Becoming very impressed with my M9

x-ray

x-ray

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Last year in July I finally broke down and purchased a new M9. Initially I felt it was a good camera but not great. The more I used it the more I found I didn't like the files and found very unusual color shifts in skin tones in different places within the same frame. A shot of a persons face may look ok on one side and have a very strong magenta shift in another area of the face. I also had problems with serious focus shift.

I finally fought the camera long enough and shipped it to Leica USA along with 4 of my lenses of which two were brand new. My experience with Leica was much better than expected. The expedited my repairs because I use it professionally and I had it back in a few weeks.


I did thorough testing on focus and color and found Leica nailed the focus and fixed the color issue. Not only did Leica fix the new lenses but the totally updated my 75 summux and 90 apo Summicron. They replaced the bayonette mounts on the older lenses and disassembled and cleansed and lubed them. The focus was perfect.

As to the body they replaced the main board and CCD. Now the color is perfect.

Over the past few months I started using it and now absolutely love the images. Even under terrible light and mixed difficult light conditions it excells in image quality. I shot it on 80% of a big shoot last Thursday and could not be happier with the results.

My main complaint is the terrible LCD but its not something a person can't overcome. The only other complaint is the lack of a PC connector.

I shoot only uncompressed raw files and even though there were a couple of instances the auto white balance screwed up most of the time is was excellent.

The big pluses are the stunning skin tones, quiet operation compared to a DSLR and the dead accurate focus with tack sharp glass even wide open.

I now trust it and will be using it on many more assignments. Good job Leica.
 
Wow, what a turnaround from disappointing to stunning! Excellent of you to gather up your dissatisfactions and have something done about it... and it seems there was a good bit of servicing needed.
 
What amazes me is Leica released the camera with these defects. I purchased the body and lenses new and this is how they came from the factory. The good thing is they made good on it and the camera is a real performer now. I even feel the image noise is better at high ISO. No funky color shifts in skin tones and no focus shift. I really have no complaints with the auto white using raw. 95% of the images I shot last week were extremely close in color and they were shot in a large banquet hall with one wall of glass. The light coming is was cool in color temp and there were some tungsten lights overhead but were minimal.

This is what I expected in the first place and finally have it.

I highly recommend sending cameras in that are suspect. Why pay this much money and not get full performance.
 
I'm glad the OP is happy, but when a *expedited* repair is a few weeks, that doesn't impress me. If they actually wanted to support professional users, they'd give you a loaner for that period.
 
Nikon NPS, yes on loaners but even Nikon has slowed down. I started using Leca in 1968 and Nikon shortly after. I became a NPS member in the early 80's and service at that time was a total of three days including shipping. Now NPS is about a week. I never had a serious issue with Leica until a few years ago. During the decades of using Leica M's and many bodies and lenses the repairs I had were minor and done locally. Nikon was equally reliable with the most serious repair being a gear replacement by NPS in one of my F2 motor drives.

The serious problems I've experienced with Leica we're with 1980's and newer bodies and lenses. One of my new A LA Carte bodies has a shutter failure early on. This was before they got into digital and they turned it around quickly. Three lenses failed but I had those repaired by Don Goldberg. Don gave priority service at that time. He was very conscious that some of us make our living with our gear and was very kind to move items to the front of the line if assignments were depend ant on it.

Leica should have a priority system like Nikon and Canon. When I had Canon digital I had a few repairs through CPS and was equally as satisfied as with NPS. I think one of the reasons Leica doesn't offer pro expedited service is that only a very small percentage of customers are pros. I have to say Leica might attract more pros if they catered to the pro trade like Canon and Nikon. Support is key for those of us making a living with our gear.

Both CPS and NPS offer free loans on bodies and lenses plus expedited service. I know Nikon offers priority on new equipment. NPS members can preorder cameras and lenses and get them before the general public. I purchased two D1x bodies that way and had two of the first in the US.

It costs money to do this and I think Leica is just too small but they could offer expedited service for the pro market and priority sales on new equipment. This doesn't cost anything.

Anyway I'm appreciative that Leica did move me up in the line and they did do a superb job.
 
x-ray said:
I highly recommend sending cameras in that are suspect. Why pay this much money and not get full performance.
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Exactly so. Nice that you took the time to post to share your experience.

