Is it weird to buy a m9 now?

[aficionados]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I was tempted to buy a mint M9, ID15 with shutter a little over 5000.

Everything looks good, except it's a bit expensive (close to USD3000)

I have been longing for a CCD Leica for a while. Should I or should I not pull the trigger?

[69xchange]

Sent you a PM

[irenedp]

It is not weird.. they are great, but increasingly risky. Replacement sensors don’t exist other than those offered by third parties. Original batteries are not to be found. Cards need to be the old slow kind -harder to find now- and the electronics motherboard is also a problem. I still use mine but now sparingly. Just appreciate it too much. 
 

The m9 was, together with a 10r, my light equipment. Now it is going into a reserve and I will buy a used q2 or 3 to replace it. 

[setuporg]

It’s an amazing camera.  I got the last old new M9-P from Leica and it’s fantastic.  The colors are something else.

[pgk]

5 hours ago, aficionados said:

Everything looks good, except it's a bit expensive (close to USD3000)

Cheap Leica digital M cameras don't exist unfortunately. One of my M9s is pretty battered and I paid half this for it and was shocked to find that it came with a Leica warranty following repair. Such cameras are few and far between. My back up M9 is probably similar to the one you are considering. Would I sell it for the amount being asked for the one you are thinking about? Very doubtful to be honest, age and lack of spares accepted.

[fil-m]

I just acquired a M9-P, CCD 15, silver, for a similar price. It looks like new despite the 11K shutter actuations. It is clear that the previous owner was a caring individual  

I don't regret this expensive "project" at all. Using JPEGs and even RAW files with no to minimal post editing is a revelation. The "out of the box" colors are special. The capacity to  take pictures without blur at lower shutter speeds compared to my M11 is also a plus (due to less vibrations in the shutter, lower resolution and the soft release shutter mode) 

The only thing to accept is a potential loss of value when something in the M9 will fail, in which case either the repair could be expensive or the camera has to be sold as spare parts. That's the downside, but I tell myself that in any case buying a new leica M and selling it a few years later represents an equivalent loss. The only Leica products with little loss of value over time and sometimes an increase of value, are analog bodies and lenses; and for digital bodies, maybe the limited/special editions like the M10R-BP or other. 

NB: some photographers I know, are still using 18 years old M8s!

[TomB_tx]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I'd say go for it. You can get a couple 3rd party batteries on Amazon (~$20 ea) and find a couple of 16 GB "SD HC" cards and you are good to go. People don't realize that all "SD" cards are not to the same standard, and the new huge cards don't work in older devices (cameras or PCs). The "SD HC" (High Capacity) work fine in the M9 while later versions will have problems. I bought 2 HC cards in 2011 for my M9 and still keep the "spare" one unused - the other has been fine ever since with a lot of use. I simply remove the card, copy off the files to my PC, delete the images from the card with Windows, and put it back in the camera. Never re-formatted or did anything special, and it still works fine.

[aficionados]

49 minutes ago, TomB_tx said:

I'd say go for it. You can get a couple 3rd party batteries on Amazon (~$20 ea) and find a couple of 16 GB "SD HC" cards and you are good to go. People don't realize that all "SD" cards are not to the same standard, and the new huge cards don't work in older devices (cameras or PCs). The "SD HC" (High Capacity) work fine in the M9 while later versions will have problems. I bought 2 HC cards in 2011 for my M9 and still keep the "spare" one unused - the other has been fine ever since with a lot of use. I simply remove the card, copy off the files to my PC, delete the images from the card with Windows, and put it back in the camera. Never re-formatted or did anything special, and it still works fine.

Thanks for the suggestion. I know m9 can only handle sdhc lower capacity cards. Those cards are really cheap, like $10 for 32G kind of cheap.

The seller also includes a third party battery in addition to the original one, a grip (not that I’m going to use it), and a brass thumb.

I’m really tempted now

[aficionados]

So I got the serial number of the camera from the seller. It’s 42550XX

Why is it so big? Based on my research the latest M9 batch started with 40XXXXX

The seller showed the email from Leica saying the sensor was replaced in 2017 and it’s resistant to corrosion. But there is nowhere in the email showing the serial number 

[69xchange]

27 minutes ago, aficionados said:

So I got the serial number of the camera from the seller. It’s 42550XX

Why is it so big? Based on my research the latest M9 batch started with 40XXXXX

The seller showed the email from Leica saying the sensor was replaced in 2017 and it’s resistant to corrosion. But there is nowhere in the email showing the serial number 

You can always email and ask Leica yourself with the serial number provided by the seller. You can also ask the seller to send you a picture of the CCD ID. 

[aficionados]

49 minutes ago, 69xchange said:

You can always email and ask Leica yourself with the serial number provided by the seller. You can also ask the seller to send you a picture of the CCD ID. 

I saw the ccd ID on the camera service menu when the seller showed it in a video . He said he asked Leica to confirm the sensor replacement and showed the email response from Leica. However in that email he asked about a different camera m9m with different serial number.

I asked Leica myself this morning but yet got any response .

