Getting a used M8 now

[hon910]

Hi,

I hope I can get some opinions here.

I have an offer for a M8 body with actuation of 75,000 from a good friend for US$1000 price.
The condition is about 8 over 10.
I have tested it so far, its good on ISO 160-640, while I am not sure while using the ISO1250 & above, it seems to have banding once awhile, not sure if its a fault.

Can you all please advise if this is still worth getting?

And would there be support in the next few years if the shutter or wherever parts fail?

Does anyone have experience how much would it cost to repair if the shutter really fails?

Thank you

 

[NicoM]

1000$ is a good price for one. I'd probably get it. If you happen to not get along with it, you can still sell it for the price you paid for it (probably even more).

 

[Clint Troy]

It's only money...

 

[froyd]

It's only money...

Yep, and it's useful for putting food on the table, paying school fees, and keeping the landlord happy.

OP- $1000 is a great price for an M8. As Nico said, you can always sell it for more (going price is around $1500).

However, you said this camera belongs to a friend and that you had a chance to use it... well, did you love the experience? were you frustrated by the banding at 1250? Are you willing to put in the effort to get the best out of this machine, and what's your pain point on repairs? Spending $500 on a repair is not much when you've spent $7000 on the purchase, but it would be 50% of purchase price for you.

 

[Kingsfan]

$1000 is a steal right now

 

[jsrockit]

Yeah, I'd buy it for $100) and sell it for $1500 if you don't like it.

 

[hon910]

Thank you for the comments/advise so far.

 

[kknox]

I bought one used in Oct. Great value, you just saved 4k in depreciation from new. Love the look of photos. Have only shot about 5 rolls of film since the M8 has been in my hands.

Do it.

 

[dboxer]

Getting the best out of the M8

Getting the best out of the M8

Are you willing to put in the effort to get the best out of this machine...

Anyone care to elaborate on this? I've had an M8 for a half year and just never got the hang of making good photos from it.

It's certainly not the glass - using 50 Lux E46, 40 Nokton SC, 35 Color Skopar.

I've used UV/IR filters on all of them and get weird blue-tinged halos under bright light. The B&W images are better, but still pretty noisy.

I'm quite happy with the results from the M6, Contax G2 and Zeiss glass, and my medium format cameras. Not to mention the Hexar AF, GR1s, Contax T2...

I guess it's the color files from the M8 that don't do much for me.

I do, and thoroughly enjoy developing my own B&W film negs. I can tolerate the scanning process pretty well, even though it always ends up taking way longer than I'd like.

So what can I do to clean up and improve upon my less than mediocre color M8 files?

I don't mean to hijack the thread from the OP. My 2 cents - it's a good price that's not likely to come again soon. See if it grabs you. If not, recover your costs and maybe profit a little.

- Dan

 

[jaapv]

The best remedy for noise is to expose properly. The remedy for color problems is to clean up your postprocessing workflow, calibrate your monitor and use a grey card. The M(8) leaves it up to the photographer to get good photographs. Halos around specular highlights can be cleaned up by the defringing tools in your PP software.

 

[1joel1]

Are your lenses coded? That should help with the blue-tinged halos.

Joel

Anyone care to elaborate on this? I've had an M8 for a half year and just never got the hang of making good photos from it.

It's certainly not the glass - using 50 Lux E46, 40 Nokton SC, 35 Color Skopar.

I've used UV/IR filters on all of them and get weird blue-tinged halos under bright light. The B&W images are better, but still pretty noisy.

I'm quite happy with the results from the M6, Contax G2 and Zeiss glass, and my medium format cameras. Not to mention the Hexar AF, GR1s, Contax T2...

I guess it's the color files from the M8 that don't do much for me.

I do, and thoroughly enjoy developing my own B&W film negs. I can tolerate the scanning process pretty well, even though it always ends up taking way longer than I'd like.

So what can I do to clean up and improve upon my less than mediocre color M8 files?

I don't mean to hijack the thread from the OP. My 2 cents - it's a good price that's not likely to come again soon. See if it grabs you. If not, recover your costs and maybe profit a little.

- Dan

 

[mingkookoo]

I love the color from my M8. This one is with 50 summilux wide opened, not much PP in Lightroom at all.

 

[mingkookoo]

I've played with the highlight/shadow colors and the contrast for this one.



$1000 US is quite a Bargain 🙂

 

[ShinX414]

well, i don't need to tell you to get the m8 since so many other members told you to just do it.
as far as i know the m8 is offically not supported by leica anymore but plz correct me if i am mistaken.
anyone else who knows how much it will cost to replace the shutter?

 

[mingkookoo]

Googled M8 Shutter Replacement and found a few threads. Here is one from the L.Camera Forum, not sure if I can post it here.

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica...240967-replacing-dead-m8-shutter-1-000-a.html

Hope it helps.

If anyone wants me to take down the link, just let me know 🙂

 

[ramosa]

In general, $1000 is a very good price, but 75,000 actuations is quite a lot. That said, shutter replacements likely cost $400-something these days, which wouldn't be bad.

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

Buy it and put several layers of clear tape on the display screen to protect it. It scratches very easily and scratches can escalate to a broken screen. I am using it constantly at 650 ISO and like it a lot. especially B&W is great!

 

[johnmshaw]

It sounds like a good deal. I just picked up my first M8 , I am loving it. I am shooting in B&W and have quickly grown fond of this camera.

 

[Avotius]

1000 dollars is a good price for the camera. However I would not get a M8 right now. With all the people who had to get shutters replaced and this and that problems it seems that user M8's right now are not a good buy less you find yourself with an expensive repair bill sooner rather than later. Just my opinion though, none of the digital Leica's feel up to the task of staying around like the film bodies.

 

[Lss]

I think $1000 is an excellent price. The shutter count is pretty high compared to most cameras on the market, but I have seen one with over 200k. The owner claimed it was the original shutter.