Getting Ready to Pull the Trigger

[Gotham Historian]

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I've been lurking on this site since 2002 when I bought my Digilux 1 and in 2006 when I bought my Digilux 2 and now, I'm ready to pull the trigger on an M8 silver. I'm going to take a look at it tomorrow night and hopefully it is as promised. The serial number is 320XXXX, so the seller states it is a later production batch. Is there any significance to this?

 

Will need to search this site for lens recommendations for the M8. I think I can only afford one lens to begin with and maybe over the years, I'll add additional lens. This will be my first camera system.

[Luke_Miller]

I did the same in October. Went with a black paint M8.2. Got the 6-bit 28 and 50 Sumicrons. I find I use the 28mm about 90% of the time.

[Gotham Historian]

I'm thinking about a 28mm as well. They are about $2500 on ebay, so it'll be a while before I can afford it.

[ho_co]

GH, if the camera looks good to you, I'd say go for it.

 

As you probably know, the original M8s were recalled to Solms for revamping and elimination of several problems.

 

As other problems were discovered, there was at least one internal change to the camera. I think others here are aware of some places in the internal ROM where the change is manifested.

 

But there's a problem relying too heavily on serial numbers with Leica, because if I understand correctly, a batch of serial numbers is reserved for a particular camera--say a chrome one. Then as chrome cameras are built, their serial numbers will be pulled from that assigned lot, but not necessarily in date order. A black and a chrome camera may come off the line side by side, but have serial numbers pretty far apart.

 

There's another matter, though, and that is that when Leica repairs a camera, they rebuild it to current standard. As an example: My own chrome M8 is from the 'second batch,' by which I mean it wasn't among the initially recalled cameras, but it preceded the changes that made the latest cameras different. However, when I sent it in for repair of a couple problems, Leica exchanged the parts that had been updated in the newer version.

 

Simply put, any camera that was sent in for repair after the causes of the second set of problems were recognized, has been updated to the same circuitry as the latest version.

 

What that means to you is: a) if your camera is from the later batches, it's a current version; if your camera is not originally from the later batches but has been repaired by Leica, it has been upgraded to current specification. And I would guess that just about all cameras that weren't of the latest version have been repaired, because they exhibited problems or quit working.

 

So in all likelihood, the M8 you're looking at is the same as the latest cameras, no matter when it was built.

 

But basically, that's all meaningless half-knowledge. It's a wonderful camera and I'm sure you'll be happy with it. Congratulations!

 

And if you have questions, you're already a member of the forum where there's a heck of a lot of information available. Welcome to the forum and to the world of the Leica M! It's a truly unique instrument.