M8 'Back to reality'

[andym911]

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This morning was the local mini marathon with about a hundred runners taking part, including my daughter.

Decided to take the M8 to get a few snaps of her first ever event.

Just before the finishing line, in continuous mode, fired of a few shots..and then NOTHING.

Yep it just died.

Got this one shot of my daughter (girl in center)...could not take any more of my friends daughter coming in a few seconds later....disappointment all round.

Was the battery fresh..of course, was the card ok....of course.

Did the M8 fail me again...yes it did.

It seems that even hobbyists like myself cannot rely on it, let alone Pro's.

This is not a whining thread, just brought me back to reality...The camera is just not reliable.

It is the final straw in a year's love hate relationship with this camera.

I had already decided to stick with film M6/7 for B&W...Now I can comfortably use the Canon for color digital, maybe the best combination after all.

 

Cheers

 

Andy

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[Guest Olof]

Did you tried a seconde battery ? When i was in Prague i also thougt that my M8 died, but the it only was a empty battery.

[danyves]

Had the same after changing battery. Put inside another one. Everything went fine.

 

Check your battery with voltmeter.

 

Better to have 3 batteries for one M8 body.

[andym911]

Battery was fully charged.....got home, replaced battery..all ok.

Does not change a single thing that the shots were missed unfortunately.

[Tom_W]

This happen me recently. I love the camera (M8) but if it more than single shot and definately if it's a fleeting moment I use my Canon. Its a pity that you cannot rely on a reportage camera for reportage!

 

I use mine for landscapes ( a lighter camera than a 1Ds3) but its going to be sold when the replacement to the 5D is launched this Nov unless I get a High Capacity SD, 0 second self timer option, and Auto bracketing as firmware updates. I will miss it when it goes as when it goes it will say good buy to a long life with Leica.

 

You should not have to question the reliability of a 3K camera body - full stop.

 

T

[Eoin]

Battery was fully charged.....got home, replaced battery..all ok.

Does not change a single thing that the shots were missed unfortunately.

 

I had somewhat the same issue with one of my batteries, fully charged, place it in the camera and get 20 or less shots from it still showing full bars. Switch off and on the camera and you'd just get a flash from the card write LED.

 

I let the camera rundown the battery by disabling the screen timer and left the camera on, after I charged the battery fully and have not had any issues to date. Infact I repeated the procedure with my other battery and both now seem fairly accurate with the battery capacity meter on the M8. However when at 1 bar continuos mode can give issues in a heavy burst of fire but functions perfectly at full 3 bars.

 

Might be worth a try before you toss the lot onto the B&S.

[chris_tribble]

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I feel there's a real value in putting any new battery through at least 2 complete charge / discharge / re-charge cycles before using + I've made sure that all batteries get a complete discharge at least every couple of months. Touching wood I've never lost a shot with the M8 (though I have to say I never use multiple shot mode - just don't need it...)

 

Sorry if you've had problems, but it might be worth trying this approach before you dump the camera...

[Nick De Marco]

I had a similar experience on day 6 of my first 7 days of using the M8. It happenned after shooting a number of shots in succession (although not in continuous mode). I took the battery out and put it in again and it worked fine, but I los some shots. It seems to me it is to do with the amount of time it takes to transfer a file and sometimes it overloads and claps out. If I was doing a professional shoot/fashion?sport or was a paparazzi I would not use it, the Canon 5D (and many other Canon's far more reliable). But so long as I don't plan this sort of photography it is fine and I actually like the fact you have to take a bit of time between shots often (to focus etc).

[cornbarn]

I've had this happen a few times so have learnt to carry at least one spare battery at all times.

[SJP]

Were you using DNG + jpg ? If so it could have been a buffer overflow, which seems to be a high risk zone for camera freeze up. For fast reportage stuff & continuous mode I would definately disable the 'in camera jpg'.

[chris_tribble]

Couldn't agree more... and honestly, does fast reportage really require continuous shooting?

