A responsive contact at Leica or Leica USA?

[dalippe]

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Hi,

 

While dealing with the many service issues that arise with M8's, a number of people on this forum seem to find pretty responsive contacts at Leica who explain to them what is going on with their equipment, look at test images taken by the customer, invite them to send in lenses and cameras to be co-calibrated, etc. If you have found a responsive and reliable contact at Leica or Leica USA, can you please tell me who and how to contact him or her?

 

I have been trying in vain for months to get the most basic information about a 50mm f/1.4 that I sent in because it was misfocusing terribly right out of the box. My greatest triumph to date is to wrest from Leica the fact that the lens is on its way back from Germany. Nobody can or will tell me whether Leica found a problem, and if so what it was and what they did about it.

 

- A woman named Sarah at Leica USA has twice promised, and twice failed, to contact Germany and email me these details.

- The man whose voicemail is reached by dialing 7 (the extension for repair at Leica USA) has not returned any of my three calls on the matter.

 

My interest in this goes beyond my desire to find out what is going on with my lens. I recently took a number of night shots which I believe exhibit the ghosting of the early M8's even though my M8 was purchased in February 2007 (supposedly after this issue was addressed). But I don't want to send in my M8 until I know there is someone at Leica who will actually keep me updated about what they are doing to the poor machine. It would also be nice to have someone at Leica look at these images to confirm that I should send in the camera in the first place.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

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[Guest Walt]

David-

 

You'll notice that during the time your post has been up, there have been dozens of responses to other posts about what lens to buy but silence on your question. I think that's because no one knows what to say.

 

My experience has been that N.J. will eventually do the right thing, albeit very slowly--they've replaced three defective bodies for me--but that responsive feedback, information and technical support are not to be had. We have yet to have any information about the various problems widely encountered with the M8, many of them ongoing, and we don't even know what firmware updates entail. A case in point is the endless speculation on this forum about what the last firmware update was supposed to do. No one knows or is saying. Leica has pointedly avoided any direct, informative, consistent communication with this forum. I have the same experience with N.J., from which I have learned nothing about anything.

 

Right now I see this kind of support as the most serious problem with the M8, particularly because other, good repair people cannot work on the camera. As for lenses, I'd send them to DAG or someone like that, warranty or no warranty.

 

Walt

[Bill W]

There was a very recent thread on this same issue concerning service in NJ. It is kind of a mixed bag on what you will get. Things eventually get sorted out and completed but getting there is very frustrating mainly because of the mixed information.

I have emailed and never received a response and all I wanted is to confirm how to send in a lens for coding that was at my expense. After 2 weeks I called and finally sent the lens to them. I waited 2 weeks and was expecting to receive a work order confirmation but none so far and they have not even cashed my check. I finally called to at least make sure they did in fact have the lens and they did. They indicated it will be ready by the end of August....... Based on recent events, I am not optimistic about that information. I am sure they are busy but get some additional help.

[ho_co]

David--

Why don't you post one or two of the night shots you're curious about and let the forum compare them to what we've seen before.

 

My initial feeling is that you'd know if you did have any of the initial problems; and the problem with asking someone at Allendale is that it's unlikely that many of them have actually seen the problem.

 

As I understand it, when the problems were identified, Solms described a procedure for correcting them, viz to return the cameras to Solms for some particular modification, still not fully explained. Technicians never saw the images; the cameras arrived on their workbenches, and they were asked to perform the needed procedure.

 

If you post an image or two and get it diagnosed here, you may save some time and confusion.

 

You're right, getting good information is hit-or-miss with Leica. Any contact a person would recommend would only sometimes be helpful. For example, you mention getting promises twice from Sarah; but we don't know whether Germany never responded to her or whether the problem lies elsewhere. So far, you've at least reached her. All I've been able to do is to get her mailbox.

