Leica R8/R9

Hi,

So the local photo store just put up two used camera one Leica R8 and a R9, and just looking and trying them out in the store i think they are pretty nice. Both camera comes with the 50 f2 Summicron, there is also a 90 f2 summicron.

I have never used this camera, and i would like to know what people who use/used them think about them. What is good and more important, what did you not like?

cheers

EDIT:
Clarify my post for people who dont understand, i am interested in the R8 and R9:s ergonomic, day to day and functionality, not price nor quality.

If you buy a Leica with asking to Public forum , I dont think you are qualified to use it. Do a favor to yourself and invest to cheap canon. And Let a Leica fanatic find a chance to add a new Leica to his collection. Do you think forum users are qualified to judge Leica quality.
I am understanding now , When you go to Rolls Royce dealer and ask the price , They say you are not qualified to buy.

Umut

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:

If you buy a Leica with asking to Public forum , I dont think you are qualified to use it. Do a favor to yourself and invest to cheap canon. And Let a Leica fanatic find a chance to add a new Leica to his collection. Do you think forum users are qualified to judge Leica quality.
I am understanding now , When you go to Rolls Royce dealer and ask the price , They say you are not qualified to buy.

Umut

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? I am asking because I have never used a Leica R, I do use Leica M, both a III and a 7 along side with Hasselblad and 8x10, and how you wrote the replay I dont even think you are qualified to judge my ability to use a camera, actually I dont even care.

If you read my post I am interesting to know what people who use this camera daily and what they think is good and bad with the camera, and then more with the ergonomic/functionality of the camera. Personal I think that the ability to do flash sync on both the first curtain and the second curtain is something that could be nice, but never used. The camera also looks very simple to handle, but its very hard to judge just trying them in the store.

so lighten up dude, if you want a leica go and get one, there are tons of them on several action sights (if you can afford)

and I posted this question in the 35 mm forum, because this is a 35 mm camera.

if you dont have anything constructive to say dont say it, it dont bring anything to the forum.

cheers

Yes , I afforded 5 Leicas and never asked someones opinion. If you want to advertise yourself as someone who can afford Leica , go try to buy S2 set.

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:

Yes , I afforded 5 Leicas and never asked someones opinion. If you want to advertise yourself as someone who can afford Leica , go try to buy S2 set.

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A used R8 is hardly bragging material price-wise...
Listening to opinions (and then deciding how to interpret them) is a sign of wisdom.
What's your problem?

I can't bring personal experience with those two models (I'll probably pick one up sooner or later), but people whose opinion I trust say their ergonomics and handling are excellent, despite being objectively big & heavy (the R9 is about 100 grammes lighter than the R8) and have one of the best-ever viewfinders.

Probably the most similar R cameras - general feel and viewfinder quality wise - are the Leicaflex SL & SL2, both of which I can highly recommend.

The 90mm 'cron is a very nice lens, not as incisive as the 90mm Elmarit, but more atmospheric (bokeh land & all that).

I don't get these cameras. Is it just because of the lenses people buy them? In the end it's just a 35 mm manual focus SLR. There are tons of these around, a nikon F100 also maxes out at 1/8000 but allows AF, and lenses far bellow the prices of leica. Maybe I'm just thick, but when I held a Leica R8 I didn't feel anything special about it at all. A nice camera indeed, but not so much nicer than anything pro made by Canon and Nikon and the rest. With new matte screens you get very bright viewfinders with those too. On the other hand, I can't really say I feel anything special with a Leica M-camera either (I have put around 15 rolls thru a M6).

If I had to get an expensive 35 mm SLR I'd go Contax. (wow, leica vs contax, feels new...)

Note, I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert or pro, I'm just a cheap guy who likes photography.

Damn Mustafa, what crawled up your butt?

Lecia is my dream camera, love have a M or a R version!

Jeff

sandholm said:

if you dont have anything constructive to say dont say it, it dont bring anything to the forum.

cheers

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Seconded!

If I may make a (constructive) suggestion...it seems that body-wise there is little to nothing to set Leica's SLRs apart. So logically it would come down to optical quality and their lenses.

If it's a good deal, you likely wouldn't have problems selling it if, later, you decided they weren't a good fit to your personal tastes. Good luck!

R lenses are GREAT. Aside from that, any Nikon SLR would do. Nothing special about the camera. It's a camera, and what it does is take pictures. Again, the optics are great but I doubt anyone would notice the difference, aside from crazy tech geeks doing MTF charts, between an image taken with an F6, F100 and Nikon optics and a Leica R.

