Have an M8 on the way - what should I know?

I have an M8 on the way. I've been eyeing one for years - more out of curiosity about the magic of the Kodak sensor than anything else. And a desire to have some ability to look through glass at least from time to time.

A lot of photos I see taken with the M8 have a similar tonality and I can't tell if it's more the camera or the choices of the editor, but I guess I get to find out. I do suspect the RAW files have a certain something that's hard to replicate and makes for an interesting starting point for edits.

Prices seem stable so this seems as good a time to try one as any.

This would be my third rangefinder, after the Olympus XA and Epson R-D1 (which I moderately regret selling), so I'm familiar enough with rangefinder focusing.

I know there's some software called m8raw2dng that ostensibly increases the bit depth in the files - I'm not sure how it works, but I've found a version of it on archive.org and can read up on it once I have the camera & some files in hand.

And there's the FixBadPixels program that's supposed to map out the stuck pixels in the RAW files so the RAW converter (hopefully) doesn't produce those lines.

I'll try to avoid 1/8000 shutter speed.

Any other tips? Thoughts on the above software?

I had an M8 several years ago and recently bought another one as a sort of backup for my M262. To be honest, I would have preferred an M9, but M9 prices have gone through the roof and it's getting harder to find one that has had the sensor repair or has one that won't have corrosion at some point.

• Depending on how you shoot, the batteries last a long time, so don't run out and get a bunch of extras. My M8 came with two third-party batteries, I tend to shoot like I'm still using film, and put a fresh battery in every two to three weeks when the old one drops to around 50%. The M8 battery charger is a ridiculously large and heavy brick that Leica replaced with a much smaller one when they brought out the M9, which uses the same battery. I bought a Nitecore USB charger for my M8 batteries and put the brick back in the box.
• The LCD is not very good beyond working in the menus.
• There are two menus; the main menu accessed with the menu button and a small one page shooting parameters menu accessed by the pressing the set button. The good news, at least for me is there are not a bunch of Fn buttons everywhere, the menus are very short, and once you set everything up, you won't have to fiddle with the menus very much.
• The M8 is not full frame 35mm. It has an APS-H crop sensor, so any lens you use will be 1.33 times longer. For example, a 35mm lens has a 46.5mm FOV. You also get 24mm frame lines because of the crop sensor. I go back and forth between my M8 and M262, just compose using the frame lines, and don't even think about 1.33 crop.
• Kodak made the UV and IR filters on the sensor stack too thin. So if you shoot color images, large areas of black may show up as magenta and large areas of green may show up as yellowish. The solution for this is to use a UV/IR Cut filter on your lenses that you use on the M8. I always kept a UV filter on my lenses for protection, so I just replaced them with UV/IR Cut filters. So far, I haven't seen any problems leaving the UV/IR Cut filters on when I use a lens on the M262.
• Another known problem with the M8 is the shutter control mechanism can fail. I bought my M8 used and the first owner had to have Leica replace the shutter control mechanism in 2017. One of the many unconfirmed Leica rumors is that using the 1/8000 shutter speed causes the shutter control to fail and this is sort of substantiated because max shutter speed is 1/4000 on the M8.2, all of the M9 series bodies, and all of the M240 series bodies.
• You will hear some people say they have an M8U. This is an M8 that had its shutter control replaced and LCD replaced with the M8.2's shutter control and sapphire glass LCD.
• I'm sure you already know that M-mount lenses are fully manual, so you can shoot in full manual or aperture priority; no shutter priority or auto modes here.

bs1946 said:

I had an M8 several years ago and recently bought another one as a sort of backup for my M262. To be honest, I would have preferred an M9, but M9 prices have gone through the roof and it's getting harder to find one that has had the sensor repair or has one that won't have corrosion at some point.

Click to expand...

Kolari Vision has M9s with the sensor repaired. There’s two options of cover glass. The price is around $4,000-$5,000 to buy an M9 from them.

It’s not corrosion, it was the glue used to cement the hot mirror/cover glass, the Kolari Vision cameras have new cover glass with a glue that won’t separate.

bs1946 said:

• Depending on how you shoot, the batteries last a long time, so don't run out and get a bunch of extras. My M8 came with two third-party batteries, I tend to shoot like I'm still using film, and put a fresh battery in every two to three weeks when the old one drops to around 50%. The M8 battery charger is a ridiculously large and heavy brick that Leica replaced with a much smaller one when they brought out the M9, which uses the same battery. I bought a Nitecore USB charger for my M8 batteries and put the brick back in the box.

