johnbuckley Posted April 18, 2007 Share #1 Posted April 18, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) My beloved M8, which did so well on a trip through Bhutan a few weeks ago, has had an aneurysm. It is most inconvient because it happened while I'm out in the Western US on a project... which is taking me to Arches, Canyonland, and the Grand Canyon. Yes, I've gotten a replacement, and it makes me unhappy that I have had to do so. Here are the facts: Camera was acquired November 6th, and has a very low serial number. It went back to Solms in January for its spa visit. I have had zero problems with it, save for an occasional pesky long delay before I can play back photos. But that seemed fine until this, though now I am sorting through clues. I recently updated to 1.10. And yes, all of my batteries have been conditioned using the Mancuso Method. They have been charged and drained maybe 6 times each. I was using the WATE, and found I was suddenly getting asked to choose whether it was on the 16, 18, or 21 mm setting each time I went to play back a picture. Then it suddenly seemed like the shutter had something wrong with it. I could not gently press down to engage the meter; if I pressed down, it took a picture. Then suddenly I could not get photos to play back. I switched batteries. Same thing. I could not call up the Menu nor Settings. I could only shoot it manually. This all happened within about 1/2 hour while I was in the Fiery Furnace section of Arches National Park. Perhaps I could have continued to use it, but even with fully charged batteries, two out of three times I couldn't get it to turn on. Major bummer. Now, it was working damn near perfectly before I loaded 1.10. I had it on Lens Detection on, with IR/UV filter. But a clue is that it really seemed to be confused by the WATE before it had its stroke. Do we need to be concerned about 1.10? (Replacement arrived with 1.9, and for now, I'm not changing it.) One other question: today, using the new camera with an old battery, I had a moment where it wouldn't turn on, and I had to take the battery out for a moment. After putting it back in, it worked fine. Should I take out and isolate this particular battery? Obviously I am sending the camera to Leica, but should I also send in the battery and charger?JB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 18, 2007 Posted April 18, 2007 Hi johnbuckley, Take a look here My First Generation M8 Had An Aneurysm. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
rwfreund Posted April 18, 2007 Share #2 Posted April 18, 2007 I would send them all back unless you are confident that you can isolate the problem. From your message, it seems that you are not sure, so to be safe, if it were me, I would send them all bac. Besides, if there is a relationship, then providing all potentially guilty parties to the factory gives them the option to do analysis and fault isolation. It would be a pity to get the camera back with a "no fault found". -bob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosuna Posted April 18, 2007 Share #3 Posted April 18, 2007 Reset the camera, take off the battery for a day and start again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psquared Posted April 18, 2007 Share #4 Posted April 18, 2007 My guess is that there was/is sand/dust in the crevice around the shutter release that forced the shutter down into metering or exposure lock mode. This will disable other buttons, and if you press the shutter release, it will open the shutter, but the release would not return to the normal position. This happened to me in Monument Valley during a gust of wind with a lot of find sand/dust particles flying around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuckley Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share #5 Posted April 18, 2007 Peter - that's a possibility, as it was very windy, and it is the desert... Ruben, as for resetting it, I can't, because I can't get to the Menu... JB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSL Posted April 18, 2007 Share #6 Posted April 18, 2007 My guess is that there was/is sand/dust in the crevice around the shutter release that forced the shutter down into metering or exposure lock mode. This will disable other buttons, and if you press the shutter release, it will open the shutter, but the release would not return to the normal position. This happened to me in Monument Valley during a gust of wind with a lot of find sand/dust particles flying around. This is a "professional" camera? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesphoto99 Posted April 18, 2007 Share #7 Posted April 18, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Mine's had a couple of moments where the top functions wouldn't work and quickly removing and re-inserting the (same) battery brought it back to fully functioning. I really don't think the problems are with batteries as the camera is exhibiting many different kind of hiccups. A pain in the ass - too bad it's such a great camera but very unreliable esp compared to M's of old. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat_mcdermott Posted April 18, 2007 Share #8 Posted April 18, 2007 This is a "professional" camera? Well, that was constructive... In conditions of blowing sand there aren't too many cameras in the world ("professional" or otherwise -- and to my way of thinking a Lomo is a professional camera if used in the hands of the a person whose profession is photography) which won't experience some sort of problem at one time or another. Though I do second the opinion that it's too bad that the M8 doesn't seem to be as impervious to the weather as previous Ms. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted April 19, 2007 Share #9 Posted April 19, 2007 I make money pictures with my M8 - that's "professional" enough for me. John, your real problem is that you were in Arches. There is some kind of cosmic link to the netherworld on top of that plateau. The ONLY time my M8 has exhibited SDS symptoms was at the base of the Balanced Rock. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSee Posted April 19, 2007 Share #10 Posted April 19, 2007 This is a "professional" camera? A professional says what s/he means, and not about the means, professionally speaking rgds, Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuckley Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share #11 Posted April 19, 2007 Andy - must be the ghost of Edward Abbey, who was opposed to photographers taking pictures of Balanced Arch or the Fiery Furnace! JB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSL Posted April 19, 2007 Share #12 Posted April 19, 2007 A professional says what s/he means, and not about the means, professionally speaking rgds, Dave Ah. Yes... Someone ought to tell the marketing department. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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