Nicoleica Posted September 11, 2009 Share #21 Posted September 11, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Leica, please remember us. Buying the M8 we helped you keeping your head up the water in the last 3 years, even if the m8 was - as we knew -not perfect in all points. Would be a great "thank you" offering a update. Even if it costs. lg from Willich/Germany Dieter +1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 11, 2009 Posted September 11, 2009 Hi Nicoleica, Take a look here New Firmware; Does anyone know???. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
sbelyaev Posted September 11, 2009 Share #22 Posted September 11, 2009 I vouch to buy M9 if Leica provides firmware update for M8, which includes manual lens selection, optimised high iso performance and the lowest iso of 80 or less. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
View From Space Posted September 11, 2009 Share #23 Posted September 11, 2009 Leica, please remember us. Buying the M8 we helped you keeping your head up the water in the last 3 years, even if the m8 was - as we knew -not perfect in all points. Would be a great "thank you" offering a update. Even if it costs. lg from Willich/Germany Dieter I'm with Dieter on this too. Here's a wonderful chance for Leica to reward loyalists that put up with some big issues on the M8. I still have green banding on occasion!! Not to mention enduring this "perpetual upgrade" nonsense that was floated out last year... Toss us M8'ers a bone! Rajish Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcuthbert Posted September 12, 2009 Share #24 Posted September 12, 2009 If Leica do indeed listen to this forum, maybe we can get the moderators to set up some kinda of poll. Yes the M8 is now old, but that doesn't mean the thousands of people who purchased it, and as stated, supported Leica during a rather rough time, deserve to be forgotten about. A firmware change to reflect some of the features found in the M9 is possible. Speaking as an ex-software engineer (kernel level), this is not a hard task at all. In most cases, the firmware code between the two models will be pretty much the same. I get that Leica is a business and need to make money, but at the same time you pay a premium for their products and part of that premium should be customer service and satisfaction. There is a reason I don't buy Canon anymore and that's because you are nothing but a wallet to them. Leica if you are reading, you have a whole forum here of people using the M8. If and when the time comes to upgrade, the way you treat customers will always play an important role. Do the right thing, please Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adli Posted September 12, 2009 Share #25 Posted September 12, 2009 I am pretty cetain than Leica will provide updates of the M8 firmware. It will however be smaller changes and improvments, not a lot of new features. We should however not expect a new firmware to pop up only a few days after the release of the M9. Leica, as any other company, have limited resources. I guess that all their focus have been at the M9 for the moment, so it will take some time before we'll se anyting for the M8. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
germanlaws Posted September 12, 2009 Share #26 Posted September 12, 2009 @adli: your right, but I think they could start next monday.... Dieter Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted September 12, 2009 Share #27 Posted September 12, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I am pretty cetain than Leica will provide updates of the M8 firmware..... I admire the optimism shown here in the M8 ghetto, and I hope you are right. I guess a lot of us wish that some of the improvements with the M9 had been available when we supported Leica with our M8 and M8.2 commitments. As someone who regards their M8 mechanical shutter release as dreadful [despite a pointless trip to Solms] I am particularly interested in the soft release on the M9 and wonder if it could be implemented in an M8/M8.2 update. Anyone got thoughts on that [Mark?], after all, underneath my clunky shutter release button is a very sweet electronic shutter release - as used in delayed release mode. The argument that M9 users with M8 backup would be better served by having similar firmware in each camera is compelling to me. But will it be for Leica? .............. Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanhulsenbeek Posted September 12, 2009 Share #28 Posted September 12, 2009 At a Leica Show today in Amsterdam (NL) the rep of the Leica Importer in the Netherlands said that Leica will not forsake its M8 user base, and that firmware updates are forthcoming. He could not say what they will include. IMHO, that is also a function of the memory space available. I already said here: sit tight, be patient. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pklein Posted September 13, 2009 Share #29 Posted September 13, 2009 (edited) At a Leica Show today in Amsterdam (NL) the rep of the Leica Importer in the Netherlands said that Leica will not forsake its M8 user base, and that firmware updates are forthcoming. He could not say what they will include. IMHO, that is also a function of the memory space available. I already said here: sit tight, be patient. That's good news, Sander. I think the manual lens selection would be child's play to implement. It's just adding a menu to make a decision that the lens coding detection already does. All the code is already written, it's probably just a question of pasting in some code, tweaking a couple of pointers and recompiling. The ISO button would probably be simple as well. I'll be very disappointed if these don't show up eventually. Other features of the M9, such as ISO 80 and high-ISO noise reduction, may be coded specifically to the M9 sensor and the availability of two processors rather than one, and would be harder if not impossible to implement. Noise reduction is a big question--perhaps the M8 has the horsepower to do it at the expense of speed between shots. Or maybe it doesn't. We don't know. Leica, if you're listening, please do right by the M8 users who helped keep you afloat the last couple of years. After all, we might want to upgrade to the M9 eventually, and the happier we are with Leica, the more likely we are to do so. The M9's main selling point is full frame, not things we could get on the M8 with a firmware upgrade. Edited September 13, 2009 by pklein Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikau Posted September 13, 2009 Share #30 Posted September 13, 2009 This thread has given me some hope, so thanks! I pretty much figured that Leica would abandon any further interest in the M8 series which, in the eyes of their marketing department, must have all the appeal of a 2009 American car as the 2010s arrive at dealerships! On a related note, as someone who spent decades with M film cameras, it's hard to get my head around the reality that the production life of all Ms from the M8 is likely to be only 24-36 months. Don't want to get into the film-digital debate or be branded a Luddite, but there was something kinda nice when you could update your camera just by going to the shop and buying a new film that had come onto the market! