Leica M8 issue

[marian170]

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Hello everyone,

I have a Leica M8 that has been sitting on the shelf since 2017. Today I remembered about it, charged the battery(which is also old) and tried taking some pictures. At first it all worked fine but then, after fiddling with the settings, a 10 seconds countdown timer appeared on the dispaly, and when it reached 0, the camera started doing this:

l tried turning it off and removing the objective(as you see here), but the behaviour persisted. I removed the battery and immediately inserted it back, but again, nothing changed.

I thought that since the battery is old it might have something to do with that so I charged it again. When I inserted it back, it worked ok, but when I attached the objective and turned it back on, the noise started again, but alongside a second noise could be heard(which I didn't record).

I charged again the battery for a longer time, and now there's no noise. But the only thing that happens when I turn the camera on now is a blink from a red light. The display doesn't turn on and I can't take any pictures.

My question is: is the camera done for? Or do you have any idea if it's repairable? And if it is, does Leica still do these or should I find a generic camera repair shop?

I thought that I may solve this by doing a firmware update but that doesn't seem to be possible without a working display.

Anticipated thanks!

Marian F

[dkCambridgeshire]

Are you using a good quality SD card? Poor quality / nondescript / cheapo and fake SD cards can cause problems. Have you formatted the SD card? And have you tried a camera reset? 

BW, dunk 

[jdlaing]

Put the bottom plate on the camera after you put a small slow SD card in.

Single shot.

Try again.

[marian170]

42 minutes ago, dkCambridgeshire said:

Are you using a good quality SD card? Poor quality / nondescript / cheapo and fake SD cards can cause problems. Have you formatted the SD card? And have you tried a camera reset? 

BW, dunk 

I'm using the SD Card I received when I bought the camera(I got it used). Can you format the SD card and reset the camera if the screen doesn't turn on?

[jaapv]

The  nylon “fingers” that control the shutter are stuck. This is a relatively simple repair. The main problem is that Leica customer service is completely backed up so the repair turnaround will be quite slow. Even if the continued cycling has burnt out one of the coils a replacement shutter should still be within the value of the camera. There are no third party repair shops. 

[dkCambridgeshire]

37 minutes ago, jaapv said:

The  nylon “fingers” that control the shutter are stuck. This is a relatively simple repair. The main problem is that Leica customer service is completely backed up so the repair turnaround will be quite slow. Even if the continued cycling has burnt out one of the coils a replacement shutter should still be within the value of the camera. There are no third party repair shops. 

Possible that David Slater might be able to help https://camera-focus.co.uk/our-story .... he's an independent UK based Leica technician and he might be able to service / repair some M8 and M9 parts. I've seen his 'demo tray' with a dismantled M9 at one of his Leica Society presentations 

BW, dunk

Edited June 23, 2024 by dkCambridgeshire

[dkCambridgeshire]

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1 hour ago, marian170 said:

I'm using the SD Card I received when I bought the camera(I got it used). Can you format the SD card and reset the camera if the screen doesn't turn on?

No.

[dkCambridgeshire]

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/295052-m8-sticky-shutter-wait-or-repair/

Please read #4 ref 'gently tap the camera with the palm of your hand open ....'   .... but at your own risk .... too strong a tap risks rangefinder misalignment. 

BW, dunk 

 

[marian170]

Thank you everyone for the useful information!

As an update: after charging the battery for 2 more hours I tried turning it on, and: Surprise! It stopped doing the noise. Also, the display could be turned on with the Menu/Set buttons.

I tried again to take some picture but the noise still appeared for about 10 seconds. After that I took more photos and it got less and less frequent.

Now it only does it twice every 4-5 pictures I take. If it's gonna get worse I'll try contacting somebody.

Thanks again for everything and I wish you all the best!

Marian F

[3D-Kraft.com]

I would try to get a new battery.

[tommonego@gmail.com]

New batteries are available at B&H in the US, around $149. I had to replace the 2 batteries I got with my used M8 over a couple of years. I also replaced the M8 charger with an M8.2/M9 charger, much smaller. I use Sandisc SCHD cards, they work well, I believe 4 and 8gb ones are available on Amazon. The card I got with the camera was also faulty. I reformat cards after I down load the images from them. 

[Ernstk]

You can get very good quality third party batteries made by Cameron Sino. I've been using them for 10+ years with zero issues.

They're around £20 on Amazon or eBay.

Ernst