The Leica M series stretches back to the early 1950s, when they offered 35mm film shooters an extraordinary level of refinement and precision. The Leica M8, introduced at Photokina this week, is the logical successor to those forebears – it accepts M-bayonet lenses made since 1954 with focal lengths from 21 to 90 mm. In many ways, the M8 contrasts with its competition now the same way the M3 and M4 contrasted with the Nikon F and Canon F-1 in their heyday. Simply, the Leica M8 is less versatile than other $5000-plus digital cameras. At 10.3 megapixels, with a 2 frame-per-second burst rate for 10 images, no autofocus, and the choice of aperture-priority or manual exposure, its specs are not competitive. But its image quality is superb, its handling very efficient, and its construction uniquely robust.
Picture Quality / Size Options
In a Titanic blow for common sense, Leica implemented the M8 with the DNG format, an open-standard form of RAW file. The hope is that as DNG is broadly adopted, it will be less likely to become obsolete than proprietary RAW formats. The M8 also shoots JPEGs, and offers two levels of compression. The DNG files are 3916 x 2634 pixels. The JPEGs can be shot at 3936 x 2630, 2952 x 1972, 1968 x 1315 or 1312 x 876 pixels. Who's going to shoot 1-megapixel files with a $5000 camera? Apparently, we lack imagination, because we can't think of anyone.
Picture Effects Mode
The M8 records in sRGB, Adobe RGB or ECI RGB. Color spaces are not color effects, but they are as close as the M8 comes. Or wants to.
