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OK, here's my dilemma. I am wanting a 2nd body to pair with my silver M240. A dealer has a "mint" M-P (240 silver version) with a 1 year Leica warranty for approximately $5800 and a brand new black M240 with 2 year Leica warranty for approximately $5400. I like the idea of getting the M-P upgrade, however I'm not sure it's really worth it as I've never had an issue with buffer limit, never had a frame-line selector and can buy a Schott glass LCS protector for about $50.00. Just curious which one you would select. I definitely want to get at least a year warranty as I've already had to send my 240 in for a repair in which they replaced electronic circuit board. Since getting it back from repair it has worked perfectly and I love it. Thanks for any helpful comments you may offer. Joan

This forum can often be somewhat perverse in its appreciation of the M8 and the enormous task faced by a relatively small company like Leica in bringing such an instrument to market. I thought that I'd simply start a thread listing the attributes which prompted me to want to own and use this camera. Its not exhaustive and I'd welcome other people's comments regarding their decision making process or even post purchase findings. 1. Lenses - superb, fast, small, built to last, ergonomically effective and a real pleasure to use. I've used M lenses off and on for 30 years and still regard them as the epitomy of lenses, both optically and structurally. Standard 'normal' and 'wide' lenses which use E39 filters have to say something about compactness. 2. Precise, user designated focusing. Total control over the precise location of the centre of depth of field, either by rangefinder or by pre-set. The pure mechanical, manual focusing promotes a more considered decision making process when selecting the precise point of focus and an appreciation of the envisaged effect of apertures which suits my personal way of shooting. 3. Simplicity, Focus, aperture, shutter duration - enough said. (As far as I personally am concerned, half the menu options could be dumped along with Jpeg file options - the M8 absolutely begs to use RAW - having used the M8 for a reasonable time I'd suggest that Leica could actually offer various 'firmware' options allowing for minimalist and full menus if this was technically feasible). 4. Build quality which inspires confidence, yes I know there have been some problems and that these have been widely aired - but both major Japanese manufacturers have had problems with their cameras too - so for a smaller company to not have some would actually be less than realistic given that producing cameras and selling them requires difficult time frames to be met. After nearly 2 years I am far from disappointed with my M8. It delivers just what I anticipated it would - high quality 10MPixel image files (subject to user error that is) which fulfill the requirements for which they were taken - and I find myself drawn more and more to carrying my M8 and 3 lenses (24/35/50 - the excess are going) with me and leaving my excellent but bulky Canons behind (when the M8's files are large enough anyway) whenever possible. (I do find comparisons to be rather tedious, the M8 is what it is and either fulfills a required role or doesn't). Perhaps I should add one thing, IMHO the M8 is a 'photographer's camera' in much the same way that some cars are 'driver's cars', which might explain much of the perceived 'defenciveness' commented on in the forum. Which this is not necessarily because the M8 a Leica ('though this clearly helps), but because its a camera which demands that the user is in control - like some cars its unforgiving if not driven by a user who understands it and the way it needs to be operated. And as a parting shot I'd suggest that this forum is actually extremely informative, generally quite couteous and actually suffers from a relatively low level of bickering. Paul