Click to expand...

Noted. The seller assured me “the battery in the camera is the good one” - hopefully nothing crazy happens in transit.

bs1946 said:

• The LCD is not very good beyond working in the menus.

Click to expand...

Ha - have you seen the screen on the Epson R-D1.

bs1946 said:

• There are two menus; the main menu accessed with the menu button and a small one page shooting parameters menu accessed by the pressing the set button. The good news, at least for me is there are not a bunch of Fn buttons everywhere, the menus are very short, and once you set everything up, you won't have to fiddle with the menus very much.

Click to expand...

Thanks - I basically just care about exposure triangle and white balance - fully manual or aperture priority.

bs1946 said:

• The M8 is not full frame 35mm. It has an APS-H crop sensor, so any lens you use will be 1.33 times longer. For example, a 35mm lens has a 46.5mm FOV. You also get 24mm frame lines because of the crop sensor. I go back and forth between my M8 and M262, just compose using the frame lines, and don't even think about 1.33 crop.

Click to expand...

which is why I’m planning to get a 28mm to roughly match a 35. The crop sensor was the one thing edging me towards the M9

bs1946 said:

• Kodak made the UV and IR filters on the sensor stack too thin. So if you shoot color images, large areas of black may show up as magenta and large areas of green may show up as yellowish. The solution for this is to use a UV/IR Cut filter on your lenses that you use on the M8. I always kept a UV filter on my lenses for protection, so I just replaced them with UV/IR Cut filters. So far, I haven't seen any problems leaving the UV/IR Cut filters on when I use a lens on the M262.

Click to expand...

I plan on leaving it off to start. I have a full spectrum camera so know roughly what to expect. I’ll get an IR cut filter once I know better what lens I want to pair with it.

bs1946 said:

• Another known problem with the M8 is the shutter control mechanism can fail. I bought my M8 used and the first owner had to have Leica replace the shutter control mechanism in 2017. One of the many unconfirmed Leica rumors is that using the 1/8000 shutter speed causes the shutter control to fail and this is sort of substantiated because max shutter speed is 1/4000 on the M8.2, all of the M9 series bodies, and all of the M240 series bodies.

Click to expand...

Yup, I plan on not using it at 1/8000 unless aperture priority accidentally puts me there.

bs1946 said:

• You will hear some people say they have an M8U. This is an M8 that had its shutter control replaced and LCD replaced with the M8.2's shutter control and sapphire glass LCD.
• I'm sure you already know that M-mount lenses are fully manual, so you can shoot in full manual or aperture priority; no shutter priority or auto modes here.

Click to expand...

yup. And manual focus - I’m curious how the rangefinder patch will compare to the Epson R-D1

I’ll miss the 1:1 viewfinder from the R-D1 and may get a diopter once I settle on a lens, but I suspect focusing will be more accurate due to the longer parallax with the rangefinder

--
"no one should have a camera that can't play Candy Crush Saga."
https://www.instagram.com/sodiumstudio/
Camera JPG Portrait Shootout http://sodium.nyc/blog/2020/05/camera-jpg-portrait

I agree with what has been said, I bought my M8 for hand held infrared, but found I like the colors. With out the IR cut filter greens are terrible in sun, there is also the black to magenta shift. I use it mostly in daylight so I use a filter,if you want correct color balance use a filter. Two off beat lenses that work wonderfully on the camera, a Canon rangefinder 25mm f3.5 and a Zeiss Distagon 18 f4. The latter needs a profile correction in your RAW editor. Lens profiles are scanty on the M8. I have older Leica and Zeiss lenses.

The rangefinder is an M rangefinder, very accurate, a very nice RF patch.

Greens without and with an IR/UV cut cut filter



I like the M8, 10mp is a little low, but the camera is a joy to use.

I love my M8(.2). You'll find focusing to be more precise with longer lenses than on the R-D1, and the viewfinder is brighter too. Operations involving the rear LCD display are sluggish compared to modern cameras.

