Leica M240 series battery scarcity

The M8: "Coffee Stain" LCD, ran out of parts. Not a fatal problem, but one that should have been corrected by finding a substitute part.
the M9/M Monochrom/M-E: poor choice of coverglass, ran out of parts, no longer repairable.
M240: battery shortage? That is just incompetence. It's a battery. Fundamental. I can make a call and have a run of batteries made for custom embedded systems. Why can't Leica. I can see an executive- "What, you mean people actually take pictures with these?"
 
As I've said, I can't play the $$$ games with Leica for a battery for the M 240. If mine dies, I buy a Z5 to use my M/LTM glass instead.

I _like_ my 240 a whole lot but in the end, I have many other things my money has to go towards.

Really, I'm also enjoying the hell out of Pentax these days too. And my K-3 cost less than an M 240 battery...
 
chuckroast said:
Fantastic, actually. At last inventory I had HP5+, FP4+, Fomapan 200, Double X, and Tri-X in the freezer in copious amounts. These are nestled next to my stash of 120, 6x9, 9x12, and 4x5 sheet films in a variety of emulsions including Tri-X, Plus-X, HP5+, FP4+, Efke PL100M, CHS 100 II, Fomapan 100, Fomapan 200, Agfapan APX 100...

Kodak, Ilford, Adox, and Foma are all still cranking out film in a variety of formats.
Click to expand...

Great if you are happy with only mono. I guess you are.
 
I'm kibitzing here, since I haven't shot a Leica since I got tired of the reloading issues and ditched my M4P... but I have to wonder why it would be prohibitively difficult to take a dead M240 battery, split the case with a Dremel, unsolder the cells from the protection-circuit board, and solder in electrically-equivalent cells from an OEM vendor. I've done that with Epson R-D1 batteries and it worked. Does Leica build some kind of nefarious digital watermark into its cells? Not merely kvetching, I'm genuinely curious...
 
It seems like the "Leica M240 series battery scarcity" conversation is starting to dry up.

When all that can be said and done has been said and done, it's time to start talking about cats and dogs and Steamboat Willie! 🙂

Mike
 
Well the good news is that although batteries are still hard to come by, we can instead have 100th anniversary Teddy Bears! As they are Steiff I suppose the supply chain is shorter than for batteries.

I like Teddy Bears but I am quite glad the called the Male one Ernst and not Oskar.
 
santino said:
Who is Steamboat Willie? 😁
Click to expand...
1920_51-107_720.jpg
 
ranger9 said:
I'm kibitzing here, since I haven't shot a Leica since I got tired of the reloading issues and ditched my M4P... but I have to wonder why it would be prohibitively difficult to take a dead M240 battery, split the case with a Dremel, unsolder the cells from the protection-circuit board, and solder in electrically-equivalent cells from an OEM vendor. I've done that with Epson R-D1 batteries and it worked. Does Leica build some kind of nefarious digital watermark into its cells? Not merely kvetching, I'm genuinely curious...
Click to expand...
Rollei's electronic 6x6 SLRs seemed to be suffering the same fate as the M240. They were paperweights without functioning batteries, and Rollei (or what's left of it) offered no support. But there are independents who've come to the rescue, and my 6006 and 6001 are now happily banging away with re-celled battery packs. Your suggestion makes good sense and might provide a bit of a cottage industry for someone who has the knowledge and skills to re-cell the Leica batteries.
 
if you need a battery right now - yes I would not be happy-but
get on the list from leica parts - & hope the timing is ok or in time anyway
even if not get on the list from leica parts & buy another just in case
the camera is a leica - but its a computer that sees images
& they don't have the production numbers of the other players

a friend of mine had a huge powerboat he ran on lake ontario
all winter long he would put money in a jar to pay for next summers gas
then the gas went way up - & there was no way to put that kind of money in a jar
 
WoodallP said:
Well the good news is that although batteries are still hard to come by, we can instead have 100th anniversary Teddy Bears! As they are Steiff I suppose the supply chain is shorter than for batteries.

I like Teddy Bears but I am quite glad the called the Male one Ernst and not Oskar.
Click to expand...
Also backordered @ 600 USD 😛
 
Yokosuka Mike said:
When all that can be said and done has been said and done, it's time to start talking about cats and dogs and Steamboat Willie! 🙂
Click to expand...
When I was a young kid, Dad took us to visit some Chinese friends for dinner. He said 'we're going to John's house for a steamboat'. Visions of us cruising down the Yarra River in a small paddle vessel swam through my excited mind! Imagine my surprise when we arrived to find a steaming electric pot of water in the middle of the dining table, with plates of raw meat, chicken, fish and vegetables around it, and little mesh nets to hold the food while it cooked in the water. Yeah, apparently this is what they called a steamboat. Clearly, my hopes were too high. 😆

@santino As for 'who is Steamboat Willie': given the above story, use your imagination. 😉
 
Last edited:
Archiver said:
When I was a young kid, Dad took us to visit some Chinese friends for dinner. He said 'we're going to John's house for a steamboat'. Visions of us cruising down the Yarra River in a small paddle vessel swam through my excited mind! Imagine my surprise when we arrived to find a steaming electric pot of water in the middle of the dining table, with plates of raw meat, chicken, fish and vegetables around it, and little mesh nets to hold the food while it cooked in the water. Yeah, apparently this is what they called a steamboat. Clearly, my hopes were too high. 😆

@santino As for 'who is Steamboat Willie': given the above story, use your imagination. 😉
Click to expand...
Boiled mouse? Sounds like it belongs in the "Sneaky (cat!)" thread.
 
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