Question for M8 users

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squirrel$$$bandit

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Is it my imagination, or is the M8 the most often broken, having-to-be-serviced-at-high-cost, troublesome camera in existence? I have never heard of a film RF, DSLR, or film SLR ever having this many problems. Half the posts here about the M8 seem to be about sending it in for service, waiting for months to get it back, LCD problems, IR/UV complaints, warranties, etc.

Is it just that, since it's really expensive, you guys are less tolerant of small problems? Or are there just more problems?

Don't get me wrong, I would love one, and if I were better heeled I'd be right on it. But I have never once had to send a digital camera I bought new in for service, and I use my cameras an awful lot, for an amateur photographer. I mean, my M2 is never broken, and so far neither is my R-D1.
 
I think part of the problem is that it's a rangefinder and it's usage and existence resides heavily here at RFF ... we hear about every hiccup the camera suffers!

That said, compared to the fairly bullet proof nature of current generation DSLR's ... it is a pretty crappy piece of gear IMO! (ducking) :p
 
I have used my M8 for at least 18 months. Typically I shoot with it an hour each morning and other times much longer. I have not had any problems at all.

But don't kid your self that other cameras don't have problems. My 1dsmk2 has a blown shutter (or a major case of shutter bounce) and now that I am finished with an outdoor photography contest I will be sending it in for replacment (about 95% of the image was good and I could not shoot in the contest with just the 1dmk3) . I blew two shutters on Nikons film cameras (an F3 and an F5) during my years in PJ.

Of couse I tend to keep cameras a long time and plan to keep the M8 until a FF comes out and it will be my backup.

O.C.
 
I've owned one for just over a year; it's been well-used for more than half of those 365+ days and I haven't run into any issues major enough to warrant a repair. It has on occasion frozen up, requiring the battery to be removed and re-inserted. That's certainly frustrating. I do try to keep in mind though that in reality, it's a computer with a lens attached at the same time that I grumble how film cameras have never given me this kind of trouble.

I did wait out the entire teething period that many early adopters endured before jumping into the pool, so to speak. It took a fair amount of convincing to get me to buy it, given its rocky performance when first introduced.

My own bad experience with Leica's customer service was also one of my reservations. Fortunately I haven't needed to make use of it.
Knocking solidly on wood now!

Thus far though I have to say that I'm pretty happy with it. It's still not a film camera (my heart belongs to Tri-X), but it's a highly useful and enjoyable digital.
 
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.... yeah perhaps the cost of entry is the reason we hear so much about the camera...

Personally, I feel that a piece of equipment should reflect it's cost in things like durability, reliability... especially if it's being touted as a professional tool.
Several months ago, there was a Ferrari stalled at the side of the road here. It wouldn't have garnered so much attention had it been a Ford Focus.
 
mabelsound said:
Is it my imagination, or is the M8 the most often broken, having-to-be-serviced-at-high-cost, troublesome camera in existence? I have never heard of a film RF, DSLR, or film SLR ever having this many problems. Half the posts here about the M8 seem to be about sending it in for service, waiting for months to get it back, LCD problems, IR/UV complaints, warranties, etc.

Is it just that, since it's really expensive, you guys are less tolerant of small problems? Or are there just more problems?

Don't get me wrong, I would love one, and if I were better heeled I'd be right on it. But I have never once had to send a digital camera I bought new in for service, and I use my cameras an awful lot, for an amateur photographer. I mean, my M2 is never broken, and so far neither is my R-D1.
Click to expand...
No. My two M8s never broke down in 2 1/2 years and 25000 exposures. (unless you call crashing them by the user a breakdown..:()
 
I certainly don't think that DSLR's are trouble-free, but it does seem to me that other manufacturers have mastered the digital camera in a way that Leica, at this point, could only dream of. And getting a DSLR from a major manufacturer repaired seems to be a much smoother process than at Leica. And the features that should have been on the thing in the first place, which you have to pay exorbitant fees to upgrade to...I dunno, it suddenly all just struck me as insane.

And yet I really want one someday...I love the Leica system and the feel of a Leica camera...

Have people had the same problems with the M8.2 as they have the M8? Or have most QC issues been sorted out?
 
The reason I have an M8 is because of the reliability problems of my 2 R-D1s' (along with better IQ, but that is personal opinion of course). Constant RF alignment problems, lockups, and a failed shutter (a common R-D1 problem) caused me not to fully trust it. But they really were a joy to use, when I find one properly priced I may buy my third :)

I am trying to arrange shipment of the M8 now to Leica for the brown mark on the LCD, and they haven't bothered to respond to my emails to this point. My R-D1 shutter was properly fixed by Epson USA in less than a week - so I can't complain of service there.

