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Firmware 1.108 NOT Available


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Guest guy_mancuso
Not trying to pull your legs ... but Guy has an iPhone, he should be able to view and post directly from the golf course himself. :D

 

To damn hard to type. i leave that text stuff to the teenagers. i have enough trouble with the real keyboard. LOL

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Guest tummydoc
It's funny we may never know this kind of stuff with Nikon and Canon they maybe right in the middle of a run and go damn we need more parts and just use them and change the firmware if needed and no one would know any better. leica seems to have chosen a different path

 

Yes, straight through a mine field so it appears :D Interesting though, I was thinking precisely the same thing w.r.t. Nikon and Canon, and I can't explain why they've never TTBOMK shipped cameras with a new firmware version without making that version available for download to exsiting owners. Maybe someone else knows of an indicence that I do not. The problem Leica would have is that whilst 1.108 mightn't cause any harm to an M8 with the "old" hardware, loading 1.107 into a body with "new" hardware might spell disaster, so they fairly well either had to give us all 1.108 or do what they did. Certainly doing what they did saved us from any potential risk in doing a needless firmware install, but clearly it ignited the flames of speculation and doubt. I agree (putting this in bold in the hopes it aids comprehension for certain individuals) giving us a useless download and a fictitious explanation thereof would be quite unncessary for some of us INCLUDING MYSELF, it would've avoided suspicion and controversy...and Guy, probably exactly what Nikon and Canon recognised long ago and what they've done many times with us none the wiser. I'm reminded of the famous Jack Nicholson line from A Few Good Men about handling the truth :D

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Well, I see the conspiratorial gnashing of teeth on this forum has now officially surpassed that resident on most Apple Mac forums.

 

As a long-time Mac user (since 1987) but a short-time Leica owner, I have to ask -- are Leica forum members always this twitchy?

 

 

yes

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Leica's appalling public relations error in not releasing a full and complete, minutely specified description of the changes seems to have affected about, mmm, four people. Maybe six. The rest -- including the 95+ percent of Leica owners who don't read this forum or any forum, for that matter -- could really give a rat's ass about a routine spec change.

 

Just like the rotten Gnomes of Solms to try to sneak a better camera past us without letting us know about it, eh? If it had been Canon, they'd have been buying full-page ads in the London Times.

 

So why don't they just let us download the 1.08? Because everytime there's a firmware change, the board starts getting complaints that the firmware download doesn't work, and that it can't possibly be the user's fault because...uh, what do you mean, unZip the file?

 

Gimme a break. Let's go back to talking about the shoulder-strap lugs.

 

JC

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Significant? Hardly. Maybe the USB support chip got cancelled, and they had to use another with other timings, and so they had to expand firmware 1.107 to handle the new chip as well. Something like that would be my guess.

 

I visited my Leica store today and they said something similar to this, and that all future updates will be for all versions of the M8.

 

 

Carsten,

 

Maybe changing out the main board is not a significant change to you; however, it is to me. Maybe its because I have been in both the hardware and software business long enough to know that making a change of that nature is very costly. Perhaps a minor part change dictated the development of a whole new main board, but that would be rare. Given that they use pretty generic off the shelf components I find the obsolescence story a little hard to swallow. Let me explain why. Most of you have probably never heard of an organization called GIDEP. It is a DoD organization that was set up precisely because the electronics industry obsoletes components but the military keeps using the equipment and needs to be able to obtain replacement parts long after the manufacturer has quit producing them. They work as an industry clearing house keeping track of who has components stocked somewhere and making them available. The bottom line is that there are usually large caches of components somewhere in the supply chain (distributors, other manufacturers, etc). Given the relatively small quantities that Leica probably buys it should be possible to find some of these components (less than 10K) somewhere in the distribution channels.

 

However, it is up to them whether to redesign a new main board or find enough parts to keep going with the original design. However, if something like the CCD changed they might not have any choice. I would think that the normal approach would be to wait to change the main board design when you were ready to introduce a new improved version, at least that is what I would do.

