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New electronics in M9?


hlockwood

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None. The whole point of product enhancement, M8 to M9 to M240 is to get you to buy a new camera. The days of repair and return are long gone. Although to be fair to Leica, you can get the M9 fixed for now (I have). The upgrade is to replace. Leica is far from unique in this world. After all, with all the advances in technology no one can build a camera where a sensor can be replaced with an upgraded version?

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None. The whole point of product enhancement, M8 to M9 to M240 is to get you to buy a new camera. The days of repair and return are long gone. Although to be fair to Leica, you can get the M9 fixed for now (I have). The upgrade is to replace. Leica is far from unique in this world. After all, with all the advances in technology no one can build a camera where a sensor can be replaced with an upgraded version?

 

However, there are some who might say that the M240 is not exactly an upgrade to the M9 and certainly not to the MM.

 

HFL

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Seriously - Leica offering upgrades for a 2009 camera is like BMW offering upgrades for their 2009 cars (absent a regulatory/safety recall or some such).

 

Leica has offered upgrades (as in M9 to MP, or M8 to M8.2) when they are producing a NEW model that is the identical camera with the upgrades already included. So if an M-E2, with a bigger buffer, should appear, that might open the door for M9s to get the same upgrade.

 

But that won't happen, since the whole point of the M-E is that it is cheap because Leica plans to invest no additional mental axle-grease in developing it. A cash cow with no R&D expense attached, for so long as people will buy it "as is."

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What is the likelihood that Leica will offer upgraded electronics, such as faster buffering, for the M9 and the MM

 

ZERO

 

Leica has joined the paradigm of rapidly obsoleted, disposable cameras and holds the lead as the most obscenely expensive.

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Leica is a company that markets its products with the air of longevity about them, that they are somehow 'digital und langlebig' (digital with a long life) - that was a slogan used with the M8. Ha, ha. And 'Die Wenigsten Dinge halten ein Leben lang' (Only a few things last a lifetime) and 'Unter allen denkbaren Bedingungen soll die M beständig, verlässlich ind robust seine' (Under any conditions you can think of the M will be long-lasting, reliable and robust.) They say it, but it does not make it true (in the US it could even be actionable).

 

Of course, it is just that, marketing, and little else. They are digital products and no matter how finely the exterior is made, or how robust any mechanics are, they are basically disposable products, which are relatively quickly superseded by newer, more up-to-date models - when the M8 sensor goes, it is a useless paperweight, the same will also happen to the M9 and Monochrom. The company plays on people's desire for the longevity, the long market relevance their mechanical cameras offered, and many people's desire to identify with high quality, hand made artisanal objects. The lenses still do fulfil these requirements for the while, but the cameras definitely don't, and in the new digital world, never will.

 

Most photographers understand that Leica offers something unique - the relatively small size of full frame, the unique rangefinder experience, great ergonomics and great, small lenses. They also know that as far as the digital and electronic innards are concerned they are buying relatively primitive stuff, which is way off the technological cutting edge - slow chips, less than reliable electronics, the awful screen on the M8/9, potential card reading problems, and for plenty of people less than optimal reliability. This is, unfortunately, the price one has to pay for small scale, almost boutique production levels and no large electronic company behind them.They are getting much better with the new factory, more employees trained up and the new S and M cameras, but they will never compete on the same level with the Japanese camera giants.

 

If you want speed and reliability, then Canikon is, at least in my direct experience, in that regard, better.

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... when the M8 sensor goes, it is a useless paperweight, ...

 

To the best of my knowledge this is not true. The M8 is still fully supported with the exception of the display panel.

 

There is a number of M8 which run the risk that some kind of stain will develop on the display which may be permanent or not. As Leica have run out of spares they will be unable to fix discolored or broken displays. However, they will offer a special discount when you elect to buy a later model.

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Either way though, they still become paperweights and are a very, very long way from something that lasts a lifetime.

They may or they may not (also depending on the owner’s age), but what has it go to do with the notion Leica should offer an electronics upgrade? No vendor offers anything like that and frankly it wouldn’t make much sense. An M9 will probably continue to work just fine for many years and if it doesn’t it will still be serviceable.

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