Explaining the Dinosaur:
This is a DD article (Digital Dinosaur) about a camera that has inspired me to take more photos and keeps me wanting to take more photos.
Lately I have been in a creative slump, and it’s been difficult for me to want to pick up my camera and go out and shoot. Normally I turn to my fellow photo nerds, aka my photography interested friends, but even that has not helped inspire me. Funny enough, the thing that is inspiring me most is picking up old digital cameras.
In case you are just tuning in, these Digital Dinosaur articles are about using old cameras and not worrying about the latest and greatest thing. Digital dinosaurs are great because they are already obsolete and that makes these relics from the past future-proof in a way. Buying the newer camera almost gives me anxiety; just yesterday I was telling my wife that I wanted the Ricoh GR III, but I am hesitant because I want to wait and see if they come out with the next model. I hate that sort of thinking: wanting the newest thing and then having that camera lose its shine when the new one comes out. Our society makes us want the brand new thing, and unfortunately I am guilty of this sort of mentality. I am trying to be better about buying a camera or lens because they are enjoyable to use and of good quality, and not because they are the newest/greatest thing…and yet still I wait for the GR4.
The Digital Dino series is about getting me out and shooting, trying a different piece of gear, and seeing what kind of photograph I can make with it. It’s about trying that old tech and seeing if it produces something unique that stands out to me. This series is pushing me and forcing me to go out of my way and purchase a camera that I may have wanted back in the day but decided against buying. The benefit of doing this now, is that most of these digital dinos were too expensive when they were new, but now they are affordable so it is fairly easy to justify the purchase. Most important though is that I love trying to get a worthy image with old quirky tech.
Buying a digital dinosaur today is the equivalent of buying a top of the line film camera in 2009 for around $100. Don’t get me started on the prices of the Leica M6 in 2009, let’s just say I could have bought 3 of them and maybe a good lens for the prices they are going for today. Also don’t tell my wife, but because these digital dinosaurs are so cheap it’s an excuse to buy more cameras haha. I also am curious as to what these digital cameras will do in terms of value in the coming future, and the one I am going to discuss with you all today has steadily gone up in value over the last 5 years. I don’t think I could have justified a penny more than what I paid, when I bought it this year, but lately they are hovering around $1800 – $2400$ and I paid about in the middle of that. For what this camera is, I do think it’s probably more than what I would like to pay because it almost goes against the digital dinosaur ethos. I was even maybe a little hesitant to click the buy button, but I have no regrets. Let’s dive in!
Some background info and a small tangent:
I have been talking on and reading Threads (you know, that instagram off shoot) lately about how much gear matters. One of the things that hit me square in the face after countless conversations with random internet people was the fact that gear matters but not in the way you think. People think it matters, because it might create the sharpest and most high quality malleable photo file, but it really matters because gear can act as an inspiration and can help push your creativity. For example, a camera can help you with its limitations or with its possibilities. It all goes back to that feng shui lady Maria Kondo and her saying “does it spark joy”? And, just so you know, this camera does spark joy for me. For these digital dinosaurs, the age of the gear seems to matter less and less; all but the earliest digital cameras really produce usable great images. I mean think about it! If you are printing 11×14 or smaller you can get away with using almost any digital camera made in the last 15 or 20 years, and 15 years ago people were using these cameras to make large prints. I know I was taking photos that long ago and printing stuff out. I have printed large prints from my D3 and my 1DS MKII with great results and I have even made gallery quality large prints using 35mm film. Don’t get me wrong, cameras and digital technology have come a long way in the last 20 years but the whole point is this – capturing a moment in time and viewing it.
In my creative slump I tried a couple different pieces of gear to change things up. I sold much of my Leica M gear to try out the Hasselblad XCD system with the 907X and 50CII. While this was a great amazing camera, it did not satisfy, and I hate to say this but it may have been a mistake. I did get some fantastic photos using the system. However I figured out with a few things with my Hasselblad adventure:
- I really love the SWC cameras; the CFV 50CII was the most fun to use on the SWC
- The 500CM bodies are not my favorite 6×6 camera to use digitally. (crop factor and focus being a big issue. You need a good focus screen)
- I should not have sold my 28MM summicron
- In practice, putting a digital back on a 500CM was a little abnormal, a little unbalanced and too heavy to lug around.