The m8raw2dng thing works but is a PITA to use. You've gotta boot up the camera in diagnostics mode and then go through menu gyrations to enable high-bit capture. You'll also want to disable sleep mode 'cuz if the camera goes to sleep you're back to square one config-wise when it wakes up. It's been years since I used high bit.

Avoid overexposing (and grossly underexposing) and you'll find the standard Raw files quite malleable.

I use a 35mm as my standard lens, a Zeiss 25/2.8 as my wide-ish lens (M8s have 24mm framelines), a 50mm as my shorter tele and a 75mm as my longer tele. The camera focuses 75mm (100mm equiv.) lenses just fine.

And the M8 can do handheld infrared too! I use a Voigtländer 28/1.9 at f/5.6 and offset focusing to the f/5.6 DOF mark with good results.



-Dave-

Tomm111 said:

I agree with what has been said, I bought my M8 for hand held infrared, but found I like the colors. With out the IR cut filter greens are terrible in sun, there is also the black to magenta shift. I use it mostly in daylight so I use a filter,if you want correct color balance use a filter. Two off beat lenses that work wonderfully on the camera, a Canon rangefinder 25mm f3.5 and a Zeiss Distagon 18 f4. The latter needs a profile correction in your RAW editor. Lens profiles are scanty on the M8. I have older Leica and Zeiss lenses.

Click to expand...

Thats what I was expecting, I’m curious what near IR does for skin, the longer wavelengths may have some smoothing effect in the resulting image. I’m also interested in what it does to skin tones in general - some photos I see, skin tones seem a bit more ruddy (“like Kodachrome” some people say).

I’ve done pure IR portraits, a couple times, and people look ghostly , so I sort of know what to expect…

sort of.

Tomm111 said:

The rangefinder is an M rangefinder, very accurate, a very nice RF patch.

Click to expand...

Great to know.

Tomm111 said:

Greens without and with an IR/UV cut cut filter



I like the M8, 10mp is a little low, but the camera is a joy to use.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the sample, I’ve seen similar elsewhere and will probably get an IR cut filter, but want to choose lenses first because of the coat - I have a decent amount of M Mount lenses and don’t want to buy filters for all of them.

--
"no one should have a camera that can't play Candy Crush Saga."
Camera JPG Portrait Shootout http://sodium.nyc/blog/2020/05/camera-jpg-portrait

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

I had an M8 several years ago and recently bought another one as a sort of backup for my M262. To be honest, I would have preferred an M9, but M9 prices have gone through the roof and it's getting harder to find one that has had the sensor repair or has one that won't have corrosion at some point.

Click to expand...

Kolari Vision has M9s with the sensor repaired. There’s two options of cover glass. The price is around $4,000-$5,000 to buy an M9 from them.

It’s not corrosion, it was the glue used to cement the hot mirror/cover glass, the Kolari Vision cameras have new cover glass with a glue that won’t separate.

Click to expand...

Don't know who told you that, but it's definitely corrosion which occurs on the top of the sensor stack glass. Kodak finally managed to fix it with their CCID 15 sensors and then the CCID 16 sensors, which were the last produced. My M9 had a CCID 16 sensor and never had a problem. I've heard the corrosion happens because of the protective coating used on the top of the sensor stack grass and also heard the corrosion happens because Kodak didn't put a protective coating on the glass. Either way, between the M8 UV/IR issues and the M9 corrosion, Leica had enough with Kodak and switched to CMOS sensors like everyone else.

I paid $2200 for my used M9 when I got it. Now I see prices are up to around $3000 plus for an M9 in excellent condition with a safe sensor or one that has been repaired. A couple of years ago, Leica took all the CCID16 sensors they had left for repair, used them to refurbish M9s they took in trade, and then sold them thru their Wetzler store for $2800 to $3000. No mail order, you had to go there to get one and KEH sent somebody who bought a bunch of them. Then KEH put them on their own website with a large markup.

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

I had an M8 several years ago and recently bought another one as a sort of backup for my M262. To be honest, I would have preferred an M9, but M9 prices have gone through the roof and it's getting harder to find one that has had the sensor repair or has one that won't have corrosion at some point.

Click to expand...

Kolari Vision has M9s with the sensor repaired. There’s two options of cover glass. The price is around $4,000-$5,000 to buy an M9 from them.

