M9 Shutter Life expectancy

[glacierparkmagazine]

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I put more than 100,000 on my M9 over nine years...

[FredGP]

Just in case someone (like me) should land here and wonder: https://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/leica_m9.htm

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[jaapv]

After four years ... 🙄 Unfortunately a biased survey. More owners with a failed shutter will respond than those with non-problematic shutters.

[wattsy]

16 minutes ago, jaapv said:

Unfortunately a biased survey. More owners with a failed shutter will respond than those with non-problematic shutters.

You might like to think that but that's not what the graph shows. The vast majority of the results report the shutter still working. In any case, even if the survey was limited to only those who experienced a failed shutter, the survey would still tell you something about the number of clicks at which failed shutters might likely suffer a failure.

 

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Edited October 17, 2023 by wattsy

[jaapv]

14 minutes ago, wattsy said:

You might like to think that but that's not what the graph shows. The vast majority of the results report the shutter still working. In any case, even if the survey was limited to only those who experienced a failed shutter, the survey would still tell you something about the number of clicks at which failed shutters might likely suffer a failure.

 

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That only suggests that the number of working shutters is far higher. But an uncontrolled poll based on user reports instead of a survey of a representative owner group is sure to have a bias towards the failed shutters.

[wattsy]

9 minutes ago, jaapv said:

That only suggests that the number of working shutters is far higher. But an uncontrolled poll based on user reports instead of a survey of a representative owner group is sure to have a bias towards the failed shutters.

Whatever.

[jaapv]

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The other problem is that the failure cause is not reported. How many shutters failed through outside mechanical failure, like a grain of sand or touching it during cleaning, etc., for instance?  I am not aware of any report of a shutter failing through wear.  At any rate the shutters are made by either Copal or Seiko, like most if not all other camera brands. I think Leica uses Copal but am not sure. So there will be little variation in shutter reliability between cameras. If any should emerge it will only show that the shutter makers apply different levels of tolerance in their production process.

[ianman]

How did they arrive at a .4? 🤔

... in any case that survey is hardly representative one way or another as only about 100 people responded and probably many years ago.

[SuperPuppet]

so what if a shutter needs replacing. It's no big deal.I worked in a Canon photo service centre in Melbourne for several years up until 2000, and in a camera shop prior.

In that time I saw some shutters replaced. But not that many.  And mind you, we serviced all of southern Australia at the Canon facility, meaning apart from Joe public, we handled all the pro gear through the CPS system. And like I say... shutter replacements were not common at all. And many of those cameras would have seen a huge amount of work.

I can't imagine Leica being that much different. And even if a shutter died? Send the camera in.. new shutter. Done.

[jaapv]

The problem being that for a Leica M the whole camera needs to be taken apart and rebuilt. So even if the shutter assembly costs in the order of. 175 Euro the whole repair will come to a hefty bill. 

[tappan]

Mine has 42,912 shutter actuations.
It is going strong. Just had a CLA. Only a few very small nicks on the top plate.
It is an M9-P, but only because I converted it on the a la carte program (so is it still an M9-P? 🙂
It has the best newest replacement sensor, having been replaced in 2017-ish.
I love it but am being honest when I write that I am starting to feel around to see how much money I could sell it for.
It is one tough camera, though! Built like a brick.