 

In any case...I am not selling my camera yet, in fact I won't be selling it period. I would either have it replaced or seek a refund, I see no reason to take a loss until and unless Leica has resolved the known issues and the camera meets is specifications. I am fully prepared to be wrong and I hope I am. Maybe Leica has the money to replace a main board design for a few small insignificant components and can afford to add the cost of supporting two firmware designs but I doubt it.

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This information posted in a now closed thread by guy_mancuso deserves refreshing in order to allay speculation:

 

"It is a nothing update folks . What it is, is cameras leaving the factory will have 1.108 on there camera's some parts are replaced and it is just an update for those parts so it has nothing to do with existing camera's. I actually loaded the beta on both my existing camera's to test and no changes to the camera's . Really i would call it a spec update so please don't read into it as anything else but that. There are no changes to be realized whatsoever on the performance of existing camera's in place today reason it is not a downloadable update. Best advice carry on and not too worry about it. This has nothing to do with a real downloadable firmware update that will make any user changes"

 

Thank you Guy.

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Guest guy_mancuso

I think these two guys have the right idea. Golf, Cocktail , Lunch, Cigar and another cocktail and some nice talk of the Cardnals cheerleaders on the golf course. 28 cron, have i told how much i like this lens.LOL

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Guest guy_mancuso

No nothing but no jeans and must wear a collared shirt. To bloody hot here Mark. Today was a nice 98 degrees. This is also a public tourney for charity so no pro's in this.

 

The only Pro's here are the Cardinal cheerleaders from the NFL. looks like i may go get season tickets. LOL

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Wouldn't it have been simpler to say this:

"As of today, September 21, 2007, all Leica M8's shipped from the factory will be loaded with firmware version 1.108, due to the replacement of an electronic part used in the manufacture of the camera. All pre-existing M8's are not affected by this change and there is no need to upgrade from version 1.107 as there is no new functionality in the update. All future firmware updates will address all revisions of the camera."

 

EXACTLY. 99% of all this angst could have been prevented with a little forethought applied to a simple statement like the one above.

 

See now there's the rub!

 

Leica DID say EXACTLY that -- but IN GERMAN, and then it got translated via Babelfish and the rest is history! :rolleyes::D;)

 

Actually I read Leica's statement to mean exactly what you wrote! Why it is being misread is beyond me.:confused:

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Carsten,

 

Maybe changing out the main board is not a significant change to you; however, it is to me...

 

Most of you have probably never heard of an organization called GIDEP. It is a DoD organization that was set up precisely because the electronics industry obsoletes components but the military keeps using the equipment and needs to be able to obtain replacement parts long after the manufacturer has quit producing them...

 

Two things, have they changed the main board? If so please point me to the communication where Leica said so. If you can't this is _pure_ speculation without foundation in fact.

 

Secondly, this GIDEP you mention, is it a European, or to be more specific, a German organisation? Maybe it's something in the US, in which case can you please explain what it's relevance is to a non-military camera manufacturer in Germany?

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First, for all the insults I heard here, I simply say I don’t give a dam. It’s rather amusing how people here attack you personally when you say something against Leica. Most of my posts have been intentionally modified from the original meaning. I don’t care. Affirmations like I’m troll, I need a shrink, a 4-6 years old child behavior and other personal insults just comfort my position. You cannot complain here about Leica’s lack of communication and opaque marketing policies.

 

Concerning legal issues I can say:

 

1.- It is illegal to sell a good which has been already sold, used and repaired “as new”. It doesn’t matter if it was just for a minute.

 

2.- A Company which sells goods which don’t fulfill with the specifications advertised can be suited for fraud and false publicity.

 

3.- A manufacturer can change specifications of his products and cannot be sewed for that but it’s a crime to sell a product giving wrong information.

 

My solicitor will prepare a letter for Leica asking explanations. Depending on Leica’s answers I will decide what to do. In France “class actions” doesn’t exist.

 

Another photographer was at this dinner party and everybody was shocked of Leica behavior.

 

I love my two M8s but Leica attitude is intolerable.

 

You can take this as you like. You can insult me again if you wish. Just because there’s a group of fanatics here, there’s no reason why I cannot express my opinion.

 

I think Internet is a free space and I haven’t insulted anyone. People called me “troll”, compared me to Gorges W. Bush and many other things and moderators haven’t said a word. Bravo.

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