It’s not corrosion, it was the glue used to cement the hot mirror/cover glass, the Kolari Vision cameras have new cover glass with a glue that won’t separate.

Click to expand...

Don't know who told you that, but it's definitely corrosion which occurs on the top of the sensor stack glass. Kodak finally managed to fix it with their CCID 15 sensors and then the CCID 16 sensors, which were the last produced. My M9 had a CCID 16 sensor and never had a problem. I've heard the corrosion happens because of the protective coating used on the top of the sensor stack grass and also heard the corrosion happens because Kodak didn't put a protective coating on the glass. Either way, between the M8 UV/IR issues and the M9 corrosion, Leica had enough with Kodak and switched to CMOS sensors like everyone else.

I paid $2200 for my used M9 when I got it. Now I see prices are up to around $3000 plus for an M9 in excellent condition with a safe sensor or one that has been repaired. A couple of years ago, Leica took all the CCID16 sensors they had left for repair, used them to refurbish M9s they took in trade, and then sold them thru their Wetzler store for $2800 to $3000. No mail order, you had to go there to get one and KEH sent somebody who bought a bunch of them. Then KEH put them on their own website with a large markup.

Click to expand...

You’re right - this is the article I was thinking of


I’d heard about the KEH “new old stock” M9s

If I was in the market for an M9 I’d probably get it from Kolari Vision and/or one that Leica refurbished.

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

I had an M8 several years ago and recently bought another one as a sort of backup for my M262. To be honest, I would have preferred an M9, but M9 prices have gone through the roof and it's getting harder to find one that has had the sensor repair or has one that won't have corrosion at some point.

Click to expand...

Kolari Vision has M9s with the sensor repaired. There’s two options of cover glass. The price is around $4,000-$5,000 to buy an M9 from them.

It’s not corrosion, it was the glue used to cement the hot mirror/cover glass, the Kolari Vision cameras have new cover glass with a glue that won’t separate.

Click to expand...

Don't know who told you that, but it's definitely corrosion which occurs on the top of the sensor stack glass. Kodak finally managed to fix it with their CCID 15 sensors and then the CCID 16 sensors, which were the last produced. My M9 had a CCID 16 sensor and never had a problem. I've heard the corrosion happens because of the protective coating used on the top of the sensor stack grass and also heard the corrosion happens because Kodak didn't put a protective coating on the glass. Either way, between the M8 UV/IR issues and the M9 corrosion, Leica had enough with Kodak and switched to CMOS sensors like everyone else.

I paid $2200 for my used M9 when I got it. Now I see prices are up to around $3000 plus for an M9 in excellent condition with a safe sensor or one that has been repaired. A couple of years ago, Leica took all the CCID16 sensors they had left for repair, used them to refurbish M9s they took in trade, and then sold them thru their Wetzler store for $2800 to $3000. No mail order, you had to go there to get one and KEH sent somebody who bought a bunch of them. Then KEH put them on their own website with a large markup.

Click to expand...

You’re right - this is the article I was thinking of

https://petapixel.com/2020/09/12/le...on-due-to-dumb-design-decision-report-claims/

I’d heard about the KEH “new old stock” M9s

If I was in the market for an M9 I’d probably get it from Kolari Vision and/or one that Leica refurbished.

Click to expand...

In my search for a mint condition M9 I found that buying from any camera dealer was risky, because they had no idea about the sensor's CCID or the camera's history. Also, Kolari Vision is not the only company repairing M9 sensors. Several of the other IR conversion specialists like Kolari are offering to repair corroded M9 sensors, but by the time you're done, it's probably a total cost of around $1500 USD on top of the cost of the used M9.

Buy any M8 or M9 including their variants is a risk, because Leica has already said there are other parts for both that are no longer available. The seller I just bought my M8 from said that Leica had replaced the shutter control, replaced the covering, and did a full CLA. When the M8 arrived, it had the same covering as my M262, the Leica tech's inspection card showed the work was actually done six years ago, and the shutter control was an M8 version, not the M8.2 version you find on some repaired M8s. While I use aperture priority on my M262, I use full manual on the M8 and keep the shutter speed below 1/1000s so I won't wind up with an expensive paper weight.

