M8 damaged shutter: how could this happen?

[jaapv]

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And possibly an extra years' guarantee

[Marquinius]

So, the final verdict. Leica is ... top! I just got a call from Camtech, the local rep in Holland. The camera is back (indeed within five working days) AND Leica has taken the brunt of the cost. From some indicated € 730 including tax to a real € 205,- all in. That's including the € 100 for the "within five working days".

 

I'm going to collect it thursday, happy man, me. The insurance man liked it too and is going to pay the € 205,- : good service all around!

 

Hat off to Leica for just doing the right thing.

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[HetDraakje]

Congrats, good to see there is still some service. Happy holiday

 

boen

[Shootist]

So, the final verdict. Leica is ... top! I just got a call from Camtech, the local rep in Holland. The camera is back (indeed within five working days) AND Leica has taken the brunt of the cost. From some indicated € 730 including tax to a real € 205,- all in. That's including the € 100 for the "within five working days".

 

I'm going to collect it thursday, happy man, me. The insurance man liked it too and is going to pay the € 205,- : good service all around!

 

Hat off to Leica for just doing the right thing.

 

What get me is the inconsistence of Leica repair service and cost.

Not that I'm not glad you got a good deal on the shutter replacement and it was returned in a timely manner, even though I think it should of been covered under the warranty (the shutter is supposed to be good for 100,000 activations and unless you were close to this number the shutter shouldn't have this happen).

You hear from other people that this has happened to, through no fault of there own (so they say), and have been charged full price for the replacement or in one case the shutter failed completely under warranty and the owner was charged the full price for the updated shutter with no consideration for the fact that Leica needed to replace the failed shutter for nothing under warranty. How that user thought they had gotten a good deal and that Leica did them right is beyond me.

That's like me building a cabinet for someone and having it totally fail in the first 6 month and then telling them I can fix it for them for the full cost of a new cabinet. I can just hear the yelling of the home owner or a lawyer.

 

 

Good luck with the new shutter.

[zsolt]

If I understand this correctly, Leica actually claims that the damage was caused by the customer, or?

What is even more annoying, we did not get the full picture from the Factory, WHAT cused the damage?

Cheers zsolt

[Shootist]

What is even more annoying, we did not get the full picture from the Factory, WHAT cused the damage?

Cheers zsolt

 

No and we, as customers/owners, will never know and because we will never know Leica can claim user error/fault and replace broken shutters at some indiscriminate cost instead of owning up to the fact that some of the shutter are below specs and replace them FOC.

 

I sent in a M7 for the DX reader update, Leica actually admitted the original version is faulty, and was asked if I wanted the MP viewfinder update, at a cost of $325.00, when clearly the original M7's viewfinder is also faulty. Otherwise if the M7's viewfinder was not faulty they would of used that same viewfinder in the MP and not used the newer updated MP finder in later production M7's.

[Marquinius]

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Well, I never talked to Leica one on one and the go between has his own ideas (the burning in by the sun). I just am happy with the facts:

- the camera is back in really a short time

- it is repaired and adjusted

- the bill is reasonable (never mind that they could have billed me nothing or all of the amount)

- the insurance pays the small amount payments due

 

Lately, more and more I try not to get into scenario building, as it doesn't help me and mostly doesn't even come close to the truth. Until now Leica has treated me fairly (I once sent in a Digilux 3 and got that back in a jiffy).

 

What I can say is I'm happy with all the kind support I got from the forum: it's nice to belong to this group!

 

I'm off to take some photographs now, enough said about broken M8's.

[woodyspedden]

Not entirely true, Nicole. You're correct that the exposure is controlled by varying the delay between the release of the first and second curtains and the highest speed is determined by the narrowest slit which can be maintained evenly across the whole of the frame.

 

By relaxing the requirement to 1/4000 second in the upgraded shutter, they can reduce the speed of the shutter curtains with the same narrowest slit; reducing the speed by half reduces the kinetic energy by 3/4 and the spring force too. That makes for a quieter shutter and reduced foces acting on it and I expect also increased life.

 

The shutter curtains are very thin; it looks like a piece of debris has got caught in one here.

 

mark

 

I agree with your comments.

 

I was one of the unlucky ones who had a catastrophic shutter failure. One of the blades was basically demolished. Leica did not provide me with an explanation of what happened but they did replace the shutter at no cost to me. Shortly thereafter I decided to upgrade to the new shutter and vulcanite and sapphire cover as well. So I now have a "new" old M8 with a new warranty as well. The camera looks sensational and works great as well. Shutter is quiet (listen to a new M8.2 to hear).

 

If an M9 does appear I will keep the upgraded M8 as a backup. M8's are likely to drop in price as many people will want to get the new body and will sell the old to help finance it. So I guess I would need to sell the upgraded unit now to get a fair price for it or simply keep it and enjoy the results. I would love to have the backup in any event so that I could have two bodies one with say a 35 lux mounted and the other with the 75 Lux. This is a very flexible arrangement and saves mounting and remounting lenses with the corresponding dust that gets onto the sensor as a result.

 

JMHO

 

Woody

[Guest tvleeskr]

Marco, where did you insure the kit?

[PBatemanJ]

(the shutter is supposed to be good for 100,000 activations and unless you were close to this number the shutter shouldn't have this happen).

 

I heard from my dealer when I asked it will be fine for 300,000.

300,000 is wrong info I got?