Shutter Shake

[Bill Pierce]

One of the first things I noticed in using the M8 was an increase in shutter shake over the film Leicas. Recently I saw this announcement from January '08 on a Leitz website about the new shutter in the M8.2. I was not able to transfer the graph to this email, but it shows a reduction in amplitude of vibration at 1/30 of a second to about a third that of the M8. Here is the Leitz announcement.


LEICA M8 Upgrade Service
Measuring the vibrations caused by releasing the camera's shutter

Leica has managed to reduce vibrations during exposure even further by reducing the kinetic forces. As a result, hand-held exposures with slow shutter speeds are even more sharply defined, enabling the photographer to make even more of the quality of his high-performance Leica lenses.

The diagrams illustrate the interaction between the shutter's kinetical mass and the rest of the camera. They represent the first and second curtains' movement at 1/30s. When the shutter's
moving mass is decelerated (stopped), the energy thus released is transmitted to the camera and on to the the tripod or the hands holding it. In addition, these deceleration procedures are individually audible for the photographer and should therefore be reduced as much as possible.

Together with design changes concerning the relevant camera interfaces, a reduction of the shutter's energy potential resulted in the measured improvements in the camera's shutter release operation.

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Does this mean that the M8 was released prematurely with an inadequate shutter and the upgrade is simply Leitz charging you to correct their mistake? Is this also true of the M8 framelines which do not show the full frame for the majority of shooting situations?

Your thoughts?

 

[danmitch]

If Leica could get it right first time (M3) and arguably have not been able to improve on this design in 50+ years, perhaps there is the expectation they should have got it right first time with the M8? Leica peaked early.

I think other than the lens mount and echoes in design, there is little similarity in use with an M8 to any of the previous rangefinders, perhaps there is little similarity in the intention of perfecting the design before release?

I am not anti-digital in any way, but there must be some significance in designing a camera with a shorter intended life span - there was also huge pressure to get the M8 on to shelves, as there now is with the M9.

Dan

 

[Ronald M]

I don`t know what was wrong with the 50 year old shutter.

 

[Keith]

The diagrams illustrate the interaction between the shutter's kinetical mass and the rest of the camera. They represent the first and second curtains' movement at 1/30s. When the shutter's
moving mass is decelerated (stopped), the energy thus released is transmitted to the camera and on to the the tripod or the hands holding it. In addition, these deceleration procedures are individually audible for the photographer and should therefore be reduced as much as possible.

Based on this information the heavier the lens on your M8 the better the ratio!

I'd be interested to see the graph for the Zeiss Ikon ... I've always noticed when using it you can feel the shutter reaction fairly noticably due to the camera's light weight. I was using my early 90mm Summicron on the ZI the other day and it noticably dampened this effect.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Does this mean that the M8 was released prematurely with an inadequate shutter and the upgrade is simply Leitz charging you to correct their mistake? Is this also true of the M8 framelines which do not show the full frame for the majority of shooting situations?

No. It means they have a different shutter which has different qualities. The kinetic energy involved in the 1/8000 shutter over the 1/4000 top speed shutter is simple Physics, with inherent different Physics involved.

Were they hasty? Yes. Is it an "inadequate shutter"? Perhaps as inadequate as not having an auto-focus lens when it would be more adequate. I still have to hear somebody say that Leica is guilty of providing inadequate non-autofocus lenses for their M8. It wouldn't surprise me, though.