- The 907X and 50CII worked great as a stand alone camera with my 45P lens, albeit a little slow on the auto focus. But it was a little cumbersome to throw on your shoulder and go.
To compound my relationship with the Hasselblad digital V system, I was always scared the back would pop off. Which it DID 2 separate times!! My peak design strap hit the back release while I was carrying it and the back fell off to the floor. (A word from the wise: don’t use a peak design strap with the 907x series, you are playing with fire.) Luckily the camera was fine, no dings or anything. But that experience alone soured my love for the camera. I stuck with the 907x for about a year then sold it. Lucky enough I got what I paid for it when I went to sell it on Fleabay (aka EBay) even with the Fleabay tax. I had been trying to write an article about the Hasselblad digital v system, but for the life of me I really could not bring myself to write a compelling article for the camera and camera system. So If you have any questions please ask me in the comments. What it all came down to is I just do not feel inspired by the digital camera part of the system – this probably makes me crazy. Just remember this was my experience and your experience might and probably will be different. With the selling of the Hasselblad 907x and CFV50cII, I decided I was going to pay off my credit card and whatever was left I’d put towards a camera. My wife and I just bought a house in August so money is a little tight right now. I know I scare her with all my camera talk and buying habits, so I could not get something too crazy expensive but I wanted something that would feel like a film camera and have some quirks.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming:
Then perusing the old Fleebay website this camera came across my eyes..there it was in all its glory. A DD (digital dino) camera that I had always wanted but somehow avoided. If you look at the specs on this camera too closely you will notice that it’s certainly not the best, it has a couple of weird quirks. There are a lot of people who love the camera and alot who hate it, so it’s a little polarizing. And lastly this particular model of camera came out in 2008, so it’s 16 years old and the original one came out in 2006. I will also say before I committed to buying this particular camera I had also put in a fair offer for a Leica M9 that had a new sensor. I owned an M9 back in 2017 – 2019 and knew I liked the camera. The M9 seller waited out the clock on the offer and never responded to my questions so I decided to give up on that particular camera. It irritated me because if he had just declined it I may have given him the full asking price but I felt that the lack of response was disrespectful. Anyways, I also was looking at a M262 at the same time and almost went with it. I still might get a 262 in the future as a second digital M or dare I say a back up to this camera. So what camera did I get?
If you guessed I bought a Leica M8 you would be wrong… The camera I bought was a Leica M8.2 in black paint. Insert sunglasses cool face emoji.
The M8.2 was an update to the M8: kinda like how Leica does a P version of every digital M (example – M9P, M10P, M11P, and so on). I think the .2 was also a nod to how Leica updated some products back in the 90s and 80s (example M4-2, R6.2). It started a trend with leica and their P models that improved on the originals. Usually they used a different finish, have the leica classic script on the top plate, or they took the leica dot away, or they improved on the shutter sound. They might even have had some firmware improvements and features added like the sapphire glass back screen or the spirit level in the m10p. I am sure there is a lot more I am forgetting there. You can fight me on this but I think it’s one of the most beautiful digital M cameras that’s not a special addition ever made. Period, mike drop! The black paint M9P is also a good looker, but the M8.2 is also the only Leica M camera to come with the black dot from the factory. Now I am not a “show off the Leica brand” kind of guy, and I do usually prefer the P models because they usually just have a screw there and no dot, but the black dot complements the camera well.
