Frustrated with the M8

[Mudman]

Not for the usual reasons bandied here - I'm actually fine with the battery, IR filters and high ISO. My problem comes because the camera has now had issues twice in the last month. This one 2 weeks or less after getting it back from Leica (received back on March 25 or 6th). Sensor seems to have had a system failure; no image will show up without looking like it has been through a dali image processor. It's going back to Leica (under warranty this time thank goodness) and then being returned to the fellow I bought it from. Thankfully he's a very reasonable guy and has handled my trials and tribulations with this thing gracefully. Guess I'm back to my M3 and M6. I honestly don't know if I'd touch an M9; this thing has been so unreliable I don't know if I'd want to spend the money on another digital Leica. I just can't trust the camera for work in the field. It's a shame because this is quite honestly my favorite digital camera I've ever used (when it's working).

 

[jaapv]

It sounds like a flex was not plugged in all the way in the previous repair. Personally I would vastly prefer having a camera that went through Leica CS and had a year”s guaranty and would never return it.

 

[Lss]

I honestly don't know if I'd touch an M9; this thing has been so unreliable I don't know if I'd want to spend the money on another digital Leica. I just can't trust the camera for work in the field. It's a shame because this is quite honestly my favorite digital camera I've ever used (when it's working).

If it is the best suited digital camera for you and you want to use digital, just get one that works or give another chance to the one you are getting fixed. Or give up on them and don't look back, if you really have no confidence in them. Anything can fail.

The Canon DSLR's I have owned and used, including 1-series, have been my most unreliable digital cameras. The M8 has seen more bumps, and more extreme conditions, but it just keeps on working without issues.

 

[ramosa]

I agree with jaapv. Having the Leica bonus year warranty is a huge plus. I recently had to send in my 4-plus year-old M8 for a shutter replacement, but the good news is that it'll come back with a new one-year warranty. This is the only problem that I have had with my M8, by the way.

 

[Vickko]

That couldn't have been cheap.

And not that you had any alternative.

Mind if I ask what it cost? Less than buying another M8?

...Vick

I agree with jaapv. Having the Leica bonus year warranty is a huge plus. I recently had to send in my 4-plus year-old M8 for a shutter replacement, but the good news is that it'll come back with a new one-year warranty. This is the only problem that I have had with my M8, by the way.

 

[dreilly]

I sympathize with you. In the past years I've had two Nikon D70s, two D300s, a D700, Pentax KX, K7 and K20D, Olympus E1, E3, E5, Canon 40D, 5DI, Olympus E-P1, Ricoh GXR, Epson R-D1...and some others (most of these were owned by my office, so I'm not as sick as I seem!) The only ones that ever gave me a problem were the E5 (needed flip screen repair), and the D700 arrived with nonfunctioning AF, it was replaced by the seller in under a week. I used these cameras quite a bit and never had an issue, so my impression of digital camera reliability is generally very high. It is a shame because the M8 is just such an easy, enjoyable camera to use, pared down to total photographic simplicity.

 

[Mudman]

I guess I just got frustrated after having it crash on me so shortly after having it back from repair. It's a lot of money (for me anyway) to have in an aging camera that has so far proven to be problematic in the month or two that I've owned it. My Nikons have been trouble free for years. My film Leicas as well. I know that problems happen, but I really liked my M3, and I would rather have that back. I was just hoping for a lighter alternative for when I didn't want to haul the nikon gear around. Pretty much all I've shot for my personal work the last two years has been with a Leica. Makes sense that I'd want to move that to my professional work as well.

 

[MCTuomey]

Experience always varies in regard to gear reliability. We all have to choose what we trust will work, certainly. If I have to get the shot(s), my working cameras are dSLRs. The thing is, if my dSLR needs repair, it's a one week turnaround. And dSLR repairs are infrequent for me. Not so with the M digitals. It's 3-4 weeks away, and can be longer. More stuff seems to go wrong with M digitals too.

My luxury/fun cameras are rangefinders. I'm lucky to afford them. Over the past few years of shooting digital M's, I'm beginning to believe they're just buggy by nature. I put up with it, but slowly I'm getting impatient and may stop using them altogether. Great lenses, great images, a lot of fun to use, but more trouble sometimes than they should be.

But I had to speak up and let it be known that not every M8 (or M8.2) is a lemon. They can be a very usable camera when their limitations are understood and respected.
--Steve

Ok, but I don't believe it's a "lemon v good copy" phenomenon. Very few real clunkers, in reality. I'm thinking that the M8/9 design is inherently buggy - owners will see a lot of issues needing service visits that other makes and models never or rarely see. Temperamental, if you will. Needy, if you like.

 

[Paul Luscher]

Experience always varies in regard to gear reliability. We all have to choose what we trust will work, certainly. If I have to get the shot(s), my working cameras are dSLRs. The thing is, if my dSLR needs repair, it's a one week turnaround. And dSLR repairs are infrequent for me. Not so with the M digitals. It's 3-4 weeks away, and can be longer. More stuff seems to go wrong with M digitals too.

My luxury/fun cameras are rangefinders. I'm lucky to afford them. Over the past few years of shooting digital M's, I'm beginning to believe they're just buggy by nature. I put up with it, but slowly I'm getting impatient and may stop using them altogether. Great lenses, great images, a lot of fun to use, but more trouble sometimes than they should be.



Ok, but I don't believe it's a "lemon v good copy" phenomenon. Very few real clunkers, in reality. I'm thinking that the M8/9 design is inherently buggy - owners will see a lot of issues needing service visits that other makes and models never or rarely see. Temperamental, if you will. Needy, if you like.

"Inherently buggy"? I dunno. For some reason,my M8 worked fine. So from my experience, the design didn't seem to be inherently buggy...though that might be anecdotal evidence. Only gave up the M8 because the M9 had improvements I wanted: full frame, no filters, no lens coding required, etc...

 

[clear2000]

I understand what you’re going through. I had a similar experience last year and just a few weeks ago. I bought a M8 from someone on CL and I got it home and noticed the red lines. The previous owner helped me get it to Leica(NJ), and they replaced the sensor under warranty. This kind of freaked me out so I sold it to a fellow RFF member in Canada. Once it was gone I missed it really bad, and I bought it back. I took a few test shots and sure enough, the red lines were back. I sent it back in and this time they remapped the sensor. It’s working fine now and after all that drama, I would do it again because I love this camera. It’s not my main rig, I keep a X100/Nex5 with me all of the time but the M8 is my dream camera until I can afford the M9.
Hang in there, I’ve heard of worse stories.

 

[shiro_kuro]

That couldn't have been cheap.

And not that you had any alternative.

Mind if I ask what it cost? Less than buying another M8?

...Vick

I had the shutter replaced in my M8 that had less than 2500 shutter actuations...
Cost of the repair by the good folks at Leica NJ ....around $ 700.00 ; )

Got the one year warranty on the shutter only .... not the whole camera .
I eventually sold the M8 and got an M8.2 which I use just about everyday and thoroughly enjoy shooting alongside my M4 ......

 

[ramosa]

Vickko:

No problem at all. I actually posted it in another threat specific to my problem. When I sensed I had a shutter problem, my first thought was would the repair cost be reasonable considering that M8s go for about $2,000. (It was much like my considering getting repairs for my 1996 Acura 3.2 TL!) The replacement for my M8 shutter will cost $475. (Per Shiro's experience, I guess Leica charges less now for some reason.) Of course, $475 isn't cheap, but I was expecting much more.