Money and mouth (not necessarily in that order)

[SR1]

Hello all,

Whilst I'm not new to this forum, I have only engaged in one thread before (the one about the future of the M8) and that was to try and understand why people defend Leica over the M8 and its problems.

Well to coin an old phrase, I put my money where my mouth was and bought one. An ex demo one actually.

The first one lasted about 10 minutes before locking up. Anyway the dealer replaced it witout quibble and I've now had the replacement for 4 months.

I was suprised to receive a nice letter from Leica thanking me for purchasing one of their products and an invitation to a complimentary photographic course.

This may not seem like much but I didn't expect this level of customer service and it's refreshing.

The camera has the usual issues such as the menu scrolling problem and sometimes it decides to show me the last but one image when I press the play button.

But for a reason I can't explain I don't care! I should but I don't.

The camera is a joy to use and I have not used my Canon DSLR since buying it.

I've posted some images taken with the M8 and ZM21 f4.5, ZM28 f2.8 and 90mm f2.8 Elmarit lenses



Regards

 

[jaapv]

For the scrolling: update to the latest firmware. It is an 85% fix. And wait for the red led to stop blinking before you press play 😉 Much better AWB too...🙂🙂

 

[Thardy]

That is quite peculiar behavior concerning the M8, first bash then buy. That seems to happen frequently.

Dealers should expect a run on M8s with all the discussion on photo.net.

 

[tmfabian]

am I really that lucky that my m8 has never had a single problem?
I treat my cameras pretty brutally, I took the m8 on a shoot today outside in some pretty decent rain and was certainly less than careful about it and it didn't glitch up once and hasn't since I bought it in march.

anywho, back to the topic at hand, congrats on getting one and finding that it's a joy to use, as jaapv said, update the firmware and 90% of the problems early adopters experienced disappear.

 

[POINT OF VIEW]

whats unique

whats unique

Seems to be unique to the M8 when buying a new camera, "It doesn't work right, but it's so darn cool I don't care!" 😉

I don’t see it as unique at all. I had the same sentiments, when I got the Bentley.

 

[Keith]

Seems to be unique to the M8 when buying a new camera, "It doesn't work right, but it's so darn cool I don't care!" 😉

Not just 'cool' ... also unique!

We M8 owners ... like the Marlboro Man (who I heard did die of cancer eventually) would rather fight than switch! 😛

 

[Doug]

SR1, congrats on your recent acquisition, and I particularly like your first of the QEII. Whether cameras, cars, whatever, there are many more problems reported on the 'net than reports of no problems; human nature. And of course some folks read all that and decide on some other product. I've had two M8s since early this year, took them on overseas trips, work fine... Enjoy!

 

[arnulf]

Congratulations! I'm anxiously waiting for mine. Should be in the mail in a couple of days. Jeeezz! never thought I'd spend that much money on a camera, but I just have the feeling it's gonna be right. Having read all the guff the m8 has got, I'm very well prepared for all the problems. Reading about positive experiences like this really gets my hopes up 🙂

a

 

[desire]

Congratulations on your M8 acquisition, SR1!

Great pictures too... I particularly like #1 of QE2.

 

[SR1]

Thanks for comments and tips about the most recent software. I thought I had the latest but will check.


Here are a couple more pictures taken with the M8.

 

[Pablito]

We M8 owners ... like the Marlboro Man (who I heard did die of cancer eventually) would rather fight than switch! 😛

Yeah, he died of LUNG cancer and made powerful anti-smoking statements on film, from his hospital bed, to be shown after he died....

Now, I do sincerely wish the m8 owners good luck, but I can't take that risk... since I make my living from this and could never afford a BACKUP m8, never mind a single m8...

 

[SR1]

Although I have the 2 free UV/IR filters from Leica, I've not really used them much.

They definately improve the colour of foliage, but I'm puzzled about the effect on other colours.

I've attached 2 shots, one with the filter and one without. The car in the shot without the filter is a true representation of its colour, however in the shot with the filter, the blue/cyan cast has been introduced.

I should say that these are crops from photos taken using a ZM21 4.5 lens uncoded.The camera is set with lens detection switched off.


Has anyone else seen this result with silver painted cars?

Or is it because I'm using uncoded lenses with the filter?

Thanks in advance

 

[jaapv]

Yup - get your lenses coded and switch UV/IR detection to "on"

 

[HBertrams]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a used M8. After reading all the horror stories on the forums, I was a bit scared, but mine has been working perfectly. No problems.

I really like it. It is a fun little camera. Great color and sharpness.
Now trying to expand the lens collection (90mm Summicron on the way 🙂)

 

[jplomley]

am I really that lucky that my m8 has never had a single problem?

I've had mine for four months and with continual usage have not had a single problem. A wonderfully discreet versatile camera that accepts a range of optics from various manufacturers.

Here's an image shot with a ZM 50/2 Planar. I was perhaps five feet away from this elderly lady positioned in front of Notre Dame. Took about five images then moved on. She never heard the shutter 😱

 

[jag157]

very nice shot

 

[jplomley]

Thanks Jag. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[faris]

SR1...congratulations on the M8. despite its shortcomings, i love it
and look forward to use it as often as possible.

best.