An internet survey of LUF M8 experience to date

[chris_tribble]

REQUEST - if the moderator agrees, could this be a sticky for ONE WEEK while the survey's active?

Dear fellow LUF members,

There seem to be several surveys out there at the moment, along with Guy's great laundry list... However, they're all really difficult to process and it's hard to offer Leica an easy to digest summary of the main issues. Full respect to all who have been involved in this process, but maybe we could do it better. What I'm offering to LUF is a web based survey which will let us put together a more easily processed account of where we're up to in advance of Firmware 1.10. It's not another wish list, but it could provide some useful information for Leica.

Clearly there are limitations to anything we can offer from this group.. We're willing to come to this forum and participate. Many happy (and unhappy) owners aren't. So this doesn't claim to be drawing on a representative sample, nor does it offer a basis for final conclusions. However, set alongside the detailed market information that Leica must have (like total sales to date) it will give a real idea of the kinds of problems we're facing (or not facing) and some of the variables which are part of the background of Forum members as a population.

I've piloted the survey with Guy, Robbie and Jaap - all active contributors with different takes + with Sean who's not had the time to get back to me on this (he's probably out taking photos!), so hope it covers most of the angles. If you'd like to take five minutes to fill this in, I'll undertake to post the results back to the forum in a week + Guy has agreed to make sure that Leica is aware of what's come out.

To do the survey, just go to:
Leica M8 - issues

Please be assured that all responses are completely anonymous - and that my interest in this is simply to build on the great work that Sean, Guy and others have been doing.

Best

[Bernd Banken]

Chris,

wouldn't it be helpful for Leica to know the brand and size/model of SD cards which are used by M8 users?


Bernd

Edit:

An important information would be the identification of the battery plus charger. Question is whether Leica has just only one supplier for each or splitted the quantities to several makers.

[carstenw]

I just answered it. I feel no need for anononymity, personally. Shouldn't you edit one of your two threads to remove the text and re-direct to the other one?

Btw, some of the checkbox lists should probably be radio button lists.

Woohoo, my 1300th post!

[chris_tribble]

Originally Posted by Bernd Banken

Chris,

wouldn't it be helpful for Leica to know the brand and size/model of SD cards which are used by M8 users?


Bernd

Edit:

An important information would be the identification of the battery plus charger. Question is whether Leica has just only one supplier for each or splitted the quantities to several makers.

Berndt - on line now. I could do this. Won't be able to do a tick list as there are so many out there. Just a text entry will help though. I'll update the survey now...

[chris_tribble]

Originally Posted by carstenw

I just answered it. I feel no need for anononymity, personally. Should you edit one of these two threads to remove the text and re-direct to the other one?

Carsten - I'll leave the anonymity thing as some people prefer. re your comment about editing threads and re-directing, isn't that something for the moderator? What I can do is draw people's attention on these lists to the survey... I'll do that now. good idea!

[carstenw]

Chris, I meant: you started two threads, very similar, like this one.

[chris_tribble]

Originally Posted by carstenw

I just answered it. I feel no need for anononymity, personally. Shouldn't you edit one of your two threads to remove the text and re-direct to the other one?

Btw, some of the checkbox lists should probably be radio button lists.

Woohoo, my 1300th post!

Just updated this - think there are checkboxes in all the right places. I'm fairly sure that the survey can be retaken... if you want to update.

[sdai]

Will we be able to see the results at the end of the survey? ... I took part in Thom Hogan's Nikon gear wishlist survey recently but it seems that he has no intention to share the results with the participants. I would be very annoyed if my vote is gonna be used to generate some revenue by selling it to the vendor.

[carstenw]

How about adding an optional field at the end (where the optional serial number field should be, IMO) where one can add an email address? I am happy to be contacted by whoever for clarification.

Btw, I just realised that I haven't posted some of those ideas for improvements before. Any chance you could PM them back to me? Pretty please

[Jamie Roberts]

Hey Chris--one more tweak--plenty of pros use JPEG workflows, so I'd kill the brackets on the first question)

Jamie

[chris_tribble]

Originally Posted by sdai

Will we be able to see the results at the end of the survey? ... I took part in Thom Hogan's Nikon gear wishlist survey recently but it seems that he has no intention to share the results with the participants. I would be very annoyed if my vote is gonna be used to generate some revenue by selling it to the vendor.

Absolutely - I'll post results back to the survey within one week...

[chris_tribble]

Originally Posted by carstenw

How about adding an optional field at the end (where the optional serial number field should be, IMO) where one can add an email address? I am happy to be contacted by whoever for clarification.

Btw, I just realised that I haven't posted some of those ideas for improvements before. Any chance you could PM them back to me? Pretty please

re email - will do now
re your ideas for improvements I'll dig into the data now and PM

[chris_tribble]

Originally Posted by Jamie Roberts

Hey Chris--one more tweak--plenty of pros use JPEG workflows, so I'd kill the brackets on the first question)

Jamie

Jamie - can do.

Best

C:

[sdai]

Originally Posted by chris_tribble

Absolutely - I'll post results back to the survey within one week...

Cool, just filled out mine.

[carstenw]

Nice survey, btw. I like the focus, and it'll be much easier for Leica or anyone else to process the results. Now we just need all M8 owners in the world to take it

Thanks for my suggestion items. Here they are, for posterity:

1) Add ISO knob where film rewind knob was.
2) Add manual shutter cocking (a-la film) lever.
3) Improve IR filter.
4) Make quieter (see 2).
5) Make full-frame
6) Add 2-4 more megapixels.
7) Slim it back to M6 size.
8) Fill in more details in EXIF.
9) Release new Visoflex.
10) Add flash socket (see 9!)
11) Seal screen better against dust.
12) Make rotating knob smoother. Mine is a little rough in one direction.
13) Change covering to M6-style leather.
14) Improve battery life a little (another 100-200 pictures).

[chris_tribble]

Hi - 28 responses so far. For interest, I give below a couple of snippets:

The graph's prettier but the numbers are interesting:

Q. What kinds of major problem have you faced when using this camera (if any)?

Camera was delivered with a mechanical fault (e.g. shutter failure) 1 - 2.94%
Camera failed from new - it never comes to life. 1 - 2.94%
Camera froze and never recovered 2 - 5.88%
Camera freezes but recovers after replacing the battery 3 - 8.82%
Camera freezes but recovers for no clear reason 2 - 5.88%
No major problems 19 - 55.88%

and only 23 responses here for some reason ...

Q. How satisfied are you overall with the Leica M8

Very satisfied 14 - 60.87%
Satisfied 5 - 21.74%
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 4 - 17.39%
Dissatisfied 0 - 0.00%
Very dissatisfied 0 - 0.00%

It'll be interesting to see how the numbers mount up.

[Paul_S]

Done! Thanks.

[chris_tribble]

Hey - 45 started, 43 completed - we're moving! REMEMBER - if you want to re-take the survey you can ... all your old data gets wiped, but you can change your mind. I wish I could give you an automatic review of how the survey's going, but my provider doesn't give this resource...

A thought - If any of you are subscribed to other Fora (RRF etc, would you be willing to post the link to the survey to them? It seems that the more objective evidence we can get, the better the picture for all concerned...

Best

[larry]

Chris,

Excellent idea, thanks. (This is not a gratuitous thank you, but an attempt to help keep this thread at the top of page one until it's made a sticky.)

Larry

[chris_tribble]

Larry - thanks for the thanks...