My M8 is still usable and the camera was trouble free for almost 2 years, but I do think both it and the Epson are far more problem prone than a mid run (after introduction bugs are fixed)DSLR.
 
I have had no problems with my M8 that I bought last year.

I only have 6 cameras (3 Leicas, 2 Nikons and 1 Yashica). Therefore, I am not a reliable source of information about reliability of cameras. But, in general, the M8 seems as robust as the others.
 
Had mine 2 years and its never broken down or failed to capture a shot - it's my only digital camera, so gets used heavily.

It's a bit scratched and scoured, as I climbed some volcanoes with it - that volcanic grit is pretty abrasive!

It has been repaired but that was entirely my fault - after clumsily dropping it, heavily, it rattled and wouldn't work! Leica repaired/serviced it free of charge under its Passport Warranty.

So, as far as I'm concerned, it's totally reliable (if quirky!).

As others have said, you only hear when there's a problem - I expect the vast majority of M8's have been as reliable as mine.
 
Actually this thread is more of a comment on Internet forums and the way they work than on M8 cameras.
 
jaapv said:
Actually this thread is more of a comment on Internet forums and the way they work than on M8 cameras.
Click to expand...

Not really sure what that means. Personally, I think Internet forums are great place to go to learn about whatever it is you want to learn about. It's no different than any other form of public discussion - you just need to remember that not everything you read online is true. Nor is automatically false.

As to the OP's question, I can just offer my personal experience. I've owned three M8s so far. Two of them have had enough problems (sudden and unexplained power failures being the biggest problem) to force me to buy a Nikon DSLR for insurance.
I love using my M8. Can't imagine life without one. At the same time, I don't trust it.
And yes I know that all digital cameras can have problems. But I've used nearly a dozens DSLRs and Digital RFs in the past two years. The only ones that had issues were two of my M8s.
 
On a forum like this you will find more complaints and questions about technical problems than threads about how good the camera works.

In other forums people reported:

Canon 1Ds Mk III - constant AF problems
Canon 5D Mk II - a lot of hot pixels
Olympus 520 + kit lenses - many back- and frontfocus errors
Olympus E-3 - misaligned viewfinder
I don't read Nikon, Sony, Pentax etc. forums but I suppose it looks similar there.

On those threads there were also enough people who responded: no problem for me.

So I don't think the M8 has so much more problems.
 
2 M8s for 2 yrs and going strong...

2 M8s for 2 yrs and going strong...

- Use them regularly here in 50C and dust
- gone to Abisco in sweden in winter..no issues
- ran a marathon ( didn't finish race ) in Edmonton in winter..no issues
- took them to nepal at 5500 mts...no issues
- several hours in sun and humidity and beach in Maldives--no issues

- photographing inside my house at 22C..shutter broke..sent it to solms,
2.5 wks arrived by hand-courier, new shutter, quieter shutter. No charge!

I am happy and found Solms to be very courteous and efficient!

I do have a MP and a M7 which have been abused in Norwegian winter, and
except for the cracking of film, and the cameras showing wear..no issues!

maybe I got lucky! But I always take a backup :)
 
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I have had mine for almost 2 years and have never had any problems what so ever. It has worked flawlessly and in severe winter weather too boot.
 
Mine has worked OK for a year and a half now, and that includes use in winter and a few freeze-ups.

I kind of decided that it would work just great when I bought it, and I actually trust it to a high degree. I often travel around with it alongside with MF or LF gear, and if it should break down I would have some hard work getting the same results without it.

I even had it in a rucksack out skiing once, and had forgotten to bring a plastic bag to fend off condensation when getting in from the cold... That time it would just not work, but came to life after using some tissue to draw water out from under the on/off switch, and then waiting half an hour.

I guess it was a good idea to buy second-hand from a reliable source, that way any issues would have been dealt with.

I really hope that the M9 comes soon, so that I can buy a beat-up, cheap M8 as number two!
 
funny though... I dont baby my cameras, never did.

had SLR's (S2, D100 ) , proSLRs ( 1D, 1Ds, D2X ) and now a M8.

My M8 I have since day one ( well, when it was released , bought it on Singapore ) and gone through thousands and thousands, been in rain, dust, mud and God knows what.

Yes, sometimes I have to take the battery out because it locks up.

Apart from that, the camera is very robust and never had a problem.
 
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