Horrifying prospect for any digital M8 8.2 owner!!!

[Kent]

Kent, If you really mailed the question to Leitz, then they will be very surprised 😉

Leitz turned to LEItz CAmera mera (or LEICA) in 1986 (the year they moved to Wetzlar). There is company Leitz in Oberkochen (linked above) and they are NOT in camera business.

You know what I mean...

 

[Kent]

Speaking just for myself, I'd pay the $3500 and exchange the busted old camera for a new one. I don't have any sentimental attachment with old digicams. If I elected to have it repaired, who knows what else could go wrong after the warranty on the first fix has expired that would require another $2500 to fix.

Sure. But we are talking about the replacement of a display which should not be $2500,- to do, should it?

 

[insomnia]

"It is not rare for a Leica to become its owner's lifelong companion. This also applies to the digital Leica M9 and equally to the M9-P: (...)"

http://en.leica-camera.com/photography/m_system/m9/

yeeah, sure 🙄

 

[Ben Z]

Wow. The M8 series was discontinued less than three years ago and already some key parts are unavailable? That's much shorter than typical even in the digital era. Look on Canon and Nikon's company sites. They still service bodies that were discontinued well before the M8.

 

[Kent]

For the sake of discussion, how much extra would Leica need to charge up front on top of an already expensive camera in order for the company to hold an additional 12 year parts and repair inventory _after_ the camera model has been discontinued; for an obsolete LCD specification that was first used in a Leica camera in 2006? Leica would have had to buy up the entire world's production of that LCD from the years 2006-2012 and beyond to satisfy this requirement.

Why that? The have bought at least one LCD per camera, haven't they?
So it would surely not need the "entire world's production" additionally.
I am pretty sure that Leica has some kind of statistical estimation about how many % of an M8 will show a defect within, say, 10 years.

For a premium product like this one, they sould hold enough parts for repair.

I know that this sounds a bit naive and that it just isn't like this today. No company stocks in large numbers of parts any more, all things are produced just "in-time".

But then, who wrote again that you can still get the Epson R-D1 repaired? 😎

 

[Lss]

The M8 was a dog anyway

That explains why mine gets so irritated when I don't take it out enough. 😱

 

[raid]

I was curious, so I bought an M8. Photography is more important to me than any type of camera. If the M8 breaks and if I will be unable to fix it, then I will use another camera.

 

[sanmich]

In their situation, I'd offer a repair at $2500 and a replacement Leica (current model) as a trade-in (so we have the old body to cannibalize) at $3500.

Which would YOU go for?

Cheers,

R.

This is still a major paradigm shift from paying 10% of the camera price every 10 years (tops) for a cla to paying half of it every five years or so.
the net price of the camera is not the issue anymore, but having to buy a new camera (basically) every decade...
expensive, these li'l things...

 

[bob338]

My M8 developed the coffee cup stain, and Leica did the right thing for me. They asked me to not announce the numbers in public, but I am very happy with the deal they offered me.
And for what it's worth, i was at least the second owner of my camera, and it was a grey market M8 to begin with. They could have told me to jump in a lake, and they offered me a very generous deal instead.
I think they're a good, decent company.

Bob

 

[IEDEI]

I had actually sent an e-mail to Leica in NJ several days ago to ask them about the LCD displays....and they told me that IF the problem is with the screen itself, Leica AG and Leica USA are not replacing the screens.

Now, that being said.....the discussion on the other forum (which i have also posted in) is that it's possible the issues are not just the screen---but could be a number of things, such as the electrical connections, etc....

I think that Leica should be made aware of this, however I don't feel it's the time to panic. MOST screens don't go bad....and if one's does go bad, one should deal with it when the time comes.

That being said, i think all M8 and M9 owners should keep the pressure on Leica to keep these cameras serviceable in the future.

 

[Vickko]

When I was buying Leica M film cameras, I was investing for my lifetime.

When I was buying R-electronic and M8 / M9 cameras, I was buying for usage and preparing for when the camera would die and be worth only as parts.

e.g. the M9 rangefinder assembly should still be worth a couple hundred bucks; the bottom plate should be worth $50 or more.

No, the paradigm shifted when Leica got into electronics and digital. "Buy and use for life, and pass on in my inheritance" went away.

So, enjoy your M8 / M9 when it works. Because when they work, they are a joy to use.

 

[raid]

Exactly. I will use my M8 as long as I can. Then Zi will go back to the Standard Leica maybe.

