Dolce Posted September 25, 2007 Share #1 Posted September 25, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hello, I don't want to start a debate, I just would like to know the CURRENT problems the M8 suffers from. In list format. eg: 1. Blacks show up magenta - due to IR filter, fix getting free IR filters 2. Shutter has failed on a few models, nothing serious - fix 1 week in leica factory (or longer) Get what I mean?? Well awesome, cus I am thinking about getting an M8, but I keep reading bad stories about it, and I'm not sure if people are harping on the past still, or if there are a lot of CURRENT issue with the M8... Oh, and another quick question, if I have CV lenses and they're not coded what will happen? Will the frame lines still show up, what does the coding do for me? And lastly, this price increase, will it effect German prices, because in Singapore the prices go up based on the German price, so I can get an M8 now for about $4700 USD, but will it go up as of Oct. 1st? And about that, I was going to buy an M8 (but don't know if my job will pay out what I expect it to) in which case if I don't come into the money, then I will sell the unused M8 that I purchased on credit for the price I paid for it (before the supposite hike), would someone be interested to buy it at $4700 if the price goes up, realistically? Thanks guys, Adam P.S. I'm new here, but I'm an old FMer and go on POTN quite a lot.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 25, 2007 Posted September 25, 2007 Hi Dolce, Take a look here Quick M8 questions.. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
lars_bergquist Posted September 25, 2007 Share #2 Posted September 25, 2007 Adam, I will try to answer the technical questions. First, the colour problem occurs because the sensor is sensitive to not only visible light, but also to infrared. Cure: use UV/IR filters on all lenses. —Coding for frame lines in the finder is mechanical, done by the lens bayonet. If they give you the correct frames with any other M camera, they work with the M8 too. The "bar code" of new M lenses instructs the camera to apply the right corrections for brightness vignetting (light fall-off in the direction of the corners) occurring in principle in all lenses, and cyan vignetting caused by the IR filters. Neither phenomenon is noticeable with lenses from 50mm and up, however – and not terribly worrisome with 35mm either – so coding is of interest with wide angle lenses only. —CV bayonet adapters cannot be coded. John Milich can supply codeable adapters. He can also modify Leica lens bayonets to make them self-codeable (if he coded them, he would probably be attacked by man-eating company lawyers, but coding one's own lenses is safe). Leica can retro-code most of their own older lenses. I have had three of mine done. —Reliability: Leica owners are utterly spoiled and expect instant perfection. They pick nits with the finest combs in Christendom. They go bananas over teething problems that owners of Nikon or Canon digital cameras take in their stride. My own experience (and that of the majority) is however that the M8 is a very reliable camera and that the initial troubles, with the exception of the IR one, have been slight. Leica have also gone to extreme measures to fix problems and keep their customers happy. Their reputation is by far their largest asset, and they are sensitive about it. Any new M8 will work just fine right out of the box. The old man from the Age of Ernst Leitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
photojimj Posted September 25, 2007 Share #3 Posted September 25, 2007 Er wrong... Am on 3rd M8 - latest body taken out of box last thursday and it demonstrated problems immediately. I can not rate the qulaity of the lenses enough but i am not convinced that Leica have sold all the problems just yet. As for customer care, i've had to fight light mad to get my previously defective models replaced and at no time have i had an apology or so much as a sympathetic response. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 25, 2007 Share #4 Posted September 25, 2007 What problems? There are a few glitches remaining indeed. Zebra stripes on autoreview Uncertain scrolling Whitebalance. These are being worked on and ignored by most users right now - It is not that bad.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted September 25, 2007 Share #5 Posted September 25, 2007 Er wrong...Am on 3rd M8 - latest body taken out of box last thursday and it demonstrated problems immediately. I can not rate the qulaity of the lenses enough but i am not convinced that Leica have sold all the problems just yet. As for customer care, i've had to fight light mad to get my previously defective models replaced and at no time have i had an apology or so much as a sympathetic response. Jim Er Wrong I've had 3 M8 and all worked perfectly. First one was replaced by Leica NJ because of defects to the case and minor, but troubling to me, spots on the sensor. The replacement and the second unit I bought have worked without a