meakin Posted February 23, 2014 Share #1 Posted February 23, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Greetings to all! First time poster here (I think), loooooong time lurker. Day job is as a medical photographer - and this basically means doing editorial, environmental and business portrait photography with a bit of the clinical stuff as a side dish. All the while lugging a big dslr around. Privately I'm long time M film user and now, at last, also digital with my as of yesterday "new" M8. Unfortunately it has the dreaded vertical line problem (two lines actually), sometimes even visible at 160 iso. To be honest, I kind of expected this as it was from the "wrong" serial number batch - but the price was very good, it is in very good condition, and has a very low shutter count (2-3000), so I took a chance. I was wondering if anybody has a ballpark guesstimate as to how much it may cost for Leica, Solms (Wetzlar?) to fix this ? The idea was to keep it - hopefully get it fixed, and still not have put that much more into it money wise, than what they normally go for second hand without any known history. Thank you for any and all replies, and I'm looking forward to becoming a bit more involved in this fine community ;-) Cheers, Meakin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 Hi meakin, Take a look here Vertical line repair cost. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted February 23, 2014 Share #2 Posted February 23, 2014 Wrong serial number batch?:confused: The cost is usually nil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bla Posted February 23, 2014 Share #3 Posted February 23, 2014 Hello Meakin, I can't help you with the cost estimation... but if you're shooting DNG I have developed a little tool that enables you to fix those lines yourself. And better as Leica can do it, too... Whatever Leica may charge you for it, the price tag would be lower doing it yourself. And you wouldn't have to wait so long. If you are interested, let me know. I'll walk you through the setup. If not, no problem. Have fun with your M8! Arvid Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meakin Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share #4 Posted February 23, 2014 Wrong serial number batch?:confused: The cost is usually nil. My apologies jaapv, What I meant was that from what I can find out - It is one of the early 310XXXX series cameras that seems to have been (more?) prone to this problem than later bodies. Please educate me if I'm wrong. Arvid, Thanks very much for your kind offer - interesting little tool, I'll have a look at it and may get back to you. Anybody else - please feel free to chime in. Thanks again, /Meakin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted February 23, 2014 Share #5 Posted February 23, 2014 There is no difference really between the cameras in reliability or performance and certainly not in dead pixels or pixel lines. The only thing is that the older ones had to be upgraded in the factory, most if not all were recalled. As for the lines, they are caused by external factors (cosmic radiation) and may occur on any sensor at any time. The factory will map them out for you, or, if needed by the tolerance level, replace the sensor. As reported often in this forum, sometimes free of charge. If you send the camera in Leica will check the electronics as a matter of routine and apply any electronic upgrades it may need. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lm_user Posted February 23, 2014 Share #6 Posted February 23, 2014 I paid Leica NJ $450. Just sent back for warranty after 1 year for rangefinder calibration. Leica found more dead pixels I did not notice. Looks like this could be an on-going issue with my M 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meakin Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted February 23, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Thanks - all of you. Good news indeed, especially If they are willing to fix, adjust and possibly update ect. all on goodwill - good on you Leica! Looks like I'll be sending it in and see what they say, It's a great camera and I've already grown a bit attached to it ;-) ...with time I hope to end up with a full frame M-whatever, when I have the money - but me thinks that will be a while yet with my monthly earnings. Thanks again - and I'll be sure to update when I have news. Cheers, /Meakin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hows_doing Posted March 15, 2014 Share #8 Posted March 15, 2014 Hi, I recently sent my M8 for the same repair to Leica NJ and it cost me $175 for just the sensor remapping / pixel restoration which addressed the vertical line issue i too was having at the higher iso. The back and forth shipping was $25 each way. It took about 8 weeks total but the work performed was well worth the wait. I can now shoot up to the max iso 2500 without any issues of hot pixels or issues what so ever. From my own unscientific experiment my M8 performs equal to an M9 in low light and in direct iso comparison. This service comes with a 1 year warranty so i will keep an eye if another remapping is needed before my warranty runs out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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