M8 shutter broke and why I am not upset

Mine went a couple weeks ago (original shutter, 1/8000) after a little less than 13k shots. It's at Leica NJ now, waiting on the estimate for repair. I've got a backup 5N as well, but am bummed considering how much money I spent on the M8.
 
eleskin said:
It finally happened! My M8 shutter jumped it's track and is now broken. This is after 80,000 exposures since I bought it in 2007. I have not had one issue until this. Fortunately I have a second M8 as backup as well as a NEX 5n. It will be off to New Jersey soon. Funny thing is my MacBook pro quit 4 days earlier! Gremlins everywhere!
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Wow, that's more than 40 photos per day, for 5 years 😀
 
I wonder - before our cameras had a way to show total shutter actuations, I never,ever thought about how many times I could trip the shutter. Never considered there could be a cap to my cameras life. If there were a way to count shutter actuations on my M4, would it be comparable to the numbers you'd get out of a digital M? I mean, since there is a film budget, I would imagine that there would be fewer frames spent, versus a digital camera where people can sometimes over shoot (hence 2 and 3 year old cameras with tens of thousands of frames shot).

In all my years of shooting film bodies, I only had one shutter failure, my Nikon FM2 - which had high speed titanium blades. It was not covered by Nikon warrenty for some reason. Bummed me out as a 15 year old kid.
 
My guess is that the numbers that manufacturers give for these are mean-time-between-failures, meaning that some will last longer, and others less long. In the days of film, 100,000 exposures involved some serious coin in film and processing costs. Most amateurs would never get there with a single camera, particularly those tyros splitting their time among cameras or systems. These days pressing the shutter button is perceived as "free" -- my guess is that many more folks will get to 50K exposures with their favorite digital cameras than did on old-style Ms in the film days.

Ben Marks
 
I have approximately 50k shutter actuations on my M8 - and, even though it is already a 5+ year old camera, I'd expect Leica to stand behind their product.
Digilux 2s are getting sensor replacements...why wouldn't the former flagship M be covered?

As others have stated, for $5k+, you'd think that a shutter replacement would at least be covered. But then again, that may be unrealistic since Leica cares more about someone who has the OP's mindset than my own, frugal thoughts.

I agree completely with the romantic idea that the camera has given such fantastic images that a little money here and there is no big deal and is justified. But my real-life budget vetoes such emotional decisions.
 
Amazing about the amount of usage! i have a digital point and shoot Canon Powershot 590 that conservatively shot about 80,000 images.. The entire cost of the new camera was $107 ! True small digitals don't have real shutters but the lens has to get erected and deflated all the time!
My Leica M3 looks like it may need another set of curtains..It will be a third set.. My film cameras are basically retired using them for a roll or two a month. So i am not happy!
I think the shutter failures on the M8 and M9 are terrible. i know of very hard used basic DSLR's that have far exceeded those numbers..
 
A luxury camera should be looked at like a car. Just because it's a Rolls Royce doesn't mean it's going to go 200,000 miles further than the next door neighbors Ford F-150 it's just going to be a better ride and cost more to fix. If you own a Rolls high maintenance cost comes with it.
 
^ the fact that m8's are dying anywhere from 20k-80k is ridiculous especially for the cost of repair. my rebel XT had over 100k on the shutter before i sold it for a couple bucks on craigslist. if the shutter on it had broken, i could have bought another one for only a couple hundred.

my dads old prelude had over 200k miles on it before it broke down. are you saying that its acceptable for a rolls to have lets say only 80k miles on it before it dies?

it shouldnt go further but it also shouldnt do any worse than the cheaper alternative.

also dont get me wrong i love leica (m2 + 35 cron is what im trying to save for) but i think its crazy that the life span is so crappy.
 
You folks have to understand how manufacturers get these numbers "100.000 actuation, 150k, 200k"

They don't put a shutter through 100.000 cycles and see when it breaks. They put it through maybe 10.000, see how much damage/wear it has, and extrapolate a figure from that.

I.e, it's all bollocks and means nothing. It's luck really. You could get 200.000 actuation or 5.000.
 
They don't put a shutter through 100.000 cycles and see when it breaks. They put it through maybe 10.000, see how much damage/wear it has, and extrapolate a figure from that.
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And you know this how?
 
steveniphoto said:
^ the fact that m8's are dying anywhere from 20k-80k is ridiculous especially for the cost of repair. my rebel XT had over 100k on the shutter before i sold it for a couple bucks on craigslist. if the shutter on it had broken, i could have bought another one for only a couple hundred.

my dads old prelude had over 200k miles on it before it broke down. are you saying that its acceptable for a rolls to have lets say only 80k miles on it before it dies?

it shouldnt go further but it also shouldnt do any worse than the cheaper alternative.

also dont get me wrong i love leica (m2 + 35 cron is what im trying to save for) but i think its crazy that the life span is so crappy.
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I know someone that has never owned anything but Mercades cars. She complained that everyone her and her husband have ever owned broke down very frequently and not only that the cost of repairs were high. But they loved the looks a feel of the cars and they had the money to keep them on the road. They would own nothing else. Sometimes looking cool out weighs common sence. I think most anyone here could get by with a E-M5 but it's just not as cool to be seen with. Also I would think the image quality and performance of most compact camera out now would smoke an M8.
I think digital has come of age and now most anything you buy will take great pictures and now the lens is the most important factor. Why would one buy an expensive camera and put a cheap lens on it is beyond me.
 
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