Tirpitz666 Posted March 26 Share #1 Posted March 26 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hello, I'm about to receive a M8 with ca. 8700 shutter actuations on it and in seemingly very good conditions. I'm reading a lot of reports of M8's shutters dying around 15k actuations due to the shutter mechanism's fragility. My two questions for experienced owners of the camera are: - does shooting often at 1/8000 have an influence on the shutter durability? (since it was removed from the 8.2 for this very reason I guess) - I've read somewhere that bodies with a later serial number about 319xxx should be less prone to failure. Is there any real grounding on that statement or is just one of the many "forum legends"? Thank you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 26 Posted March 26 Hi Tirpitz666, Take a look here Leica M8 shutter durability. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
a.noctilux Posted March 26 Share #2 Posted March 26 Long ago I had one M8 with shutter fault and the price for repair was high. So I don't use it anymore. Having the statistics of failure here: https://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/leica_m8.htm 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! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/420052-leica-m8-shutter-durability/?do=findComment&comment=5777401'>More sharing options...
tommonego@gmail.com Posted March 26 Share #3 Posted March 26 vor 10 Stunden schrieb Tirpitz666: Hello, I'm about to receive a M8 with ca. 8700 shutter actuations on it and in seemingly very good conditions. I'm reading a lot of reports of M8's shutters dying around 15k actuations due to the shutter mechanism's fragility. My two questions for experienced owners of the camera are: - does shooting often at 1/8000 have an influence on the shutter durability? (since it was removed from the 8.2 for this very reason I guess) - I've read somewhere that bodies with a later serial number about 319xxx should be less prone to failure. Is there any real grounding on that statement or is just one of the many "forum legends"? Thank you Mine has about the same number of shutter actuations, I am looking forward to using it for a few more years. I hardly ever use 1/8000, I imaging that does stress the shutter, why else would they have cut it back for the M8-2, and the M8-2 upgrades Leica did to the M8. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.noctilux Posted March 26 Share #4 Posted March 26 I stil have (not use a lot) two M8 and the most thing is the battery life. Some has 100% in display and when in use only few frames from that one. Buying more batteries is something to consider. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olaf_ZG Posted March 27 Share #5 Posted March 27 The graph shown is misleading as it hasn’t been updated and many m8’s made many more images after the graph was made. I would not worry about it. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tirpitz666 Posted March 27 Author Share #6 Posted March 27 Thank you all for the feedback, let's see how it will go with mine 🙂 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted March 28 Share #7 Posted March 28 Advertisement (gone after registration) On 3/26/2025 at 9:04 AM, Tirpitz666 said: - does shooting often at 1/8000 have an influence on the shutter durability? (since it was removed from the 8.2 for this very reason I guess) Short answer: no. The reason is that the shutter curtains always travel at the same speed and the chosen "shutter speed" is produced by the width of the slit produced by the delay between the first curtain travelling and the second curtain travelling. A slower shutter speed simply means a wider slit from letting the second curtain start to travel later. Pete. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 28 Share #8 Posted March 28 On 3/26/2025 at 8:32 PM, a.noctilux said: Long ago I had one M8 with shutter fault and the price for repair was high. So I don't use it anymore. Having the statistics of failure here: https://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/leica_m8.htm 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! These statistics are totally useless, as they represent user reports on the internet. That means that failures will be vastly over-reported as users with working shutters will have no reason, in fact will probably be unaware of this initiative, as they won't search the internet for "broken shutter" or similar. Statistical failure no. 1. Secondly the sample is far too small, about 300 cameras out of an estimated 60.000-80.000. Statistical failure no.2. The sampling is for far too short a time. Interest faded after the introduction of the M8.2. The average lifespan of a camera will be well over ten years. So this, if it represents anything at all, it can only be biased towards early failure and tells us nothing about the long-term life span. In fact, the timeline is not even specified, as it is open-end. Statistical failure no. 3 The graph does not exclude failure through mechanical damage, the most common cause of shutter failure Statistical failure no.4 Conclusion: complete bollocks. To be precise, this was a Copal shutter as used by many other brands in various specifications. The specified usage was an average of 150.000 actuations. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tirpitz666 Posted March 28 Author Share #9 Posted March 28 All makes senses thank you, I don't plan to abuse the camera anyway, but since I like to shoot wide open also in plain daylight, 1/8000 of course will come handy at times and is one of my main draws towards the M8 (IQ and color aside which I'm totally in love with of course). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted March 28 Share #10 Posted March 28 (edited) 11 hours ago, jaapv said: These statistics are totally useless, as they represent user reports on the internet. That means that failures will be vastly over-reported as users with working shutters will have no reason, in fact will probably be unaware of this initiative, as they won't search the internet for "broken shutter" or similar. Statistical failure no. 1. Secondly the sample is far too small, about 300 cameras out of an estimated 60.000-80.000. Statistical failure no.2. The sampling is for far too short a time. Interest faded after the introduction of the M8.2. The average lifespan of a camera will be well over ten years. So this, if it represents anything at all, it can only be biased towards early failure and tells us nothing about the long-term life span. In fact, the timeline is not even specified, as it is open-end. Statistical failure no. 3 The graph does not exclude failure through mechanical damage, the most common cause of shutter failure Statistical failure no.4 Conclusion: complete bollocks. To be precise, this was a Copal shutter as used by many other brands in various specifications. The specified usage was an average of 150.000 actuations. Yes, the sample is so small it's bound to distort any outcome and the results are therefore meaningless. To put it into context by assuming that 60,000 (the lower end of Jaap's estimated units) is correct then it represents data on 350 / 60,000 M8's, which is just 0.6% of all M8's that were produced. If we were to then assume that the 59,650 M8's weren't included because their shutters didn't fail then 99.4% of M8's shutters didn't fail. This is also a meaningless figure because of the assumption I've made but it does demonstrate the nonsense offered by the olegkikin website. "Lies, damned lies, and statistics". Pete. Edit PS: I'll also add that there's no data offered by olegkikin on shutters that failed as a result of the camera being dropped onto a hard surface, or those from being accidentally submerged, rather than shutters failing 'naturally', which represents another potential statistical distortion. Edited March 28 by farnz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 28 Share #11 Posted March 28 In fact the whole Olegkikin website is a disaster area, consisting mainly of a random collection of links to lens tests submitted by visitors in 2012 style. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeri Posted March 28 Share #12 Posted March 28 (edited) In 2015, my camera was sent for repair. At that time, the shutter of my Leica M8 had already registered about 60,000 clicks. Leica technicians discovered that the motherboard was responsible for the malfunction and it was replaced with a new one, as well as the camera body cover and of course the other components were recalibrated. A decade later, the camera shows no signs of imminent failure. What's more, I'm not exactly one to wrap it in cotton wool. Does this fact indicate the reliability of the shutter speed of the Leica M8 models (which originates from the Leica R8 and other camera models that preceded it)? I don't have an answer to that. What I do know is that I don't see the camera shutter as a problematic factor, at least not in my experience. PS Although Leica technicians didn't touch the shutter, they definitely reset it... 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! Edited March 28 by jeri 2 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/420052-leica-m8-shutter-durability/?do=findComment&comment=5778194'>More sharing options...
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