glitch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tummydoc Posted September 25, 2007 Share #6 Posted September 25, 2007 Er, wrong. I had two that died shortly after purchase, but the third is thus far still functional. An M8 is as any other complex electro-mechanical contraption assembled by humans: there will always be a chance that something will either be wrong with it out-of-the-box or will go wrong at some point. Leica's warranty is for 2 years, better than most. Their service turnaround-time could stand improvement and I believe it shall at some point in the future. At the moment however the heartening news is that there are no epidemic issues with the latest M8 production being delivered to customers, only the typical random defects that one would be foolish to assert can't be found with any other marque. Hopefully whatever those parts are that are now being substituted for those no longer available will not present any unexpected issues. I also hope as most do, that the next [public] firmware issue will solve the remaining glitches with the review and scroll wheel, and present a workable auto-WB for those who wish to avail themselves of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 25, 2007 Share #7 Posted September 25, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) All posts on this subject can only be anecdotal -as anecdotal as yours, to be blunt. I got my first body in November 2006, which showed mild banding, so I sent it for upgrade to Solms in January. Just before I sent it in it experienced what seemed to be SDS, but turned out to be a faulty battery charger. After that it has performed flawlessly. The second body I bought in January has had no issues at all. It has only been to Solms for engraving. At that time Leica exchanged one component that seems to have been involved in the SDS problem of this series and courtesy-adjusted the rangefinder, which imo was not needed, but a nice touch. Turn-around was fast - one week for the banding upgrade and two weeks for the engraving. Contact with Solms was very friendly and good. They even sent a follow-up email about my satisfaction over the engraving. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted September 25, 2007 Share #8 Posted September 25, 2007 Adam, I think you're going about this the wrong way. We've had a number of threads here listing the various problems. They are mostly of interest to those who already have the camera. If you are looking for reasons to buy or not buy the camera, the postings here won't give you the perspective to make a decision. Go to a store, use your own SD card, and bring the images home to work with. Or, rent an M8 for a week and knock yourself out. There is *nothing* wrong with this camera. It works, as advertised, with Leica's magnificent M-lenses, and any number of pro and unpro photogs are using it to make absolutely brilliant pix. There are a number of things I would like to have modified on my M8. I could not work without it even before this, when there were even more things I wanted modified. If you're lurking on this forum, you're already seeing incredible images. Get one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolce Posted September 25, 2007 Author Share #9 Posted September 25, 2007 Guys thanks for the heads up, now my final questions would be, first, what serial number are the new batches at now? And lastly, whats with this price hike, will it change the price of the cameras sold in Singapore, from what I hear they're affected by the German exchange rates, and obviously the German set price for dealers. Any ideas? Thanks again, Adam P.S. Whats to stop me from using highend paint in black and white to code my own lens? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmboy Posted September 25, 2007 Share #10 Posted September 25, 2007 Whats to stop me from using highend paint in black and white to code my own lens? Nothing, except being worried about the paint grinding off and getting into the shutter and onto the sensor. Ink is probably better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolce Posted September 25, 2007 Author Share #11 Posted September 25, 2007 Good point filmboy, it's very late where I am right now... I'm not thinking to straight.. Well, with that said, anyone have a number on the leica train, so that way I know I'm not buying an old stock from my Singapore dealer... If I do in fact bite the bullet.. Thanks again, Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy Posted September 25, 2007 Share #12 Posted September 25, 2007 There is *nothing* wrong with this camera. It works, as advertised, with Leica's magnificent M-lenses, and any number of pro and unpro photogs are using it to make absolutely brilliant pix. On balance I'm more than happy with my M8, but the above comment is so extraordinarily wide of the mark I'm going to have to wade in. The image quality / lens quality is such that one may be willing to put up with a number of faults. I am, for example. But my M8 (the second I have owned, the fifth I have tried) is only usable after a trip to Solms to