Waiting on Solms?

[guywalder]

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having seen a few people posting horror stories of lead time on work being done at Solms I think it's only fair to report my own experience.

Its a half day round trip for me to get to Solms, and since I am going overseas soon I wanted to minimise the downtime of my M8. So I took it there personally and dropped off the camera and 2 lenses (due to focus issues).

I spent some time explaining to one of the technicians what problems I was having (and where I thought the engineering could be improved). He thought that the camera needed a new board to solve the patterning I was getting in orange colours, and quoted a 1 week turn around.

1 week and half a day later I saw in the internet tracking service that the work was finished, and I duly went and picked it up.

All my lenses now focus properly, and the patterning looks to be solved as well. So many thanks to Leica customer service!

Guy

[Eoin]

Nice comment, good outcome, delighted for you. Leica have always been very helpful and nice in my experience to date. Sadly however it's always the bad reports that seem to grab the headlines.

[marknorton]

As a matter of interest, where do you think the engineering could be improved?

[wda]

Guy, thank you for posting a positive report of fine Leica service.

 

David

[guywalder]

Mark,

I have banged on about most of my frustrations in various posts, but since you ask!

 

1. The on/off switch. This regularly and frequently moves when all I want to do is set a faster shutter speed. What I think is the meter timing out is actually the camera turning off. Very irritating. With the same switch moving through a different arc its only happened once on my M7. I asked service to put in a stiffer spring, but they dont have one apparently, maybe when its out of warranty I'll do that myself.

 

2. Review mode. where to start? response to the thumb wheel, the preview rebuild that takes several seconds, the joke histogram, the full screen blown highlights, but only in auto review and so on. Reviewing pictures is a sorry experience in comparison to my D2x, and I dont think the quality of the preview picture is all that great either. I am starting to treat my M8 as less of a digital camera and more as a camera that takes pictures i can download when I get back to the pc.

 

There are various others which are irritating but less restricting, like 1/3rd EV stops in auto, but only 1/2 stops in manual. I work in manual 95% of the time, and always when exposure is critical, so to my way of working the 1/3 vs 1/2 is arse about face, easy with an electronic shutter.

I'd prefer the screen to be better protected, recessed, or with some decent protection that clips on (or not if you prefer not). I dont know yet about weather resistance, I cant remember what you found in your strip down regarding sealing of the buttons and screen??

Oh yes, full stop changes in ISO is pretty poor as well.

I'll skip over IR, other than to say menu implimentation of lenses is mandatory as far as I'm concerned.

I dont like the moire that shows up occasionally, but its not been very often so far.

Auto WB is still not up to the standards expected (ie my Nikon)

Battery status reporting could be so much better, and is all the more important with a relatively small capacity battery (see Nikon again...)

The shutter is too loud, there are DSLRs which sound quieter to me!! I dont care if i is quieter than the xyz SLR/MF camera some people used before, it is a significant step backwards compared to the M7.

 

In a grumpy mood I am inclined to think that the Leica guys didnt actually look at how well implimented a lot of the japanese DSLRs are, and instead they have started out on their digital journey without benchmarking whats already out there. The frustration is that fixing all these points wouldnt make it any less of an 'M' for all the diehards, but it would make it a much nicer camera to use.

 

All that said, and in a less grumpy mood, I am warming to the M8. My bag is smaller and lighter for the same coverage, and the better lens performance is clear in an A3 print, at low ISO anyway..

Anyway, customer service, Great!!

[marknorton]

Guy, an interesting list.

 

Tough to know exactly how to comment and I'm no Leica apologist, but I cut them more slack than you appear to. It's only a few years ago that Leica thought a Digital M was impossible and only 18 months before the M8 was launched, Leica was on its knees financially.

 

With that background, that the M8 has come to market is a miracle. 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing and I daresay Leica have their own list of things they will do differently next time.

 

Yes of course, we'd like some of the sophistication you see in Nikon and Canon cameras but Nikon are 50 times the size of Leica and Canon are several times bigger than Nikon.

 

Consider this: Canon spent more on their "pavilion" at Photokina 2006 than Leica likely spent developing the entire M8.

 

I think the M8 is great, a landmark camera and I'm waiting eagerly for future M product announcements.

[guywalder]

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Hi Mark,

 

I appreciate that listed like that it looks like I am ranting. However it is actually intended to be constructive criticism....

As it happens I work for a german company, and in our division we have similarities with Leica, a minow fighting the giants of the industry. However knowing how we work I can well imagine what might be going on in Solms. Thats why I wont ever accept the 'Leica know best' crap!

 

As for the miracle of the M8's birth, agreed!

Part of the reason for me currently using an M is because I thought they might be going under a couple of years ago (and having tried to help them out I now feel very agrieved that I am being penalised for buying pre-6 bit lenses...).

The diehard Leica fans may well buy whatever Leica manufacture, and I have nothing against that by the way, but in the past that wasnt enough to keep the company healthy, and after soaking up the pent up demand for a digital M it probably wont be enough in the future. Which I why I think its better to keep up the pressure on Leica to make products that have a wider appeal (which they could well do without alienating their loyal traditionalists.

Guy

(with apologies to all the Leica fans )