For Those Who Have Had M8 Electronic Failures

[fotografr]

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This is just going to be a quick and informal survey in an attempt to narrow down some possible causes of the M8 electronic failures. If you have experienced this problem, I would appreciate it very much if you would answer a couple of questions:

 

1. What brand and size SD card were you using?

 

2. Were you downloading images via a card reader? If so, what brand, and was it a universal or single card type?

 

3. Were there any submarines in the vacinity that might have been sending messages using ELF waves? (Okay, forget that one. Just trying to retain some humour in all of this)

 

4. Did your batteries appear to be performing as specified, or were they depleting very quickly?

 

Thanks very much. I know these surveys can be a pain in the ass, but your cooperation might help find the cause of our problems.

 

Cheers,

[fotografr]

I know I'm not the only one. Perhaps the topic has run its course.

[Cindy Flood]

My M8 is one of the original 1500.

 

I had one failure, but I was able to bring my M8 back. I don't know what card I had in it. Mine was an early failure (early January) before we were aware of all of the trouble. I have 2 Transend, 1 Sandisk, 1 Kingston cards.

 

The battery had been freshly charged (read full) when we left home. I might have taken about 30 shots. I put the M8 in the neoprene case for a few minutes. When I turned it back on it was dead. I tried pulling the battery and replacing it and it would not come back. I went to the car and got my spare battery. It still would not come on. I pulled it again and it finally came back to life. I noticed that it had re-set the camera. I had been shooting DNG (never shoot anything else) and now it was set for JPEG.

 

We were up in the mountains in Tortilla Flats, Arizona having lunch in a very crowded spot (dry, static possible) when this happened.

 

I was using the built-in card reader in my laptop at the time of this incident.

 

Good luck. We will all be watching to see what happens when you get your new M8.

[AlanJW]

I had a freeze up after a rapid series of shots. Transcend 2G card. The battery went from 3/4 suddenly to zero and the camer a was completely unresponsive. Recharging the battery and reinserting brought it back but the battery would not go past 3/4 even after overnight charging. A spare battery worked fine, showing full charge on the camera. Leica replaced the bad battery and the replacement battery works fine. I was in firmware 1.09 when the freeze occurred. Now running 1.092.

[fotografr]

Cindy and Alan--Thanks for responding. You were both lucky with your failures. No matter how many times I take out and replace my batteries, the camera won't come back.

 

I'm going to try one more M8--a completely new kit. If that one fails, there will be a whole bunch of Leica M equipment for sale somewhere.

[ArtZ]

Hi guys,

 

I bought yesterday (June, 9th, 2007) a M8 with two lenses 1:2/28 SUMMICRON-M ASPH and 1:2/50 SUMMICRON-M.

 

24 hours late camera is dead!

 

I have written to Leica France (Professionnal Department) and Leica at Solms.

 

Here's my story

 

1.- When I tried to register my camera at Leica's website to get two IR filters, I found out the my camera serial number is not in their database. I had to call my dealer who told me that happens often. He will call Leica at Solms on Tuesday (he's closed on Mondays) to solve this issue.

 

2.- While the batteries were being charged, I put the camera in it's leather case. Surprise, the case was badly done and the camera couldn't feet in. I had to go back to the shop to change the leather case.

 

3.- About 6:00 PM, I went out to take the first pictures. Surprises : Magenta issues, greenish issues, under exposed pictured in "Automatic" mode and the mesure LEDs didn't work on "Auto" mode (Speed indication didn't appear on viewfinder) and the LED light was extremely weak on "Manual" mode (impossible so see the LED outside, only indoors but always with very low intensity). In an Art Gallery, it was impossible to take pictures even using the "Manual White Balance". All pictures had a greenish tint.

 

4.- Impossible to make a portrait with the 1:2/28 ASPH in "AUTO" mode : Everytime the picture was under exposed (more than 4 stops). It worked fine with the 1:2/50

 

6.- I had several the "venetian blind effect" effect on my LCD after taking a picture and a few times when I tried to see the latest picture taken, the camera LCD viewer shown me the previous picture or the picture before to the previous.

 

I went back to my dealer but it was closed.

 

7.- I tried to take some pictures today. I turned on the camera but NOTHING worked. I replaced the battery, I removed everything (even the lens and the SD card -SANDISK III 2GB)... Nothing.