What bothers me now is he showed an email of sensor replacement confirmation for a completely different camera. I confronted him but he didn’t respond yet

[69xchange]

4 hours ago, aficionados said:

I saw the ccd ID on the camera service menu when the seller showed it in a video . He said he asked Leica to confirm the sensor replacement and showed the email response from Leica. However in that email he asked about a different camera m9m with different serial number.

I asked Leica myself this morning but yet got any response .

What bothers me now is he showed an email of sensor replacement confirmation for a completely different camera. I confronted him but he didn’t respond yet

He probably has multiple M bodies and mistakenly showed you the wrong email. Regardless, if its CCD 15, its guaranteed that it was replaced by Leica. No third party shop can change the hardware to CCD 15 afaik. Asking for email proof from the owner is pointless, its way better to email Leica HQ in Germany yourself. Also if the sale comes with a service guarantee card then thats enough proof IMO. Here is what a service guarantee card looks like for my M9.

Lastly, if this M9 is local, check it out in person. If not, then buy at your own discretion and use PayPal G&S.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[aficionados]

7 hours ago, 69xchange said:

He probably has multiple M bodies and mistakenly showed you the wrong email. Regardless, if its CCD 15, its guaranteed that it was replaced by Leica. No third party shop can change the hardware to CCD 15 afaik. Asking for email proof from the owner is pointless, its way better to email Leica HQ in Germany yourself. Also if the sale comes with a service guarantee card then thats enough proof IMO. Here is what a service guarantee card looks like for my M9.

Lastly, if this M9 is local, check it out in person. If not, then buy at your own discretion and use PayPal G&S.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Yeah I figured. He has lots of sells and messed up with emails.

Leica Custom Service just responded , it’s all good, the camera was manufactured in 2012 and the sensor was replaced by them in 2017.

I’m going to zen a little bit and decide if to pull the trigger.

[mole73]

Hi aficionados,

last year I was in the same situation. 

I was tempted by a silver M9-P from the headquarter in Wetzlar with full service, guarantee, fresh sensor, cards, box etc. I bought it at a premium and since then never regretted my decision. 

The M9 and M9-P are such a joy to use and the images out of the box amaze me all the time. For me the M9 and M9-P are the perfect incarnation of the analogue M7 and MP.

Back to your question from post 1 "Should I or should I not pull the trigger?" my simple answer is:

YES

Robert

[Dazzajl]

8 hours ago, aficionados said:

 

I’m going to zen a little bit and decide if to pull the trigger.

I did that last week. And missed out on a very nice M9m. 
 

I hope your quest goes a little better 

[aficionados]

12 minutes ago, Dazzajl said:

I did that last week. And missed out on a very nice M9m. 
 

I hope your quest goes a little better 

I missed a nice M-E (220) last week, not sure if I should miss this one. I will make my decision in a few hours if it's still there.

[aficionados]

Ok, finally got the M9 delivered. Everything looks good. Except...

Some coded lenses are not recognized, when setting lens to "auto", the info menu shows lens "uncoded".

Not all of my M coded lenses are having this problem, only a Noctilux 50/1.2. But this lens is recognized fine on my M11 and M10-R.

My other lenses like summicron 28/f2 and APO 50mm are recognized on the M9.

Before you ask, yes I click the lens all in, and clean the LED lights. Otherwise it would have not recognized my other coded lenses.

Is this a known issue? The camera has firmware 1.210

What if I just set it manual to pick one from the list, any side effect doing so?

 

Updates:

I tested all my lenses (about 5), only those "reissue" vintage lenses are not recognized by M9.

Namingly, Noctilux 50/1.2 reissue, Summilux 35 Steel Rim reissue, are not being recognized.

All other "modern" lenses such as Summilux 35 FLE, Summicron 28, Summicron 50-APO are all recognized well.

 

Does this M9 have some issues with reissued vintage lenses?

 

Edited September 21, 2024 by aficionados

[patrickcolpron]

4 hours ago, aficionados said:

 

I tested all my lenses (about 5), only those "reissue" vintage lenses are not recognized by M9.

Namingly, Noctilux 50/1.2 reissue, Summilux 35 Steel Rim reissue, are not being recognized.

All other "modern" lenses such as Summilux 35 FLE, Summicron 28, Summicron 50-APO are all recognized well.

 

Does this M9 have some issues with reissued vintage lenses?

 

That's normal, only recent firmware allows this on newer cameras, enjoy your M9

[mujk]

Also new original batteries can sometimes be found.

M9 battery source 2024

I use old, slow 8GB and 16GB Sandisk Ultra and Extreme SDHC cards. Using bigger/faster cards does not give any advantages. The M9 read/write speed is the limit anyway.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Greenhilltony]

I saw two filter changed-M9-P (by third party technicians) in a local shop. I have to admit the thought of replacing my M10-P with an M9-P has been lurking for a while, because I’m getting tired of the slow startup speed, and I love the frameline illumination window more than you may imagine, also expecting less effort in LR tuning the flat color of M10-P (I recently realized it has a tendency to turn green into yellowish). But my digital M now is mainly for event shooting in my university; I worry the M9 is too fragile for this responsibility, as I heard someone warn that shooting too fast may cause overheat of sensor and prone to corrosion again. If that’s not true, I would jump the rabbit hole.