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

I had an M8 several years ago and recently bought another one as a sort of backup for my M262. To be honest, I would have preferred an M9, but M9 prices have gone through the roof and it's getting harder to find one that has had the sensor repair or has one that won't have corrosion at some point.

Click to expand...

Kolari Vision has M9s with the sensor repaired. There’s two options of cover glass. The price is around $4,000-$5,000 to buy an M9 from them.

It’s not corrosion, it was the glue used to cement the hot mirror/cover glass, the Kolari Vision cameras have new cover glass with a glue that won’t separate.

Click to expand...

Don't know who told you that, but it's definitely corrosion which occurs on the top of the sensor stack glass. Kodak finally managed to fix it with their CCID 15 sensors and then the CCID 16 sensors, which were the last produced. My M9 had a CCID 16 sensor and never had a problem. I've heard the corrosion happens because of the protective coating used on the top of the sensor stack grass and also heard the corrosion happens because Kodak didn't put a protective coating on the glass. Either way, between the M8 UV/IR issues and the M9 corrosion, Leica had enough with Kodak and switched to CMOS sensors like everyone else.

I paid $2200 for my used M9 when I got it. Now I see prices are up to around $3000 plus for an M9 in excellent condition with a safe sensor or one that has been repaired. A couple of years ago, Leica took all the CCID16 sensors they had left for repair, used them to refurbish M9s they took in trade, and then sold them thru their Wetzler store for $2800 to $3000. No mail order, you had to go there to get one and KEH sent somebody who bought a bunch of them. Then KEH put them on their own website with a large markup.

Click to expand...

You’re right - this is the article I was thinking of

https://petapixel.com/2020/09/12/le...on-due-to-dumb-design-decision-report-claims/

I’d heard about the KEH “new old stock” M9s

If I was in the market for an M9 I’d probably get it from Kolari Vision and/or one that Leica refurbished.

Click to expand...

In my search for a mint condition M9 I found that buying from any camera dealer was risky, because they had no idea about the sensor's CCID or the camera's history. Also, Kolari Vision is not the only company repairing M9 sensors. Several of the other IR conversion specialists like Kolari are offering to repair corroded M9 sensors, but by the time you're done, it's probably a total cost of around $1500 USD on top of the cost of the used M9.

Click to expand...

and in the other hand, (almost) nobody on eBay posts pictures from the actual camera and few post shutter counts. So buying an M8 is risky because of the stuck pixel issue.

bs1946 said:

Buy any M8 or M9 including their variants is a risk, because Leica has already said there are other parts for both that are no longer available. The seller I just bought my M8 from said that Leica had replaced the shutter control, replaced the covering, and did a full CLA. When the M8 arrived, it had the same covering as my M262, the Leica tech's inspection card showed the work was actually done six years ago, and the shutter control was an M8 version, not the M8.2 version you find on some repaired M8s. While I use aperture priority on my M262, I use full manual on the M8 and keep the shutter speed below 1/1000s so I won't wind up with an expensive paper weight.

Click to expand...

All of life is risk

The M8 I got was below market - I’m sure I’ll find out why, but as long as it works I don’t think I’d have trouble selling it on…

The camera is fun to use.

I like the shutter sound well enough - tho there's no being stealthy with this camera at least maybe people will mistake it for a film camera.

I also learned that my right eye is much worse than my left eye, so I guess I'll have to focus with my left eye. Took me a minute (and the equivalent of a roll of film) to realize it wasn't the viewfinder, it was me.

It would be nice if there was a diopeter built in to the camera - any guidance on how to buy a diopter based on my glasses prescription?

Photos taken with the Brightenstar 28mm f/2.8 without an ND filter (and no lens hood, some flare is obvious in one of the photos)

I have photos from the same location taken with my Olympus Pen-F - one of my favorite golden hour cameras that I can compare the files to later once I download the Pen-F files to see how the cameras handle delicate sunset colors.

But overall I'm pleased with the images it makes. Have yet to take people photos with it though, which I'm really curious about.









--
"no one should have a camera that can't play Candy Crush Saga."
https://www.instagram.com/sodiumstudio/
Camera JPG Portrait Shootout http://sodium.nyc/blog/2020/05/camera-jpg-portrait

saltydogstudios said:

The camera is fun to use.