 

My M8 (Chrome) serial number is 3329XXX.

 

In 2005 I bought a DIGILUX-2 I had to send to Solms two months later because the LCD screen was full of dust. Leica replaced the camera. Yesterday, when I bought my M8 my dealer asked me to bring the DIGILUX-2 because it was a problem with the sensor (LEICA recall) and he has to send it back to Solms... I must wait about 10 weeks to get it back !!!

 

Happy with Leica Digicams? No, I'm not at all! I'm a professional photographer but I think I rather prefer to use any of my six Digital EOS... (I don't intend to make any publicity here to Canon) When I bought the DIGILUX-2 it was to have it with me all the time. I'm happy with the quality but I'm always afraid of the solidity of this camera.

 

When I bought yesterday the M8 was for the same reason: a good quality camera that you keep with you all time... but 24 hours later the camera is out of order.

 

I have nothing to say concerning the quality of Leica film cameras and lenses but I think that Leica shouldn't put on the market digital cameras until they're bug free. You can understand to have problems with firmware with entry level or prosumer cameras. But when you pay 4250 euros for a camera, you shouldn't find problems like that ! I can understand some minor problems, but when you cannot use the camera at all (I'm not the only one here with this problem) or you have to wait weeks to get free filters because they have a problem with infrared light, I think it's not acceptable from a company like Leica and the outstanding quality we're used to.

 

Regards,

 

ArtZ

[norm_snyder]

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Mine is also one of the first 1500, delivered last November, 2006. It ran quite well, until two nights ago. In that case, I was shooting low light, aperture priority, iso 640, set for Black and white, DNG + jpeg. When I went to preview the last exposure I'd taken, it changed from B&W playback to color, and then to the colored "venetian blind effect." Also, the camera would not turn off. I removed the [still nearly fully charged] battery, and it shut off, and now seems to be wroking well. I might mention that the only other "glitch" is that, after coming basck from Solms for the "refit"--done in January, 2007--it would not turn on when the switch around the shutter release was turned from the off to another position, but that the shutter release needed to be depressed slightly. Others have described this, which is something with which I can live--not unreliability, though. I hope I'm OK. All cards are Sandisk Ultra or Extreme, 2GB.

 

--N

[Shootist]

Take that camera back to the dealer you bought it from and get a FULL REFUND.

I have never heard of anyone having the website reject there camera serial number when registering for the free filters. Something sounds NOT right.

 

You clearly have a defective camera. Whether is was some type of demo that was never intended for sale or what I don't know but from your discription of the images you are getting from it the unit is clearly defective. I just got a second M8 from B&H photo in New York City and the serial number starts with 3195xxx. My first M8, which is being replaced by Leica NJ, had a serial number of 3100977 (It actually functioned flawlessly but had some physical problems that should not be on a new camera). Your serial number sounds suspicious. Serial number 3329xxx would indicate that it was many many months, even years, after my first or second M8. Even if they don't use consecutive serial numbers I seriously doubt they skip two hundred thousand serial numbers when making them. Not unless Leica has cornered the whole/complete digital camera market with the M8, which I doubt.

Even if they used the same running serial numbers for ALL products coming out of Solms, cameras (P&S and the M8), Lenses and accessories that would mean they have produced over 200,000 products since the M8 was introduced.

 

 

Hi guys,

 

I bought yesterday (June, 9th, 2007) a M8 with two lenses 1:2/28 SUMMICRON-M ASPH and 1:2/50 SUMMICRON-M.

 

24 hours late camera is dead!

 

I have written to Leica France (Professionnal Department) and Leica at Solms.

 

Here's my story

 

1.- When I tried to register my camera at Leica's website to get two IR filters, I found out the my camera serial number is not in their database. I had to call my dealer who told me that happens often. He will call Leica at Solms on Tuesday (he's closed on Mondays) to solve this issue.

 

2.- While the batteries were being charged, I put the camera in it's leather case. Surprise, the case was badly done and the camera couldn't feet in. I had to go back to the shop to change the leather case.

