Should I buy a Leica M8 in 2025?

[Borna]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Yes you should. See this as a sign. Great camera. Great IQ. Beautiful BW. Best gateway drug for getting into M-cameras. Enjoy! I love mine combined with an M6.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[lm_user]

I own an M8 and M10-R.  I enjoy them both, but the M10 is far a superior camera (imo)

The M8 does produce beautiful images.  I just printed a gorgeous 20 inch wide print.  

That said - I had tremendous issues getting rangefinder calibrated properly on M8.   No issues with M10.  M8 could be un repairable as not all parts are available.   

If you want the unique benefits (ccd look and ir ensitivity for bw) and you can afford a $2K brick should it fail then go for it….

[tommonego@gmail.com]

I have an M8 I bought in 2019, it has been relatively problem free, has a sticky frame selector but that is about it. Whenever I use it the Bobby McFerrin song "Don't Worry Be Happy" goes through my head. If it goes back to leica for frame selector, they will want to go over it and estimates will be $800-$2000. The camera works well for me I bought it for its infrared capabilities, and discovered its color, I don't think the b&w is anything special, good but not special, I use just RAW files. If I use b&w I go to my M3 or larger formats. Oh yes I also had a good group of older Leica lenses when I bought the camera, so i didn't have the lens expence.

Len ses I use with the M8:

25mm Canon f3.4 LTM
18mm Zeiss Distagon, this the only lens I have found I needed a profile to get the best results.
35mm Zeiss Biogon f2.8 probably my favorite on this camera.
50mm Summicron V1 collapsible
90mm Elmarit 
135 Tele Elmar 

[RQ44]

I would absolutely love to own and use an M8, now and into the future.

[david strachan]

They are great cameras...I use my two M8's all the time.

And especially when travelling.

...

Edited January 6 by david strachan

[Ko.Fe.]

IMO, if you are film shooter or just have film M, M8 is closest to film M.  Even is same price range with used film M.

[M9reno]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

The market's answer:  at the current price (ca. £1,00-£1,200, including limited warranty etc., just to pluck MPB's figures)it makes sense:  it is in fact the cheapest way to enter the Leica-M digital world.

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/product/leica-m8-black

Even in 2035 it will still make sense to own one.... at the price that will be offered then!

[Olaf_ZG]

On 1/1/2025 at 3:13 PM, Borna said:

Yes you should. See this as a sign. Great camera. Great IQ. Beautiful BW. Best gateway drug for getting into M-cameras. Enjoy! I love mine combined with an M6.

I saw the sign and bought one 😎. waiting to be delivered.

[3D-Kraft.com]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb Olaf_ZG:

I saw the sign and bought one 😎. waiting to be delivered.

M8 oder M8.2? At what price?

[lebanese blonde]

I‘ve got an M8 and an M10 and I absolutely love the M8 images.

The M8 is the best Leica for me (I‘ve had the M8, M240, M6 and M10).

I catch myself thinking about selling the M10 to fund an M9 as a fullframe M8, because the crop is the only real downside in my eyes. Usable ISO in color up to 1600 would have also been nice..

[Olaf_ZG]

M8. 1500€

[Olaf_ZG]

On 1/1/2025 at 3:13 PM, Borna said:

Yes you should. See this as a sign. Great camera. Great IQ. Beautiful BW. Best gateway drug for getting into M-cameras. Enjoy! I love mine combined with an M6.

About four years ago, I bought a second hand Q. Loved it, except for its f/l. As you said, the m8 was/is the best gateway … I bought one, sold it for the m9m, which I sold for the m10m, which I sold for the Q43. A perfect camera.

I do miss the slowing down process of the m, was considering a m-d, but that is still rather expensive. I liked the files from the m9m more than the m10m, so maybe the original monochrom should have been bought.

But, the m8 has color next to great b/w possibilities as well as wonderful IR possibilities. So the m8 made more sense. 

I will add only one lens (I want to keep things simple, and have a complete SL set as well) and most probably it will be the nokton 28/1.5. 
 

really looking forward.

[Tessar.]

I just bought a Silver Chrome M8u on eBay which wasn't marked as a "u", but it looked like one.  Leica confirmed it received all three updates and a CLA back in 2008 (M8.2 VF mask/Shutter/Sapphire LCD screen cover).

