orjanf Posted November 19, 2007 Share #41 Posted November 19, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) I am sure that going by the serial number Leica can tell exactly when each camera came off the assembly line and who was involved in assembling it and when it was sent to a distributor. Databases don't care about whether numbers are in order or not. They could easily provide a listing in production date order of every serial number if they wanted to. But if they did, they would have problems with some prospective buyers insisting on certain serial numbers... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 19, 2007 Posted November 19, 2007 Hi orjanf, Take a look here Earliest serial number?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted November 19, 2007 Author Share #42 Posted November 19, 2007 Given as sure that s/n are, in a certain range, not so related to date of production and current volumes, the speculations about M8 production figures are anyway intriguing... the prospected round output of 50 per day ----> 10.000/year is very reasonable, for me, and could be a good result for the Company... I hope they'll make public the figure in their financials disclosure... even if seems that Leica is on the way to be again a privately held company, with no listed shares, and this of course means not anymore detailed data released to the public. Many of us, in this and other previous threads, declared the s/n of their M8 (or M8s...), but of course these are "disperse data"... if someone of the people who, time ago, made the application for analyzing the AGE of Leica owners, could make a simple application named "M8 Register" which any of us can update with his data (no much more than 4 fields: "serial number" "C(hrome) or B(lack)" "country" "delivery date"), I think it would be appreciated by all of us. Are you suggesting the serial number is not related to the age of the camera, but to the age of the owner?? :D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
orjanf Posted November 19, 2007 Share #43 Posted November 19, 2007 Are you suggesting the serial number is not related to the age of the camera, but to the age of the owner?? :D OK lets find out - the last two digits of mine are my year of birth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted November 19, 2007 Share #44 Posted November 19, 2007 Are you suggesting the serial number is not related to the age of the camera, but to the age of the owner?? :D ... this is an almost 100% possibility, in statistical terms...make some manipulation on the s/n, you surely can obtain your age ...(in my case, sum the digits : 11 - my month of birth; take the last digit, put before it the sum of the others : 56 - my year of birth:D )... I was simply thinking that mods & admins clearly have the capability to "embed" some application in the forum portal, so they could establish an "M8 register" to be loaded of data by us... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted November 19, 2007 Share #45 Posted November 19, 2007 That is hard to say. Some here think the initial run was 1500 units making the serial # go from 3100001 to 3101500. But if Leica started with 3100100 or 3100101 then the end of that run would of been 2500/2501. From what I have read on this forum I haven't seen a serial # below the 100 mark, IE 31000XX. More to the point is your camera working correctly? If so I wouldn't worry about when it was made and or of what run it came out of. Ed, mine was first batch (Nov. 6 2006) and is 3102239, so there is some credibility for the second theory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott kirkpatrick Posted November 19, 2007 Share #46 Posted November 19, 2007 Mine was purchased at Popflash at year end 2006 (Leica USA received it earlier in December, with ccdboardid = 1) and is 2582. This shows the effect of the random selection of numbered flash shoes from the parts bin. I would assume that the flash shoe is bolted onto the camera body in Portugal, before the camera comes back to Solms for final testing and calibration, but without visiting the plant -- preferable by Porsche -- and taking the tour, I can only speculate about how this works. BTW, Carsten, there are pictures of the summarit bar codes on the Popflash site now, which could be used to complete your table. scott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Mitchell Posted November 19, 2007 Share #47 Posted November 19, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Mine was pre-ordered from the first batch and is 3100718. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eoin Posted November 19, 2007 Share #48 Posted November 19, 2007 Ed, mine was first batch (Nov. 6 2006) and is 3102239, so there is some credibility for the second theory. LOL, Carsten, Ed's maths is wrong. If it started at 31xx100 and the initial run was 1500 units then the last camera of that batch is 31x1600. Not 31x2500 / 31x2501 as he suggests. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted November 19, 2007 Share #49 Posted November 19, 2007 LOL, Carsten, Ed's maths is wrong. If it started at 31xx100 and the initial run was 1500 units then the last camera of that batch is 31x1600. Not 31x2500 / 31x2501 as he suggests. Yeah and math was my best subject in school. So easy to get simple addition wrong. Thanks for point out my mistake... