Leica has released a firmware update to its M8 digital rangefinder camera. The firmware update, version 2.002, for both the M8 and M8.2, adds several improvements and corrections. New profiles have been added for the 6-bit coding for several new lenses, the 21mm f1.4, the 24mm f1.4, and the 24mm f3.8. It fixes the display of image numbering, the display of the fastest sync speed in the menu, and eliminated black frames that may have occurred in the Discreet mode. Also when Auto-ISO is used along with lens dependent setting of the slowest shutter speed, the camera will switch to the higher ISO when the shutter speed corresponding to 1/focal length is reached. For more details see Leica's support page.
We generally recommend installing the latest firmware updates for your camera, so you can get the most out of your gear. For more information on firmware updates for a specific camera, visit the manufacturer's Web site. Before installing any firmware upgrade, always take the time to read through all of the documentation and follow the manufacturer's instructions carefully.
(Credit:
Leica)
In collaboration with Leica, auction house WestLicht Photographica is looking to fetch $46,600 for a first-series production Leica M8 digital rangefinder. While it is not clear if this camera was the very first unit assembled in its maiden year of 2006, it has the serial number 3100000.
Hardcore fans of the German company are going to have a field day trying to outbid each other in a furious war on June 7 in Vienna to lay their hands on this ultra-exclusive camera. The prize will come in the original M8 box with a certificate of authenticity signed by Leica's CEO, Andreas Kaufmann.
The proceeds from the auction of this shooter will help fund the journalists organization, Reporters Without Borders. The funding will help journalists craft their stories and, where needed, support their families.
Not that we aren't supportive of press freedom (after all, we're on the same side), but we think the money could be put to better use elsewhere, such as quake-torn Sichuan, China, or cyclone-struck Myanmar where natural disasters have already claimed thousands of lives.
(Source: Crave Asia)
The Leica M8, the company's first digital rangefinder.
(Credit: Leica)Today's camera news (my own included) can be an unvarying diet of statistics, feature lists, price points and techno-blather. I am therefore happy to note that The New Yorker, a magazine that specializes in sprawling, multi-thousand-word pieces, has chosen fit to investigate the cult of Leica.
Anthony Lane, by day a snarky movie critic for the magazine, has unleashed upon the world a history of Leica cameras and the photographers who have used them. The lavish prose (and an overt admission) reveals Lane to be one of those with a Leica fetish, but that shouldn't discourage you from reading the piece. It's healthy to be reminded that the mirror-and-shutter mechanism of an SLR camera in action sounds like "a cow kicking over a milk pail" compared with the "kiss" of a Leica shutter. And Lane's always good for a clever turn of phrase. Of the 2006 announcement of Leica's first digital model, the $5,000 M8, he said, "It was like Dylan going electric."
Decades ago, Leica cameras were notable for being snappier and more compact than rivals. In Lane's view, these qualities endow them with an ability to, if not anticipate the future, at least to capture the spontaneous, surprising moments that make up day-to-day life. His finds his views confirmed with a half-day trial of an M8.
Where the details get fuzzy for me is why a Leica rangefinder camera is better suited to spontaneous shooting than a modern SLR. Lane seems to think the compact size, unobtrusive shutter and see-what's-coming-into-the-frame viewfinder provided a technical foundation that inspired a certain type of shoot-from-the-hip photographer. Certainly the unpleasant shutter lag of most compact cameras make them a poor choice for anything faster-moving than a tree or a sleeping baby. But I still need more convincing that the Leica's advantages have arrived intact in the modern age. Maybe I need to take that half-day tour with an M8, too.
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