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Leica M8 announcement questions


Guest guy_mancuso

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Guest guy_mancuso

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Since Jack and I are going to PMA and have some meetings with Leica . it would be nice to have a list of questions to ask them on the new M8 announcement and questions around that announcement. Please list questions you may have so we can try and get answers for them . Thanks Jack and Guy

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ok... I know this is probably the most obvious question first but a rough estimate on how much it will cost would be a good start.

 

Also, I'd quite like to know that if I skipped upgrade #1, would I have to pay for both upgrade #1 and #2 if I decided upgrade #2 suited me better?

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Guest tummydoc

1. Will the customer be able to choose a partial upgrade? Let's say someone wants the sapphire LCD but prefers to keep his 1/8000 shutter. If so, what will the prices be?

 

2. Do they plan on offering a standalone warranty extension for the M8, with return to the factory for checkup, like the current pre-owned-certified programme?

 

3. Will new M8s start to ship with the upgraded (or, in the case of the shutter, downgraded) features, and what will that do to the cost?

 

4. If so, will they offer free upgrades for people who buy a new M8 after the announcement, or had anyone who doesn't have an M8 but wants the new features best wait for an upgraded one? Or will they be recalling all unsold M8s from dealers to upgrade them? What about someone who bought an M8 within the last 2 weeks...will they be able to upgrade for free (or at least for the total outlay equal to a new, upgraded M8.2 when they are available) or should those people perhaps return theirs for a refund and wait, if they want the new features.

 

5. Will upgrades have to be done cumulatively, or will it be possible to skip this upgrade and still be able to get the next one or the one after that, whichever offers a major improvement.

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Guest guy_mancuso

No but it may look nicer. LOL

 

 

Great questions folks , i am pretty much just going to copy and paste all the data . i think this is a good idea if we can get some solid answers back

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1. Is the M8 structurally able to employ the use of a larger sensor?

 

2. Is there plan in place to address the frame line accuracy?

 

3. Is there a pro services component to the M8 and can it be beefed up to the level of that of NPS or CPS in regards to all aspects of the new perpetual upgrade program?

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Well, I understand I may be a minority of one on this, but "WTF" comes to mind.

 

There are no scratches on my LCD, so I don't care about that. I also don't care about shutter noise - never been an issue for me. So the "upgrade" is that max shutter speed goes down????????????????????????

 

So if I have no interest in the "upgrade", am I supported in the future - or will there be M8-2 only firmware upgrades, forcing me to (a) pay and (B) wait forever for Solms if I want better performance?

 

Not happy...............................

 

Sandy

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I'm a bit unclear about the Scratch-proof sapphire glass cover for the LCD monitor. My monitor screen has some anomolies where the coating seems to be wearing off. Could you ask if this sapphire glass cover replaces the existing LCD monitor screen or just sits on top of it.

 

many thanks

eric

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Future Enhancements/Announcements/Product Wants

 

- SDHC Support?

- New Shutter Release Switch?

- New Viewfinder Frame Lines?

- Fast Wide-Angles?

- New Flash with Zooming/Tilting Head?

- Full Frame/Lower Noise?

 

Questions

 

1. How much does the upgrade cost?

 

2. Presumably, these modifications will be incorporated as standard into new production. Is the price of the camera being increased to reflect this and if so, by how much? Does Leica expect to sell any M8s from now on until the upgrades are available?

 

3. If a user has more than one M8 (or 3), can parts removed from the camera be returned for possible use in unmodified cameras? I'm thinking here of having one M8 upgraded and having the shutter removed returned in case it fails in the other two.

 

4. If there are multiple upgrade packages in the future, will the combined cost of having them done together be less than the total of the individual costs?

 

5. Is one set of updates a pre-requisite for future updates? If I want the new viewfinder frames offered in Package 2, do I have to have the new shutter installed as a pre-requisite?

 

6. How will the 2 year warranty extensions work for cameras which have already seen heavy use? Is it a new warranty or an extension from the expiration of the current one? If there are multiple packages, could we have multiple warranties running concurrently?

 

7. How many man-years has Leica spent adjusting lenses and cameras for correct focus?

 

8. Does Leica think the current Rangefinder design and implementation provides the precision required to obtain best performance from Leica optics?

 

9. Is Leica commited to providing firmware updates for unmodified cameras or will it be necessary to upgrade a camera to make use of new firmware enhancements provided incidentally to the hardware changes?

 

10. Is Full Frame still as far away as ever?

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Guest guy_mancuso

The R10 is certainly on the list , hope they can talk about it. Really would love to get more data on this before doing anything in the future with any purchase. I am getting itchy again

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I thought there had been semi-official talk about the availbility of framelines optimized for 2 meters.

Don't think, however, that the framelines of a digital M will ever have the same " exactitude" the film M cameras had. For a 50 mm lens on the M4-2, which is calibrated for accuracy at 2 meteres, as opposed to the 0.7 meter calibration on the M8 the extra coverage at infnity was 15%. But in a film M the edges were disregarded for 1 mm on all sides, as the slidemount or enlarger were taken into consideration. On a digital camera one considers the whole surface of the sensor. That works out at an inaccuracy of nearly 20% for a 50 mm lens at infinity, if the coverage is 100% correct at 2 meters on the M8. That frameline will cut off about 5% at 0.7 meters, so there is a real danger of "losing the ears" of your subject. I think there should be a choice of framelines. Personally I would opt for the current ones.100% accuracy at all distances can only be achieved with electronic framelines.

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