Poll: Who's Getting the Upgrade?

[POINT OF VIEW]

Up Where ?

Up Where ?

Where can I get one of those Leica M8 cars with leather upholstery?

 

[gdi]

This first upgrade will apparently have no effect on how the camera takes pictures.

Leica says less vibration will reduce blurry photos...

 

[Richard Marks]

One thing which is not clear is how long the upgrde of a particular stage will be available. Also if one ccan progress to for the sake of argument, a new sensor but omit the earlier phases. Also it would not be good if it was time limited. This has happened with hasseblad H series upgrades. H1's can no longer be upgraded.

 

[Bob Parsons]

Most consumer advocates will tell you do not buy an extended warranty.
everything here is to leicas advantage. Canon for a 1d shutter charges 400 bucks in stalled. If the glass is the same as canon which everyone says it is it will sratch.

Canon 5D and 1D series screens are not glass. They appear to be plastic with a toughned top layer. I found this out to my cost when I tried to polish out a scratch from a 5D screen. Initially it was very difficult to polish but once I had exposed the softer layer underneath I found that it wouldn't polish without leaving a semi matt surface.

If you place your face against a Canon screen it doesn't feel cold like glass would, it has the much lower thermal conductivity of plastic.

Bob.

 

[Artichoke]

no upgrade for me

no upgrade for me

but I would buy an M9 in a blink if it significantly improves upon the M8
I don't mind the ir problem which may be a necessity given the particulars of wide angle lenses and the M's geometry
FF makes more impact with a RF given their advantage at wide angles & if Leica comes up with a first rate FF with higher resolution in the M9 & better high ISO performance, I will be an early adapter, even if this is offered as an upgrade option
I think the M8 will be more valuable in years to come unmodified as it was Leica's first digital M & I have one from the second batch here (acquired in January of 2007) which produces outstanding files for me already ...I plan to leave the M8 attached to my Viso for telephoto/macro work, in which its crop sensor is an advantage as well
of course I will be interested in how Leica manages the next iteration of the M8
I suspect it will be an excellent camera

 

[pizzahut88]

Point well made.

Point well made.

I have to agree with Erik 🙂

Lets try and break down these costs and see if they make any more sense 😱

Courier from and to your house 100 Euros
A days labour 400 Euros
Parts 300 Euros
Profit (20%) 200 Euros

That leaves us 200 Euros short assuming my figures are anywhere near reality - I've based a days labour cost (cost to the company, not just pay) on UK figures - probably higher in Germany. There will almost certainly be some contingency in the cost to cover other parts that may need replacing. So, whilst we can all argue about the utility value of the upgrade and the requirement for upfront payment I am not sure that the cost of the upgrade is that far off the mark. Also bear in mind that in the EU that cost includes tax which probably is the missing 200 Euros.

Not to forget, the act of upgrading itself is really insignificant in profit.
But rather it is more a token of goodwill to current Leica M8 users.
I am pretty sure the sensor upgrade is possible, and most likely they are now in the testing stage.

The upgrade is an option, it's not mandatory,
but if you love your M8, then you are now given the choice to upgrade it to full frame.

How bad could that be?

Every Canon and Nikon replace their cameras, and make you buy a new one.
So kudos to Leica for this amazing philosophy.

 

[pizzahut88]

It's hint.

It's hint.

Quote:
The LEICA M8 Upgrade Program ...... presently investigating the possibility of further upgrade steps including the camera’s complete digital section, even including the sensor itself.

I don't think a new sensor will mean a full frame sensor, just a new cropped one. If the camera was designed to work with a cropped sensor, how will a full frame be able to work? If it is put into the same place won't there be major vignetteing? Aren't cropped and full frame cameras designed differently?
And remember it says investigating.... not planning.

Steve

If Lee was a prudent man, he won't say 'investigating' unless back at the factory, he really has someone working on it. Perhaps near the finishing stage.

 

[Cindy Flood]

Guy Mancuso, from the getdpi.com website, has talked to Leica at PMA and has clarified some of the questions about the upgrade here: http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=667.

The most interesting point to me, is that according to Guy, the M8 will always be a base M8. It can be upgraded to upgrade 1 at any time in the future. He says that a dealer could potentially send in M8's for the upgrade and then sell them, but they will always be base M8's coming from Leica until the next new model comes along.

Guy tried an upgraded M8 at PMA and says that he thinks you might pick up a stop of shutter speed because of less vibration. That is tempting.

He has submitted a list to Leica with questions that LUF members compiled, and will be posting Leica's reply when he gets it. I'm not making up my mind about getting the upgrade until all the questions have been answered.

