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Leica M9 Power User

M'Ate

By M'Ate
in Leica M9 / M-E

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M'Ate

M'Ate

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Forgive me if this repeated elsewhere, but I've just tried to buy a spare battery for my M9 in the UK. I have a wedding shoot on Saturday and thought I'd just put a bit of insurance in my bag.

 

Apparently, they've been on back-order for 6 weeks and no visibility of supply !! Tried 7 dealers and no one has one. Tried two ex-dealers and they have none either.

 

Well, not to be caught out, I'll take a second M9 then. "None of those been supplied for weeks".

 

Oh dear - an X1 it will have to be, then as I can't let my customer down. "Sorry sir, we've none of those ....... an S2 perhaps" ???

 

So if it ever crosses you mind as to whether Leica is worthy of suppling the professional market, or in fact an actual user - the answer is NO.

 

Anybody know where I can get a battery from? Need to order today. :confused:

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k_g_wolf ✝

k_g_wolf ✝

Posted
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You are the first person I hear from who would be willing

to buy another M9 to get hold of a battery. Great, must be

a wonderful assignment you are heading to.

 

Cool down, please, your existing M9 will most likely serve you alright.

You will get a few hundred shots out of your present battery,

put it in your freshly loaded and you are on the safe side.

 

Sorry to hear, your dealer couldn´d help, it would indeed be much better

for LEICA if they could supply more of their goodies. Robert White

should be in a position to send one straight away. Perhaps even a black M9 ...

 

 

Best regards

GEORG

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M'Ate

M'Ate

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try ebay.

 

Unless you know where the OEM batteries are available, there's no point in looking.

 

I have 4 batteries, two Leica and two No-Name. The No-Name are useless to me and that's why I need to find an OEM Leica battery.

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k_g_wolf ✝

k_g_wolf ✝

Posted
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Yes, would like to second your observation here. I tried 3 No- Name batteries

at the end of last year, not one came close to a decent performance.

 

But those you have should do the job alright. Take your loading gear with you and

refresh your battery whenever you feel it is necessary.

 

 

Best

GEORG

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M'Ate

M'Ate

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Certainly it's important to me and the client.

 

I'm not actually heated, just in despair that a company with such fine product can't manage it's business.

 

Your suggestion of relying on one battery was not realistic, I'm afraid.

 

Robert White does not have any batteries, nor Red Dot, or RG Lewis, or Chesham Camera, or Stephens, or Wilkinsons, or Jacobs or Croyden Photo, or Leica Mayfair, or Caplan, or Kingsley, or Calumet, or Harrisons......

 

Been on back-order since at least 23 December, 2009, apparently.

 

Thanks Georg and Gravestar for your kind offers and David for the info..

 

 

 

You are the first person I hear from who would be willing

to buy another M9 to get hold of a battery. Great, must be

a wonderful assignment you are heading to.

Best regards

GEORG

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k_g_wolf ✝

k_g_wolf ✝

Posted
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Well, I got three here, and only need two right now.

 

One packet isn´t even open, was bought a short while ago. I could let it go,

but the UK is a few miles too far away from my place, for a mail- delivery to

be there in time.

 

 

Best wishes, good luck with your shooting

 

GEORG

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andybarton

andybarton

Posted
Posted
Forgive me if this repeated elsewhere' date=' but I've just tried to buy a spare battery for my M9 in the UK. I have a wedding shoot on Saturday and thought I'd just put a bit of insurance in my bag.[/quote']

 

Whilst I sympathise, and yes, Leica should at least be able to keep a stock of batteries available (given that they don't actually make them themselves), maybe you should have had a bit more foresight if a spare battery is so important? Trying to buy something at the last minute is never a great idea.

 

Have you called MK?

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M'Ate

M'Ate

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Whilst I sympathise, and yes, Leica should at least be able to keep a stock of batteries available (given that they don't actually make them themselves), maybe you should have had a bit more foresight if a spare battery is so important? Trying to buy something at the last minute is never a great idea.

 

Have you called MK?

 

Foresight ? That's nice of you, pal !

 

I had 4 batteries last week and discovered two were not reliable. I called the dealer last week and he had batteries in stock. Called today to pick it up and there's a world shortage.

How much foresight is needed - 23 December ??? Apparently, nobody had enough foresight !!

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gravastar

gravastar

Posted
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M'Ate You have a PM if you haven't seen the notification at the top of the page. It would be useful if new notifications flashed, I'm always missing them. I've just realised it obviously helps if a popup blocker isn't running, duh!

 

Bob.

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DerekF

DerekF

Posted
Posted
Unless you know where the OEM batteries are available' date=' there's no point in looking.

 

I have 4 batteries, two Leica and two No-Name. The No-Name are useless to me and that's why I need to find an OEM Leica battery.[/quote']

 

There is at least one (and only one that I can find) dealer in Hong Kong that still has one OEM battery left on eBay at this time. That was based off doing a quick search.

