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Want to get the M10 but being held back by negative quality control stories


TG14

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I got mine last week. I found a relatively minor problem, so far. The continuous mode fires two shots regardless of how quickly I release the shutter button. It's minor but very annoying after paying 2-3x the best professional cameras out there. 

Ummm... single shots are a different setting.

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I got mine last week. I found a relatively minor problem, so far. The continuous mode fires two shots regardless of how quickly I release the shutter button. It's minor but very annoying after paying 2-3x the best professional cameras out there.

 

Hm . . . In how many threads do we have to read this? Did you find the menu point in the meantime? Imagine if you had a camera with 16 shots per second . . .

 

But anyway: Your posts add to the fear with all those quality issus . . . . Leica must habe terrible quality issues. Too stupid that I have none. This is probably my problem.

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Responding to the OP question: I don't think it is a BIG risk to buy a Leica M10 at this point. On the contrary, now is the time to get in the Leica M RF feeling  ;)

 

Nevertheless, for me its quite obvious that the ISO dial issue stands out from the other problems reported in a more isolated way. The ISO knob problem is a design fault, which has been admitted by Leica, at least informally. They fixed it some months ago. According to different threads, serial numbers above 5192** should be ok, older ones are prone to fail at some point in time, like it or not.

Edited by siddhaarta
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I got mine last week. I found a relatively minor problem, so far. The continuous mode fires two shots regardless of how quickly I release the shutter button. It's minor but very annoying after paying 2-3x the best professional cameras out there. 

 

I desperately hope this is irony?   :lol:

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To paraphrase Eddy Murphy from Trading Spaces, 'once you've had a Leica M, you never go back.' 

 Except that you can go back within the M-line. I went back with much pleasure from M6 to M4 for instance and a few times more

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I bought my M10 April 2017.  Used very little.  The focus cam broke after perhaps 500 shots.  Sent the M10 back to the Leica Store San Francisco/Camera West where I bought it.  Two weeks later it was returned repaired.  So far so good.

 

I've owned several digital M's and this was the first one to break.  Annoying but it happens.  I have had a number of M lenses either break right after buying them or in the case of two M lenses, DOA out of the box.  So much for a signed off test certificate.

 

My favorite lenses currently are the Zeiss 35mm f1.4 (as good as any Leica lens) and Leica 75mm APO Summicron.  I also own the 50mm Black Chrome Summilux; the sharpest Leica lens I've ever used.  Finally I have the Noctilux .95 but I seldom use it.

 

I like the Zeiss 35 the best because I can shoot and then crop to about the same view as the 50.  My most used lens.

 

Otherwise, Leica gear is probably as reliable as all the Canon gear I've owned over the years.  Buy and enjoy!

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I don't believe Leica has more of a QC problem than any other brand, but where they lag irritatingly compared to other high-end cameras is the long turnaround time you can often expect if and when a repair is needed.  Maybe if you're a member of their pro elite you can get preferential treatment and/or loaners, but for an average schmo like me it's a source of irritation considering the cost of these cameras.  I solve it by having a backup, but still...

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QC is a bit of a headache for a hand-assembled product. If one uses an assembly line, one can pull an example off the line and test it to destruction to find production errors, as machines are consistent in their failings. Human beings are different. The can make all kinds of mistakes, and only make them randomly. It is obviously impossible to take each camera apart again to check for error, so Leica has to rely on frequent inspections during production and an end control for superficial parameters. Hopefully the end check will not be done by somebody who is momentarily distracted or even recovering from a hangover. In other words for handmade stuff one cannot do more than the best one can and get mistakes as close to zero as possible - but some will inevitably slip through.

 

The rest depends on the quality of the customer service that has to rectify the errors, which is actually very good with Leica, except for those b****y waiting times. And then again, technicians are also human, so they will slip up from time to time as well... :(

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The only way to overcome these little quality problems is to take the human element out of making a Leica camera. The early M cameras were made by crafts people who trained for years and did everything by hand until it was perfect. Hence the number of pre W W 2 cameras working today. Nowadays they wear suits and white coats and work in shiny palaces and try to convince customers how good they are. I would guess many parts of the cameras are purchased from the outside and are bought at the lowest price they can get them for. As per a normal manufacturing system practice. Profit is the governing factor not quality. I speak as the owner of 10 Leica cameras and 9 Leica M lenses. I am also the owner of a tool room where everything is made from a block of material. Big deal.

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The rest depends on the quality of the customer service that has to rectify the errors, which is actually very good with Leica, except for those b****y waiting times. And then again, technicians are also human, so they will slip up from time to time as well... :(

The subject has been beat to death, but clearly US service is not generally up to Wetzlar standards, despite ongoing efforts to remedy. And it’s not just turnaround time.

 

Jeff

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