Mini Photokina in Kuala Lumpur

So, I've finally held it, admired it, and fiddled with it. The new Leica M8 digital rangefinder is a marvel: everything an M shooter expects from this camera is well presented. Like many has said, truly a Leica M it is. The quality of the physical camera is good and there's a touch of classic Leica workmanship on this latest offering.

That said, I am pretty disappointed not being able to test out the actual shoot with my current lenses (21/35asph/90). And the lame excuse was ' no battery.' Darn! What a hiccup! A mini photokina without batteries for the M8??? Really a disappointment. Either that or there was indeed a problem with the sample M8 they had there and was hiding the fact by blaming it on the batteries.

Summing up, despite the disappointment, I was throughly pleased though with Schmidt Scientific, the local distributor who organised the elegant event in Boulevard Hotel. The Leica product manager who presented the new digital was also quite fluid in his presentation flow i.e.: not being too technical the least.. Tasty refreshments and a not too crowded model photo shoot after also enlightened the event. Mingling with fellow photographers was also nice, especially with Raymond and Torben...

So, the million dollar question is again........... 'Are you gonna spend RM19k for this M8???' Answer: 'I probably would.... '