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noah_addis

noah_addis

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Wow, I checked B&H (out of curiosity) and they're out and listed as backordered from the manufacturer.

 

I do think Leica may have been a bit surprised and overwhelmed by the demand for the M9 and certain supporting products.

 

I may be mistaken, but I believe even Canon has had battery shortages after a new camera such as the 5dII was introduced. It's not good, but it shouldn't be surprising from such a relatively small company.

 

I'm glad I have six of 'em!

 

Once things stabilize I'm sure batteries will be readily available.

 

However your post does bring up a point--if you choose to use a non-standard camera, availability may be tough when you travel. If you travel with a Canon or Nikon, you can likely find batteries, lenses and even backup camera bodies, either from shops or from other photographers working in the area.

 

With Leica (and to a lesser extent Sony, Olympus, et. al.), it's tougher to find replacements for sale/rent/loan so it's important to bring what you need with backups and backups for your backups.

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M'Ate

M'Ate

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However your post does bring up a point--if you choose to use a non-standard camera, availability may be tough when you travel. If you travel with a Canon or Nikon, you can likely find batteries, lenses and even backup camera bodies, either from shops or from other photographers working in the area.

 

Agreed Noah. There was a Pro DSLR on hand and a film M, but the M9 needs to make it's way to the front of the pack to justify the investment and the decision to shoot M9.

 

As an aside - the cheap batteries on ebay are not worth the saving they bring, IMO. Maybe the power requirements are different on the M9 versus the M8 as some M8 users think they are OK, but I've found them to be totally unreliable.

 

Firstly, I've found they quit unexpectedly when they get below 45% on the Info scale. Not good at all when you think there's 40% left in the cell and it fails on an important shot when the event is proceeding.

 

Secondly, and a good test IMExp, is switch the camera to continuous and see how many shots fire off before it locks up and announces the battery is dead. With mine, TWO shots on continuous kills the cheapo' battery. My Leica sourced battery will fire 7 and continue as the buffer clears.

 

The 37% price increase in M9 Leica battery costs since October, is quite incidental to me, but availability is pretty important. I've got 4 now, so I'm sorted for a few months. :)

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250swb

250swb

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Posted

I don't know whats going wrong. But if you can get your head around the battery indicator showing 50% (say) when you know you have a fully charged battery, then the aftermarket ones usually work just fine, when it gets to zero the meter resets and you get a true indication of whats really left. Mine work as long as a genuine Leica battery.

 

Steve

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M'Ate

M'Ate

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I don't know whats going wrong. But if you can get your head around the battery indicator showing 50% (say) when you know you have a fully charged battery, then the aftermarket ones usually work just fine, when it gets to zero the meter resets and you get a true indication of whats really left. Mine work as long as a genuine Leica battery.

 

Steve

 

Not sure I follow you Steve. When my aftermarket battery is fully charged, it shows as being fully charged. When it gets down below 50%, it seems to be unreliable and shuts down at about 40%.

 

If I shoot single shots, seems to provide 150 to 200 shots. On continuous, just 2 and it's over. Extracting and re-fitting the battery makes no difference, it stays dead.

 

Don't know if I have same as you, but that's how mine behaves. Also, I note that the amp hour rating is lower than the Leica and I've read that there is a circuit in the Leica battery that provides a feedback loop - I know not what for.

 

Reliability is paramount to me. Walking over hills and dales I could take a chance, but not for paid work. It's a small battery to start with and larger files and variable chimping times drains the battery in a variable way. I get over 300 compressed images from a full L battery, which is fine and the meter appears to be trustworthy and that's important to me. As long as I know it's status, I'm OK, but I'm getting a shutdown too often.

 

My dslr will shoot over 1500 images before needing replacement. I know that isn't available with the M9, but I do need a reliable performance from the M9 in my work. Nothing more.

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misha

misha

Posted
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Wow, I checked B&H (out of curiosity) and they're out and listed as backordered from the manufacturer.

 

I do think Leica may have been a bit surprised and overwhelmed by the demand for the M9 and certain supporting products.

 

I may be mistaken, but I believe even Canon has had battery shortages after a new camera such as the 5dII was introduced. It's not good, but it shouldn't be surprising from such a relatively small company.

 

I'm glad I have six of 'em!

 

Once things stabilize I'm sure batteries will be readily available.

 

However your post does bring up a point--if you choose to use a non-standard camera, availability may be tough when you travel. If you travel with a Canon or Nikon, you can likely find batteries, lenses and even backup camera bodies, either from shops or from other photographers working in the area.

 

With Leica (and to a lesser extent Sony, Olympus, et. al.), it's tougher to find replacements for sale/rent/loan so it's important to bring what you need with backups and backups for your backups.

 

hi noah,

 

slightly off topic but really interesting stuff on Burn!

congratulations!

i look forward to seeing more of your work!

 

misha friedman

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MISHA FRIEDMAN

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