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eoin Posted November 19, 2007 Share #50 Posted November 19, 2007 Ed, I don't know which is worse your maths or my spelling, LOL. Anyhow it was just a friendly poke at Carsten as he's usually so precise in such matters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hakku Posted November 20, 2007 Share #51 Posted November 20, 2007 Hello, everyone. This is my first post on the forum, so please forgive any 'beginner's mistakes! I've read (and learned) a lot here, mostly in the M8 section. Thank you all for sharing your wide expertise so readily.- Now: my M8 (black) is numbered 3329xxx and was bought in April, 2007. This is almost 230.000 numbers up within less than a year since the beginning of production/shipments. As mentioned in this thread and elsewhere before, Leica is obviously not using consecutive numbering for the M8-series anymore. This is 'mudding the water' as regards business statistics, but makes it impossible for the owner to know the production run and hardware status of his camera, once modifications are made to the M8. What makes me think is the wide spread in numbering. Could this possibly indicate a major hardware revision or change of production site (say as of 3200... or 3300...)? The "at random" numbering will also be highly regretted by (later) collectors. It should not be forgotten in Solms that this clientele took - and still takes - a good share in supporting Leica's outstanding image and their struggle for survival by purchasing all those special Jubilee/Coronation/a-la-carte/anniversery editions etc. in the past. Hopefully, Leica will honor this by making the serial lists available or - at least - offer a way to check an individual number, e. g. on their homepage ("Service"). Meanwhile, I support the idea of opening a thread on this forum where the users can enter their s/n(s) into a list. Initial 5 digits (followed by ...xx), would be sufficient. Leicapedia might be a place for this.- To be clear: Serial numbers are not the main concern. Photoshooting and technical aspects are much more interesting, but ..... I should mention that my M8 works fine, no problems yet, hope this will stay. I'm happy:p Horst Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted November 20, 2007 Share #52 Posted November 20, 2007 No it means Leica has allotted the other number to other products. The M8 is not the only item they make and assign serial number too. Oh by the way I bought a NEW black M8 in June and the serial number starts with 319. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hakku Posted November 20, 2007 Share #53 Posted November 20, 2007 Thank you, Ed, it's obvious they take their serial numbers, at least for all cameras with flash shoes, from one box. It would just be nice to know - also in years - when a certain M-camera was built. Horst Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guy_mancuso Posted November 20, 2007 Share #54 Posted November 20, 2007 078 bought Nov. 5th 2006 is my first one. Okay who can beat that:D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemeny Posted November 20, 2007 Share #55 Posted November 20, 2007 Mine is 31002xx - purchased new this year in March. The serial number would seem to indicate an early production model, however I have experienced none of the early hardware issues, so I suspect some serial number re-use - perhaps some were sent back to Solms and fixed to be sold as new? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
girphotos Posted November 21, 2007 Share #56 Posted November 21, 2007 Just out of interest, I wonder at what serial number Leica stared counting.As far as I know I had the first M8 delivered in Holland in November 2006, one of the first dozen mentioned on RFF and here. It has # 3101100.I guess Leica reserved the numbers# 3100001 to # 3101000 for the pre-production series and numbered the cameras intended for sale # 3101001 onwards. Am I correct? What is the lowest number known on this forum? Hello All The number on my M8 is #3101038 from November 2006 thanks Gary Gary I. Rothstein, Photography Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willemvelthoven Posted November 21, 2007 Share #57 Posted November 21, 2007 3100279 here. bought at foto nivo schweitzer in amsterdam last year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psss Posted November 22, 2007 Share #58 Posted November 22, 2007 just bought a 0853 blk.....what is the banding hardware upgrade you guys are talking about? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreas_thomsen Posted November 22, 2007 Share #59 Posted November 22, 2007 how about setting up an survey: 1. sn-number (last 2 numbers xx) 2. date of purchase and in which country 3. black or silver 4. any problems with the M 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreas_thomsen Posted November 22, 2007 Share #60 Posted November 22, 2007 my data: 31018xx 8.12.2006 in Hamburg Germany black no probs 31966xx 27.8.2007in Hamburg Germany silver no probs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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