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M8 - parts and maintenance - risky to buy


leicadude

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Hi Folks,

I am coming form the lowly, humble Leica X forum. Considering an entry level M camera. M8 looks nice. Any concerns about getting parts or maintenance done in the future? Am I better off testing the waters with a M6? (Digital vs film is not the question at the moment but the price range for the two is about the same). all things equal, the digital would be nice to have.

 

Thanks,

Rudy

Edited by leicadude
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I just added M8 to my M series small, analog and digital collection, preferred it over X line, but just because I'm Leica and RF fan. Here is no screens left for M8, not sure about sensors and shutters might be still serviceable. 

If you tend to use color film the price gap will increase quickly with M6. If you tend to use BW film and DIY then for price of M6 you could get one of the M4 series together with ten or so bulks of bw film which will be enough until next CLA. 

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The M8 is a great entry level, and all level, camera.  Usually very reliable...with the occasional "coffee stain" problem, which usually heals itself over time.

All parts except the LCD,  are available from Leica for repair.

 

I still love my M8's.  There are still some around with less than 5,000 clicks on them.

The 1/8000 speed is handy.

 

You will need some IR/UV cut filters to keep the colours nice. Take the filters off at night to avoid flare and ghosting.

 

Many photographers love the camera for B&W, and IR.  Compared to my M-P the IR is much, much better on the M8.

 

all best...

Edited by david strachan
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Hey - nothing humble about Leica X! My two pennies worth.. ..M6 and M8 chalk and cheese - M6 will probably be 'supported' (i.e. still working) long after M8 (along with other digital Ms).. ..and film bodies will not drop in value as rapidly.. ..but cost / convenience of film compared with digital is, for lots of us, a more important factor. Maybe with the introduction of the M10, M10-P, M11, etc, the price of M9 will fall to be within reach? Good luck!

 

If it's any help - I'd jump towards a well looked after M8!

Edited by Denys
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The M8 is a very nice camera indeed. I still have one next to my M9. My reasons to keep one are more nostagic than practical. It was my first digital M and I happen to have the lenses that work excel on it.

You definately need UV/IR filters for your lenses to shoot color with the M8. That is the biggest issue.

 

The crop factor 1.33 is something that can cut both ways. With some lenses it is an advantage. Like with the 40mm Summicron C. I also use the M8 with a 90mm, as a tele option when I have a 35mm or 50mm mounted on the M9.

 

With 50mm focal length the M8 feels to tight for me. I was really happy when I finally was able to afford my M9 and could make use of my 50mm lenses as they where intended.

 

If you can not live with the awkward 66 mm equivalent of a 50mm lens, it might even be more expensive to use the M8 in stead of the M9 with a 50mm lens.

Most wider lenses you need/want on the M8 will be more expensive than their FF counterparts.

So if you do not have any lenses yet, consider a combination of the M9 with a nice vintage Summicron 50mm. It will probably be in the same price range as a M8 with a 35mm Summicron.

 

With the M9 you will have:

- FF, so lenses act as they where designed

- no encoding needed because manual menu available (not on M8 so wider than 50 needs encoding)

- approx 3 years extra service

- nice newly designed sensor

- no UV/IR needed to get nicer colors than the M8

- 18 MP, so you could even crop the FF image to get the 10MP your M8 would have

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The M8 is a very nice camera indeed. I still have one next to my M9. My reasons to keep one are more nostagic than practical. It was my first digital M and I happen to have the lenses that work excel on it.

You definately need UV/IR filters for your lenses to shoot color with the M8. That is the biggest issue.

 

The crop factor 1.33 is something that can cut both ways. With some lenses it is an advantage. Like with the 40mm Summicron C. I also use the M8 with a 90mm, as a tele option when I have a 35mm or 50mm mounted on the M9.

 

With 50mm focal length the M8 feels to tight for me. I was really happy when I finally was able to afford my M9 and could make use of my 50mm lenses as they where intended.

 

If you can not live with the awkward 66 mm equivalent of a 50mm lens, it might even be more expensive to use the M8 in stead of the M9 with a 50mm lens.

Most wider lenses you need/want on the M8 will be more expensive than their FF counterparts.

So if you do not have any lenses yet, consider a combination of the M9 with a nice vintage Summicron 50mm. It will probably be in the same price range as a M8 with a 35mm Summicron.

 

With the M9 you will have:

- FF, so lenses act as they where designed

- no encoding needed because manual menu available (not on M8 so wider than 50 needs encoding)

- approx 3 years extra service

- nice newly designed sensor

- no UV/IR needed to get nicer colors than the M8

- 18 MP, so you could even crop the FF image to get the 10MP your M8 would have

 

All very good points! Thanks!

