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New M8 - Battery Drain


pje56

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This weekend I purchased a new M8 from my local camera store at a very good price, ( I also have a M7 and M3).

 

I completely charged the battery and then spent some time trying out various lenses and features of the camera. I put the camera away last night with the battery installed and the switch in the off position. This morning I picked the camera up and turned it on but nothing happened. I then realized that the battery was completely drained. This made me remember that over the weekend after I had used the camera and picked it back up later in the day the battery was almost completely drained while in the off position. Since I wasn't familiar with the M8 I thought perhaps I did something wrong.

 

Has anyone experienced this problem? Is this a problem or am I doing something wrong?

 

Sorry if this has been posted previously but I searched and didn't find any posting similar to my problem.

 

Thanks,

 

Paul

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It should not do that. Did you put the camera in a camera bag? In that case it might have been accidentally switched on, and if the auto-shutoff is deactivated, it will drain. Or even if auto-shutoff is activated, the case may half-depress the shutter release and again, empty the battery. The detent on the on-off switch is not very strong....

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I did put it in my camera bag but it was in a separate pocket which had a lot of space. I don't think the switch was turned on. However I am fully charging the battery now and will install it in the camera and make a test. I will leave the camera with the battery installed sitting on my desk for the entire day then check to see if the battery was drained.

 

I hope I don't have a problem as I decided to finally buy the M8 to reduce my camera load for an upcoming trip overseas. I would really be disappointed if I could not take it with me.

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I did put it in my camera bag but it was in a separate pocket which had a lot of space. I don't think the switch was turned on. However I am fully charging the battery now and will install it in the camera and make a test. I will leave the camera with the battery installed sitting on my desk for the entire day then check to see if the battery was drained.

 

I hope I don't have a problem as I decided to finally buy the M8 to reduce my camera load for an upcoming trip overseas. I would really be disappointed if I could not take it with me.

 

If the battery does drain down again just sitting on your desk take it back to the place of purchase and return it for a new one or full refund.

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Ok, here's an update.

 

I fully charged the battery and installed it in the camera. Turned the camera on to verify that the battery icon showed a fully charged battery. I left the camera in the off position sitting on my desk. 2 1/2 hours later I turned the camera on to check the battery. The battery icon showed 3/4 full and felt a little warm. I then pressed the "Menu" button and scrolled through the menus, (this took about a minute). I then looked at the battery icon and it now showed 1/4 full, (from 3/4 to 1/4 in about 1 minute). I turned the camera off.

 

I went out and bought a new SD card and when I returned in 1 hour I turned the camera on and the battery indicator showed it was still at 1/4. I installed the new SD card (8GB) and formatted it, (showed 740 count). I shot one frame the indicator displayed 739 and the red LED started flashing; it continued to flash for 3 minutes before I removed the battery.

 

I reinserted the battery and the countered showed 740. I shot a frame and the counter decremented to 739, the LED briefly blinked. I shot a few more frames and all seemed to be normal. I turned the camera off.

 

An hour later I picked up the camera and it was warm. The LED blinked some (the camera was still in the off position). I turned the camera on and the battery indicator showed the battery was nearly drained (a tiny bit was showing). I turned the camera off.

 

About 1 1/2 hours later I turned the camera on. The battery indicator showed the same tiny amount of the battery remaining. I then shot 200 frames and the battery indicator did not change (still showing a tiny amount).

 

I am baffled. Is this perhaps a flakey battery? Is it normal for the M8 LED to flash sometimes when the camera is in the off position?

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

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Here's an update. I took the camera back to the shop (I've done business there for nearly 30 years) yesterday. They didn't have any more M8 cameras but got in touch with the regional Leica rep. The rep said that as soon as the shop provided a tracking number for the camera return Leica (in the USA) would ship a new replacement camera. I had forgotten to put the user's guide in the box so had to make a trip back to the shop today so they could package it up for return.

 

I'm leaving on a trip to England on Friday and that was one of the reasons I decided to buy the M8. I wanted to lighten my load as it is always a pain with carry-on entering and worse leaving England. My D3 and associated gear is just too big. Generally when I travel to England I just take my M7, M3 and a few lenses. I wanted to see how well the M8 would work doing the same street shooting I normally do with my M film bodies.

 

I have no expectations that my replacement M8 will arrive before I depart on Friday night, but it might.

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Paul,

 

I hope you get a replacement M8 in time for your trip to the UK. I do hope you enjoy your UK trip, you can read elsewhere that tourists who take photos of London buses or historic bus stations get asked by the police to delete the images (evidently under the Prevention of Terrorism Act). Hopefully that experience of an Austrian tourist was a one-off and wont be repeated. Make sure you visit all the good Leica shops if you are spending time in London.

 

Jeff

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Jeff,

I travel to England 3 or 4 times a year. About 2 years ago I was detained by the police for about 45 min because I was "taking a lot of pictures." Funny thing was there were loads of tourists in the same area taking pictures.

 

Another associated story about England and cameras:

I was at my boarding gate at Gatwick and they have a secondary security check to enter the gate area ( I think only for flights to the USA). The security woman told me, "turn on the camera." I said "it's a film camera" (M3). She said "I don't care turn it on." I told her it was a film camera and there was nothing to turn on. She insisted. Then a nearby security guy said to her "It's a film camera." This didn't register with her either and she just said I could put my stuff away and go through.

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I went to the local Leica dealer to get an extra M8 battery. I was quoted $150 CAD. I am looking on ebay and seeing M8 batteries for $20?? What gives here, are these batteries any good, are the Leica M8 batteries really worth $130 more than the ebay batteries??

 

Gerry

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I went to the local Leica dealer to get an extra M8 battery. I was quoted $150 CAD. I am looking on ebay and seeing M8 batteries for $20?? What gives here, are these batteries any good, are the Leica M8 batteries really worth $130 more than the ebay batteries??

 

Gerry

 

The $20 one will work - but they do not have some chip in them that allows them to communicate to the camera the charge level... The only way to make the cheapies work is to TOTALLY discharge them and recharge them... This is a pain!...

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The $20 one will work - but they do not have some chip in them that allows them to communicate to the camera the charge level... The only way to make the cheapies work is to TOTALLY discharge them and recharge them... This is a pain!...

 

I do have one of those batteries that doesn't say Leica on it anywhere and it communicates with the M8 and gives the battery level in the indicator??

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