Leica M8 and the dreaded streaks, oh my!

[Chubberino]

Well, I guess I was bound to run into some issues with this old Leica. I took a photograph today, and yes the sensor needs a good cleaning, but on top of that the streaks appeared!

I've posted the previous shot before it showed up and then the affected shot. I'm wondering if the sun had something to do with it as well.

Anybody with experience this late in the M8's lifecycle want to talk me through my options?

Oh well.

 

[B-9]

I noticed this before when I had my M8.

If I left the camera in the truck overnight and it got cold, when I would grab it out and snap I would get fuzzy photos with those lines.

Same thing would happen in the snow, and when the battery would get really low.

It always seemed to alleviate itself and disappear once you've warmed the rig up nailing off a few shots.

I swear it would look like condensation, but that's highly unlikely, a mystery I could never find a solid answer for unfortunately.

Closest I found were a few severe cases of sensor banding, but nothing about this magically fixing itself like mine.
Sold my M8 cheap when money got tight.

 

[Chubberino]

I noticed this before when I had my M8.

If I left the camera in the truck overnight and it got cold, when I would grab it out and snap I would get fuzzy photos with those lines.

Same thing would happen in the snow, and when the battery would get really low.

It always seemed to alleviate itself and disappear once you've warmed the rig up nailing off a few shots.

I swear it would look like condensation, but that's highly unlikely, a mystery I could never find a solid answer for unfortunately.

Closest I found were a few severe cases of sensor banding, but nothing about this magically fixing itself like mine.
Sold my M8 cheap when money got tight.

Interestingly, the battery was dead after this hot but showed two bars before taking the picture. Odd. Just the joy of owning an M8 I guess.

 

[B-9]

Are you using 3rd party batteries?

I noticed my Chinese alternatives would go kaput somewhere between 1-2 bars.

Usually it was in those last few shots I wanted to squeeze out on a low battery.

Might be a product of the generic batteries missing the small computer chip, that communicates its vitals to the camera.

 

[Chubberino]

Yeah, I think they are 3rd party. Needed to get new ones anyways.

 

[user237428934]

A light source close to the border of the sensor can produce these. In the 2nd photo I assume it's the sun.

 

[B-9]

I would splurge on the Leica branded battery, the cheap batteries may be the cause of our problem. I never owned a genuine Leica battery for my m8. Best of luck!

 

[Chubberino]

A light source close to the border of the sensor can produce these. In the 2nd photo I assume it's the sun.

I was guessing that may have contributed as well.

 

[ChrisLivsey]

I would splurge on the Leica branded battery, the cheap batteries may be the cause of our problem. I never owned a genuine Leica battery for my m8. Best of luck!

My batteries are genuine Leica, from a dealer, and they do the dying at 1/2 bars randomly. There are routines posted to reset the "gauge", they don't in my experience work.
It's never a good idea to have the sun in an M8 shot, were you using filters?
I have had vertical streaks from strong point light sources but not horizontal lines. It is usually explained as light hitting the calibration pixels outside the image forming area. It is also stated you can provoke streaking by taking the M8 out of sleep mode and firing the shutter too soon, ie asleep, press and hold to take a shot, the electronics get out of step. It can also be a writing error to the card, take your pick 🙂

 

[Chubberino]

Good to know, thanks!

 

[willie_901]

I vote for battery issues... low and, or intermittent current/voltage.

In some designs data is read simultaneously from two halves of the sensor. If the M8 works this way, then the streaks could be photo site read errors due to hardware failure. This is rare, so let's assume the sensor electronics have not failed.

It is a bad idea to have the sun in the frame with any digital camera. The older the camera, the worse the idea becomes. This has to do with recent improvements in on-chip technology that minimizes excess electrical charge from leaking into adjacent photo sites. Some camera and, or lens designs are susceptible to internal reflections. These reflections are always there but their amplitude is below the noise level so they are not digitized. When the sun is present the reflection signals' amplitude increase to a level where they are digitized.

The OP's image is somewhat rare because the sun is in the frame yet it is not grossly over exposed. Also, the streaks have no relation to the angle of the sun light. They do not resemble artifacts from excess signal charge or reflections. But they are parallel to the sensor photo site rows.

I speculate the sensor readout timing was off for one half of the sensor and the cause was related to battery problems.