 

[retow]

Based on Leica´s answer, the new warranty seems to kick in at the time of buying an upgrade rather then when an exisitng one runs out. To maximise warranty coverage, timing of upgrade purchases will be important.

 

[MartinL]

Do you have to own an M8 to participate in this poll? :angel:

/T

Do you have to own an M8 to purchase the upgrade? 😀

 

[Ben Z]

My M8 has factory warranty until late summer '09. In the meantime if my shutter dies Leica has to replace it for free. If I did the upgrade now I wouldn't be getting much value from the 2-year additional warranty included in the cost because it would overlap the existing warranty by all but 6 months. Perhaps by summer '09 there will be additional upgrade items available. I will consider the issue then, not before.

 

[cmogi10]

Probably not, not at this point atleast.

 

[Joe Mondello]

Have to admit I am also undecided.

Since my M8 has to go back due to a Shutter Fault and a scratched LCD, you'd think they'd upgrade me as a courtesy (I know I am so dreaming)!

A quieter, smoother shutter would be a definite plus for me, but since getting the D3, shooting low light with the Leica just seems less important than it was two months ago.

 

[Eric T]

I just downloaded the sounds of the current and upgraded M8 shutters from the Leica website. The upgraded shutter is much quieter but it is still clunky, not M3-like smooth. After giving it some more thought, I just don't think the shutter upgrade is worth the downsides of a much slower flash sync and the loss of 1/8000 of a second speed. The LCD screen upgrade is nice but I don't need it.

I do like what Leica is doing here - giving M8 owners a chance to upgrade as improvements occur. I would pay for a sensor upgrade, particularly one that reduces noise. But it will be difficult to pay 1200 euros for the upgrade as described to date.

Eric

 

[Rayt]

Lucky for Leica they have no competition in the digital M rangefinder game. Imagine if GM came out with such a plan. If you want a Chevy pickup with a 327 V8 you must buy one with a 292 straight six and then pay extra for Chevy to toss out the 292 and replace it with the 327. Absolutely brilliant marketing.

 

[tomasis]

Lucky for Leica they have no competition in the digital M rangefinder game. Imagine if GM came out with such a plan. If you want a Chevy pickup with a 327 V8 you must buy one with a 292 straight six and then pay extra for Chevy to toss out the 292 and replace it with the 327. Absolutely brilliant marketing.

downgrade is good for enviroment and fuel economy, right? especially for americans with v8 motors. I would love see downgrade-motor-shops 🙂

 

[DWeston]

another car analogy....

another car analogy....

what if Chevy offered an engine upgrade for a one year old car, replace that V6 with a V8, it will cost you say $10K [originally paid $30K for Chevy] and we will extend your warranty from the time you pay us 2 yrs additional. Now the upgrade gets you more Hp, and the same gas mileage.....

many of us who like bigger and faster, would go for it,

now what if the upgrade cost the same but only got you a new windshield and better safety gear, no engine change???

how many would go for that??? Just asking.....

I do not think this is a good upgrade for me, for the cost. If this cost say 300-500 pounds[500-700 dollars] maybe, maybe not even there because I do NOT perceive a need to improve shutter and LCD, at almost any cost.

If I wanted to just have them fix my current scratched LCD screen, {i don't care} but if I did, would they charge me anything but shipping in that case, still under warranty, replace it with current original LCD screen??

 

[tbarker13]

The more I think about this, the more I think an upgrade will be in my future.
I don't use a flash, so the synch speed doesn't mean anything to me.
I quieter shutter would be great. But so to is a fresh 24-month warranty.
To maximize that, I'll be waiting until my current warranty expires to do the upgrade.

 

[icebear]

from another have-no...
I guess it's a nice commitment from Leica to offer an update option to current owners - the M8 is a Leica but after all it's a digital camera and looking at the life cycle of the digital cameras in general - there is no comparison with a M3, MP, Ikon, whatever. The speed of progress and development usually makes the top notch, edge of the line model from yesterday, the old horse of tomorrow.

If you can upgrade your expensive old horse next week to still have the feeling it's somewhere close to the latest edge, that might be reassuring for some. After forking out so much you have to keep forking even more 🙄 or you just be satisfied with what you have and what the current M8 can do - which obviously is not that bad, according to users.
I'll wait for a FF upgrade for my M6 - I wouldn't upgrade my MP though 😀 😀 😀 .

 

[tomasis]

Dweston, I, as your therapist, don't recommend you to uppgrade. You have made a good step forwards. Done well! We see at next therapy hour