Just got an 8.2

OK, so I've taken seventy five shots so of course I have unassailable opinions.

I wandered around a local museum today with my trusty 50 Lux - a lens I know to be correctly calibrated on two other M8s that i came to trust. It's the canary in my mine shaft and the first point to make is that, with this lens at least (and I take this to be a very good omen) focus appears perfect. Phew, no return to Solms - not for that reason at least!

Second point: the very first frame I shot was a de-focussed shot of the sky at F16 in order to see if the sensor was clean. I rocket-blowered the back of the lens first and put it on the camera with the sensor facing the ground.

The sensor was filthy. If 100% of expectation were no dust at all and 0% were an appearance that looked like someone with a heavy cold had sneezed on it, it was about a 75%, which is not good enough. I spent 100 quid on sensor cleaning services and kit for my 1DSIII yesterday - it too has been filthy since it arrived - and I can't begin to understand why manufacturers think this is acceptable. Worse, I suspect that like the Canon, some of this is grease not dust.

As for the rest:

• I really really really like the new shutter sound. It's not as quiet as my MP but it's in the same rough ballpark when in discreet mode. I also like that the shutter then re-cocks when you let go of the button. No time to forget you're not cocked, but the easy opportunity to keep the second part of the noise for when you can drop the camera to your side and cough.

• I really really like the Auto ISO thing. I set it to max 1250 and min shutter of 1/30th and it did it's thing. I did not feel the force was with me in terms of super steady hands today so one or two were less than perfect and I'd rather see an option at 1/45th than having the next one at 1/60th but I do think that all other things being even, Terry is right to suggest that the less clunky shutter might sometimes save you up to a stop of motion. Nice.

• The new framelines are a Godsend. So I only tried one lens thus far but I am actually getting results very close to what I see through the finder. That means less cropping (or less pre-emptive overly wide frame then crop) which in turn means you get more pixels - i.e. better resolution and less noise. Fab.

• I initially hated the exposure compensation dial. It requires such a gentle touch of the shutter to activate it that the process of tightening one's grip on the camera to provide sufficient traction for stage two, the wheel turny bit, too often makes you press the shutter to the next level and you therefore can't make the adjustment. It's hard to describe. By the end of my stroll I was getting used to it but I'm still not totally convinced.

• I quite like the new covering (paint and vulcanite) but I prefer the old faux leather. It doesn't grip as well as the new, but it's more matte; the new covering is a bit shiny and expensive looking. I like the black dot, but then I quite liked the red one

• I will test this later when it's dark but I think the ISO 1250 performance might be VERY VERY SLIGHTLY less noisy BUT I haven't done a lot of higher ISO with my 8.0 since I put the new firmware on. So I'll try it later.

I have yet to try the snapshot mode (it offends me to even think of it!)

I have learned one useful thing: don't try to activate sensor cleaning mode while in Discreet Shutter setting, or the camera will lock up and require a battery removal. Daft. Fix it please. Though to be fair there may be mention of this in the manual, which I haven't read.

So, first thoughts, was it worth the dosh?

Hmm... probably. If you look at what you get with an 8.2 that you can't get with an 8.1 it's really just down to the separate shutter cock. That is, unless you want the new exposure comp system, which I wouldn't pay for, the snapshot mode which most of us here would never use (though I will investigate it as a quick route to auto ISO selection, for which purpose it might genuinely be useful) or the new paint, which is a refinement so subtle that I really wouldn't pay for it.

BUT I do street shooting from time to time so the delayed shutter cocking is a real boon. I can't stress enough how much I prefer it.

By the way, Caplan's told me that part exchange for an 8.0 is unlikely to be mroe than £1,000 (for now at least) so I think a trade in is NOT worth it. You drop too much cash. So only get one if you need/want a second body.

Forgot to mention: you lose things as well as gain:

• Top shutter speed is now 1/4000th. I filtered Lightroom metadata and 2.1% of my thousands of M8 shots were taken at 1/6000th or 1/8000th.

• Flash sync drops from 1/250th to 1/180th. I don't see a problem there.

Any questions, just ask. I'm off to look at the higher ISO performance.

Tim