Of course, you're likely to want a couple, maybe three a wide-angle, standard and tele, so you could to be committed to a system of around £10,000 / $16,500 without too much difficulty, in choosing at least. Leica lenses, M-mount especially have very good residual values when it comes to resale, and it's not unheard to sell the lenses at the prices paid several years later. It has the equivalent field of view of a 50mm in 35mm terms, and at £1800 is another (equally important) part of the investment equation.
Leica m8 manual#
We were supplied with the Leica Summicron 35mm f/2 ASPH (aspherical), a reasonably fast (wide-aperture) manual focus lens. A small circular LCD panel on the top plate, shows the battery state and remaining shots on the card up to 999 frames (if your card is large enough - it's compatible with SD-HC up to 32GB). With prudent use, expect up to 500 shots per charge. We were recharging the battery every other day or so, with a lot of quite heavy (much of it unnecessary) use.
Leica m8 full#
It's not as onerous as it sounds, especially if you're using a large capacity card, and the battery, while quite small, lasts reasonably well on a full charge. However unlike magnesium alloy DSLRs these plates are prone to denting.Īs a nod to the film M cameras (and indeed cameras of the 1950's) the bottom plate must be removed to replace the SD(HC) card and charge the Li-ion battery. The black paint finish wears quite easily, but the silver chrome finish is very durable. The body is made from magnesium alloy and the top and bottom plates are made from brass. Indeed you won't find a better made camera else where.
![leica m8 leica m8](https://luminous-landscape.com/articleImages/images57/M8-black-top.jpg)
Although the M8.2 is quite compact, even with one of the smaller lenses fitted it's not small enough to stash in a pocket that is unless you walk round in a trench coat.Īs you might expect from a hand-assembled German camera, the workmanship, materials and construction are all first rate. Still, it does look a little odd without one, especially if you're accustomed to a 35mm M, but it only takes a couple of days to get used to it. That's most likely due to the lack of wind-on lever but that didn't stop Epson from adding one on their earlier (Cosina made, Voigtlander Bessa R2 based) R-D1. For all that, it still looks much chunkier than those models.
![leica m8 leica m8](https://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/images/f/f7/M82-top.jpg)
Measuring 139mm (w) x 80mm (h) x 37mm (d) and weighing around 600g with battery and SD (HC) card, the M8.2 is similar in size and weight to the current 35mm aperture priority M7, and manual mechanical MP. Like the M-series 35mm coupled rangefinder cameras before it, the M8 and M8.2 share a very similar and not unattractive design that goes back to the iconic M3 from the 1950's. As each model has their own benefits and disadvantages, the Leica M8.2, retailing at £3900 / $5999 is a very serious commitment - read our expert review to see if this investment is worth the risk. While the market isn't exactly brimming with rangefinders, the launch of the new Micro Four Thirds Pen E-P1 from Olympus, DMC-GF1 from Panasonic and to a lesser extent both the Sigma DP1 and DP 2 compacts, are all likely to appeal to the user for the same reasons. In most other respects the M8.2 is identical to the original M8 and might seem quite minor, but these are all carefully considered improvements, aimed at advanced (albeit very wealthy) users and imaging professionals.
![leica m8 leica m8](https://i1.wp.com/casualphotophile.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/leica-m8-camera-review-10-of-19.jpg)
The body covering material on both chrome and black models is a traditional-looking synthetic leather vulcanite, while the black chrome of the M8 model has been replaced with a discrete black paint finish and black motif instead of the more noticeable Leica red-dot. Another welcome improvement is the new charger, it's a much more compact unit and is even supplied with an 12-volt adaptor to use in the car. Principal differences then between the M8 and M8.2 include a quieter, less vibration-prone shutter mechanism with charging delay, scratch-proof sapphire crystal LCD cover, viewfinder frame lines aligned to cover the sensor at 2m rather 0.7m and some cosmetic changes.
Leica m8 series#
Instead of a full-frame - 35mm form factor sensor, the M8.2 like the original M8, features what's sometimes referred to as APS-H sized sensor, much like that used by the Canon EOS 1D-without-the-s series cameras.Īs the Kodak made sensor is smaller than a single 35mm frame, the M8.2 has the inevitable field view crop - in this instance though the crop factor is less than the ubiquitous APS-C size sensors at 1.33x. The Leica M8.2 is the updated version of the M8 the first digital rangefinder from the company to be based on the famous analogue M-series cameras.