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baxter Posted September 13, 2009 Share #31 Posted September 13, 2009 Taking a positive spin..... It's wonderful that the M9 is being used as a firmware test platform for our existing M8 cameras. Sit back, relax and wait for an email saying that there is a new download which will provide us with the benefits which are transferable from the new beast on the block. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhoutman Posted September 13, 2009 Share #32 Posted September 13, 2009 At a Leica Show today in Amsterdam (NL) the rep of the Leica Importer in the Netherlands said that Leica will not forsake its M8 user base, and that firmware updates are forthcoming. He could not say what they will include. IMHO, that is also a function of the memory space available. I already said here: sit tight, be patient. sander, de wens is de vader van de gedachte Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
photolandscape Posted September 13, 2009 Share #33 Posted September 13, 2009 Leica, please remember us. Buying the M8 we helped you keeping your head up the water in the last 3 years, even if the m8 was - as we knew -not perfect in all points. Would be a great "thank you" offering a update. Even if it costs. lg from Willich/Germany Dieter Dieter, I couldn't agree more. It makes good business sense, good customer relations sense, and it's the right thing to do. I hope Leica will follow through and remember those who bought the M8 and continue to buy lenses and accessories and who will often buy the M9 in the future. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfokevin Posted September 14, 2009 Share #34 Posted September 14, 2009 (edited) I would assume Leica will wait a good 6 months to give all the early adopters a opportunity to sell there M8 (At a short term low price), jump ship and join the M9 roller coaster... then say in January of 2010 when they introduce a couple new lenses (requiring them to do a firmware update)... give the M8 most if not all of the new M9 software enhancements... Edited September 14, 2009 by sfokevin Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ario Arioldi Posted September 14, 2009 Share #35 Posted September 14, 2009 From the M.R. video interview to Stephen Daniel I understand that the true reason for not introducing the manual lens selection in M8 FW was merely economical. Difficult to imagine they will do it now. Ario Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBatemanJ Posted September 14, 2009 Share #36 Posted September 14, 2009 There was a presentation by Leica at Tokyo (9/13) and heard from attendance, Leica mentioned new firmware for M8s could have some of the new function we see in M9 including manual lens selection. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mboerma Posted September 14, 2009 Share #37 Posted September 14, 2009 After watching the video of the interview of Stephan Daniel about the Leica M9 I became a little more cautious about what I hope to expect about future firmware upgrades of the M8.x series. There will probably not be the addition of new features, maybe small ones, but for example not the manual lens selection. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&W Posted September 14, 2009 Share #38 Posted September 14, 2009 I have and will keep my M8 and M8u. Desirable firmware update for the M9 would be one that allows the IR/UV filters to be kept on with the M9 so that the lenses can be used with the M8 and M8u without a fiddle. Next wish would be for the manual setting of the lens in the menu, a desire expressed by many on this forum. I intend to use the M8's as back ups for the M9 and would appreciate being able to do this without too much fumbling. Teddy Me too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhoersch Posted September 14, 2009 Share #39 Posted September 14, 2009 For me the greatest relief would be the possibility to set the self timer to 2sec, 12sec - and O f f ! I lost just another great shot last week because I accidentally set that stupid main switch to the self timer position again... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jquimby Posted September 15, 2009 Share #40 Posted September 15, 2009 (edited) Did anyone watch the interview with Stephen Daniels? It was posted on luminous landscape. When asked directly about implementing the manual lens selection on the M8 Stephen answered that it was a cost decision not to do it, as in it would be too costly to go back to that firmware and implement it. He also referred to the M8 as a "finished" camera. Add in that M8/M8.2 is now discontinued I am not holding my breath.Considering that I only have of half of my lenses coded, i would love this feature in my M8 but again I am not holding out any hope. Given the financial situation Leica is in, I can't seem them looking back as there is no money in it. I have no inside knowledge but i would bet anything that once the S2 is out the door they will begin working on bringing the M in house and away from jenoptik (if they haven't started already). One from a cost perspective, every change they need to make Leica has to pay for. Secondly they need something to sell next year, adding a few bells and whistles to the M9 isn't going to generate much revenue. The M8 was huge step for Leica, the first digital M, that got people to buy, The M9 is another big leap in that it is full frame with similar IQ to M8, that is getting people to buy. What do they need to do get people to buy the M10? Well they already crossed off the list a digital M, and making it full frame. So now they have to up the image quality and feature set. Edited September 15, 2009 by jquimby grammatical errors Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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