 

[pieter]

It seems that it is like many people already predicted when Leica started producing the M8: With digital camera's Leica is no more dependable than Nikon or Canon, and probably won't last you any longer.
Of course this realization has already begun to take hold with most of us. The amounts of problems with the M8 or M9 are not less than most other digitals camera's.
This new knowledge, while bothersome, was of course lightened by the idea that Leica would be able to fix a broken camera. Sure, you would pay extraordinary amounts of money, but still: Leica would able to fix it's problems.
i would suggest that many thought in this regard Leica would do better than other digital camera producers, seeing as Leica still has this aura of dependability, which they themselves feed with marketing suggesting buying a digital Leica would be there for life.

I think for many of us, who hadn't come to this understanding before, one of Leica's big selling points: dependability, is no longer true.

Pay to play indeed. Because with Leica film camera's it used to be that you payed to play, but at least the big cost was helped by the idea that what you paid partly went into durability and dependability (which in themselves can be seen as cost-efficient factors). But with digital less so.

If you buy a digital Leica, expect to buy a new one just as soon as you would when you'd buy any other digital camera.

 

[IEDEI]

When I was buying Leica M film cameras, I was investing for my lifetime.

When I was buying R-electronic and M8 / M9 cameras, I was buying for usage and preparing for when the camera would die and be worth only as parts.

e.g. the M9 rangefinder assembly should still be worth a couple hundred bucks; the bottom plate should be worth $50 or more.

No, the paradigm shifted when Leica got into electronics and digital. "Buy and use for life, and pass on in my inheritance" went away.

So, enjoy your M8 / M9 when it works. Because when they work, they are a joy to use.

while i respect your philosophy-----this isn't how it should be.

a great comparison is to compare the automobile vs. the camera. In an automobile built in 1965, there aren't many electronics and most of the components are of mechanical integrity and function. Fast forward to an automobile from the year 2000----there are tons of electronics, sensors, fuses, plugs, etc.

The primary difference seems to be that in the automobile industry, there is a flourishing aftermarket scene. My 2001 Audi TT, for example----still has Audi selling parts for it, but on top of that there are lots of aftermarket options. It is only an 11 year-old car, however it is a bonafide future classic......and so accordingly there are many smaller companies creating product support IN CASE Audi decides to stop distributing or ordering certain components.

One of the other differences is that the Automobile industry DO support older cars/products most of the time. Porsche, for example (as well as Mercedes Benz) have extensive support of older models.

I am guessing that Leica will come around and find a way to support ANY camera they have produced. It may cost the consumer a pretty penny, however they will figure it out.

Just because things are modern/digital does not mean they are not timeless. That's not the way it should be.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

What is the point in building a body that will last as long as an M3 but cannot fix the electronics in a few years? the build quality of the Fuji X pro 1 makes much more sense here.... I could not care less about machined brass and hand made cameras that cannot be fixed.

Leica wants us to still believe their old M3 raison d'etre still makes sense in the digital/disposable age. It doesn't. And, they don't care, because they still have a consumer base that spends with dubious rationales. How long will they use that excuse — an important component can no longer be manufactured? Does anyone else create products so irresponsibly?

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

I am guessing that Leica will come around and find a way to support ANY camera they have produced. It may cost the consumer a pretty penny, however they will figure it out.

I gave up on Leica when they gave up on the little CM. I'm pretty sure there are no engineers sitting at 'drawing boards'/computers trying to find a way to support that camera. That, at the end of the film era, was the warning shot.

 

[raid]

The "old M3" still is worth more to me than my M8. Photography is more than electronics.

 

[IEDEI]

I gave up on Leica when they gave up on the little CM. I'm pretty sure there are no engineers sitting at 'drawing boards'/computers trying to find a way to support that camera. That, at the end of the film era, was the warning shot.

true. but what is truly amazing to me (seeing as i'm fairly new to photography) is the lack of aftermarket repair or parts supplies.

it seems like people don't want to touch Leicas or produce alternatives to parts. i find it very strange. I find it commendable that people want to keep 'original' parts....however it is not practical for some to be gouged up the eyes trying to support an old camera with only authentic parts.

function > originality.

 

[Kent]

Well, a pencil or some brushes are even cheaper and will last pretty long.
Perhaps we should start to draw and paint. 😉

 

[JayM]

Being able to keep one camera for 50 years was way too good of a deal. The free ride is over 😉