Leica have just announced
an upgrade to the M8 dubbed the M8.2 which doesn't seem all that
different to the upgrade it offered to dissatisfied M8 buyers when it
screwed up the release of that camera. Except that it costs more (about
$US6,300) and has a Snapshot Mode.
A "snapshot mode"
on a six thousand dollar camera for God's sake! I really thin the company
has lost the plot totally. It has been teetering from one financial disaster
to another over the past few years and only the blind loyalty of the Leica
Nuts have saved the company. Do we get a full sensor M9 or and R10 digital?
No. We get a snapshot mode.
The Leica press release says of this "The
new snapshot mode will appeal to all who want exceptional results immediately
without having a vast knowledge about photography."
Sure. There must be thousands of these people who are
going to buy a snapshot camera of this cost and complexity.
Maybe not, but there are a lot of people
who would line buy a rangefinder camera with a full frame sensor and the
low noise high ISO capabilities of the Nikon D3 and would pay that sort
of money to get what they want.
For me the M8 was a fine first effort and I thought I'd look more closely
at the second version but I guess I'll wait a little longer.
Much more interesting is the f0.95 Noctilux
lens, as I am a firm believer that you can't have too much lens speed.
I've shot with both the f1.1 Nikon and f0.95 Canon rangefinder lenses.
It's true that both were soft but it was possible to shoot in situations
that defeated a f1.4 and even today attached to a high speed low noise
digital camera would be a wonderful addition to any available light photographers
camera bag. There is a downside of course. It's not the almost non-existent
depth of field wide open but the fact that it's €8,000 (about $US11,000?).
It is almost worth buying an M8.2 to be able to use this lens on a digital
camera.
More practical is the pair of new fast
wide angle lenses that deliver more wide-angle options for digital rangefinder
users. The Summilux-M 24mm and 21mm lenses are fast, starting at f/1.4,
and deliver the 35mm equivalent of approximately 32 and 28mm lenses when
used on the Leica M8. They would also be quite lovely on an M-mount film
camera.