I like the shutter sound well enough - tho there's no being stealthy with this camera at least maybe people will mistake it for a film camera.

Click to expand...

I have people come up to me from time to time and ask if my M8, or even my M262, is an old film camera. Probably because I'm old as dirt. T

he M8 shutter release has a discreet mode set under Menu/Advance that makes hardly any noise until you release the shutter button. So take your shot and run off somewhere to release the shutter and trigger the noise part.

saltydogstudios said:

I also learned that my right eye is much worse than my left eye, so I guess I'll have to focus with my left eye. Took me a minute (and the equivalent of a roll of film) to realize it wasn't the viewfinder, it was me.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the left eye shooters club. The only problem is getting nose grease on the LCD. Of course, the LCD on the M8 is barely usable outside. anyway. The first thing I did with every camera that had a touchscreen LCD is turn it off.

saltydogstudios said:

It would be nice if there was a diopeter built in to the camera - any guidance on how to buy a diopter based on my glasses prescription?

Click to expand...

Leica made screw-in diopters that will fit the M8, plus 1.25x & 4x magnifiers. Leica changed the thread patter on the viewfinder with the M10, so those won't fit an M8. Then they discontinued the older diopters, so you may have to look on eBay for them.

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

The camera is fun to use.

I like the shutter sound well enough - tho there's no being stealthy with this camera at least maybe people will mistake it for a film camera.

Click to expand...

I have people come up to me from time to time and ask if my M8, or even my M262, is an old film camera. Probably because I'm old as dirt. T

he M8 shutter release has a discreet mode set under Menu/Advance that makes hardly any noise until you release the shutter button. So take your shot and run off somewhere to release the shutter and trigger the noise part.

Click to expand...

thanks - I couldn’t find discreet mode in the menu and wasn’t sure if it was an 8.2 thing, but I’ll be sure to pore through the extensive menus to find it

bs1946 said:

bs1946 said:

I also learned that my right eye is much worse than my left eye, so I guess I'll have to focus with my left eye. Took me a minute (and the equivalent of a roll of film) to realize it wasn't the viewfinder, it was me.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the left eye shooters club. The only problem is getting nose grease on the LCD. Of course, the LCD on the M8 is barely usable outside. anyway. The first thing I did with every camera that had a touchscreen LCD is turn it off.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the most annoying thing is not having both eyes for composition - nose grease is annoying, but even more annoying is not looking like I’m using rangefinder…. Kidding

actually the most annoying thing is training my brain as I am right eye dominant

bs1946 said:

bs1946 said:

It would be nice if there was a diopeter built in to the camera - any guidance on how to buy a diopter based on my glasses prescription?

Click to expand...

Leica made screw-in diopters that will fit the M8, plus 1.25x & 4x magnifiers. Leica changed the thread patter on the viewfinder with the M10, so those won't fit an M8. Then they discontinued the older diopters, so you may have to look on eBay for them.

Click to expand...

I thought maybe they were just magnifiers and not correction. I’m shooting with a 28 so a magnifier will probably obscure the frame lines- though the viewfinder is small so maybe not?

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

The camera is fun to use.

I like the shutter sound well enough - tho there's no being stealthy with this camera at least maybe people will mistake it for a film camera.

Click to expand...

I have people come up to me from time to time and ask if my M8, or even my M262, is an old film camera. Probably because I'm old as dirt. T

he M8 shutter release has a discreet mode set under Menu/Advance that makes hardly any noise until you release the shutter button. So take your shot and run off somewhere to release the shutter and trigger the noise part.

Click to expand...

thanks - I couldn’t find discreet mode in the menu and wasn’t sure if it was an 8.2 thing, but I’ll be sure to pore through the extensive menus to find it

Click to expand...

I think the Discreet Mode is part of the last firmware update. My M8 has firmware 2.024 and ADVANCE is the last menu item on the last menu page.

saltydogstudios said:

saltydogstudios said:

saltydogstudios said:

I also learned that my right eye is much worse than my left eye, so I guess I'll have to focus with my left eye. Took me a minute (and the equivalent of a roll of film) to realize it wasn't the viewfinder, it was me.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the left eye shooters club. The only problem is getting nose grease on the LCD. Of course, the LCD on the M8 is barely usable outside. anyway. The first thing I did with every camera that had a touchscreen LCD is turn it off.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the most annoying thing is not having both eyes for composition - nose grease is annoying, but even more annoying is not looking like I’m using rangefinder…. Kidding

actually the most annoying thing is training my brain as I am right eye dominant

Click to expand...

