Leica, the epitome of
atas-ness in Camera-dom.
The company pioneered the 35mm SLRs still in the market today way back in 1924. Thousands of iconic photographs have been shot on the marque's equally iconic M-series cameras. Leica is so
atas they take years just to come out with a new model. Well don't blame them. Who would tinker with a winning design and formula?
So it was with much aplomp that the company announced the M8 in Sep 2006. Its first digital M-series baby ever. The lure of the mega-pixel age was just too persistent a force I suspect, even for a brand so steeped in heritage and tradition.
And what a Blardy Beaut!
Its a Range-Finder, not a Single Lens Reflex camera. Pls google to find out what Range-Finding means. Its too complicated to explain here =)) Being a RF, it has a svelte body because there is no need for the complex mirror-mechanism seen in SLRs. The lenses can also be built smaller and the baby is one silent killer, none of the shutter noise associated with its SLR-brethren. There is also an uninterrupted view of the subject through the viewfinder, unlike the spilt-second black-out in SLRs when the mirror adjusts to let light impinge on the sensor.
That's why RFs have been the camera of choice for old-skool photo-journalists the world over. They do have their limitations with close-ups and Macro shots though.
Even the all-black style looks good. But give me the vintage, old silver chrome look any day. The M8 is so elegantly understated and timeless-ly
chic, it hurts.
Pity it costs the price of 6 EOS400Ds...FARK! =))
Labels: Photography, Stuff