hhanebeck Posted April 24, 2011 Share #21 Posted April 24, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi Joaquin, I had a similar experience ... traveled to Germany for a week and the shutter arm on the M8 broke after a hundred shots (8,500 actuations in total). Here I was, stuck with four lenses and no body. Found a great deal for a virtually new M7 from a collector in Duesseldorf the next day. It was the best thing that could have happened. The M7 images are simply fantastic. Leica was extremely accomodating about the M8 repairs once I returned and I now have the best of both worlds. Film maybe something to consider, especially since you have the glass already ... Cheers,Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 Hi hhanebeck, Take a look here M8 shutter caput. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jtorrents Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share #22 Posted April 24, 2011 Chris, It seems that there are Several M8 users who experienced this Kind of failure...I also have a film body (M6), but the problem is that it is in a closet at home (I'm on holidays til monday, away from home). Today I've phoned the dealer, but until tuesday he can't do anything...:-( ¿may I ask how much cost you the repair? Joaquín Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstotler Posted April 24, 2011 Share #23 Posted April 24, 2011 Wstotler: Thanks for the link. I've read with special interest your broken shutter story. It seems that we've joined the same club :-)I really hope that being a low number of shutter actuations (14040 exactly) Leica support will take it in consideration... How long was the repair in your case? Your lens mount was really dirty! Regards, Joaquin Thanks. Repairs took about seven weeks. In my case, they recognized the failure and charged for the part, not labor. The camera was out of warranty. When the failure happened I made the decision (I'd been thinking about it for a year) to buy a second, used M8 as a backup. This was a good decision--I'm often shooting in circumstances where I must have certainty about continuity of shooting and having a second body provides that certainty. It also lets me hit the shoot with two lenses mounted, one on each body, normally a 35 and a 50 or a 35 and an 18. I tend to shoot with the 35 body--4 to 1 ratio. Memory card full? Quickly swap 35/50 body-to-body. Need a different focal length? Swap 50 to 18 or 50 to 90 on the "spare" body. Works wonders for workflow speed, which is ideal during fast shooting. Have a failure? Swap and go, worry about repairs later. I'd think most M8 users don't need this, but a second M8 body is very useful, especially if one must be sent off for repairs and work is still on the schedule. Of note, I have a "backup" M6, but swapping between a film workflow and a digital workflow isn't reallly useful for me based on the turnaround times I need to meet--I do have a lead on fast, local B&W processing plus scanning of negs at a very reasonable fee, so I may be doing more of that work in the near future. Cheers, Will P.S. I don't use discrete shutter mode as I have a suspicion (unfounded) that this mode (and "C" mode, too, for that matter) correllate with shutter damage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorrents Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share #24 Posted April 24, 2011 Will, Thanks for explaining your workflow. A second body is mandatory if you want to shoot without worries. Regarding your opinion about using discreet mode, I suspected the same thing. I've been using this feature since its introduction in the firmware, but always feeled that this could stress in some way the shutter. I don't know the exact cause of the failure at 14.040 actuations, but once repaired i will not use discreet mode anymore. Regards, Joaquín Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmichaelsnr Posted April 24, 2011 Share #25 Posted April 24, 2011 Probably a stupid question - but was this an M8 shutter or the M8u upgraded one? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorrents Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share #26 Posted April 24, 2011 It was the original M8 shutter, not the upgraded... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmichaelsnr Posted April 24, 2011 Share #27 Posted April 24, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Should I feel relieved? I have an M8u. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted April 24, 2011 Share #28 Posted April 24, 2011 That's an interesting question, Paul. I've also got an upgraded M8, but a number of friends are happy shooting their original M8's without problems. The fact is, the older an item, the more likely it is to break; but there's a random breakage pattern even when it's new. I wonder if there's something in the way the users of the broken-shutter cameras used them--cleaning the sensor with compressed air, say. But that's just worthless meandering. Remember, the original M8 shutter is the same shutter used in the R8 and R9, and there weren't threads (of course, there wasn't a busy LUF at the time) about broken shutters or shutters spewing crud in those cameras. I think the thing is, shutters sometimes break; and they may break out of warranty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hhanebeck Posted April 24, 2011 Share #29 Posted April 24, 2011 Chris, It seems that there are Several M8 users who experienced this Kind of failure...I also have a film body (M6), but the problem is that it is in a closet at home (I'm on holidays til monday, away from home). Today I've phoned the dealer, but until tuesday he can't do anything...:-( ¿may I ask how much cost you the repair? Joaquín Hi Joaquin, the repair ran $300+. Leica charged for the shutter arm and smaller parts, but not their time. I found that very fair. The bigger problem is that it takes six weeks. Cheers, Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorrents Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share #30 Posted April 24, 2011 Chris, Thanks for the useful info. The most annoying will be without a doubt counting down the days until the M8 will be working again... