That's something which was of concern to me when I had a brief look at the M8 when it came out. Having previously owned an M6 TTL/0.58 model for a year, and traded it in for similar reasons, the lower magnification on the M8 (0.64 from memory) was not my favourite feature.
Have you tried it with the viewfinder magnifier thingy?
As for the big price hikes, for the moment at least, it doesn't seem to be across the board (though of course the dealers maay have snapped up quantities to lay in before the deed was done). The M8 is still listed at £3200 at ffordes (a 25% increase would be an insane £4000 or so, which would simply kill sales outside the Euro Zone), the 35mm Summilux is £2190 (up from around £1960 I think) etc.
-------------------- Tim BSRIPN
The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own - Susan Sontag