[marknorton]

You knew it was coming, you just didn’t know when. Well, “When?” is “Now”.

Last year, I showed you a dismantled Leica Digilux 2 (“Anatomy of the Leica Digilux 2”) and like an itch needing to be scratched, I’ve been waiting to do the same for the Leica M8. My dealer’s web-site told me M8s were in stock and that was the catalyst to buy another M8 to take one apart.

As befits the stature of the camera, I am going into rather more detail to show you how it is built and how it works.

I’m walking a thin line between giving you enough of an insight to make this a worthwhile exercise and reverse engineering the product which is a serious infringement of Leica’s IP. So, I’m restricting what I show and tell you to what I can glean by simple observation and interpretation of what I see based on my own experience. I’ve used just normal camera maintenance tools, no test instruments, no circuit tracing, no data analysers, no de-compiling of firmware.

Of course, it goes without saying that you should NOT do this to your own cameras. The warranty will be voided and Leica could justifiably refuse to fix a camera which has been tampered with.

So, join me to take a look at a Leica M8, serial 3105477.