Leica M8 Review (Should you buy a vintage digital Leica?)

Should you buy the oldest digital Leica M camera? Leica M8 vs Leica M9? I owned both cameras so in this Leica M8 review I cover the Leica M8 vs M9, Leica M8 sample photos and a YouTube video.

This Leica M8 review is one of several so check out these articles too:

• Leica M8 vs Leica M9
• 6 Reasons why I bought the Leica M8
• Digital Leica CL vs Leica M8 (Photoshoots)
• Leica M8 colours – Test with / without IR cut filter
• Customise your Leica camera
• Best Leica M digital camera? M8, M9, M240, M10, M11
• Leica M8 presets
• Buy Leica M8 presets

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Leica M8 Camera

Here is a Leica M8 review / follow up post with my thoughts of the M8 after having owned it for a few weeks. (I already own the Leica M9 so comment on the Leica M8 vs Leica M9).

Crop sensor Leica M8

I’ve been hugely impressed with the September 2006 released 10.3MP 1.33x cropped sensor Leica M8 digital rangefinder camera. Costing x3 less than a used Leica M9, The M8 is also the most affordable way to enter the digital Leica world. Leica retains this myth around the brand that the Leica equipment is not affordable or in reach of the majority of the population.  This is of course not true at all.

Leica M8 Used Price

You can pick up a Leica M8 used camera body in good condition for the same price as a Canon 5D Mk II. Need I say more! You may then say that Leica M camera lenses are too expensive. Wrong again. Older Leica lenses can be picked up on eBay for less than some Canon and Nikon lenses.

Affordable lenses for Leica M cameras

Leica mount lenses from companies such as Voigtlander and Zeiss also offer equally affordable and very high quality optics. If you have an old Leica film camera collecting dust in your attic that your late Grandfather once owned then a Leica M8 would bring a new life to your old Leica lens. (Yes you can use the lens from your Leica M film camera on your Leica M8). See all lens reviews.

Leica Film Camera

Alternatively, if like me you enjoy film photography and love using Leica lenses then you can pick yourself up a used Leica film camera body for even less than the Leica M8. I just treated myself to a 1958 Leica M2 film camera so I can shoot 35mm film with my existing Leica lenses.  See the Leica M2 review.

Leica M8 vs Leica M9 – Portraits

As you may know I already have a Leica M9 and bought the Leica M8 as a second Leica body for my Leica wedding photography. After having used the Leica M8 for the last few weeks I can tell you that for the black and white portraiture I normally shoot the M8 is equally as good as my M9 for my taste.

Leica M8 vs Leica M9 – Resolution

The cameras feel near identical to use and if I didn’t look at what was in my hand I wouldn’t know which camera I was holding. The Leica M8 resolution is fantastic and exceeded my expectations. I think the M8 photos are as nice as the M9 ones. I almost like the bigger grain of the M8 images more than those of the M9. The M9 is a half way house between the more sterile DSLR look of the M Type 240 and the grainier older M8.

Filmic Look

I think the M8 gives a filmic look closer to film photography than the M9 due to the grain size. Both cameras use the Kodak CCD sensor that I love so much. I am convinced that the ‘Leica Look’ is from the CCD sensor more so than the lenses. I realise this is a topic of great debate! Each LM lens adds a certain character to an image but the overall Leica look is found in all my Leica M8 and Leica M9 images.

2 Leica M camera setup

I never thought I would say it but I feel like I could happily own 2 Leica M8 cameras rather than an M8 and a M9. The biggest advantage of the M9 is the full frame sensor so gives each lens a different use to when on the M8.

Leica M8 portraits

Leica Photography Workshop with M8

Here is a photo taken with my M8 of me in action yesterday teaching a Leica photography workshop in London. I gave the model a chance to get her own back and turn a camera on the photographers! I was using my Nikon FM SLR film camera shooting 35mm Kodak Portra 160 film. Katie did a great job taking this photo without any practice once I explained what to do!

M8 for London Leica workshop

Here is an other Leica M8 photo captured during one of my London Leica workshops. My student flew in from Zurich Switzerland.

More Leica M8 sample photos

The M8 is not limited to people photography –

Leica M8 colours

Here are some Leica M8 colour photos –

10 year anniversary of the M8

2016 was the 10 year anniversary of the Leica M8. Co-written by Elie Bescont, Prosophos, Johannes Huwe, Olivier Morgand and I, we try to explain why the Leica M8 is still going strong 10 years on –

• The Leica M8 and it’s 10th Anniversary. A decade long Love affair

Leica M8 wedding photography

I use the Leica M8 for wedding photography too –

Leica M8 worth it?

Is the Leica M8 worth it? Digital Leica M cameras always looked out of my reach when I used to use a Nikon DSLR.  Just too expensive.  A new digital Leica camera cost is still is crazy expensive for the majority of the population (including myself!).  The good news is as time passes the older Leica M bodies become cheaper and more affordable.  A Leica M8 price is now less than many used DSLR cameras.  The M8 still offers the Leica quality and you can use your Leica film camera lenses on it.  I still enjoy Leica M8  wedding photography today and clients seem to love the look (see my Leica Wedding blog posts).

YouTube Leica M8 review