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Please, listen to Dirk :)

 

I bought the M8 on launch date, after years of using M film cameras. It was a mix joy - digital was great but the cameras was a bit frustrating.

 

Several reasons :

 

1.33 crop - I'm a 50mm guy and 66mm is too tight

back lcd - its just crap

camera is SLOW

worst of all - all of the M8's when sometimes you take a couple of photos quickly, it would just jam. the only way is to remove the battery and reinsert it. the problem is, this happens when the camera is downloading the buffer to the card and its flashing the recording led. but since it "jams", the led stays on. so since the only way to unfreeze the camera is to remove and reinsert the battery , you dont know if the buffer has been emtpied, sometimes resulting in loss of images.

 

Buy a M9. You have a worry free sensor ( Leica still replaces the for free if broken/delaminated/corroded), full frame, 18mp and no IR malarky.

 

I sold the M8 and never looked back. I bought the M9 on launch date and still have it, with little desire to upgrade - is that good.

 

Granted, high ISO is ... well... 800. Apart from that ( colour at least, BW you can go to 1250 ) the sensor is brilliant and outputs stupendously great images.

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I have purchased not abused 14.4K clicks M8 one week ago in addition to brand new M-E which I received as the birthday gift in 2016. In February 2017 M8 costs me 1350 USD (total with shipping and taxes) with fresh Leica battery and 32 GB card, plus original box with all original content in it, minus neck strap. 

 

I can't say what M8 is worse than M-E. The only big difference is ISO2500. I'm using it with M-E, M8's ISO 2500 is still OK for me for BW. I'm pushing HP5+ @1600 and prints from it are only slightly better comparing to M8 ISO2500 BW prints. 

 

As for as I know, M8 is more forgiving for made in China batteries without Leica label, while M9 is more sensitive to it and Leica labeled batteries made in China are preferable, while Leica prefers to charge something like 170 USD for battery made in China.

 

I have no intention to use any Leica camera for continuous shooting. I'm not doing it even with DSLR. I'm waiting and taking it at the right moment. If it is something static, I'm taking one shot and checking it on the screen. To me M8 screen isn't bad at all, same with M-E. I'm not latest and greatest (screen size and pixels count) cameras user. I started with 2.1MP digital P&S with tiny screens and up to 2016 I was using Canon DSLR 12MP with similar to M8/M9 screen size. Honestly, I prefer small screens. They are less damageable, eat less battery charge and here is absolutely no problem to check focus, framing and exposure on M8/M9 screens. To me.

 

I'm not sure why here is 40mm trend for cameras which has no 40mm frame-lines. 40X1.33=53, but 35mm which has dedicated frame-lines is 47, which is better for 50mm FOV to me. I checked M8 35 frame-lines accuracy at one meter, where parallax effect is more significant comparing to infinity and it worked fine for me.

I'm not 100% sure why M9 is better choice for 50mm lens instead of M8 with 35 mm lens and 50mm FoV. I like M8 35mm (50 FoV) frame-liness more comparing to M9 frame-lines, where it is too small and 75mm frame-lines are too close and making it harder to frame.  

Actually, I'm using M8 as 50mm lens camera (35 lens and 50 FoV) and M-E as 35mm lens camera. I'm finding it neat because I don't have to buy 50mm lens because of M8. In fact, I have sold two 50mm lenses to buy M8, but here is no loss of 50mm FoV. All I really need is one 35mm lens, but I have one more and will add one more :)

Edited by Ko.Fe.
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Hi all.

 

1st post here.

 

I too am considering the M8 as my starting point in the M world.  They sell for around 2k here in Australia.  It feels a bit high for something thats 10 years old with known issues but that seems the price of admission.

 

If i pull the trigger on one, i'll likely start with just one lens. Probably a Zeiss C 35/ 2.8.  See how i like it and go from there.

 

Regards.

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Hello, 

 

I would like to share bit of my experience with my m8.2. Bought the camera used about 2 years ago, and it had 9k actuations on it. 

Travelled with it everywhere, and it has been reliable with the occasional freeze (when the buffer is full). After a while I learned to deal with its cons. Also noted, second battery is handy with the m8.

 

One day I was scouting a scene, and when the person walks into the scene. I pressed the shutter one too many, and the camera froze. So I thought it is the usual froze, but I was wrong. The camera decided to delete my last 2 days of shooting, and that frustrated me. 

