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Can only Leica repair the M8/M8.2?


boojum

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OK. I am starting from that point where we all start: total ignorance.  I receive my M8.2 today when FedEx delivers the little honey.  I would not normally run an eBay camera by a repair facility to check it but this is special.  And the seller has a 30 return window so I want a skilled tech to 1) look it over and evaluate its condition and, 2) do a CLA if needed.  I will bring it up with the new lens so that the tech can check how well the lens gets along with the rangefinder.

I have read on this board and in this sub-forum that two esteemed Leica techs will not open an M8/M8.2 because of "grounding issues."  I have asked Wetzlar and finally Leica NJ about this.  They have danced all around this and are as good at equivocation as any politician or time-share salesman.  The best I could get out of them was that taking the camera to a non-Leica facility may void my warranty.  They have not said that any other tech is unable to inspect, evaluate or repair the M8/M8.2.

So I am going to be a guinea pig on this.  I will take some pics when the camera arrives, of course, just to make sure it works.  Tomorrow I will drive up to PDX and drop it off with a repair facility I have had do work in the past.  They did the job right in the past on a Pentax digital.  I will see what happens.  I will know it worked before I brought it up.  I will have the digital proof.  I will also see what these fellows can do.  And the tech left me a message to the effect that the M9 was pretty much an M8/M8.2 inside but with a bigger sensor.  So we know he has opened up a few of them.

As they used to say on TV, "Tape at Eleven."

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I would buy from a reputable dealer that checks gear first and offers its own warranty and return policy (and sometimes even Leica warranty if it has been recently serviced).  No need for service if no problems are apparent after appropriate shooting tests. When problems do occur, outside warranty/return, I first call DAG (Don Goldberg) to discuss.   

Jeff

Edited by Jeff S
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The camera went through the tests at my guy in PDX.  When I came back after about 3/4 of an hour the tech, Dave, asked if I wanted the good news or the bad news.  I opted for both.  The good news, "You got yourself a good camera."  It passed all his tests.  He did find a few spots on the sensor which he cleaned.  The bad news?  Trash the SD card.  

And here are his words of wisdom on SD cards in the M8/M8.2:  Use the recommended 32GB size.  That is what the camera is designed to work with.  That it has not yet failed with a 64GB card does not guarantee that it will not.  You only have to be wrong once. And do you really want around 4,000 images all in one place?  Right.  Expose yourself to as little risk as possible.  Dave even recommended 16GB cards over the 32GB cards.  Why?  If one chokes while you are on vacation or whatever you still have at least one good card and you may have lost a lot of images but not a huge amount.  And the world famous PhotoRec (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoRec) can usually recover a lot of what you may think is gone forever.  Let's hear it for our French friend who wrote this software.

Grounding Issues

OK, we all knew the answer to this one.  Can you sat MOSFET?  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoRec)  We all know from our computers that MOSFET's just do not like static electricity.  And if you and the MOSFET board are not grounded and you pick up some static electricity you may have also just picked up the price of some MOSFET cards.  We always ground ourselves when we change boards or hard drives in our computers.  Digital cameras are just computers with a lens hung on them, and their electronic insides are MOSFET's.

Kids, this ain't rocket surgery.  We just overlooked the obvious.  That's just part of life.

An extra: one tech at the shop, Advance Camera of Portland, Oregon, bought an M9 with a bad sensor and then one as a parts donor.  He put the sensor from the donor camera into the camera with the bad sensor and just loves his new M9.  As for Dave, the tech I dealt with, and the store, I can tell you that they have done right by me this time and in the past when I brought in a shaky Pentax digital.  He could have charged me for a CLA but told me it did not need one. There is nothing quite as heartening as dealing with an honest broker. Again, Advance Camera of Portland, Oregon.  Good guys who know how to do it.

 

Cheers to you all.

Edited by boojum
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