1800 Euro

[Olaf_ZG]

3 hours ago, Tessar. said:

I just bought a Silver Chrome M8u on eBay which wasn't marked as a "u", but it looked like one.  Leica confirmed it received all three updates and a CLA back in 2008 (M8.2 VF mask/Shutter/Sapphire LCD screen cover).

1800 Euro

Congrats. How can you see the difference between a m8 and m8u?

[Tessar.]

What alerted me to the possibility of it being an upgraded M8 was looking at the sale pics - it has the M9 shutter speed dial, with the max shutter of 1/4000th of a second (also the edge of the screen had a blue reflection in the pics). 

This made me think it could be an upgraded copy, but equally it could have meant that it'd been repaired at some time and the shutter replaced (since the upgrade programme ended).  Either way it means that it's received service when it went in for the new shutter, so that's all for the good.

What confirmed it was an upgraded M8 was an email to Leica Customer Service asking the history of the camera and providing the serial number.  They were happy to give out the information I needed.

They confirmed it had been fitted with the M8.2 viewfinder mask, screen cover and shutter.  Also that the viewfinder was cleaned and RF adjusted and at the same time the rest of the camera CLA'd.

Edited January 13 by Tessar.

[Olaf_ZG]

So mine is definitely a simple 8. Over 56k clicks. The leatherette is a bit worn out, I could replace it, but most probably just put some black tape over it (as with most Leica’s I had/have). Screen is fine and shutter seems to be fine as well (don’t have a lens yet, so I can only test based on the different lengths and sound. I do see some hot pixels on the screen when taking a black image, but this can be solved in post easily. Serial number is 1924 which is rather nice.

It will be my b/w camera. For daily usage. That or the Q. Looking forward to try the new lens. F1.5 might be useful on this camera.

[Borna]

On 1/13/2025 at 8:15 PM, Tessar. said:

What alerted me to the possibility of it being an upgraded M8 was looking at the sale pics - it has the M9 shutter speed dial, with the max shutter of 1/4000th of a second (also the edge of the screen had a blue reflection in the pics). 

This made me think it could be an upgraded copy, but equally it could have meant that it'd been repaired at some time and the shutter replaced (since the upgrade programme ended).  Either way it means that it's received service when it went in for the new shutter, so that's all for the good.

What confirmed it was an upgraded M8 was an email to Leica Customer Service asking the history of the camera and providing the serial number.  They were happy to give out the information I needed.

They confirmed it had been fitted with the M8.2 viewfinder mask, screen cover and shutter.  Also that the viewfinder was cleaned and RF adjusted and at the same time the rest of the camera CLA'd.

Congratulations! I also bought an M8u during 2022, its a great camera. I get plenty of comments from other Leica owners when they see it. Photos turn out great!

[GLAUMAX]

I had few M8 or M8.2 and sold them to purchase M9, M9M, MD262, M240, M262.

Finally, two years ago, I bought a black M8.2 and sold all the others digital M. The M8.2 is by far my favorite M digital for the fantastic output and the colors.

I only use it for now with a Summicron 40mm which is gorgeous on the M8.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[leicaminox8x11]

I echo using the M8 in black and white mode. I use my Minolta 28mm M-Rokkor (and hood) with mine. A small tip:

 

If, like me, you have smashed the LED rear screen, you can use Leica's Digital Capture 1.0 software to set controls on the camera. I have the original CD and can send users an ISO should it be needed. It works on Windows 10 as well.

Have to save up for a 40.5 UV/IR cut filter, for colour use but BW is excellent. 19 years old and going strong!

Here is what Leica M8 manual says about the software.

'Connect the LEICA M8 to the computer using the USB cable supplied (C), 2. switch the camera on (see p. 89), and 3. call up the program. • The respective window will open on your Desk top. The various functions are listed in a clear and self-explanatory way; the menu items can be set just as on the camera itself'

[Senf]

Inspired by the many reports on the CCD Sensor of the M8, I bought one with a Voigtländer VM 35mm f1.4 a few weeks ago. Shooting with it is the pure pleasure!