New M8 - What do I look for?

[John in Japan]

I'm getting my M8 today. I'm going home. I ordered one right before I left for a two week trip and I've been gone over 5 and probably closer to 6 weeks.

What do I need to look for regarding manufacturer dates or firmware? I know some earlier models get free hardware "fixes" from Leica. Just because I ordered it recently probably doesn't necessarily ensure I hae the latest and greatest.

I know there's a new firmware which I'll update once I'm sure everything else is working.

How do I tell what's what? I haven't been keeping up on all this due to workload and personnel issues. I'm sure you guys can help me quicker than I can look it all up?

John

[jaapv]

Basically you should look for suitable subjects to photograph Seriously, the camera you will have delivered to you will -or should- be up to the latest standards, it should have firmware 1.09 or 1.092, if necessary update, and keep an eye out for the 1.10 which will appear in due course. register, order your IR filters and enjoy...
The hardware fix thing is far behind us and has not bearing on cameras delivered now.

[photolandscape]

Sounds exciting. First thing you'll have to do is--charge the battery, which will take a while. Pop in the SD card, turn her on, and hit menu. Scroll down and you'll see "Firmware"--it will show you what version you have. 1.09 should be fine in most respects, so I'd hit the streets and start photographing. You can always install 1.092 in a day or two. Have fun.

One other thing--based on a mistake I made when I first got mine--if you want to record jpegs and DNG files both, you'll need to go into Menu again and set it to record both--otherwise, I think you'll get just a jpeg.

Also, having come from two autofocus cameras, I had to remember to focus!

[Bill Wendlandt]

John,
One thing more that has not been mentioned other than welcome and enjoy the M8 is that you better put a lens on the camera but I am sure you already know that

Have fun as we all are

[BerndReini]

Absolutely, definitely, check the rangefinder for focusing. Put on a fast, long lens, such as the 50 or 75mm summilux, or the 75 or 90mm summicron and do a focus test wide open at different distances to see if your rangefinder focuses well. If not, you can either exchange the camera immediately, or go through the adjustment yourself following the steps described in other posts on this forum. I tested my M8 in the store with a 50mm summilux because i didn't want to deal with any of these adjustments and because the demo camera I used backfocused. Be careful though which lens you use for testing. After doing the backfocus testwith a 50mm summilux, I ended up buying the aspherical version of this lens.

[rob_x2004]

John you should mail it to me to check out for you. Welcome to the forum.

[erl]

Originally Posted by rob_x2004

John you should mail it to me to check out for you. Welcome to the forum.

Actually, I am better qualified than Rob to test it as I already have one against which to compare.

(Whispers to self - yes, I do need a second one).

An aside to Rob. Merlin could now be classified as a cadet police dog. He made his first 'arrest' a couple of weeks ago when the Police were chasing a 'druggy' along the beach. It's a long, and humerous story.