R9 Serial numbers

[solareslarrave]

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I know that with the Leica R8 there are some camera serial numbers that aren't recommended. Is that the same with the R9? I'm curious because I want one. Thanks in advance!

[jrh68uk]

No, to the best of my knowledge this doesn't apply to the R9. 

[AZN]

Think of the R9 as the "bug-fix" version of the R8. My anthracite version R9 is a hammer and I wish Leica would have kept the same form factor and layout when they brought out the digital SL (Typ601) in 2015…

That said, I did buy a used R9 back in 2017 with a dodgy LED display in the viewfinder.  So you still have to be careful, especially when buying online.

Edited March 25, 2021 by AZN

[jrh68uk]

23 hours ago, AZN said:

That said, I did buy a used R9 back in 2017 with a dodgy LED display in the viewfinder.  So you still have to be careful, especially when buying online.

Yep - although the display is LCD (liquid crystal display), not LED (light emitting diode). Displays that use LCD technology can occasionally bleed with age, meaning that the liquid crystal compound can escape the confines of the display cell(s), leaving black, or blank, areas depending on the degree of bleed and its nature. This applies to any camera or device that uses LCD technology. Both R8 and R9 use LCD.

The R7, for example, uses LED for its displays and the difference is apparent. Not better; just different technology.

On buying either R8 or R9, apart from all the usual checks and confirmations, it would be a good idea to make sure the spot meter works correctly. These have been reported to have failed in a few cases (more with R8 but also the rare mention of similar failure with the R9 IIRC). The issue here is that the spot cell makes up part of the entire metering system and is not an extra as it it with some other bodies (eg., Nikon F4, which has a body-centric spot cell which operates independently to the rest of the system). In other words, if the spot meter fails then metering in general will be off with either of the two remaining modes, due to the "hole" in the middle which is no longer responsive. The spot meter is the first thing I check with R8/R9 bodies.