I am a camera guy so of course I read a bunch of things before dropping some cash on it. Only a few reviews had a good perspective on the camera. There were also a few good Youtube videos, and a few scary ones of bricked cameras with bad sensors, dead pixels or stuck shutters. All of which are real possibilities with any old digital camera. Other reviews were waxing poetic notions of the beauty coming from the CCD sensor – I don’t know If I believe all the hubbub on the CCD having a unique look. I am also not looking to argue anything about it other than I have owned a leica M9 and it did not seem like it had the amazingly special rendering this M8.2 has. There are a few reasons I think may contribute to this look that the M8.2 produces that I’ll get into later on. Casual Photophile author Nick Clayton wrote a nice piece on the M8 and said it was like shooting an endless roll of Kodachrome. While I disagree that it looks like kodachrome, the camera does really have a SOOC film look often that does make it look like an endless roll of film. The shutter sound also brings on some film camera nostalgia as well. It’s a good thing that the output of this camera does not look like kodachrome to me, as I don’t really like the look of kodachrome anyway. The files are not like a preset in a Fuji camera, because the M8 has its own unique look.
You really do need to treat this camera like you are shooting slide film, you need to nail exposure – if you are off by a couple of stops it won’t be good for your photo. Sometimes the files do need persuading a little, but it’s not a lot. Often I find myself just adjusting the white balance a little and calling it good. Sometimes the camera really leans hard into the magenta color. The M9 I had favored magenta too; I am wondering if that magenta leaning was a CCD thing or a Leica thing back in 2008. Other times I am converting to black and white because the colors are wacky but that’s because I was forgetting to use the IR cut filter and I just could not get them the way I want. The IR issue with the M8 is a double edged sword, (and I’ll talk more about it in a moment) but because of IR issues, those black and white images are soooo good! I can’t tell the difference between TRI-X film and this camera side by side if I am being honest. This camera has been often given the title of “a poormans Monochrome”, and I believe them there. The black and white coming from this camera is amazing and I am surprised people don’t wax poetic notions about that. I know you can get a file to look this filmic with almost any other cameras, but the difference is that I don’t adjust the files much, I just switch it to black and white and call it a day. The natural grain that comes from the sensor lends well to digital black and white. The black and whites coming from this camera seem to have more tonality and become less crunchy and are just the right amount of contrasty when you convert them. In art terms, the images seem to have a wider range of value and stronger midtones.
One of the reasons I think this camera does so well with black and white is the lack of a strong IR cut on the sensor. Let’s talk about the IR issue for a moment. It all makes sense if you are a science guy…ITs all about those infrared light waves. in order to make the image sharper, the sensor has a thinner IR cut filter and omitted the AA filter on the sensor. I have read they did this to make a sharper image with the low megapixel count. Less stuff for the light to go through. Unfortunately, in doing this they did make the IR cut a little too thin on the sensor. Basically it’s not cutting infrared light as much as it should. This probably was a huge blunder with Leica back in the day because this causes some weird color shifts that are tricky to work around. Taking color photos without an IR cut filter can be an issue with the M8.2. If you are not careful, certain black fabrics turn purplish and greens go yellowy brownish. Good news though, in practice not as bad as they say! It also does not affect every image. Plus with a $50 IR cut filter you can easily not worry about it. But while sometimes in color without the IR filter you get some weird color shifts, in black and white it shines! Blunders or not, I think that combined with the lower resolution of the camera, the M8.2 creates the most authentic filmic photos from any other camera I have used. Another mike drop? Please don’t crucify me for my experience with the camera, remember my experience could be different from yours.
The camera itself has some things that I really love about it too, and these things make it unique amongst digital M cameras today. My best analogy for them is: the early generation of Leica digital M cameras (M8, M8.2, M9, M9M, M9P, M-E) were all film cameras trying to be digital cameras where the newer generations were all digital cameras (M240 and on) trying to pay homage to film cameras. Saying this, I do know that the digital M cameras have always been designed as digital cameras, I am just trying to describe the feeling I get from them.