For years I lusted after a 6.2... I really disliked the 'look' of the 8/9 and imagined they'd be heavy, awkward and besides, they were priced way out of my league. I too could never justify the expense when there were so many nice manual focus SLRs around from Contax, Nikon, Minolta etc. I did one day finally get to hold an R8. Wow! It felt perfect, ergonomics were spot-on and the VF was wonderful. If I ever find one affordable (and they do exist!) I am going to fork out the cabbage ;-) Pics I have seen with the mentioned 50 and 90 are stunning too...

Fist, thank you guys, I went this morning and got both the R8 and the R9 including the 50 and 90 lens and he said that a 180 F2.8 Elmarit would come in this week so i reserved it. I have big hands so the shear size of the bodies is something that I rather like, the weight of the R8 is a bit hefty but i will keep it as a backup body. I just loaded the R9 with some HP4+ and time to see what it can do tonight.
Again, thanks, you are the best.

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:

Yes , I afforded 5 Leicas and never asked someones opinion. If you want to advertise yourself as someone who can afford Leica , go try to buy S2 set.

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Now, , to our %%% Mustafa. You are the kind of person that I dont like to go shooting with Leica equipment. Because if you make this kind of statement you are only after the brand, you want to be seen with a Leica that you think is an expensive brand. Well, let me tell you that personal i have no time to even read post that are made of brandwh%%rs. Second, Leica are not that expensive, you pick them up for around 1000$ so just come on. Third, I live in switzerland not in some third part country. Leica is sold in all of the camera store. You go out on the city you will see people with using leica, both digital and analog, its nothing to have if you want to show of. Fourth, the leica S2 is a digitial camera, i do have a M9 but I didnt mention that because this is a film sight. I also have H3D equipment that i use to make digital negative for platinum printing (before I used an 8x20). If you want to be seen as someone who made it get a Patek Philippe or Blanc Pain watch (fake chines Rolex copies do not count). I hate the discussion about equipment and how much they cost, its just plain boring, its what you do with it. Fourth: I think you have to go out and get some more leica bodies now, because just imagen I now have the same amount of bodies as you and I dont care that they are leica (III, 7, 9, R8, R9). Just imagen that. Fifth: Leica is not RR and if you think so i can only feel pity for you. Sixth: just saying that you would never ask what people think about a specific Leica model just make you the biggest leica wh%re i have ever had the unpleasure to meet.

Just stop waisting my day and go to Keh so you can do som leica porn surfing and leave the usage of this kind of equipment to people who want to use it instead of masturbating to the brand.

I wont even read any post you make anymore, actually all the people I have meet here on apug has been really nice and friendly, even had the pleasure of meeting some in real life, and i dont know what has gone wrong that you dont fit into the apug family. Stop waisting my day and .

1. "Why can't we all just get along?"
2. The only thing more silly than a Leica vs. the world thread is that a great photographer can do more with a cracker jack camera than 95 percent of Leica users.
3. I love listing things with numbers.
4. I hope that both you and Mustafa enjoy your cameras. That's all that matters and it's why we convene here.
5. I'm looking forward to seeing your collaborative exhibition with Mustafa in the coming months. You could call it "10 Leicas Between Us".

All the best,
Leo

To quote Alice Roosevelt Longworth, T.R's daughter, "If you can't say anything nice about anybody, come sit next to me."

With best regards,

Stephen

Steve Mack said:

To quote Alice Roosevelt Longworth, T.R's daughter, "If you can't say anything nice about anybody, come sit next to me."

With best regards,

Stephen

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My favorit quote is from Churchill

Nancy Astor : "If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee."
Winston Churchill: "Nancy, if I were your husband, I would drink it."

I have a sneaking hunch he was being satirical. If read that way, the reply is hilarious!

You ended up buying both cameras. I didn't know that was an option. Is that even allowed? LOL.
I think you're going to love them. I only played with the R8 when I shot with the R5. They looked great.... but I never got over wanting an R6.2 for some reason.

Have a lot of fun with them.

-Rob

Rob Skeoch said:

You ended up buying both cameras. I didn't know that was an option. Is that even allowed? LOL.
I think you're going to love them. I only played with the R8 when I shot with the R5. They looked great.... but I never got over wanting an R6.2 for some reason.

Have a lot of fun with them.

-Rob

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Yes, the thing was that he gave me a huge discount... if I got the R9, the 50 mm and the 90 mm he would give me 75% discount on the R8.... which meant I paid 220 for it....
Do i need it, probably not, but now i have an extra body. The thing is that right now my wife has the R9 with the 90 mm and she loves it. The camera is super easy to handle, no extra buttons, just pure functionality. So, I guess that the R8 was a necessary purchase because at least I will have the R8 and the 50 mm lens to shoot with....


cheers

I'll give you $225.00 for it. That's a quick $5.00.
I'll even offer to split the shipping if you pay the Paypal fees.
=) =) =)