera much more comfortable to hold, at least for my hands. It's most certainly a personal choice, so if possible, handle the camera with and without the grip to see which you prefer.
Speaking of the baseplate, this is an odd carryover from the earlier days of Leica. To access the memory card and battery, you must remove the bottom of the camera. It's a fairly painless operation, assuming you don't bite your nails. It does make changing the battery of the memory card a little precarious, as you'll need to hold onto the baseplate or set it down while you change things out.
Actual shooting controls on the M8 are minimal. Aperture and focus are, appropriately, controlled via the lens. The camera features a shutter release and shutter speed control wheel. All other settings must be accessed from the menu system.
The menu system is fairly basic. Hitting the "SET" button on the back of the camera allows you to adjust ISO, EV compensation, white balance, and image format. The camera can shoot in Adobe DNG format and JPG; it can be configured to record DNG and JPG simultaneously. The M8 uses Secure Digital memory cards, up to 2GB in capacity; it is not compatible with high-capacity SDHC cards.
When shooting in aperture priority mode, the current shutter speed is displayed in the viewfinder—this can be locked by depressing the shutter release half way. When manually selecting the shutter speed, an indicator is displayed in the viewfinder to let you know that the image is either under, over, or correctly exposed. There is also a more detailed menu that allows you to adjust JPG settings, power management options, and other sundry settings.
Metering is heavily center weighted, which is a departure from the full-frame matrix metering found on modern DSLRs. From my experience with the camera, it's not quite as tight as spot metering, but it's close. Think of it as somewhere between spot and center-weighted – and when in doubt, set the shutter speed manually.
The Sensor
The M8 features an APS-H sensor – sized between the common APS-C sensor found on most DSLRs and a frame of 35mm film. Its hypotenuse is three-quarters that of a frame of 35mm film, resulting in a comparative field-of-view crop factor of 1.33x.
One major problem with adapting film designs to digital is the difference in capturing light via a photosensitive digital sensor versus film. Film can record light that comes in at an angle, while a digital sensor requires light to hit straight on. To counteract the vignetting that could be produced due to angled light, Leica designed a series of microprisms to straighten light on the edges of the sensor.
In order to properly take advantage of the microprism system, the camera must know what lens is attached. A new 6-bit coding system was designed to identify lenses. It uses six cells, colored white or black, to create a unique identity for lenses. Having your lens coded will not only help to combat vignetting, it also allows the camera to store focal length in the metadata. For a fee, Leica will add the coding to older lenses, but only those made by Leica. If you own M lenses made my other manufacturers, you are not without options. You can use a Sharpie marker to mimic the proper Leica codes.
The camera has five ISO settings - 160, 320, 640, 1250, and 2500. Images are very clean up to 320, with noise starting to pick up at ISO 640. Noise at 1250 is noticeable, and at 2500 overpoweringly so. You shouldn't judge the quality of noise based on the image preview on the camera's LCD, as it seems to exaggerate its effects and does not accurately represents its aesthetics.
Yes, aesthetics. The noise produced by the camera is, well, almost grain like at times. At 640 it produces a very nice noise pattern in the details of images. Through a bit of experimentation, I've found that slightly underexposing images at ISO 1250 can, with a bit of work in Lightroom, produce a black and white image that reminds me a lot of Ilford Delta 3200 film. It's not quite the same, of course, but the high-grain, high-contrast effect is there.
IR and HDR
The camera's sensor has an important behavior to consider. It has a weak infrared (IR) filter, which can result in a magenta cast in certain situations. This is especially evident when photographing synthetic black fiber in incandescent light. To remedy this issue, Leica recommends using UV/IR filters on lenses. Leica provides two free filters by mail for anyone purchasing an M8.
If there is a silver lining to the IR sensitivity, it's the ability to use the M8 as an infrared camera, without the need for any hardware modifications. You'll need an 89B or 89C IR filter, and a tripod for this type of work with the M8. Because infrared light focuses differently than visible light, the focus scale on lenses won't be useful at all. You'll need to stop down significantly in order to achieve enough depth of field for a sharp image when shooting in IR, making the tripod a necessity.
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| Without an 87C IR filter... |
...With an 87C IR filter |
Another unique imaging technique that the M8 lends itself to is High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. At lower ISO settings, you'll be able to pull quite a bit of exposure range from even a single exposure, without introducing noticeable noise. This is more appropriate for opening up details in the shadows of an image in your favorite RAW processor, but even a single exposure can be used for HDR tone mapping when the image calls for that effect.
Still, HDR aficionados ideally like to work with multiple bracketed exposures. One disappointment with the M8 is its lack of automatic exposure bracketing. While this is merely an annoyance when working on a tripod shooting landscapes, it does limit handheld HDR work. The HDR image in our sample gallery was done from three handheld exposures, adjusting exposure via the shutter speed dial. Even though the results were acceptable, this is a clumsy way to work.
Ends, Odds, and Final Thoughts
Users of previous M's will immediately notice that the shutter in the M8 is a lot louder than in previous cameras. Leica is launching an upgrade program for the M8 this fall, and this is one issue they are addressing. In addition to the quieter shutter, upgrade options include a Sapphire Glass LCD, personal engraving, and a Vulcanite leatherette body covering. For full details on the upgrade program, including pricing, please refer to this news item from Leica.
Leica is currently offering a mail-in rebate on the M8, valid through September 30th. You'll be eligible for a rebate of $500 for the purchase of a body, or $800 for a body and lens together. Residents of the US, Canada, South America, and Central America are eligible for the rebate.
Users who are new to the M system may want to consider the Summarit-M series of lenses as an entry point. Compared to faster Leica glass, these f/2.5 lenses – available in 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 90mm focal lengths – are bargains. They sacrifice none of the optical quality of their faster cousins, albeit a mite trickier to hand-hold in lower-light situations.
The M8 is a classic example of a love-it or hate-it camera. It lacks many of the bells and whistles that gearheads dream about, and it can't match the high ISO performance of newer cameras. On the other hand, compared to a DSLR, the camera is not only compact, but it's also a bit anonymous. While DSLRs are easily recognizable, and rather ubiquitous, at a glance the M8 looks like something that was manufactured prior to the digital age.
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| The proof, as they say, is always in the pudding, or picture in this case. I've put together a gallery of shots taken with the M8, including some crops to show noise levels at each ISO. |
From a purely personal perspective, I've really enjoyed my time with the M8. It's become my "daily driver" camera, one that I can throw in my bag without weighing it down. I'm not ready to give up the DSLR – sometimes those telephoto, zoom, and macro lenses do come in handy; but I'm certainly glad to have it available for weekend jaunts and walks about town. I have a short wishlist of enhancements I'd love to see implemented in future firmware updates, but I can't think of any camera that I've used that has been perfect.
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