 

3.- About 6:00 PM, I went out to take the first pictures. Surprises : Magenta issues, greenish issues, under exposed pictured in "Automatic" mode and the mesure LEDs didn't work on "Auto" mode (Speed indication didn't appear on viewfinder) and the LED light was extremely weak on "Manual" mode (impossible so see the LED outside, only indoors but always with very low intensity). In an Art Gallery, it was impossible to take pictures even using the "Manual White Balance". All pictures had a greenish tint.

 

4.- Impossible to make a portrait with the 1:2/28 ASPH in "AUTO" mode : Everytime the picture was under exposed (more than 4 stops). It worked fine with the 1:2/50

 

6.- I had several the "venetian blind effect" effect on my LCD after taking a picture and a few times when I tried to see the latest picture taken, the camera LCD viewer shown me the previous picture or the picture before to the previous.

 

I went back to my dealer but it was closed.

 

7.- I tried to take some pictures today. I turned on the camera but NOTHING worked. I replaced the battery, I removed everything (even the lens and the SD card -SANDISK III 2GB)... Nothing.

 

My M8 (Chrome) serial number is 3329XXX.

 

In 2005 I bought a DIGILUX-2 I had to send to Solms two months later because the LCD screen was full of dust. Leica replaced the camera. Yesterday, when I bought my M8 my dealer asked me to bring the DIGILUX-2 because it was a problem with the sensor (LEICA recall) and he has to send it back to Solms... I must wait about 10 weeks to get it back !!!

 

Happy with Leica Digicams? No, I'm not at all! I'm a professional photographer but I think I rather prefer to use any of my six Digital EOS... (I don't intend to make any publicity here to Canon) When I bought the DIGILUX-2 it was to have it with me all the time. I'm happy with the quality but I'm always afraid of the solidity of this camera.

 

When I bought yesterday the M8 was for the same reason: a good quality camera that you keep with you all time... but 24 hours later the camera is out of order.

 

I have nothing to say concerning the quality of Leica film cameras and lenses but I think that Leica shouldn't put on the market digital cameras until they're bug free. You can understand to have problems with firmware with entry level or prosumer cameras. But when you pay 4250 euros for a camera, you shouldn't find problems like that ! I can understand some minor problems, but when you cannot use the camera at all (I'm not the only one here with this problem) or you have to wait weeks to get free filters because they have a problem with infrared light, I think it's not acceptable from a company like Leica and the outstanding quality we're used to.

 

Regards,

 

ArtZ

[ArtZ]

Shootist,

 

I got an email from Leica (Solms) this morning and I called them back. The serial number is correct and they have it added to their database. I could complete the registration process and ordered the two filters.

 

Though they couldn't give me an answer for the replacement of my M8. Of course, they invited me to send the camera to Solms (which obviously I refused). The person in charge of professionals must call me this morning to find a solution because I'm travelling to Moscow on Friday and I need the camera.

 

I bought the camera at "La Maison du Leica" which is the ONLY official reseller in Paris. It's a very serious shop. In fact, they have three shops (medium format, large format and Leica). I buy there all my equipment for years. I never had a problem.

 

To be continued...

[jaapv]

This is just going to be a quick and informal survey in an attempt to narrow down some possible causes of the M8 electronic failures. If you have experienced this problem, I would appreciate it very much if you would answer a couple of questions:

 

1. What brand and size SD card were you using?

 

2. Were you downloading images via a card reader? If so, what brand, and was it a universal or single card type?

 

3. Were there any submarines in the vacinity that might have been sending messages using ELF waves? (Okay, forget that one. Just trying to retain some humour in all of this)

 

4. Did your batteries appear to be performing as specified, or were they depleting very quickly?

 

Thanks very much. I know these surveys can be a pain in the ass, but your cooperation might help find the cause of our problems.

 

Cheers,

 

I had it once, way back in December, and it was linked with the battery.

[jaapv]

Shootist,

 

I got an email from Leica (Solms) this morning and I called them back. The serial number is correct and they have it added to their database. I could complete the registration process and ordered the two filters.

 

Though they couldn't give me an answer for the replacement of my M8. Of course, they invited me to send the camera to Solms (which obviously I refused). The person in charge of professionals must call me this morning to find a solution because I'm travelling to Moscow on Friday and I need the camera.

 

I bought the camera at "La Maison du Leica" which is the ONLY official reseller in Paris. It's a very serious shop. In fact, they have three shops (medium format, large format and Leica). I buy there all my equipment for years. I never had a problem.

