Unboxing of M8.2

Elvis Kennedy posted a video on youtube of the unboxing of a Leica M8.2. Enjoy it here;

 

OK, but unboxing my iPhone was more fun.

Why is this worth a youtube video?

Unboxing a new M8.2 is abit upscale. Its more a classy wrap being opened. One has that new car excitement. Its fun to also open the Yak hair string and brown paper; on a Ukraine Zorki bought from Ebay too.

Worth a youtube video? Free to upload, free to view. If you're not interested, simply move on.

"<I>If you're not interested, simply move on</I>"

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An amazingly simple concept that many on this forum have failed to grasp.

Like Chris Matthews talking to Obama, I get a thrill going up my leg waiting for the battery charge, strap

attachment, CF card insertion, and lens mounting videos, coming next.

And I've gotten a thrill reading your non-sequitur ;)

 

It's a screaming great camera, all I got to say..

Be a sport and drink the Kool-Aide Andy. I need Leica to be around for 20 or 30 years still..

Great! The best part of buying a new camera is the unboxing. I especially liked the way you drew it out by spending WAY too

much time on the manuals, etc while the M8 still sat in the box! Leica porn at its finest.

Andy K.: <i>"... CF card insertion, ..."</i>

<p>I'd like to see this one, since it takes SD cards!

<p>What I'm really waiting for is the video titled: "How to wipe your arse the Leica way."

You know Ray, I am sure that for the type of shooting you and I do, It IS a great camera. It's the fatuousness of the whole Leica "experience", like a guy wasting a small bit of his life making a video of a box-opening, not to mention the absurd price-to-value ratio, that just turns me off. Try as I might I can't get beyond the fact that my Olympus E-400, worth about $350, has exactly the same damn 10MP Kodak chip as the M8, and it's digital files, good until about 640 ISO (hmmm....) also look really good.

Sorry Vic, mea culpa. Heck, they ought to do a tie in with San Disc and do a special "Leica red dot for a red card" deal. That ought to be good for another vid.

Tim K, are you are Elvis Kennedy?

 

Andy, maybe Elvis was taking the piss out of the fatuous segment of Leica owners!

Andy K wrote: "...<I>I can't get beyond the fact that my Olympus E-400, worth about $350, has exactly the same damn 10MP Kodak chip as the M8</I>"

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How do you figure they're the exact same chip? If I'm not mistaken the Oly doesn't have a 1.33 crop factor or offset microlenses, and has an AA filter. A similar pixel count yet different crop factors itself suggests something is different.

Tim, thanks for posting this video. I know you didn't mean to light any fires. Unless you lit the California ones, that is.

Crop factor has nothing to do with the chip. The 10MP chip came out of Kodak at the same time for both cameras. The E-400

was only sold in Europe, because, it was rumored, Oly only got a small batch of chips from Kodak. It doesn't have the

microlenses, whatever they are because the Oly 4/3 lenses are designed to pass light straight on to the chip. It does have an

AA filter.

I don't know, with a Summicron in front of that sensor my pics are looking sweet. Sweeter than the 5D right out of the box,

although yeah, it starts to fall apart at ISO 1250 if exposure isn't right. If night photography is big for somebody, that's a factor.

 

What gets overlooked though is that it's legit to have a certain loyalty toward the camera you used early on that fit

your style. I think I've heard you express the same with regard to Olympus, Andy. To others none of that matters.

 

As for the video, it's an info video to show what's in the box and what's different about the new version. The guy is pretty no nonsense

about it compared to some of

the silly youtube camera reviews that have been done on just about every brand..

Agreed, Ray. If it was in the same ballpark as even a 5D I'd probably take a flyer myself. Actually now I've gone back to using

a Contax G, which I used in the late 90's for a while. I've actually shot with pretty much everything, because I enjoy

acclimating to different lenses and viewfinders and controls. Of course another way of looking at it, I've shot with exactly the

same stuff forever: 35mm film and short, prime lenses, or its digital analogue. It's all good.

A Leica M3 in the 1950's cost more than a new 95 buck Signet 35; or new 195 buck Retina IIIc and all three shot fine images; but the Leica cost a hell of alot more. Its interesting to read how folks new to photography think that Leica is SO expensive; when they have always been; for 7 decades . Maybe folks here will also discover a BMW costs more than a VW too?

Hey Andy, why did you return to the Contax G? I had a G2 and did not like the focusing at night or for low contrast subjects. I

thought it had some of the best lensees I'd ever used, though. Gave them up very reluctantly. Actually the next owner had

some of my skin to peel off them.

Andy K. wrote: "<I>Crop factor has nothing to do with the chip</I>"

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Huh? the same pixel count on a smaller chip means higher pixel density. Not a chance these are the same sensors.

Huh? The crop factor on any given camera has nothing to do with the actual size of a sensor. It's a ratio. If you were to say

that a 4/3 sensor is smaller than an APS-C you would be correct, though the difference is pretty marginal. No need to get

immediately defensive, Douglas. Im not attacking your faith in all things Leica.

Hope no one minds my jumping in here with a different question, but it is related to the discussion.

I started looking seriously at the M8 last week.

I was in a camera store on Saturday and spoke to a sales person who claimed that the Leica sensor has MUCH BETTER color rendition

than any other digital camera. He did not say more accurate, or better saturation, just "better".

Can any one tell me if the sensor is superior to others? Is is a difference that would be visual?

Thanks for any and all opinions.

Anyone trying to make fun of Leica fans for the concept of an "unboxing" video is a couple of years too late. These type of videos have been around for a while now. Most often focusing on any new electronic/computer/digital toy. It's not a "leica" thing.