My experience with Leica service has been similar although I'm not using the camera professionally. My M9 began to misfire two years ago. I sent it in, Leica NJ handled the sensor replacement in about 3 weeks, adjusting and/or replacing other parts without charge (LCD for example). Perfect since.

Re mixed lighting (low indoors), I use one of my presets to set WB to 3200 kelvin. Works pretty well. (I believe this is an Overgaard tip.)
 
I'm glad you got your camera sorted but I'm also dismayed that people find this acceptable that a 'new' camera would require such attention ... especially at the price the thing costs.

I'm a fan of the M9 ... from a distance!
 
Canon and Nikon both have had their issued but not to the degree Leica has and yes it's inexcusable allowing pro equipment to slip through QC and not catch such obvious defects. I imagine due to the number of cameras that Nikon and Canon produce that they wound only spot check them but Leica produces only a few comparitavely. These things should not get past inspection.
 
x-ray said:
Canon and Nikon both have had their issued but not to the degree Leica has and yes it's inexcusable allowing pro equipment to slip through QC and not catch such obvious defects. I imagine due to the number of cameras that Nikon and Canon produce that they wound only spot check them but Leica produces only a few comparitavely. These things should not get past inspection.
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Nikon's latest fopar with the D600 comes to mind here! :)
 
Keith said:
Nikon's latest fopar with the D600 comes to mind here! :)
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Are we talking about oil from the mirror system getting on the sensor?

I had to send my D800 in under warranty. The PC connector failed and was coming out of the body. I sent it to Nikon and the replaced a couple of boards and did a couple of other things but failed to repair the one thing I sent it in for. Way to go Nikon. I had to send it back and they got it right that time. There was no excuse for missing it. It was listed on the work order under requested repairs.

I had back focus issues with my Canon 1Ds series cameras. I had to ship almost everything I had to them. Fortunately they sent loaners for everything except my 200 1.8. Nikon is also great about loaners.


Nikon NPS sends technicians to do minor repairs and a truck of loaner gear to news functions like the Kentucky Derby. If you damage a body or lens and you're NPS then you can get an on the spot repair or loaner free. This is pro service at its best. Nikon has done this for decades. They appreciate and cater to the people that made Nikon what it is an that make their living with them. This kind of service attracts pro customers because we know Nikon will support us when we need them.
 
I am very happy with the performance of my M9. Either I was lucky, or I don't know what I am missing.
 
x-ray said:
Are we talking about oil from the mirror system getting on the sensor?

I had to send my D800 in under warranty. The PC connector failed and was coming out of the body. I sent it to Nikon and the replaced a couple of boards and did a couple of other things but failed to repair the one thing I sent it in for. Way to go Nikon. I had to send it back and they got it right that time. There was no excuse for missing it. It was listed on the work order under requested repairs.

I had back focus issues with my Canon 1Ds series cameras. I had to ship almost everything I had to them. Fortunately they sent loaners for everything except my 200 1.8. Nikon is also great about loaners.

Nikon NPS sends technicians to do minor repairs and a truck of loaner gear to news functions like the Kentucky Derby. If you damage a body or lens and you're NPS then you can get an on the spot repair or loaner free. This is pro service at its best. Nikon has done this for decades. They appreciate and cater to the people that made Nikon what it is an that make their living with them. This kind of service attracts pro customers because we know Nikon will support us when we need them.
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That and the fact that Nikon just chose to move onto the D610 without worrying to much about the miffed D600 owners and their associated issues.

They've pissed off a lot of people with the D600 and the fact that it's not a pro level camera seems to make them think it's OK?
 
I get very nice looking light with the M9 when having different light sources. The 75/1.4 and 35/1.4 focus very well wide open.
 
I'm with Raid on this one, my M9 has not exhibited any trouble so far. The only lens focus problems occurred with my Nokton 50/1.1 and DAG quickly sorted that one out for me.
 
raid said:
I am very happy with the performance of my M9. Either I was lucky, or I don't know what I am missing.
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X-ray, thanks for starting this thread. Would it be possible for you post an example of the strange skin tones before having your M9 fixed?

Perhaps some M9 owners (I'm not one yet, but plan to get one within the next 6 months) literally "don't know what they're missing"?

Cheers
 
I have a feeling that Xray got a lemon M9, which by itself is strange and unacceptable at all for an M9.
 
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