column of dead pixels in M8

[Gary Sandhu]

Imagine my surprise when my factory refurbished Leica M8, "meticulously inspected," has a column of dead pixels. Tony (Tony Rose from popflash photo) said he'd call Leica and try to find me a replacement, as I'd rather have that then send to Leica for repair (how many months will that take??) , or pay an 8% credit card restocking fee!
I'm disheartened, to say the least. It's most evident at higher ISO's (640) and slower shutter speeds (1/30 and less) -- to the point that it would show up on 4x6's. It shows up without brightening or otherwise manipulating the picture; it's clearly visible on the M8's LCD, let alone the computer monitor.
Resetting the camera, leaving the battery out, shooting DNG, JPEG at different compressions and different sizes, etc, do not make the effect go away.
This is clearly a sensor defect.
Here's a very poor picture that demonstrates the effect nicely. Ignore the JPEG compression artifacts. This is the full frame.

 

[HuubL]

What a bummer! Sorry for you!

 

[jdos2]

Good luck! I hope it doesn't take long to get fixed (but like you, suspect otherwise)

Are you going to shoot film in the meantime, or do you have digital backup?

J

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Imagine my surprise when my factory refurbished Leica M8, "meticulously inspected," has a column of dead pixels.

That's got to be disheartening. Did you buy the M8 already refurbished?

 

[Rod Fung]

Check out the leica user forum and do a search on "vertical line" A number of us have the issue; mine only shows occasionally at 640 and above. At 160/320 it is not visible. The line also happens in one of two places on all affected cameras. . You would think its a sensor problem or dead pixels but then it would be quite a coincidence that it happens always in the same two places in all cameras. So far I have not returned mine for fear that I will get an M8 with even worse problems.

 

[Gary Sandhu]

I will check out the Leica user forum, thanks Rod.
Jdos2, I will shoot M3 with velvia and Epson R-D1 and D200 in meantime.
The camera was bought factory rerfurbished with 1 year warranty.

Tony complained to Leica NJ and asked me to send the camera directly to them, which is all that I can do, I suppose. I will check out Rod's suggestion, first. I think the pixels are "hot" rather than "dead" as I originally wrote, hence showing up under lower EV's.

 

[Gary Sandhu]

Today I noticed green banding and one picture was half green ?!?! What the ....?

 

[TJV]

Mate, join the club. Mine (and I went threw a few) all banded massively, resulting in half images turning green etc. Something to do with point sources of light? Not sure, but that's the main reason I got rid of my M8. No one could give me a straight answer as to if it could be fixed. ALL M8's do it, just some don't shoot it situations that will be likely to provoke it.

 

[Gary Sandhu]

...and today it refused to take a picture. Turning it on and off didn't work, removing and replacing the battery did the trick. I'm pretty sure that was going to be the Best Picture of My Life.

 

[rolleistef]

a 4500$ paperweight??

 

[MartinP]

I have seen similar lines and mystery colour effects in other electronic devices when one or more of the detector, or display, signal lines was badly connected. In the stuff I work with or have owned, this has been due to a broken/damaged track on a ribbon-cable connector and/or a dirty/broken connection at the end-connector of a ribbon cable.

Unplugging the ribbon, examining the tracks and cleaning the contacts would frequently solve the problem - or at least positively identify it. The sensor itself will be fairly robust and carefully checked I'll bet.

It only takes a touch of skin grease, or a tiny crack, to mess up these connectors and seeing as the problems are frequently in the same place (according to post above) I'd start looking at some vulnerable part of the connectors being the problem.

 

[StuartR]

I had that happen with the DMR...twice. Tony had Leica replace it and I did not see it again. I also have had it happen with an Imacon 646. It is a common problem with CCD's, but usually it can be mapped out effectively with firmware. The issue is whether or not the firmware in the M8 has the ability, and whether Leica knows how to do it effectively. I have heard that it was a problem on a certain Nikon camera as well and Nikon was able to fix it somehow. I am not sure if they had to send the cameras back. I believe it is caused by one of the amps or pixels malfunctioning, and that one pixel or amp has a detrimental effect, like a chain reaction down the whole line of pixels. If you look carefully, you will probably be able to find one pure white or pure colored pixel in that line. That's the problem one. If it can be turned off, the problem will go away.