Out in the fields, shooting the M8

The fields around our village prove to be a great location for taking pictures every so often again. This week, we’ve been walking (and me shooting) there several times, and I took some great pictures that I’d like to share with you.

"Fence" | Leica M8 + Biogon 35/2 @ f/2, 1/8000 sec, ISO 160

Continue reading Out in the fields, shooting the M8

Picture(s) of the day (June 17, 2010)

On the bus this morning.

"Watching as the outside world passes by" | Leica M8 + Biogon 35/2 @ f/2, 1/1000 sec, ISO 160

I decided to dial in a little less contrast this time, which I think I like better. But I’m still not sure if the picture is bright enough overall. What think you?

Continue reading Picture(s) of the day (June 17, 2010)

Picture(s) of the day (June 16, 2010)

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)

New M8 firmware imminent!

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?

Woe!

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.


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