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Camera Test: Leica M84022243107021LeicaM8Leica camera owners are a special breed that casual photographers can't understand. For the uninitiated, the idea that anyone would shoot with a 35mm rangefinder camera that lacks motor drive, autofocus, or even a decent zoom lens -- yet costs thousands of dollars -- is absurd. But Leica lovers revel in the knowledge that they are taking pictures with a German-engineered handcrafted instrument that is built stronger than any other camera. This is the legacy (and customer loyalty) that Leica hopes to extend into the digital era with its new 10.3MP Leica M8 ($4,800, street). We shared our first impressions of a preproduction M8 in the November 2006 issue, and couldn't wait to hit the streets (and the Pop Photo Lab) with a production version. We ran into some image-quality surprises along the way, including an abnormally high sensitivity to IR radiation that produces a purple cast on some dark fabrics and objects. (Leica has a solution that may not appeal to all. More on that below.) However, there were no surprises with how this camera is built: the M8 is a tank, with a sturdy all-metal magnesium-alloy body and milled-brass top and bottom plates. From the front and top it looks and feels very much like a 35mm M-series camera, with a familiar offset optical rangefinder and a flat-top design instead of an SLR-style viewfinder hump. There are just two large dials on top, one to control shutter speed and the other a multi-function power button, drive mode selector, shutter button, and cable-release connector. On the far left is a small circular window that shows the battery status and remaining shots on your memory card. The only thing missing (if this were a classic 35mm M) is a top-mounted rewind lever.

Leica camera owners are a special breed that casual photographers can't understand. For the uninitiated, the idea that anyone would shoot with a 35mm rangefinder camera that lacks motor drive, autofocus, or even a decent zoom lens -- yet costs thousands of dollars -- is absurd. But Leica lovers revel in the knowledge that they are taking pictures with a German-engineered handcrafted instrument that is built stronger than any other camera. This is the legacy (and customer loyalty) that Leica hopes to extend into the digital era with its new 10.3MP Leica M8 ($4,800, street).

We shared our first impressions of a preproduction M8 in the November 2006 issue, and couldn't wait to hit the streets (and the Pop Photo Lab) with a production version. We ran into some image-quality surprises along the way, including an abnormally high sensitivity to IR radiation that produces a purple cast on some dark fabrics and objects. (Leica has a solution that may not appeal to all. More on that below.)

However, there were no surprises with how this camera is built: the M8 is a tank, with a sturdy all-metal magnesium-alloy body and milled-brass top and bottom plates. From the front and top it looks and feels very much like a 35mm M-series camera, with a familiar offset optical rangefinder and a flat-top design instead of an SLR-style viewfinder hump. There are just two large dials on top, one to control shutter speed and the other a multi-function power button, drive mode selector, shutter button, and cable-release connector. On the far left is a small circular window that shows the battery status and remaining shots on your memory card. The only thing missing (if this were a classic 35mm M) is a top-mounted rewind lever.

On the bottom you'll find what appears to be the knob for changing film -- but it's actually the bottom-plate release mechanism for access to the lithium ion rechargeable battery and SD memory card slot. An optional M8 hand grip ($230, MSRP) can replace the bottom plate to make it easier to carry the camera. Indeed, if it weren't for the M8's large 2.5-inch LCD on the back, and its slightly different-sounding shutter, you could hardly tell the M8 apart from M-series film cameras built over the past 50 years. There's even a choice of trim styles -- either all-black body or black with a brushed-steel look on top and bottom.

The M8 viewfinder also works in a similar fashion to M-series cameras, automatically providing one of three bright-line framing guides matched to the field of view of the lens: 24 or 35mm, 50 or 75mm, and 28 or 90mm. These lines are sized to correctly frame the narrower field of view captured by the camera's smaller-than-35mm sensor (and 1.33X 35mm lens factor). A switch next to the lens allows you to simulate the field of view of focal lengths from 24mm to 90mm, so you can choose the correct one for the scene at hand. For wider lenses, down to 16mm, there's the Universal Wide-angle Viewfinder M ($800, street).

Because of its unique design and freedom from the light-absorbing flip-up mirror of DSLRs, the viewfinder is brighter and sharper than any DSLR viewfinder we've seen, allowing for fairly precise use of the high-contrast, rangefinder focusing mechanism even in relatively low light. Drawbacks: Magnification is just 0.68X, and the focus mechanism works better when the camera is held horizontally (landscape) than for vertical (portrait) compositions. Also, we noticed that a small part of the scene in the lower right was obscured by the 28mm lens we used during our lab and field tests -- more so when the lenshood was in place.

There's no question that the Leica M8 is built to take rough handling, but it lacks the weather and dust seals of the similarly priced ($4,400, street) Nikon D2xs, so keep it away from rain or very dusty environments.

Perhaps due to its vertical-movement, metal-blade design, the shutter is slightly noisier than the nearly silent mechanism on 35mm M-series cameras, but this shouldn't be a deal-breaker. And because it's digital, the shutter is cocked electronically, allowing for a burst rate of up to 10 frames at 2 fps, a first for a Leica M. Shutter speed ranges from 32 sec (in aperture-priority, or 4 sec in manual) to a high 1/8000 sec; flash sync is at 1/250 sec; and the self-timer can be set to either 2 or 12 sec. In normal operation, the shutter button has three positions: exposure metering on, exposure lock (in aperture-priority mode) with a slight touch, and shutter release. But in self-timer mode, even a slight touch of the shutter button activates the release countdown, so you must meter and set your aperture accordingly before turning the switch to self-timer. That extra step is frustrating but may reduce vibration.

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