 

To be continued...

 

 

IMO your shop should replace the camera...

[cbretteville]

One lockup that was resolved by removing the battery and re-inserting it. M delivered in early March, this was in April after about 2000 shots. I was then, and am now, using Sandisk Extreme III 2G card.

 

- C

[ArtZ]

cbretteville,

 

I only use SanDisk Extreme III 2GB SD cards. I have tried to remove tha card, to repalce the card for another one, remove the battery, replace the battery, remove the lens, change the lens and remove EVERYTHING. The M8 refuses to turn on.

 

I don't believe the problem comes from the card. It's more likely a firmware problem. The camera was in the box with an old firmware version (I don't know which one) but the reseller updated to the latest version.

 

If the problem was just a question of SD brand and type, I shouldn't have problems with "shutter speed" not displaying in viewer in "Auto" mode, under-exposed shots in "Auto" mode, "AWB" (a well known bug) and even "Manual WB" in artificial light.

 

I called Leica France this morning. Leica was not surprised when I explained my problems and they proposed me straight away to replace the camera before Friday.

 

Did I get a bad copy? Maybe, who knows... but after reading the "Laundry list" thread and the issues other guys have with this model, I start believing that conception/engineering problems on the M8 could never been fixed.

 

You know, guys, for me Leica was the "REFERENCE" in cameras and optics... I feel like the day I found out that Santa Klaus does not exist.

 

Please, note that this just only my personal opinion due to my experience... or bad luck. Whatever, if you think buying a M8, I do not intend to discourage you.

 

Regards

[jaapv]

Did I get a bad copy? Maybe, who knows... but after reading the "Laundry list" thread and the issues other guys have with this model, I start believing that conception/engineering problems on the M8 could never been fixed.

 

I think, despite appearances, that you got a faulty camera. Both my M8's one since the first week of November and the other since early January, are totally reliable. Having said that, the first one needed the update to get that way, although it never misbehaved as some seem to have done.

You'll enjoy your replacement camera, I'm convinced. You'll find that reindeer really can fly:p

[Shootist]

Don't be disheartened, Leica is still the reference that all other 35mm format cameras are measured against, including the digital clones of those cameras.

 

Once you have a good working unit you will love it.

[ArtZ]

I got a new M8 this morning.

 

I've shooted about 20 pictures and everything seems to works perfect. There's really a big difference between my first copy and the second one.

 

WB works much better, no under-exposed pictures in "AUTO" mode and LED are visible on the ragerfinder!

 

The new camera (newer S/N) comes with firmware v.1.094. I asked to my dealer to leave it like this. I will upgrade it after receiving the filters.

 

 

IMPORTANT

 

I finally managed to turn the camera on. A guy from Solms explained me on the phone yesterday to remove the battery, the SD card and the lens. After removing all these parts, turn on the M8 and leave it like this for more than 8 hours.

 

This morning, at the shop, I turned it off, put the battery and the lens back... and the camera came up to life! All settings were reset to the factory settings, except "date" and "time". Though, the other problems were still there.

 

Maybe this can help someone if he can't turn on his M8 for any reason.

[Shootist]

Glad to hear you got a new camera, and one that works correctly.

 

Enjoy.

[KevinA]

I got a new M8 this morning.

 

I've shooted about 20 pictures and everything seems to works perfect. There's really a big difference between my first copy and the second one.

 

WB works much better, no under-exposed pictures in "AUTO" mode and LED are visible on the ragerfinder!

 

The new camera (newer S/N) comes with firmware v.1.094. I asked to my dealer to leave it like this. I will upgrade it after receiving the filters.

 

 

IMPORTANT

 

I finally managed to turn the camera on. A guy from Solms explained me on the phone yesterday to remove the battery, the SD card and the lens. After removing all these parts, turn on the M8 and leave it like this for more than 8 hours.

 

This morning, at the shop, I turned it off, put the battery and the lens back... and the camera came up to life! All settings were reset to the factory settings, except "date" and "time". Though, the other problems were still there.

 

Maybe this can help someone if he can't turn on his M8 for any reason.

 

Wow that would go down well on a shoot, "OK just got to leave it 8 hours and I'll be right with you"