Poll: Who's Getting the Upgrade?

[Olsen]

I find it strange that Leica wants the money for the upgrade in March - and will do the job in August! - Like these guys selling timeshare apartments on Costa Del Sol that never gets completed. I don't need a more silent shutter - though more vibration free would be nice. Saphire LCD screen? No thanks, really. But, since also my M8 is off to Solms to be cured for a red line in the picture, I am sceptic about M8's reliability.

I am thinking; what will be the next? And what will it cost? Say, what would fixing a dead camera cost beond warranty? If I am going to do an upgrade, it's undecided for me, I'll wait until August.

 

[sjw617]

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??

It is probably considered normal wear and tear. Now if it was broken...

 

[Harry Lime]

No, because I am not buying an M8 until they put a set of framelines in there that are as accurate as what's in my M4. Now, that's an upgrade I would buy.

 

[peterleyenaar]

I see this whole upgrade thing as a money grab, Leica has sold all the M8s to all who were hunkering for one , sales will substantially decrease from here, especially considering the financial quagmire the world finds it self in.
What better way to pull in some extra cash than to hit up the existing (and plant that thought in their mind of an ever lasting M8) owners for 1200 euros and for what ? a saphire chrystal cover, a quieter and slower shutter ,latest firmware and a extra 2 years of warranty this all at very little cost to Leica.
I am not aware of how many M8 owners are out there, let's say 20000 X 1200 euros, 24,000,000 euros nicely done, there is probably much more profit in the "upgrade"than profit from a M8.
Now, if they were including a nice lens.............

 

[weser]

At first I thought about the upgrade concept as a good idea.
Thinking about it a bit more made my mind change completely though. Frankly, I am now really pissed about it!
Bought my M8 last August and as a new M user I also invested heavily in to several lenses.
Because of buying into a system rather than just a body I spent a lot of time on research to be sure I won't regret my choice.
I made my choice for several reasons and as it was time to hand over the money, I expected for the top dollars I've spent, a top pro camera. Period.
Certainly not a base model as it turns out now after merely 6 month. If I would have wanted that, I would have purchased the 5D.

I feel cheated and really don't like getting milked.
To be frank, if there would be another digital rangefinder available (Zeiss??!!!) I would jump ship immediately. At least i could still use all my lenses.
As much as I love my camera, I feel like selling everything and buy a D3 with Zeiss glass.

 

[Tuolumne]

The people over at LUF don't seem too keen on the upgrade either. Only 25% gave an unequivocal "Yes". That's over twice the percentage as here, but you'd expect the LUF members to be alot more proLieca than the folks here. I wonder if Leica is surprised by the reaction?

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/poll-42-will-you-buy-first-m8-upgrade.html

/T

 

[Magnus]

The CLA is worthless .... you don't generally need to CLA a less than 2 year old Leica in my opinion

 

[Tuolumne]

The two year additional warranty is useless, too, except after you've futzed with the innards. For most electronic products, if they survive the first few weeks, then they will probably never fail unless you physically damage them some way. But once you start opening them up and fooling around, you damn well better have a new warranty, because you've just reset your infant mortality clock. So, if your M8 hasn't failed by the time you do an upgrade, just consider the fact that you may well be doing more to damage it and require that new two year warranty than if you did nothing.

Just a little thought to cheer your day. :angel:

/T

 

[dee]

Nasty thought - maybe this is a way of recalling / fixing faults which they anticipate appearing in the long term - then they can sort them and offer the warranty !

No , I must be getting cynical - but my screen has a small scratch after 3 months - and the only way it cuold have happened is hanging around my neck rubbing on azip or button - and the screen is to be replaced .

For me , mine is the dee-finitive '' emma the M 8 '' - but simply down to prefering to buy a Digilux 3 , and it does all and more than I need !

 

[Olsen]

The two year additional warranty is useless, too, except after you've futzed with the innards. For most electronic products, if they survive the first few weeks, then they will probably never fail unless you physically damage them some way. But once you start opening them up and fooling around, you damn well better have a new warranty, because you've just reset your infant mortality clock. So, if your M8 hasn't failed by the time you do an upgrade, just consider the fact that you may well be doing more to damage it and require that new two year warranty than if you did nothing.

Just a little thought to cheer your day. :angel:

/T

Your statement about electronics might be right in other circumstances, but all I know who have a M8 has had it sent to Solms for some kind of repair. Quite a few have had to send it two times. That is just fine if it does not cost anything.

Mine worked well for 10 months. Without any serious hickups. No dead camera or any freezes. But then this red line started appearing in the pictures. Right in the middle. My Leica M8 is the only digital camera that I have had to send for repair. - The only camera I have had to send for repair, as far as I can remember, regardless.

 

[Tuolumne]

Olsen,
Shall we call this adolescent mortality? 🙂

/T

 

[cmogi10]

At first I thought about the upgrade concept as a good idea.
Thinking about it a bit more made my mind change completely though. Frankly, I am now really pissed about it!
Bought my M8 last August and as a new M user I also invested heavily in to several lenses.
Because of buying into a system rather than just a body I spent a lot of time on research to be sure I won't regret my choice.
I made my choice for several reasons and as it was time to hand over the money, I expected for the top dollars I've spent, a top pro camera. Period.
Certainly not a base model as it turns out now after merely 6 month. If I would have wanted that, I would have purchased the 5D.

