Because of its high IR sensativity the M8 is an incredable B&W camera. Whereas a lot of dark subject matter becomes of a single luminance with digital cameras that have IR cut filters, with the M8 there are beautiful subtlties of tonality to be seen. Quite remarkable.
This was seen in years past with film cameras when using B&W film with a bit of extra IR sensativity.
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Michael, thank you for pointing this out. I wrote about this a few days ago and mentioned how Ilford Delta 400, for example, is one film that reacts to near-IR in a very similar manner. Delta 400 is the best portrait B&W film I've ever used.
The fact is, B&W from digital cameras really is a step backwards. Sure, we've been able to "get by", but we've also had to change our "look" so much too. What makes for a good color photograph isn't necessarily what makes for a good B&W photograph. Just look at the color response curves of various B&W films to see what I'm talking about. They are NOT linear in either color response or tonal response. We can play games with the images in Photoshop to get a "look" that may be pleasing, but the characteristics of a good B&W film just aren't there.
It could be, that the M8, with it's IR flaws, is finally THE digital camera that breaks down the barrier of digital B&W and we might now start to see some quality digital B&W images that don't scream "Photoshop".
Something else I'm remembering here--last year I was running a video camera for a Christmas production--the entire choir was dressed in black. Yup, you guessed it, under the stage lights, about half the clothes were red or purple. One SONY camera picked up the red and purple, another had a switchable IR filter and didn't pick up the colors while the Panasonic cameras didn't have any problem at all. I also recall different color print films doing the same thing too. This isn't a new problem.