M8 doesn't like to be worked hard

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MelS

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I love this camera, but if you are shooting an event like a parade or a dress rehearsal of a play and need fairly continuous shooting, the M8 falls apart after a half hour or so. There gets to be a lag time between being able to shoot, the image just taken freezes in the monitor, or you can't go beyond the last shot to see anything else, plus the battery either dies or needs bed rest which requires it to be removed and oxygenated. Oh, yes, if you change the lens, the frame lines of the new lens vanishes.
Anybody have a similar experience? Suggestions?
 
MelS said:
I love this camera, but if you are shooting an event like a parade or a dress rehearsal of a play and need fairly continuous shooting, the M8 falls apart after a half hour or so. There gets to be a lag time between being able to shoot, the image just taken freezes in the monitor, or you can't go beyond the last shot to see anything else, plus the battery either dies or needs bed rest which requires it to be removed and oxygenated. Oh, yes, if you change the lens, the frame lines of the new lens vanishes.
Anybody have a similar experience? Suggestions?
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What?
Are you shooting continuance mode? Are you also trying to shoot discrete mode? DON'T
Lag time?
Never seen this.
Falls apart?
wtf?
Freezes monitor?
Shut the review off if it causes a problem.
Frame lines disappear?
Frame lines are mechanical, they don't disappear.
 
lag time? on a rare occasion, yes (primarily on extra-long exposures or after rapid bursts when the memory temporarily gets maxed out).

the rest of this stuff, never. art is right. very anomalous. especially the frame lines. they're a mechanical system in the viewfinder mechanism and can't be impacted in any way whatsoever by all the electronics of the sensor, monitor, etc.

By any chance, are you using a non-Leica battery? I have had an occasional hiccup when using my cheap third party battery in a pinch. There is some firmware on the battery from what I understand (see postings from Jaapv elsewhere on the site; he is far more articulate and knowledgeable about this than me) that can cause the electronics (ie, freezing and whatnot) to occur. Never had anything like this, however, with a Leica battery.
 
I think I remember reading this somewhere in the luf forums, something about the sensor/electronics overheating. I'm not sure if that's the case for you, but you could try searching there.
 
Sure, M8 is slow and don't like to work fast with heavy file combinations. My advice when you want to work hard with your M8:

1)
Shoot only DNG. - This is something you should always do. The jpg files right out of the camera looks awful and are useless, anyway.

2)
Switch of the Lcd. That saves battery energy. This energy is vital to keep the camera working properly when shooting fast.

3)
Try to give the camera a chance to 'come ashore' sometimes by letting it rest in between.
 
I've done boxing with the M8. Which I don't recommend as it isn't the easiest thing but it is very much doable.

And shooting for over an hour in rapid fire my M8 never once froze on me. The only irritating thing was the buffer filling up and the camera not being able to take another photo until it was done writing.

I've also covered parades with the M8. Which never warranted banging away shots. Conditions don't change often enough to warrant that. In fact when I work parades I spend most of my time running from one thing to another rather than standing still and getting the thing in stop motion animation sequences.
 
It's completely useless to say that M8 works good if the poster says it don't! Get it fixed by a competent repair person. If it still cannot support you ways of working you probably need another camera.
 
edodo said:
It's completely useless to say that M8 works good if the poster says it don't! Get it fixed by a competent repair person. If it still cannot support you ways of working you probably need another camera.
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The poster says "THE" M8 falls apart. That is indeed incorrect. HIS M8 falls apart, and by all accounts this is the first report of the kind in tens of thousands of cameras.
 
I just shot 4,000 frames on my m8 yesterday, it didn't falter once. If the camera is having issues like the op stated, there's something catastrophically wrong with the camera itself and needs serious repair.

I don't baby my gear, in fact i work the living crap out of it.

Frameline issue could be due to a sticky lever, I've relubed my lever once since owning the m8, but that was because my m8 and me fell into a puddle...but the sticky lever was easily fixed with a lil lube.

edit: is the battery a thrid party one?
 
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tmfabian said:
I just shot 4,000 frames on my m8 yesterday, it didn't falter once. If the camera is having issues like the op stated, there's something catastrophically wrong with the camera itself and needs serious repair.

I don't baby my gear, in fact i work the living crap out of it.

Frameline issue could be due to a sticky lever, I've relubed my lever once since owning the m8, but that was because my m8 and me fell into a puddle...but the sticky lever was easily fixed with a lil lube.

edit: is the battery a thrid party one?
Click to expand...


Four thousand frames in one day????? 😱

Did you manage to get anything else done? 😀

Getting to the original post ... I often shoot three to four hundred frames in an hour or so at gallery openings ... all at very slow shutter speeds and have had no issues at all. Always DNG of course!
 
Discreet mode certainly slows the camera down and seems to make it "lock up" on occasion if you're shooting fast. When that happens I am re-assured that yes I am a moron and forgot to set the camera up for the task at hand.

You might need new batteries?
 
sepiareverb said:
Discreet mode certainly slows the camera down and seems to make it "lock up" on occasion if you're shooting fast. When that happens I am re-assured that yes I am a moron and forgot to set the camera up for the task at hand.

You might need new batteries?
Click to expand...

In amongst the 12 odd other M bodies you have you should be alright though, no?

That's a lot of gear!
 
Keith said:
Four thousand frames in one day????? 😱

Did you manage to get anything else done? 😀
!
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Yeah, it was a brutal day. I got suckered into covering an event for a friend of mine who was supposed to shoot it but got some food poisoning. Turns out that they worked out that everyone got a fairly basic portraid done during the shindig...so i got stuck photographing a massive amount of headshots during an 8 hour fundraiser...OH, and I wasn't expecting that (didn't bring my tripod) so I did it all hand held...so I ended up with serious claw hand afterwards...which has since inspired me to put the grip handle back on.
 
tmfabian said:
Yeah, it was a brutal day. I got suckered into covering an event for a friend of mine who was supposed to shoot it but got some food poisoning. Turns out that they worked out that everyone got a fairly basic portraid done during the shindig...so i got stuck photographing a massive amount of headshots during an 8 hour fundraiser...OH, and I wasn't expecting that (didn't bring my tripod) so I did it all hand held...so I ended up with serious claw hand afterwards...which has since inspired me to put the grip handle back on.
Click to expand...

Dear Thomas,

No, you can't possibly have done that. Everyone knows -- everyone who reads internet forums, that is -- that the M8 would have fallen to pieces/exploded/dissolved into a puddle of radioactive waste after the first 50 shots...

Seriously, I find it worth keeping a cheap tripod in the car in case I need one. Any old second-hand rubbish will do, even a 'wobble-pod' with the 8-section click-into-place legs, though an old, cheap, heavier tripod (even a woodie) is better. As your experience shows there are times when ANY tripod is better than none.

Congratulations and commiserations, by the way.

Cheers,

R.
 
Thanks for all the advice. The fellow at Leica in NJ thinks I ought to format my SD card more often, something I never do more than once. Will try that...
 
In my experience, with my camera/battery, sometimes a camera freeze up is a warning that the battery is almost empty. I then just take out the battery, put it back in, and the thing is ready for another 40 frames, or so. Even more interesting, sometimes I can't turn off the camera. The switch is in the 'off position', but the LCD is still on. A battery switch cures that also.

BTW, I always format the SD card before I use it.

-a
 
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