The early generations of digital M cameras had a Fresnel window for the frame lines. I always have liked this more than the LED lit ones. For me it’s a nostalgia thing that makes it feel more like a film camera. It is also nice to not turn the camera on to frame something up; who knows that Fresnel part might be the same part for some of the newer film cameras too. I also love that these early cameras don’t have that little button on the front of the camera. I can’t even remember what it did on my M10P?…Exposure comp?… I digress. They are not as thick as the M240 generation but thicker than the M10 generation; the M10 cameras are the same as a film camera in terms of the thickness. I hate to admit it, but I do like the thicker bodies of the M9 and now my M8.2. The rear screens kinda suck although they are still usable to check exposure and focus – the rear screen is easier to just be left off though. In practice: I shoot my first shot, check exposure and focus and then I don’t check again until the light changes. The rear screen is bad but not as bad as everyone makes out. The Canon 1DS MKII is awful in comparison and that camera is still usable for me. The M8 and M8.2 are also the only M cameras with a top LCD that displays battery life and picture count. Even though with today’s cards you will never see anything below 999, the battery indicator is really useful in practice. You can just turn it on and look at the top and you know if you are good to go or not.
The nitty gritty controversial thoughts and the qualms of the camera.
To preface none of my issues with the camera keep me from wanting to use it:
Snapshot mode – This has been my biggest gripe with this digital dinosaur. I hate snapshot mode. It’s pointless and has messed me up a few times when doing a manual exposure. I am not sure why it’s a thing. This in my opinion is and was a pro grade camera. The people buying this camera should know how to use zone focus and proper exposure, but yet Leica thought “humm these dumb dumbs need a mode simpler than Aperture priority.” Snapshot mode seems to be a convoluted way to take advantage of exposure and zone focus? What’s most annoying about it is the shutter dial does not have a special D tent there. So when you are trying to manually expose something or changing the shutter speed, the in camera meter will put the circle in indicating its the correct exposure. But that’s just snapshot mode – it sits between aperture priority mode and 1/4000 shutter speed, and it’s easily avoidable. Just physically look at the shutter speed dial. Its not the end of the world but I do wish it just was not on the shutter dial. The M8.2 was the only M camera to ever get this mode. I read on some forums that the S mode was just a placeholder on the shutter speed dial because of the removed 1/8000 on the regular M8. I don’t know if this just comes from the rumor mill but I read Leica decided instead of redesigning the dial they would add S mode and add some firmwhere there.
10MP Crop sensor -This one is a little polarizing in Leica land. The Leica M8 and M8.2 are the only Leica m cameras with an APS-H size sensor. From the very little reading I have done on the sensor, Canon used it alot in the sports cameras. It’s a crop factor of 1.33x, so your 28mm becomes a 37.24, your 35 becomes a 46.55, and your 50mm becomes a 66.5. I would argue that this is not as bad as it sounds. It’s a little different from what my M10 was obviously. I notice it the most using a 50mm lens. The 35mm lens on this camera almost becomes a perfect focal length for me. I actually love the crop factor with 35mm lenses. Hell, the new Leica Q3 43 has a similar focal length. While I don’t like the crop factor in most cases, I really love it with 35mm lenses. I can work around this one. I have been looking for a good 35mm or 28mm lens for my M8.2. I have been using a vintage Nikkor 3.5cm S mount adapted via Amedeo adapter. While this lens has taken almost all of the photos for this article, I dont think it’s an everyday lens to use on the M8. I feel like I have to be adapting a Nikkor lens for a Digital Dinosaur article. All 3 articles I wrote I have used Nikkor glass of some sort haha. I guess I just like vintage Nikkor glass. I may in the future talk more about these particular vintage Nikkor lenses as they are amazing in the way they render but certainly vintage in every aspect. I digress back to the m8.2 – The sensor is surprisingly usable and sharp especially considering the low 10.3 MP count. Especially when we are all accustomed to 24mp or higher. I would even go as far to say I am pleasantly pleased with the M8.2 sensor. For what I do I don’t find myself wishing I had more resolution. I should not be surprised by this as in college I used a Canon 30D and it was perfectly usable although I always borrowed the school’s 1DS MKII. I think the 30D had 8 megapixels.
