![Leica R8 2934](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Leica_R8_2934.jpg)
The Leica R8 & R9 are
manual focus
In the field of photography, a manual focus camera is one in which the user has to adjust the focus of the lens by hand. Before the advent of autofocus, all cameras had manually adjusted focusing; thus, the term is a retronym.
The focus itself m ...
35 mm single-lens reflex
A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex" from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin le ...
camera
A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...
s produced by the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
firm
Leica as the final models of their
R series. Development of the R8 began in 1990:
the camera was introduced at the
1996 photokina trade show,
and was succeeded by the similar
Leica R9
The Leica R8 & R9 are manual focus 35 mm single-lens reflex cameras produced by the German firm Leica as the final models of their R series. Development of the R8 began in 1990:
the camera was introduced at the 1996 photokina trade show, ...
in 2002.
Both can be fitted with the Digital Modul R (DMR) digital back (discontinued in 200
and used as a digital camera making them the only 35 mm SLRs to take a user-installable
digital back
A digital camera back is a device that attaches to the back of a camera in place of the traditional negative film holder and contains an electronic image sensor. This lets cameras that were designed to use film take digital photographs. Thes ...
. The R8 was the first R-series camera to have no association with
Minolta
was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated autofocu ...
, being solely a Leica design and showing a clear stylistic change compared to prior bodies.
Design
Industrial designer
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactur ...
Manfred Meinzer was chiefly responsible for the R8 design,
along with a team of designers largely new to Leica or drawn from outside. The R8 was intended as a clean break from the previous generation of Leica R cameras, which had been developed in cooperation with
Minolta
was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated autofocu ...
. A key design goal was to evoke the
Leica M and its smooth top plate;
instead of a raised pentaprism as in previous R series cameras, the R8 has sloped "shoulders" that blend almost seamlessly into the pentaprism housing. The shape is strongly asymmetrical, especially in plan view, with a bulged right handgrip and smaller, tapered left-hand side.
Another goal was to improve the ergonomics and to place controls so they could be easily reached and operated without removing the eye from the viewfinder.
Although the R8 is capable of fully automated exposure and (with the addition of the integrally-styled
motor drive
Motor drive means a system that includes a motor. An adjustable speed motor drive means a system that includes a motor that has multiple operating speeds. A variable speed motor drive is a system that includes a motor and is continuously variabl ...
or winder) automated film transport, the location of the shutter speed dial lends itself to manual exposure control, as many Leica customers preferred this. In this it differs strongly from other contemporary SLRs, which were designed primarily for automatic operation. The top control wheels are sunk into the top plate, with knurled edges protruding at the front where they can easily be operated by the photographer's fingertips.
The R8 is substantially larger and heavier than the R4-R7 series cameras, being about a third heavier at 890g than the R7. This is partly explained by being built to take and balance the heavier zoom lenses in the Leica R lens range. The styling of the R8 proved controversial, some photographers consider it ugly and dubbed it the "Hunchback of Solms"
(
Solms
Geography
Location
Solms lies right in the Lahn valley at the mouth of the eponymous little river Solmsbach and is nestled between the foothills of both the Taunus and Westerwald at heights from 140 to 400 m above sea level. It is about 7& ...
is the German town where Leica was headquartered; the company moved back to its original home town of
Wetzlar
Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...
in 2014). The size and bulk of the camera attracted much criticism although the R8/9 fitted with motor winder were almost exactly the same size and weight as the preceding R7 with motor winder.
Technical information
The R8 was without doubt the most complex camera Leica had ever constructed containing extensive electronics including a microprocessor, despite its manual operation bias, and in addition was built in a very modular fashion to integrate seamlessly with motor drive units and new backs such as the Digital Modul R.
Shutter
The shutter used was a
Copal
Copal is tree resin, particularly the aromatic resins from the copal tree ''Protium copal'' (Burseraceae) used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and for other purposes. More generally, copal includes re ...
vertically running metal-leaf unit
capable of speeds between 1/8000 and 32 seconds steplessly in automatic modes, or to 16 seconds in half-
stop
Stop may refer to:
Places
* Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facilities
* Bus stop
* Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck d ...
steps in manual mode, as well as
Bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
. The flash
X-sync
In photography, flash synchronization or flash sync is the synchronizing the firing of a photographic flash with the opening of the shutter admitting light to photographic film or electronic image sensor.
In cameras with mechanical (clockwor ...
speed is 1/250 sec.
The shutter release is in the center of the shutter-speed dial and is threaded for a
cable release
The Bulb setting (abbreviated B) on camera shutters is a momentary-action mode that holds shutters open for as long as a photographer depresses the shutter-release button. The Bulb setting is distinct from shutter's Time (T) setting, which is a ...
. The optional Motor-Drive gives additional front and vertical-grip releases.
Metering
The highly sophisticated metering system allows free choice of metering mode and exposure mode. By contrast, the earlier
R4-R7 series lacked multi pattern metering and offered only pre-set combinations of metering and exposure.
Three metering modes are offered:
* Integrated centre weighted
* Selective
* Multi pattern (Matrix)
and five exposure modes:
* Manual
* Aperture priority semi automatic
* Shutter priority semi automatic
* Program fully automatic
* Flash pre exposure measurement
Mounted on the secondary mirror itself was a single cell for selective measurement and in the camera base was a five segment cell for integrated measurement with multi-pattern measurement. Using both provided six measurement areas. Switching of both metering mode and exposure mode was electronic. Flash pre-exposure measurement was provided allowing the camera's meter to measure manually controlled flash such as studio flash. Pre-flash measurement was always selective and in addition to automatic TTL flash measurement during exposure with suitable automatic flash units which was always full field using two small light cells either side of the main multi-pattern cell. Exposure compensation was available in all exposure modes.
