M8 Vertical Line, Inquiry to repair cost and time

aldenfender

aldenfender

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Hello all,

I have had my m8 for a few months now, bought it off ebay in good condition. I found out after reviewing some shots using higher iso that I had the vertical line. I reviewed some low iso shots and it is there but not as distinct. Older shots show no such thing so I am guessing this is a new problem.

I love this camera and need to know the cost of fixing this problem, how long it generally takes to get it fixed by leica. Also do I send the camera straight to the solms location in Germany?

Thanks
 
aldenfender said:
Hello all,

I have had my m8 for a few months now, bought it off ebay in good condition. I found out after reviewing some shots using higher iso that I had the vertical line. I reviewed some low iso shots and it is there but not as distinct. Older shots show no such thing so I am guessing this is a new problem.

I love this camera and need to know the cost of fixing this problem, how long it generally takes to get it fixed by leica. Also do I send the camera straight to the solms location in Germany?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I had this problem occur under warranty. The whole repair process took about 6 weeks.
Since it may not require a replacement of the sensor, only a remapping of the pixels, it is possible that it will not be expensive at all, but I can't remember seeing any comments about this.
Solms customer service responded within a day to my emails. Good luck!
 
I too had this problem with a "demo" M8 I got from PopFlash. Tony and his crew there ran interference for me with Leica USA, and got the repair done at n/c. While it was there I had the shutter and frameline upgrades done, so it was a good experience.

Seeing that you bought your used, and assuming not from a dealer who will go to bat for you... I'd suggest you contact Leica USA and describe the problem with precise detail, which they will find very familiar, and you may get it done as if still in warranty.
 
As long as it's only a single vertical line, it's not worth sending it in, imho.
The line is being caused by a so-called "hot pixel". Don't ask me in detail what that means. All I know is that you can map the pixel yourself using the Pixel Fixer software. Does a very good job. Let it run through the DNGs on your card after each shoot before processing, and it'll get rid of the problem for you.

I've written about it in my blog, too: http://www.efixmedia.de/photography/m8-worries-or-dawn-of-the-dead-pixels/
 
Last edited:
dfoo said:
You don't have to do anything. Its an automatic feature of ACR.
Click to expand...

When I load my high-ISO DNGs into Lightroom, ACR doesn't do anything about the hot pixels and vertical lines. I have to run them through Pixel Fixer. Believe my, I checked it. It doesn't look to me as there's any such feature in ACR. Or are we speaking of different things?
 
dfoo said:
Perhaps it doesn't work very well for you, but I can assure you ACR has automatic hot pixel detection and removal. If you don't believe me do a search.
Click to expand...

Just had a look at some older files where I didn't use Pixel Fixer - and it seems you are right, no hot pixels. But the vertical lines are there, and they aren't in the files I run through PF.
 
Neither Pixel fixer nor LR3 fixed my single vertical line. I played around with the threshold in pixel fixer a great deal to include everything and the line would still not go away. My line was not in the center but closer to one side and ran the whole height of the frame.
 
Leica NJ just fixed my vertical line. After they had a file with the offending pixel& line, the repair took 2 weeks. There is no replacement of the sensor necessary, they only remap it and the line is gone now. On my camera it appears that the offending pixel is still actually there but in the firmware they corrected for it. Right afterr i take a photo if i look at the lcd, i see the line for a second until the camera resolves out tthe image for viewing but then its gone. This leads me to believe its been corrected in firmware. Leica NJ also said that the sensor was remapped not replaced. Shouldn't be too expensive, but then again, its Leica
Good luck!
Phi Forrestl
 
Given that my camera developed this just sitting in my closet ( I didn't shoot for a good number of months during which a family member was diagnosed and undergoing cancer treatment ). After that period, I pulled the camera out and it had developed this issue. So if they just fix the firmware, that means that this issue can occur at anytime in the future. I love my M8, but I wonder if should sell it when I get it back.....
 
So if they remap the sensor are they really just adjusting the firmware onboard noise control to fix the impact of the hot pixel? The reason I ask is... Is the line an indication that the sensor is bad and will fail or is just a pixel issue that can be fixed with noise software and the sensor is ok? If it's just noise being fixed I am less concerned and it's easy to fix pp.
 
Keyne said:
So if they remap the sensor are they really just adjusting the firmware onboard noise control to fix the impact of the hot pixel? The reason I ask is... Is the line an indication that the sensor is bad and will fail or is just a pixel issue that can be fixed with noise software and the sensor is ok? If it's just noise being fixed I am less concerned and it's easy to fix pp.
Click to expand...

Yes good question. I would like to know the answer to this too. If it's predictable problem to which a software solution exists that's guaranteed to fix it then the firmware fix should fix it permanently, assuming the sensor stays within normal tolerances. If it's an indication of a sensor problem then I would be concerned that the new sensor they are putting don't have the potential for the same issue. In my case, Pixel fixer didn't do the trick so I'm guessing it's a sensor issue. I guess I will ask once the camera lands and they call me.
 
I might have same issue with my camera. Can someone please PM me Chris Elwell's email so I can contact him?

Thanks

Alex
 
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