ISO – Well, no way to put this. ISO range sucks. The pictures are usable and beautiful from 160 – 640. There is a wonderful work around that I am sure you have heard from other M8 owners: shoot the M8.2 like film. Honestly with that mindset I have not been worried about it. I have shot perfectly usable photos at 1/8th of a second and 640 ISO. I have gotten usable shots at 1250 ISO but I would not recommend always shooting at that. Compared to film – at 1250 ISO you have grain that’s is similar to what you see on Kodak Portra 800, but at ISO 160 your photos are cleaner than slide film (all my opinions from using the camera). At higher than 640 you run into color shifts more than grain issues in my opinion. I thought this was going to be my biggest qualm with the M8.2 but in practice I don’t even think about it; I usually set my camera up in auto ISO with lowest shutter speed of 1/8th and highest ISO of 640. I have another profile if I only want black and white – I have the camera set to black and white and auto ISO of 1/8th and 1250 ISO.
Shutter sound – The shutter on the M8.2 is somehow loud and quiet at the same time. It sounds kind of like my Nikon F5 in continuous silent mode, or an extremely quiet version of a Canon EOS 1 film camera (without the mirror slap of course). Back when I had my M9 I HATED the shutter sound. It was one of the reasons I sold it, but after using a MP240 and a M10P for a while I have grown to love the weird whirr of the M8.2 shutter recocking. It is endearing in a way. If I think about it, it seemed like the m9 was a louder camera, but I think the shutters are the same on the M8.2 and M9. So, either I am going more deaf as I get older or I don’t care as much about the shutter sound any more..both are probably true. Like the M9, the M8.2 also has the discrete shutter mode that just makes it where the shutter recocks after you let the shutter button go. The idea is you would take a shot and then put the camera behind your back and let it recock.
P.S. If you are reading this know that the regular M8 has a louder shutter that does not have a discrete mode.
Processing speed – The processor kinda sucks too. I hate to admit it. It does not get in the way of me shooting, but It does take longer than you would think to preview the photo after you have taken it, which to some will be annoying. It’s a compromise that I don’t really notice especially after I make sure I am exposing the image correctly, but I also have my camera set not to preview so I have to actually push the Playback button.
Battery life – Not worth talking about. It’s better than the M10 but not as good as the M240 series. Get a Leica battery while you can. I bought one after I realized the aftermarket one that came with it was not very good. The Leica battery lasted me a full week of shooting in the afternoons after work. I also bought another aftermarket one for $20 also and it also seems to work fine although I have not run it dead yet and I got it in the mail a day ago. The M8.2 manual says it should last 500 shots, but your mileage may vary.
Final thoughts:
All in all, I love this camera. I take no pride in saying this but my leica M8.2 has virtually cured me of shooting film. I have not shot a frame of film since I got it. It’s an impressive feat for a camera and me to get on like that. Normally it seems the film camera version inspires me more than a digital. And while I will probably shoot more film in the future, I don’t think I will be shooting it in the same volume as long as I keep this camera in my arsenal.
My biggest takeaway from using digital dinos is that for my photography I like the gear to be fun to use and inspiring. I have often gravitated to older gear and in many ways prefer the older gear and their eccentricities. I have learned through this camera and other digital dinos, that It does not need to be the newest M whatever and that in the end I want something that’s fun to just take photos with and be in the moment. Also, something that is simple and has few features. These older digital dinosaurs seem to be the sweet spot in technology for me. I don’t get lost in the menus like on a new Fuji camera, or worry about filmic presets. DD’s often are more akin to their film counterparts than modern digital cameras. The output of their sensors are often unique in this day and age. Did I mention this sensor was not a Sony product but a Kodak? Sometimes getting a great photo with these cameras gives you even more of a sense of accomplishment because of the limitations, and some words of wisdom from a camera nerd who has tried a little bit of everything – don’t be afraid to try an old camera out. Get that camera you always wanted and see if it holds up to your expectations. It’s worth a try! This one sparked an immense amount of joy for me,and for that reason I’m keeping it.
Thanks for reading and happy camera hunting.