My left eye has always been stronger than my right eye. I have always been left eye dominant yet right handed.

saltydogstudios said:

saltydogstudios said:

saltydogstudios said:

It would be nice if there was a diopeter built in to the camera - any guidance on how to buy a diopter based on my glasses prescription?

Click to expand...

Leica made screw-in diopters that will fit the M8, plus 1.25x & 4x magnifiers. Leica changed the thread patter on the viewfinder with the M10, so those won't fit an M8. Then they discontinued the older diopters, so you may have to look on eBay for them.

Click to expand...

I thought maybe they were just magnifiers and not correction. I’m shooting with a 28 so a magnifier will probably obscure the frame lines- though the viewfinder is small so maybe not?

Click to expand...

I've never used the magnifiers, but my understanding is that they enlarge everything in the viewfinder, including the frame lines, while the diopters correct your vision so everything in the viewfinder is sharp and clear.

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

bs1946 said:

saltydogstudios said:

The camera is fun to use.

I like the shutter sound well enough - tho there's no being stealthy with this camera at least maybe people will mistake it for a film camera.

Click to expand...

I have people come up to me from time to time and ask if my M8, or even my M262, is an old film camera. Probably because I'm old as dirt. T

he M8 shutter release has a discreet mode set under Menu/Advance that makes hardly any noise until you release the shutter button. So take your shot and run off somewhere to release the shutter and trigger the noise part.

Click to expand...

thanks - I couldn’t find discreet mode in the menu and wasn’t sure if it was an 8.2 thing, but I’ll be sure to pore through the extensive menus to find it

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I think the Discreet Mode is part of the last firmware update. My M8 has firmware 2.024 and ADVANCE is the last menu item on the last menu page.

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I updated the firmware and it now has this option. I was afraid to update it in case it over-rode any pixel mapping to get rid of hot/dead pixels (which causes lines on the M8) - but so far so good.

bs1946 said:

bs1946 said:

bs1946 said:

bs1946 said:

I also learned that my right eye is much worse than my left eye, so I guess I'll have to focus with my left eye. Took me a minute (and the equivalent of a roll of film) to realize it wasn't the viewfinder, it was me.

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Welcome to the left eye shooters club. The only problem is getting nose grease on the LCD. Of course, the LCD on the M8 is barely usable outside. anyway. The first thing I did with every camera that had a touchscreen LCD is turn it off.

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Yeah, the most annoying thing is not having both eyes for composition - nose grease is annoying, but even more annoying is not looking like I’m using rangefinder…. Kidding

actually the most annoying thing is training my brain as I am right eye dominant

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My left eye has always been stronger than my right eye. I have always been left eye dominant yet right handed.

bs1946 said:

bs1946 said:

bs1946 said:

It would be nice if there was a diopeter built in to the camera - any guidance on how to buy a diopter based on my glasses prescription?

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Leica made screw-in diopters that will fit the M8, plus 1.25x & 4x magnifiers. Leica changed the thread patter on the viewfinder with the M10, so those won't fit an M8. Then they discontinued the older diopters, so you may have to look on eBay for them.

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I thought maybe they were just magnifiers and not correction. I’m shooting with a 28 so a magnifier will probably obscure the frame lines- though the viewfinder is small so maybe not?

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I've never used the magnifiers, but my understanding is that they enlarge everything in the viewfinder, including the frame lines, while the diopters correct your vision so everything in the viewfinder is sharp and clear.

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Yeah, I'm looking at magnifiers that have built in diopters. Not really an urgent purchase, but something I'm lazily researching.

saltydogstudios said:

Yeah, I'm looking at magnifiers that have built in diopters. Not really an urgent purchase, but something I'm lazily researching.

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I have tried several different types of magnifiers with build in diopters over the years but never liked any of them. I find them too bulky and restrict the view of 24 and 28 viewfinder frames.

My eyes (right eye) need a +1 diopter correction and the standard Leica +1.5 diopter gives a perfect clear viewfinder image (the standard Leica eyepiece is - 0.5 diopter).