I feel cheated and really don't like getting milked.
To be frank, if there would be another digital rangefinder available (Zeiss??!!!) I would jump ship immediately. At least i could still use all my lenses.
As much as I love my camera, I feel like selling everything and buy a D3 with Zeiss glass.

This post makes no sense.

Why would you be pissed?

How were you cheated? Milked?

Please explain, like how the 5D would have been the other alternative? because it dosn't offer upgrades? because instead of having the choice to upgrade your 5D you have to buy a whole new one when the next model comes out.

That way it's not a "base model"

Would you rather buy a whole new camera then having the option to upgrade your current one?

It sure seems like your pissed for the sake of being pissed.
Sell everything, do it, maybe you'll sleep better at night, if you would rather be shooting with an SLR then why did you buy the M8? And if you wouldn't rather be shooting with an SLR why would you trade it for a D3?

Enlighten me.

Please.

 

[semrich]

I will upgrade for the shutter, quieter, smoother, and less vibration for low light shots.

 

[Olsen]

Olsen,
Shall we call this adolescent mortality? 🙂

/T

Absolutely. My M8 had 2339 done actuations which is not that much.

Æhum! I have to redraw my statement about that my M8 is the only camera I have had that's been to a repair shop....

Now it seems that my 1Ds II has to go to the repair shop too. With certain lenses it's AF works very slow and with others it 'hunts' to and fro like a hunting dog. It's got some 10.000 actuations 'under it's belt'. Not much that either.

 

[Bill Blackwell]

... I don't use a flash, so the synch speed doesn't mean anything to me. [A] quieter shutter would be great...

This talk of a lower flash sync speed with the first upgrade keeps periodically coming up, but I have seen nothing whatsoever from Leica to support this. The only thing we are being told (by Leica at least) is with the quieter shutter we would be losing the one stop on the top shutter speed (from 8000 to 4000).

Am I missing something?

 

[KM-25]

If it makes you feel any better, a few of us pros are parting company with the M8 due to how shaky of ground the whole Leica-digital paradigm is on now.

I have CZ glass with the D3, it is outstanding. I also have film Leicas that are an entirely different beast than the M8. In other words, I have what I need to get my work done. Wasting time and money chasing after upgrades of a expensive nature is not my idea of a professional range finder system.

As much as I like the M8, I just don't use it as much as my film M's or other pro digital gear so that kind of puts it in a odd man out, luxury spot. My gut feeling is that the road ahead for the M8 and it's predecessors might be tough and expensive, I don't really want to waste my time with that.

I'll be interested in seeing how this plays out, but I am not playing the game.

At first I thought about the upgrade concept as a good idea.
Thinking about it a bit more made my mind change completely though. Frankly, I am now really pissed about it!
Bought my M8 last August and as a new M user I also invested heavily in to several lenses.
Because of buying into a system rather than just a body I spent a lot of time on research to be sure I won't regret my choice.
I made my choice for several reasons and as it was time to hand over the money, I expected for the top dollars I've spent, a top pro camera. Period.
Certainly not a base model as it turns out now after merely 6 month. If I would have wanted that, I would have purchased the 5D.

I feel cheated and really don't like getting milked.
To be frank, if there would be another digital rangefinder available (Zeiss??!!!) I would jump ship immediately. At least i could still use all my lenses.
As much as I love my camera, I feel like selling everything and buy a D3 with Zeiss glass.

 

[raid]

I voted NO. It wouldn't make any sense. EURO1200 for an upgrade!
Now if I had the M8, then an upgrade maybe would be a reasonable thing to get,but without owning a digital camera [specifically the M8], the upgrade would be just sitting there.

Imagine Ms. Upgrade; sitting all alone, waiting for Mr. M8 to show up.
It is a sad story after all.

end of my story.

 

[mas]

There is a poll/thread over at l-camera-forum...where you can vote and give additional comments. I'm pretty certain, or at least hopeful, that Leica will pay attention to what is there. I for one added my two cents over there as well as here.

It's nice to see all these opinions expressed here, too, as well as everywhere else,.

Michael

 

[bluepenguin]

I sold my m8 since I had a bad experience on multiple light condition.
The M8 disappointed me big time using uv/ir filter making a bad picture on my sister's graduation. Ugh...

I will just wait for next wave of digital RF that doesn't use a UV/IR filter.
Or perhaps Leica uses FF sensor that users don't have to use an uv/ir filter, I will reconsider to buy. (Of course it has to be a resonable price.)

 

[GrahamWelland]

Hard to justify the cost for just the screen and slightly quieter shutter. Neither of these cause me any bother plus I have two bodies which becomes excessively expensive for very little gain (the warranty extension is nice but for 2x $1800 I can carry the extra risk!

If/when they've got a new full size sensor upgrade or solved the IR problem in camera then I'd consider upgrading.