Program mode can be biased towards longer or shorter shutter speeds by using the shutter speed dial. Also in program mode automatic flash exposure was fully controlled by the camera: off in daylight conditions, fill in flash with low light, full flash when dark. Normal flash synchronisation speed is 1/250s and with suitable flash units can be up to the camera's highest speed of 1/8000s.
The viewfinder display was digital
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
visible in any lighting.
Lens mount changes
The same bayonet and stepped cam of earlier R cameras was used, but additional electrical contacts called "ROM Contacts" were added to convey lens focal length setting. Any lens fitted with the R stepped cam may be used, but very early lenses fitted only with sloped cams (1 or 2 cam lenses) may damage the ROM contacts and should first be fitted with the stepped cam.
Lens / camera combinations are as follows:
Leica 1 cam, 2 cam, 3 cam, & R stepped cam lenses may be fitted with ROM contacts but as this entails removal of the original sloped cams they would then be incompatible with the original
Leicaflex
The Leicaflex series of high-end single-lens reflex 35 mm format film cameras were introduced by Leitz Camera in 1964. The first camera body was paired with the new R bayonet series of lenses. Three model of the cameras were sold by Leitz; the ...
cameras. This was the first break in on-going compatibility of Leica reflex lenses.
R9
The R9 was an evolutionary step from the R8 and appears superficially very similar; enough so that some have opined that it should have been simply a Mark II of the R8, or in Leica nomenclature, an "R8.2".
The silver top-plate color available on the R8 was replaced by an 'Anthracite' color on the R9; black remained available. Another external change was the addition of an LCD frame counter on the top plate between the wind lever and the shutter-speed dial. The mode selector dial gained a lock, after many R8 user complaints that it was too easily moved from the desired setting when handling the camera. The rear LCD display gained a backlight so it could be viewed in dim lighting.
The mass of the R9 was reduced by 100g (to 790g) from the R8, achieved by switching to a magnesium casting for the top plate (formerly zinc alloy) and substituting aluminum for steel at the bottom plate's frame.
Electronic changes included the ability to tune the sensitivity of matrix metering in steps of 0.1 EV independently of the other metering modes, and several improvements to the flash support. Metz's HSS (High Speed Sync) flash mode was now supported, allowing fill flash at shutter speeds greater than the X-sync speed by the use of many repeated small flashes of the electronic flashgun. This mode could be used from 1/360 to the camera's shortest 1/8000 of a second shutter speed. Also improved was the use of fill-flash at slower shutter speeds and wider apertures, by enabling lower-power illumination modes on modern Metz equipment. The manual flash exposure compensation ability in Program mode was improved, and AE lock was now possible in all automated modes.
Accessories
Leica sell a number of dedicated accessories for the R8 and R9. In addition to the
Digital Modul R, these comprise the following:
* Motor-Winder R8/R9: gives powered film transport (loading/advance/rewind) and continuous 2 frame/s shooting. It affixes to the camera's base, adding 20 mm in height, and replaces the right handgrip as well, this containing the two CR-123
lithium batteries
Lithium battery may refer to:
* Lithium metal battery, a non-rechargeable battery with lithium as an anode
** Rechargeable lithium metal battery, a rechargeable counterpart to the lithium metal battery
* Lithium-ion battery, a rechargeable batte ...
it uses. A switch enables leader-out rewinds. An additional battery pack may be affixed to the base for extended use.
This winder is much lighter and more compact than the previous version, the combination of R8 + Winder is almost exactly the same overall size and weight as the previous equivalent R7 + Winder
* Motor-Drive R8/R9: like the Motor-Winder, but larger and gives continuous 4.5 frame/s shooting in addition to single-shot and 2 frame/s. It provides additional shutter releases ― on the handgrip and on the vertical grip on the base. Enables three-shot auto-bracketing of exposure in 0.5 or 1
EV increments.
* Remote Control R8/R9: an electronic unit that attaches to either the Motor Winder or the Motor Drive; it cannot be connected to the bare camera. In addition to triggering the shutter, the Remote Control can turn the camera on or off, control mode and exposure, control auto-bracketing, and can function as an intervalometer triggering at rates between one per second and one every 24 hours. It comes with a 5-metre cord and can be fitted with up to 4 25 metre extension cords for a maximum length of 105 metres.
* Electric trigger switches: If the functionality of the Remote Control is not needed and all that is required is to trip the shutter, two electric trigger switches are available; one with a 5-metre cord that can also take extension cords, and one with a 0.3 metre cord for shake-free trigger release on a tripod.
* SF 24D flash: Leica's dedicated flash unit enables camera-controlled TTL flash output on the R8 and R9. Covers the field of view of 35–85 mm lenses (with diffusers, 24–135 mm.
* Focusing screens: the standard
focusing screen, ground-glass with split-image and microprism collar, can be replaced by any of five other screens for specialised tasks. For the Digital Modul R, an additional set of six screens marked with the Modul R's sensor crop area can be substituted.
* Other accessories from Leica include a rubber eyecup, right-angle finder, diopter correction lenses, cases, straps, tripods, cable releases etc.
End of the R series
On Wednesday, 4 March 2009, Leica announced via the L-Newsletter that no further stock was available and production of the R series cameras and accessories had ended.
Specifications
References
External links
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Thorsten Overgaard
Thorsten (Thorstein, Torstein, Torsten) is a Scandinavian given name. The Old Norse name was ''Þórsteinn''. It is a compound of the theonym ''Þór'' (''Thor'') and ''steinn'' "stone", which became ''Thor'' and ''sten'' in Old Danish and Old Sw ...
Leica R8 and Leica R9 with Leica DMR digital back
{{Leica R bodies
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