Then look no further! Or do indeed look further, but only as far as one link. dpreview have just posted their ‘‘Compact Super Zoom’ Camera Group Test (Q2 2010)‘, reviewing and comparing no less than 12 (in words: twelve!) compact cameras with long zoom lenses. Haven’t found yours yet? Maybe it’s among these twelve:
My favourites: The Panasonic ZS7 for its geotagging feature, the Ricoh CX3 for, well, it’s a Ricoh! … and of course the Fuji F80 for its neato EXR sensor! (Yeah, I still dig the F200, even though I don’t actually use it anymore!)
On my way home from work. I’m a bit uninspired these days …
 "Commuting" | Leica M8 + Biogon 35/2 @ f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO 160 The second one is from this evening. We’re having a crate of empty beer bottles standing around, waiting to be returned. Emil obviously found something interesting to the bottles … 😉 Continue reading Picture(s) of the day (June 16, 2010)
It’s making its rounds on the interwebs – this is big news for us M8 users! A new firmware is currently tested in the secret laboratories at the magic Leica facility in Solms, Germany, and will be released soon. Yes, this is official.
Here’s the original post a the L-Camera forum, quoting a reply on an servicing inquiry stating that the new firmware is soon to come. What is known so far is that a bug causing the shutter to fail in continuous mode when “Discreet” advance mode is enable will be fixed, and I’d guess some new lens codes added to the database. Everything else is speculation, but of course what we’d love to see is:
- “Soft” shutter mode as in M9
- More refinded auto white balance routines (although I’d say this has lowest priority), and ABOVE ALL:
- Manual lens selection like in the M9! C’mon guys, if you can fit the whole optical corrections database into the M8’s memory, you can surely add that menu, right?
Among the some 250 unprocessed pictures from last month, which are waiting for their treatment on my hard disk, I found these three, which are all in-camera b&w’s from the E-P1. You know I love the E-P1’s in-camera b&w conversions, and here are three more reasons why 
 Detail of our Renault | E-P1 + Lumix 20/1.7 @ f/1.7, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200 Continue reading Three b&w’s from weeks ago
I’ll be without a lens for my M8 again! NOOOOOOOO!
As reported earlier, my Biogon 2/35 doesn’t focus to infinity correctly. According to a Zeiss technician, this might be due to slight manufacturing differences in M8 bodies (but I’d guess also in Zeiss’ lenses), so that the flange distance isn’t exactly up to specs for a given body/lens combination. They can fix this under warranty, though – but I ‘ll have to send my Biogon in for that …
I’m considering getting some el-cheapo substitute, maybe even a terribly slow lens, just to have something to shoot with … or just stick to my E-P1 for the time being?
EDIT: A though just crossed my mind. Maybe I should use the opportunity of not having the Biogon for some time to send in the M8 as well. The outlook of having to spend money again kept me from doing so so far, but I would get it back with the defunct pixels mapped out, and I could ask them to adjust and clean the rangefinder as well while they’re at it. And they’d probably also clean the sensor – I believe that’s standard service anytime you send your camera in. Hmm … decisions to be made, again.
Buy the Carl Zeiss Biogon T* 35mm f/2 ZM lens from B&H Photo Video Audio!
|
|
June 16th, 2010, 9:51 pm | 
| 
