Poll: M9 Reliability - Please share your experience

[samuelphoto]

I'm a film user that is very interested in moving to a M9. In fact, I purchased one a couple of weeks ago, but it had a problem right out of the box with the first attempted exposure (shutter fault). So, it went back to the dealer but I did not get a replacement, due to fears over reliability. Clearly, the M9 is not as reliable as a film M. On the other hand, it's quite likely that any problems you hear about are not a statistical sampling of the entire M9 user population.

So, this is an attempt to get a better gauge on what is really happening. Please share your experience by voting in the poll. In this case a "problem" is an operational problem with the camera itself, not something service-related, etc. If you wish, please share any relevant details you think the RFF community might benefit from hearing.

 

[JMQ]

I bought mine in Jan 2010. No issues whatsoever on electrical, mechanical, or finish. There was a spot (grease?) on the sensor which I cleaned off easily with a sensor swab.

 

[sepiareverb]

Mine arrived in late July- never any problems at all. And I didn't need to have any lenses adjusted.

 

[Olsen]

I am also curious about M9 reliability after having bought the M8 of which almost all had this 'Red Line Problem'. I am not going to pay $ 7,000 for being a beta tester this time. M9 have to be flawless to that price.

A comment: Neither the film Leicas were particularly reliable cameras. Quite a few had to be returned to the factory for changing shutter curtain due to that it was so easy to burn a hole in them. A lot of other issues were common. Like adjustment of the rangefinder. Further; the electromechanical shutter of M8/9 is far - far better than the old 'manual/cloth curtain shutter' of the film days. They have to be. We photographers perform something like tenfold the exposures with our digital cameras compared to what we did during the film days.

 

[swoop]

I dropped the camera about two feet onto carpet while covering Fashion Week. I was holding it in my hand at my side and it slipped. It was unharmed.

A few months later I placed the camera in my camera bag and ran out of the way to avoid being doused by a fire house. As I was running I heard a thud. The M9 fell out of my camera bag and dropped about 3 feet onto concrete and rolled another 5. It was destroyed.

Leica offered me a replacement M9 at cost. My second M9 lasted a little over a month before the sensor suddenly died. I mailed it to Leica and two weeks later they sent it back to me with a new sensor and electronics. It has been working fine since.

Last week I was using the M9 in the freezing cold and it locked up on me. Removing the battery and putting it back in fixed it.

 

[kbg32]

I bought a refurbished demo from Popflash, as new. Checked over by Leitz with warranty and saved some cash. A beauty.

 

[Roger Hicks]

December 2009. No problems yet.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Leica0Series]

Clearly, the M9 is not as reliable as a film M.

Based on a sample of one (1) camera. Ah, Internet statistics.

 

[Paul Luscher]

So far, so good. Had some instances where shot taken w/ 990mm were soft or out of focus, but those seem to have been "operator error."

 

[samuelphoto]

Clearly, the M9 is not as reliable as a film M.

Based on a sample of one (1) camera. Ah, Internet statistics.

No, not on a sample of one. That is why this poll was created. Frankly, I've read about more problems with the camera in the last year, than I have with an entire lifetime of film M's. I've personally owned several film M's over the years, probably a dozen or so, and never ever had a single problem.

 

[tlitody]

No, not on a sample of one. That is why this poll was created. Frankly, I've read about more problems with the camera in the last year, than I have with an entire lifetime of film M's. I've personally owned several film M's over the years, probably a dozen or so, and never ever had a single problem.

Thats because digital camera users have to understand PCs if they want to get prints and that means they are far more likely to use web forums cos they aren't technophobes 😀

 

[samuelphoto]

Bump to the top for more feedback. Thanks.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

My M8 came down with a dead pixel a few months after buying it. Repaired under warranty.
My M9 came down with a red pixel & vertical line a week after I bought it in late October this year so now its at Leica being repaired also under warranty. It's still an amazing tool and I can only hope to make the most of its capabilities. As long as Leica sticks by their products and offers service for them I think its the finest digital camera out there right now.

Phil Forrest

 

[Harry Lime]

A service technician once told me that the cloth shutter in an analog M is good for about 200,000-250,000 shots.

Most pro SLR bodies have been rated around 150,000 exposures (F5/1v/D2x etc).

Recently we've seen both Canon and Nikon bump they numbers to around 200,000-250,000 exposures in their top pro models.

 

[Olsen]

My M8 came down with a dead pixel a few months after buying it. Repaired under warranty.
My M9 came down with a red pixel & vertical line a week after I bought it in late October this year so now its at Leica being repaired also under warranty. It's still an amazing tool and I can only hope to make the most of its capabilities. As long as Leica sticks by their products and offers service for them I think its the finest digital camera out there right now.

Phil Forrest

Oh, no! Not the M9 too!

 

[Olsen]

A service technician once told me that the cloth shutter in an analog M is good for about 200,000-250,000 shots.

Most pro SLR bodies have been rated around 150,000 exposures (F5/1v/D2x etc).

Recently we've seen both Canon and Nikon bump they numbers to around 200,000-250,000 exposures in their top pro models.

Canon's pro SLRs (most likely Nikon too) has always (for the last 20 years or so) been capable of 200.000 - 250.000 exposures. The old cloth M-shutter have never even been close to that. More like 20 - 50.000 exposures. But now Leica is using a Japanese shutter from the same supplier as Canon and Nikon.

Shutter reliability duration is now important. Due to that we expose ten fold as much as we did when we were shooting film.

 

[samuelphoto]

27 responses so far. I'd like to get at least 30 before making any initial judgements.

 

[Turtle]

Olsen, I dont think you are right about the cloth shutters. I am under the impression that they are good for a HUGE number of frames, the penalty being the need for calibration/adjustment and servicing very now and again and problems are more likely if not used regularly. A typical SLR shutter would likely need less maintenance but once worn out will likely need wholesale replacement before the average well maintained cloth shutter. There are accounts out there of periodic overhauls and curtain replacements on extremely heavily used mechanical Ms, but with total shutter life being decades and hundreds of thousands of actuations.

 

[JonasYip]

I've had my M9 for about a year now, and have had no problems. Well, no functional problems... one of the strap lugs is a little loose, and I haven't bothered to fix it.

j

 

[samuelphoto]

We have 28 votes in and a 18% failure rate. Close to a statistically significant sample size. This is not exactly world class to say the least. Can you imagine what chaos Nikon or Canon would be under, with their order of magnitude greater sales volume, if their cameras had that kind of failure rates?

Still, I am going to take the plunge and hope for the best. I expect any problems will surface quickly if they are going to occur at all. Also, my dealer is very responsive and of course I'll have the Leica warranty if I need it. Wish me luck. I have an around the world trip coming up to Europe, India and Australia and am not planning on bringing any film with me due to hassles at airport security.