 

In regard to your Summilux, I say that's a problem that will take care of itself: You'll soon have the lens back with a description of what was found. That's the kind of problem I try to avoid burdening Allendale with. Instead, I prefer to contact them for issues the outcome of which can still be changed. Just my choice, not saying that's what you should do.

 

--HC

[dalippe]

I did not realize the lens would be returned with a description of what was found. I'm new to Leica (not to mention that I never had to have any of my Canon SLR equipment fixed...).

 

Anyway, here are two images with the alleged ghosting. Neither is an inspiring capture, but they demonstrate what I was seeing:

 

o The first has a vertical green streak on the far right, near the vertical center of the image.

 

o The second has a similar artifact over the white chair at the bottom of the image, near the horizontal center.

 

By the way, is there a range of serial numbers that describes which cameras are supposed to have this issue? Just because I got my camera in February doesn't mean it wasn't manufactured before December of last year...

 

Thanks.

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[hjsesq]

Suggest you talk to the dealer you bought the M8 from. If it is an individual or small dealer, he will probably make the calls for you and find out (sometimes even to his limited ability) what is happening.

Harris

[Guest sirvine]

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Call me silly, but isn't that just flare off that bare cylindrical light? It's certainly in the right place to be a flare artifact.

[dalippe]

I won't call you silly. I wasn't sure whether or not it was ghosting, which is why I wanted someone to view the image. The fact that it was so green is what made me think of ghosting, and I didn't know if the ghosting, like flare, tended to be some kind of duplicate of a strong light source.

 

In any event, if it is just flare then I am very happy that I won't have to deal with Leica about a new problem. I only have to hope that my lens will focus when returned and come with an adequate description of what in the world was done...

 

David

[Guest sirvine]

You could be right...I'm not familiar with the old ghosting issue at all.

[ho_co]

David--

I don't blame you for wanting to be sure, with all the problems the M8 has had.

 

My vote in these cases is for flare. The ghosting tended to be stretched out (as I recall), running parallel to the long side of the frame. It is interesting that your stripes also turned up green, but I think that's just because the light source is so overexposed. It could be that this is an artifact of the M8's split sensor, but unless it shows up without the overexposed light source, or shows up much more prominently with the light source, you're okay.

 

Yes, when the lens comes back, the repair ticket will say generally what was done. Nothing specific; just "adjusted for backfocus" or "checked and cleaned, no defect found." Once you have the transaction number and description in your hand, you'll have a better handle on the situation, but you'll never get anything as specific as "Lens out of tolerances; shimmed to adjust focus."

 

You're right that purchase date doesn't guarantee whether a camera was early or late; unfortunately, neither does serial number. Leica seems to map out one set of serial numbers to be, say, M8's, another to be M7's etc. And they may ship later members of one of those sets before shipping earlier numbers. I've seen some posts claiming that there have been three batches of M8's and listing serial numbers, but my guess is that only Leica has the details.

 

Seeing your images, I'm certain that your camera is one of the current breed, incorporating the modification that the earlier bodies lacked. These are exactly the kind of lighting situations that would have brought about really horrendous results when the camera first came out. For comparison, see the pictures at http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/29113-newly-purchased-refurbished-m8-old-problems.html#post305035.

 

--HC

[norm_snyder]

David--

 

It may have been a thread I started having to do with "who do I contact to find out..." [what was happening to my M8 while it was off to NJ]. I had signficant difficulty getting feedback, and also talked with Sarah a couple of times. Eventually, I did get some action, and during the two weeks I attempted to find out what was going on, I did talk to Robert Fisk a couple of times. It seems, sadly, that persistence is what is required right now but, as I pointed out in a previous posting, Mr. Fisk did come through, and my camera was replaced. As for your specific issue, the "green blob" does look a bit like what my [early M8--one of the initial 1500 or so] was doing until it went back to Solms for a refit. Once updated, I no longer had that occur. Eventually, it did fail, and it was this body which was replaced.

 

I would suggest e-mails and voice-mail. They do seem to respond, but a bit slowly.

 

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

 

Norm