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyl Posted April 25, 2011 Share #31 Posted April 25, 2011 Hi every body I have the same problem, my M8 is en route to Solms @++ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted April 26, 2011 Share #32 Posted April 26, 2011 The shutter is made by Copal but so too are shutters used in Nikon D3* cameras which are rated at 150k+ actuations. I'm sure some Nikon shutters break at low activations as well but the numbers quoted here do seem very low. Comon sense tells us that a shutter with a slower top speed will put less strain on the fragile curtains, so I think the move to 1/4000 was as much to do with shutter longevity as it was to do with noise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted April 26, 2011 Share #33 Posted April 26, 2011 And vibration, since the M has less mass than the R8 & R9. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorrents Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share #34 Posted April 26, 2011 Pyl: sorry to hear your problem. ¿How many shutter actuations in your case? Mark: thanks for the technical details. Do you think that using the discreet mode could be a cause of shutter malfunction? Regards, Joaquin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ming Rider Posted April 27, 2011 Share #35 Posted April 27, 2011 I to feel your pain. Mine came back from a repair at Solms a month ago. 14,000 is very low. I would insist on having it done free as it's an obvious manufacturing or assembly fault. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorrents Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share #36 Posted May 6, 2011 Today I've received my repaired M8. The repair has been blazing fast: less than two weeks, counting several non working days and other two or three days while shipping. The Customer Service at Solms has been extremely helpful and I would say that exceeded my expectations. Very good communication from the first moment (this includes phone calls in my native language spanish!). The camera works beautifully, and I will test it this weekend. Meanwhile, I've shooting a pair of rolls with the M6... The whole experience has been very very positive, and knowing how Leica Customer Support works gives me peace of mind while I use my trusty M8 and will be one of the main reasons I will buy an M9. So, thanks Leica! Joaquin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyl Posted May 29, 2011 Share #37 Posted May 29, 2011 Hi jtorrents: about 20000 It took about 3 weeks and 520 +150 E without taxes. cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidrc Posted June 30, 2011 Share #38 Posted June 30, 2011 Today I've received my repaired M8. The repair has been blazing fast: less than two weeks, counting several non working days and other two or three days while shipping. The Customer Service at Solms has been extremely helpful and I would say that exceeded my expectations. Very good communication from the first moment (this includes phone calls in my native language spanish!). The camera works beautifully, and I will test it this weekend. Meanwhile, I've shooting a pair of rolls with the M6...The whole experience has been very very positive, and knowing how Leica Customer Support works gives me peace of mind while I use my trusty M8 and will be one of the main reasons I will buy an M9. So, thanks Leica! Joaquin Can you please tell us the cost of replacing the shutter ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorrents Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share #39 Posted June 30, 2011 In my case the repair was free of charge. I payed only the shipping to Solms. Regards, Joaquin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olsen Posted June 30, 2011 Share #40 Posted June 30, 2011 I think it is important that we all are mentally prepared for the day that our camera shutter breaks down. Because, very likely, it will. The reason is two-fold: 1) According to Alpa, we expose 10 times more with our digital cameras than with our film cameras. Canon (or Nikon?), supposedly, claim that we expose 20 times more now than before. Claiming also that the typical shutter life of 150.000 - 200.000 - is 'average' figures. Now they tell us that... 2) Cleaning of the sensor is done too often at great risk to the shutter. Often on 'B'. Too many amateurs have too risky cleaning practices. Beware of that! When I sold my M8 it has 5500 actuations under it's belt, in 4 years. All sensor cleaning was done by a professional shop. Most often the Norwegian Leica importer. I then bought a 4 months old M9 with the same number of actuations: 5500. - It had never been cleaned by a pro shop.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.