my point of view
LEICA M8
Anleitung/Instructions
Abbildungen in den vorderen und hinteren Umschlagseiten
Illustrations inside front and rear covers
Leica Camera AG / Oskar-Barnack-Str. 11 / D-35606 Solms
www.leica-camera.com / info@leica-camera.com
Telefon +49 (0) 64 42-208-0 / Telefax +49 (0) 64 42-208-333
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Abbildungen in den vorderen und hinteren Umschlagseiten
Illustrations inside front and rear covers
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Markenzeichen der Leica Camera Gruppe/ Registriertes Warenzeichen
Trademark of the Leica Camera Group/ Registered Trademark
© 2006 Leica Camera AG
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Markenzeichen der Leica Camera Gruppe/ Registriertes Warenzeichen
Trademark of the Leica Camera Group/ Registered Trademark
© 2006 Leica Camera AG
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R
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1.9
1.37
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1.35
1.41
1.41a
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Foreword
Dear customer
Leica would like to thank you for purchasing the
LEICA M8 and congratulate you on your choice. With
this unique digital view- and rangefinder camera, you
have made an excellent choice.
We wish you a great deal of pleasure and success
using your new LEICA M8.
In order to make best use of all the opportunities
offered by this high performance camera, we recom-
mend that you first read these instructions.
This manual has been printed on 100% chlorine free bleached
paper. The complex manufacturing process eases the burden
on the water system and thus helps to protect our environment.
70 / Foreword
This is a Class B product based on the standard of
the Voluntary Control Council for Interference from
Information Technology Equipment (VCCI). If this is
used near a radio or television receiver in a domestic
environment, it may cause radio interference.
Install and use the equipment according to the
instruction manual.
FCC Note: (U.S. only)
This equipment has been tested and found to comply
with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to
Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interfer-
ence in a residential installation. This equipment gen-
erates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy
and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio
communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation.
If this equipment does cause harmful interference to
radio or television reception, which can be determined
by turning the equipment off and on, the user is
encouraged to try to correct the interference by one
or more of the following measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and
receiver.
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit
different from that to which the receiver is connected.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV
technician for help.
FCC Caution:
To assure continued compliance, follow the attached
installation instructions and use only shielded inter-
face cables with ferrite core when connecting to com-
puter or peripheral devices.
Any changes or modifications not expressly approved
by the party responsible for compliance could void the
user’s authority to operate this equipment.
Trade Name:
Model No.:
Responsible party/
Support contact:
LEICA
LEICA M8
Leica Camera Inc.
Leica Camera Inc.
1 Pearl Court, Unit A
156 Ludlow Avenue
Allendale, New Jersey 07401
Northvale, New Jersey 07647
Tel.: +1 201 995 0051 232
Tel.: +12017679608
Fax: +1 201 995 1684
Fax: +12017678666
repair@leicacamerausa.com
e-mail: olesin@aol.com
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
Operation is subject to the following two conditions:
(1) This device may not cause harmful interference,
and (2) this device must accept any interference
received, including interference that may cause unde-
sired operation.
This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian
ICES-003
LEICA M8
Tested To Comply
With FCC Standards
FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE
Safety instructions / 71
The most important settings/controls
Leica M lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Turning the lens type detection on/off . . . . . . . . 86
The extension factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Attaching a lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Removing a lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Switching the camera on and off/
the main switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Selecting picture taking and review modes . . . . . . 88
Review for unlimited time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Automatic review of last picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The shutter release button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Serial exposures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
The shutter speed dial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
The monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Setting the brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Displaying picture data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
The histogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Menu control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Presets
Basics settings for the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Menu language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Date and time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95/96
Automatic power off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Button acknowledgement and signal tones . . . . 96
Basic picture settings
Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Compression rate/file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
White balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
For automatic or fixed settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
For direct setting of color temperature . . . . . . 99
For manual setting by metering . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
ISO sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Image properties (contrast, sharpness,
color saturation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Working color space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Holding the camera correctly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
The bright-line frame view- and rangefinder . . . . . . . . 102
The frame selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Distance metering /focusing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Superimposed image method (double image) . . . . 104
Split image method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Exposure metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Turning the exposure meter on/off . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Exposure modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Aperture priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Metering memory lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Exposure compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Manual exposure setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
The B setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Exposure meter metering range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Working below the metering range . . . . . . . . . . 108
Metering diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108/109
Table of Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Warning messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Legal notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Disposal of electrical and electronic equipment . . . . . . 74
Scope of delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Designation of parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The displays
In the viewfinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
In the top panel LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
In the monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Menu items
In the main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
In the picture parameters menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Quick guide
Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Taking photographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Viewing pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Enlarging pictures on the monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Deleting pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Comprehensive instructions
Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Attaching the carrying strap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Charging the battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Inserting the battery into the camera/
removing the battery from the camera . . . . . . . . . 84
Charge level displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Inserting and removing the memory card . . . . . . . 85
72 / Table of Contents
General information on flash exposure
metering and control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Compatible flash units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Attaching the flash unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Flash mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
The settings for camera-controlled automatic
flash mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
The flash exposure control displays in the
viewfinder with dedicated flash units . . . . . . . . . 112
In automatic flash mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
When the flash unit is set to camera
control (A) or manual mode (M) . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Selecting the sync speed/the sync speed range . . 119
Selecting the firing moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Additional functions
User/application specific profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Resetting all custom settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Review mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Viewing other pictures/“Scrolling” in
the memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Enlarging/selecting the section/simultaneous
viewing of several reduced pictures . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Deleting pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Protecting pictures/Clearing delete protection . . 118
Additional functions
Changing the picture numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Formatting the memory card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Taking photographs with the self timer . . . . . . . . 120
Transferring data to a computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
with Windows® XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
with Mac® OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
with card reading units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Data structure on the memory card . . . . . . . . .122
Installation of supplied software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Working with DNG raw data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Computer remote control of the camera . . . . . . . . . . .123
Miscellaneous
System accessories for the LEICA M8 . . . . . . . 124
Exchangeable lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Universal Wideangle Viewfinder M . . . . . . . . . 124
Viewfinder Magnifier M 1.25x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Handgrip M8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Correction lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Spare parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Precautions and care instructions
General precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
LCDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Condensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Care instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
For the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
For lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
For the battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
For the charger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
For memory cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Cleaning the sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Warning messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Malfunctions and their resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Technical data and descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Leica Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Leica on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Leica information service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Leica Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Table of Contents / 73
Warning messages
Legal notes
• You should use exclusively the recommended
accessories to prevent faults, short circuits or
electric shock.
• Do not expose the unit to moisture or rain.
• Do not attempt to remove parts of the body
(covers); specialist repairs can be carried out only
at authorized service centers.
• Please ensure that you observe copyright laws.
The recording and publication of pre-recorded
media such as tapes, CDs, or other published or
broadcast material may contravene copyright laws.
• This also applies to all of the software supplied.
• The SD logo is a registered trademark.
• Other names, company or product names referred
to in this manual are trademarks or registered
trademarks of the relevant companies.
Disposal of electric and
electronic equipment
(Applicable in the EU, and other European countries
with segregated waste collection systems)
This device contains electrical
and/or electronic components
and should therefore not be dis-
posed of in general household
waste! Instead it should be dis-
posed of at a recycling collection
point provided by the local author-
ity. This costs you nothing.
If the device itself contains exchangeable (recharge-
able) batteries, these must be removed first and, if
necessary, also be disposed of according to the rele-
vant regulations (see also the respective comments in
this unit’s instructions).
Further information on this point is available at your
local administration, your local waste collection com-
pany, or in the store where you purchased this device.
74 / Warning messages