cure its backfocus issue; it freezes and won't switch off relatively regularly; it does the black-and-red zebra stripes thing; the scroll wheel does the manic-scrolling-in-the-wrong-direction thing... To say there is nothing wrong with this picture is to misstate things (and I'm being polite here). If on balance the pros outweigh the cons of the M8 – and I say again, for me they do, I've never seen such good shots as I can get out of it now that it can focus properly – then fine. But to say there's nothing wrong with it... Not whingeing. Love my M8. Simply not using my D200 any more. But this is in spite of the camera's flaws, not because they don't exist. We have to be honest about this machine, if only so that Leica get the message and sort it out a few years down the line. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted September 25, 2007 Share #13 Posted September 25, 2007 Good point filmboy, it's very late where I am right now... I'm not thinking to straight.. Well, with that said, anyone have a number on the leica train, so that way I know I'm not buying an old stock from my Singapore dealer... If I do in fact bite the bullet.. Thanks again, Adam There is really no telling when it comes to serial numbers. My first unit ( the one that was replaced) serial # was 3100xxx. Clearly a first run camera that i believe went back to Leica for the fix before it was ever sold. The replacement for the first, both chrome, is 3108xxx and came directly from Leica NJ on 6/11/07. The second one I bought from B&H on 6/7/07, black, is 390xxxx. When were each one made ??? No one knows. Either buy a M8 or don't. It is a tool for fun, profit or both. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guy_mancuso Posted September 25, 2007 Share #14 Posted September 25, 2007 If you buy today it most likely will have 1.107 on it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndjambrose Posted September 25, 2007 Share #15 Posted September 25, 2007 Lots of people with some form of problems, it seems. But just to even out the feedback a little, I've had no problems with mine. It focuses perfectly, has never had a battery problem, scroll wheel works fine, and I've only seen the zebra stripes once and that was with the earlier firmware. I got my IR filters delivered quickly and exactly as I asked. I've used it day in, day out for five months and it's never let me down. I've shot weddings, advertising and reportage with it, and it's my go everywhere camera for my personal work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tummydoc Posted September 25, 2007 Share #16 Posted September 25, 2007 The second one I bought from B&H on 6/7/07, black, is 390xxxx. When were each one made ??? Well that last one was made...in 2009 perhaps? The higest-numbered batches thus far reported by anyone is 3,3xx,xxx. Unless you mean 3,19x,xxx, which is the batch just prior to the latest sporting 1.107. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolce Posted September 25, 2007 Author Share #17 Posted September 25, 2007 Wait wait... I thought 1.108 was the newest firmware, and that was an indication that you got a M8 with new parts (not better but just new cus the old ones were in no stock).. So with that said, it doesn't mean the "new" M8s are any better, but it doesn't seem like a 1.108 firmware user is having problems... Or am I wrong? BTW, if I go to the store tomorrow to buy a camera just say.. While there I make them turn it on (or does the battery have to be charged for 20 hours first), what exactly would I test for, I take a few pictures with the lenses attached and check for shapness, then I try jogging through the photos and I try zooming in and out?? Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted September 25, 2007 Share #18 Posted September 25, 2007 Well that last one was made...in 2009 perhaps? The higest-numbered batches thus far reported by anyone is 3,3xx,xxx. Unless you mean 3,19x,xxx, which is the batch just prior to the latest sporting 1.107. Yes I was going by memory, which isn't that good these days. It is 319xxxx. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grduprey Posted September 26, 2007 Share #19 Posted September 26, 2007 My advice, Buy One and enjoy it! Mine has worked perfectly since it arrived back in February. Gene Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth_c Posted September 26, 2007 Share #20 Posted September 26, 2007 On balance I'm more than happy with my M8, but the above comment is so extraordinarily wide of the mark I'm going to have to wade in... I hate to but I have to agree, this is no perfect product. However, and I won't go in to detail (its been expressed by others better than I could a million times) it is a wonderful camera to use 99% of the time (in my experience). Also, if you want to go digital there is little choice. I have an R-D1 also but this has its own set of problems. I don't rely on my M8 to make a living and maybe its different for those who do but as a result I wouldn't swap mine for anything. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.