[Nick De Marco]

Excuse the dumb question (I am new to M8)

I always shoot RAW. In my Canon 5D you just choose RAW and only one file is created but you can view it in camera. In M8 I have been using DNG+JPEG. I don't really want the JPEG files (It's irritating downloading two sets of files) but I did not know you could have just DNG and, more importantly, if I turn the JPEG off (how do you do that) I assume that means I can't view the photo I have just taken if I need to?

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Nick hit the set button and than you can just select DNG. And yes you can certainly see the image you just shot on the review.

 

 

 

I agree with Chris , you should recycle this battery and leave it on all night and drain it down to nothing than recharge it. These batteries in my mind after all this time with the M8 and having the same issues myself i came to the conclusion you need to recycle the batteries once in awhile. I had lots of issue in Moab with the cold more than anyone else on the workshop. And my conclusion is my batteries have been charged more than anyone else since i have about 30k on these batteries and they have been charged to the point where i think there beyond the useful life of the battery. Rechargeable batteries will only last so long with repeated charging. I would not dump your M8 until you recycle your battery and frankly everyone should have at least three batteries per body. I have 6 and they don't last very long anyway there very small.

[andym911]

never shoot jpg...only RAW on the M8.

 

I am sure there are 'failsafe ' methods to avoid this sort of thing such as battery charging , discharging etc. but this should not be a process one needs to go through to have a reliable camera.

I have never had a problem with any other camera, digital or analog.

The M8 has failed me twice in important (for me) occasions.

I'll be letting it go in the coming week while prices are still 'reasonable'.

 

andy

[JHAG]

I recently used continuous shot a lot for moving subjects.

Shooting RAW.

Always carry 2 batteries.

Never had a problem so far (around 1000 shots in 4 weeks).

[dalippe]

A few people have suggested that OP should carry two batteries. While that might be a fine solution in some cases, it would have done him no good. By the time he had changed his battery, the moment would have been over. The fact is that one often needs a camera to work during a few second window, and not thirty seconds later. I love my M8, but always have a bit of knot in my stomach when using it during such situations. More and more, I opt for another camera when I know I will be capturing an important and fleeting moment. I too have missed shots because of the M8s flakiness. It is absurd that such an expensive camera should be so unreliable.

 

David

[Jager]

Sounds like a simple buffer overflow?

 

In any case, sorry for your disappointment. Missing the shot of your daughter is an undeniable frustration.

[Jamie Roberts]

Andy--

 

I'd personally insist Leica get to the bottom of this. M8s are not unreliable; yours is, however.

 

I've shot tens of thousands of shots on my M8. I always shoot RAW + JPEG (better for selecting shots in post) and the only time the camera has locked was with a card (Extreme 3) that also wouldn't format in the DMR. I have also had it lock up, once, since the latest firmware. I shoot continuous when I have to as well.

 

But out of that many shots, my 5d has also banded, error 99'd and a couple of other problems (cards again).

 

So you should get this fixed, and Leica should fix it.

[dalippe]

Andy--

 

I'd personally insist Leica get to the bottom of this. M8s are not unreliable; yours is, however.

 

I've shot tens of thousands of shots on my M8. I always shoot RAW + JPEG (better for selecting shots in post) and the only time the camera has locked was with a card (Extreme 3) that also wouldn't format in the DMR. I have also had it lock up, once, since the latest firmware. I shoot continuous when I have to as well.

 

But out of that many shots, my 5d has also banded, error 99'd and a couple of other problems (cards again).

 

So you should get this fixed, and Leica should fix it.

Jamie,

 

Seems like you've had good luck. I have two M8s and have lost shots on both due to camera freeze-up. Given my 2 for 2 record, I figured that was simply a bug in the camera/firmware design and not likely to be fixed by sending it to Germany...

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[glenerrolrd]

I have had this problem with multiple M8s including one I borrowed from the Leica Akademie last summer. In all cases it was a run down battery and it came right back with a change to a fresh battery. I always start each shoot with fully charged batteries (typically 4 or 5 ) and change the battery when I change a card. Since I have been using this process ..it only happens when the battery is out of juice. Unfortunately the camera gage is like a lot of car fuel gages ..it goes from 2/3 directly to empty . I have never had the problem with a fully charged battery.