Thoughts on this old Leica classic

August 19, 2025

Portrait, no UV IR cut filter. Mumsy in her element.

August 18, 2025

I have not been using my IR cut filter on the camera. Perhaps the need is only in certain lighting conditions. These images were made tonight with Zeiss 35mm F 2.8 lens. Glorious.

August 15, 2025

Zeiss 35mm F2

August 13, 2025

This old car cried out to be photographed.

Zeiss 50mm F2

July 31, 2025

I have increased the contrast setting on the camera for kicks. This is a .jpg shot in Providence, Rhode Island. It is edited using SilverEfex. The detail was in the image to be accentuated using Film Noir preset. Zeiss 50mm F2.

July 30, 2025

The camera continues to exhibit quirks. The playback screen would not turn on yesterday. A press and repress of the settings button followed by the play button displayed images on the LCD screen. Another oddity is after formatting the SD card, a “SD Card is Full” message appeared. That resolved itself, somehow. The following image was shot with a Zeiss Planar 50 F 2.0. For kicks I changed the saturation setting to medium. I raised the shadows in the image in post processing. I prefer the settings at normal. As an aside, 50mm on this camera is too long for me. The crop sensor means I cannot frame to my eye. I prefer shooting with 35mm or wider on the M8. To get both boats in the frame from the raised parking area I had to hold the camera well over my head!

The whir of the shutter continues to seduce me.

September 28, 2023

I have pulled the M out of the bag after a long hiatus. I was walking the streets of Providence, thinking I would supplement this part of my “Portfolio” to demonstrate shots made with and without the IR Cut filter. But I stopped myself. What on earth was I doing, thinking more about the tool than the imagery? There has been enough written about this camera before and my humble thoughts won’t be novel. I have stripped out all of the prior mention of camera geekery, and decided to let the images made with this still wonderful camera speak for it and me. Having said that, here are the thoughts on the M8 I will impart and be done with gear talk.

• The Shutter Sound. It is lovely and unique. Two sounds come to mind that are similar. Think of putting your hotel key against the electronic door and hearing the whir as the lock disengages. Or think of the old toy car that you would run against the floor with your hand to wind its gears, and the whizzing sound it made when the toy set off. That is what the M8 shutter sounds like!
• ISO. Shooting about ISO 320 pushes one into the territory of “character” imagery. From my perspective, this is a good thing. A grainy and moody image results that, in the right circumstances can be nothing short of great.
• Black and White. The black and white .jpgs out of the camera are very good.
• Write times. They are slow, but what is the hurry?
• White Balance. The camera’s different preset white balance settings are a crap shoot. The best way to set white balance with the M8 is to set it manually using a white piece of paper.
• Carry. I don’t use a full strap with this camera. For me, a wrist strap is perfect (I use the nice Ona leather one), coupled with an after market thumb grip mounted in the hot shoe.
• The Colors. This camera is a reply to Paul Simon’s plea not to take his Kodachrome away. The results straight from the camera are as close to film as one can make with any digital camera, bar none.

September 27, 2023

November 5, 2022

August 31, 2022

50mm Summicron, Black and White in-camera. I really enjoy the black and white .jpegs from the M8.

February 28, 2022

July 13, 2021

June 12, 2021

Winter, 2021.

I used a yellow filter. I think the filter has a line in it or at least I hope that is why there is a demarcation line in the sky of one of the shots. The color image is a lark mistakenly using the yellow filter

May 17, 2018

Providence River.

June 10, 2018

October 9, 2021