 

Anyway so I continued shooting, about a week after that while I was shooting in Flinders Street Station, the shutter refused to recock and it comes out with an error message. I have left the camera with camera clinic in Melbourne (was advised by Leica Sydney to do so, although I wanted to send it to Solms). 

 

Camera clinic came out with a $450 bill to fix it and I decided to go for it. Now it is still getting repaired over there. 

 

My take points: the m8.2 is a reliable camera with its cons and you have know it, especially considering its age (around 8 years old for m8.2 and 10 years old for m8). All electronics will fail at certain stages, and thats just how things is. However having said that, the m8.2 gave me a pleasure to shoot and it motivates me to go out. If you love rangefinder, you will love it. 

 

That's just my 2 cents. 

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Thats actually quite a reasonable price from Camera Clinic. I rang them last week to research costs and a CLA is around the $250 range for the M8.

 

Hopefully it comes back to you like new and you get years of enjoyment from it.

 

Im in communication with the seller in the classified section for an M8 with roughly 9k on the shutter. I may yet become a Leica owner. We'll see.

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Thats actually quite a reasonable price from Camera Clinic. I rang them last week to research costs and a CLA is around the $250 range for the M8.

 

Hopefully it comes back to you like new and you get years of enjoyment from it.

 

Im in communication with the seller in the classified section for an M8 with roughly 9k on the shutter. I may yet become a Leica owner. We'll see.

 

 

Just keep in mind, Camera Clinic is pretty slow in working. I left my camera from 3rd of Jan and they haven't completed the repair until now. Initially they told it will be done in 2 weeks time. 

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Hi Folks,

I am coming form the lowly, humble Leica X forum. Considering an entry level M camera. M8 looks nice. Any concerns about getting parts or maintenance done in the future? Am I better off testing the waters with a M6? (Digital vs film is not the question at the moment but the price range for the two is about the same). all things equal, the digital would be nice to have.

 

Thanks,

Rudy

 

as long as "your" M8 does not get issues with its display, it should be serviceable for a long time from now. and it also seems, that leica cuts prices on servicing those "old" m8. recently repaired cameras reported here in the forum had various isues, but all of them got serviced for 700 eur. so even the price of an avarage service is easy to calculate. that makes buying an M8 easy to calculate: just add 700 bucks to the selling price and you know: it wont get worse.

 

M6 oder M8? go for the M6. it'll last longer. at least if you want to take b&w-pictures, buying film and developping it wont be all that expensive. of course, the M8 gives great b&w files too.

 

if you are goint to take colorpictures as well: better consider buying an M9 while keeping in mind that shorter lenses are needed for the M8 which makes it more expensive than it would seem in the first place.

 

you want digital just because its nice to have? sure why not. you can afford an M8 and do not want to pay for an M9. well: go and get the M8. there is nothing wrong about that. it's a great camera. just don't worry, for it beeing 10 years old. it was an outstanding camera in those days and still can keep up with modern cameras. of course the buffer is full after 10 shots. but if you are going to continously shoot more than 10 frames with a leica M, you might better consider your choice for a rangeindercamera being questionable.

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Leica will only support digital cameras for up to 10 years from last date of manufacture. In the case of the M8 they already cannot replace the rear LCD if it fails. 

 

The M8 had some issues - banding with bright objects outside the frame, lack of infra red filtration. 

 

Personally for the price they still seem to command I think it's a silly price to pay for such an old digital camera, which should the LCD fail, basically becomes a paperweight. 

 

But, it is still the cheapest way into digital M photography. 

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Leica will only support digital cameras for up to 10 years from last date of manufacture. In the case of the M8 they already cannot replace the rear LCD if it fails. ....

This happens not to be the case.

 

Leica very explicitly stated that their aim was to keep stocks of parts for at least ten years after the end of the production of every model.

 

They failed with the LCD for the M8 because the last batch they bought turned out to be defective some time after it could be replaced at all.

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This happens not to be the case.

 

Leica very explicitly stated that their aim was to keep stocks of parts for at least ten years after the end of the production of every model.

 

They failed with the LCD for the M8 because the last batch they bought turned out to be defective some time after it could be replaced at all.

 

Sorry pop, what have I said that's incorrect? You've just repeated what I said. 

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You said "support digital cameras for up to 10 years from last date";

I said "keep stocks of parts for at least ten years after the end".

 

Your version would imply that they refused to fix a camera after ten years and one day. My version implies that they fix cameras at least ten years and then as long as they have the necessary parts.

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