Short Affair

Pavel+

Pavel+

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I had been looking for long term love. Sometimes you simply just don't win, and it looks like it was a two night stand.

I'm broken hearted but looking forward to better days.

I was a bit nervous at the first hint of trouble, but I stuck with it. She had a checkered past. My M8 was refurbished to start with. But they assured me that she was past her wanton ways. They fixed her - they said. In fact they told me that she got a special going over. It was love ... I took the chance. But after one day - ONE DAY, she went back to her old ways. Shutter failure they said. But they told me to send her back and be patient, so that's exactly what I did.

The re-unification was marvelous! A whole new logic board and a whole new personality. The shutter worked, quietly and smoothly.

So I took her out on the town. We had a great time. Almost too good to be true, I remember thinking during the euphoria. This was all I had hoped for!

But, it was too good to be true. I got her home ... and looked at the photos. I couldn't believe it. The shock. A green line - through each and every photo. Every single one. One a few she had strayed even more, with not just one, but two lines running all the way through the frame. there were a few with orange lines as well, though they never ran all the way through.

What would you do? Three chances for a new start. This was too much. My wayward M8 was no good.

As patient as I am and as optimistic as I was - she is gone now. I want to take photographs - not wait for my true love to come back from Leica anonymous. Nope ... that's it for me.

So the M8 and me have parted ways. I had a brief thought that her younger sister, the M9 might be a better fit ... but you know after this experience and the prices rumored to be for the M9's services, I just don't think it's meant to be.

I'm still a fan of rangefinders and hope for good things in the family, but I'll be rooting from the sidelines. My M8 broke my heart - time to move on.

My new squeeze the 5Dmkii sure is ugly .... but I guess that's life.

Cheers ... it was a nice fling. The sexy exotic ones are always trouble, aren't they? 🙂
 
Someone here will certainly reply implying this is somehow partially your fault, or just bad luck.

Don't beleive it.

You did the right thing by cutting your losses.
 
I prefer older women, that's my M2! what a girl. She was shooting true for 2 and a half decades before I was brought into this world and as long as I treat her like I should, she'll be doing so once I'm gone. Truely I'm her love affair, nothing but a passing fling. she's built of sturdier stuff than me.
 
Dear Pavel,

It's a parallel I've sometimes used, too. What frightens me is that there are so many people who can't understand that my relationship with my wife (and indeed with previous girlfriends) is actually rather more important than my cameras. Even more frightening are those who think the cameras should be more important...

Then again, my first Leica was contemporaneous with my first fiancée, c. 1970, and I still have it; and I've only been married to Frances since 1982.

You probably made the right choice, and (obviously) the parallel seems appropriate to me. But maybe M8s are like women: no two the same...

Cheers,

R.
 
Too many stories like this going around for anyone who really needs reliability to count on this piece of equipment. Sure, everything can break. Just not with this frequency. Rate of failure is really alarming for this camera. Let's hope the next generation "M9"..whatever... is more dependable.
 
My girls are as lovely now as the day they were brought into this world, a bit brassed, but actually smoother everyday. But we have an understanding, I don't want to work them too hard......so there are 4 of them.

Two of these ladies are always dressed to the nines and ready to go, wearing the latest aspheric fashions or a tried and true silver collapsable dress.

I too had an affair with the lady you speak of, at least her kin. She was fine in terms of most behavior, but there were issues, you could tell that she was not committed, might up and leave any day. She also had to wear a magenta overcoat on everything she wore, which did not fit her nearly as well as other girls....her sizing was always exactly .33 X off. So in looking for a long term relationship, we parted ways on good terms.

As it would turn out, these new technical marvels are not the be-all, end all. They certainly have not improved upon the greatest photography of the last 50 years in any way shape of form. For true art and brilliant photojournalism knows no technical measurement, no deadline or ego boosting need.

It rests on the very laurel that brought it into the world, life's brilliant moments well seen and well preserved. You don't need an M8 or M9 in order to do that, you need an eye and a heart that work together seamlessly...

A Leica M is supposed to be the camera that you have for life. This is one of the worst things about digital / the internet: It almost exists to make at some point, everything and anything obsolete, including people.......
 
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Al Kaplan said:
Never had that problem with the film Leicas.
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Nor with my M8 cameras. These are technical tools, not mistresses fcol! Actually I had an M4 that was hopeless this way. I got rid of it through selling it to a Leica dealer at a loss. I suppose they sold it to somebody like Pavel, which is not a nice thing to do. I really feel sorry for his experience, but it is one of the risks of the second hand market. Maybe the original owner was a secret member of the M8 dunking club.
So the OP bought a second hand camera that turned out to be a lemon - well now we know why it was second hand. I bought a Saab once - but that is another story, for another forum....
 
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peter_n said:
I stayed away too. And if/when the M9 comes along, I will not be an early adopter either.
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I too will not be an early-adopter of the M9 for the same reason as with the M8 (just don't have the stomach for being a Leica beta tester, sorry), but this time I'll be waiting for a demo, with an official warranty. The fact is the M8 is a tough act to follow.

As to Pavel's bad luck, I wouldn't blame the camera so much as Leica's service department. They should have been able to replace whatever necessary to get it fully functional, or else replace it.
 
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"As to Pavel's bad luck, I wouldn't blame the camera so much as Leica's service department. They should have been able to replace whatever necessary to get it fully functional, or else replace it."

exactly! with due speed too.
 
I purchased a Demo from a dealer and I could not be happier. I read some of the horror stories people had with their M8, I guess I am one of the lucky ones.
The UV/Ir filters should be free to M8 owners, as the camera has the flaw in the sensor. I sure hope their new M9 when it comes out will have all the fixes solved
 
Ricko of Fla said:
I sure hope their new M9 when it comes out will have all the fixes solved
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Well, I think Leica took enough time just getting the M8 out that the fix rate never should have been the problem it has been, especially when you have the same cameras going back three times for servicing. I was never impressed with the M8 from the start. I doubt my Ms will ever go beyond the film versions, and that's just fine with me.
 
Sad, sad. One thing about it is that I think it convinces me NOT to spring for the thousands of bucks needed to buy one. Even though it really pains me. I want one damn it!

But unlike the old film M's the M8s (and I have to say the M9 or whatever comes next, I am sure) are nothing more than consumer "consumables" - they are obscelecent the instant they come off the production line. I cannot imagine that in 30, 40 or 50 years many (any?) M8s will be going strong. I own a 1936 111a (73 years old and counting) and while the technology is out of date the thing is still as solid and reliable as the day it came out of the factory in Wetzlar. All it needs is an occasional service and its good for another decade.

This used to be the justification for paying such big bucks for a Leica - They last forever. Who in these new circumstances can justify paying that much money for something that will be a paper weight when the main circuit board or the sensor dies and in a few years neither love nor money will buy you a new one. Or I am I wrong? I hope so but think its a vain hope.
 
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