Sold my XP1, committed to the M9...uh oh

[Pete B]

You're lucky, now you can unload the M9 - anywhere else but here apparently - and get the second generation Fuji system.

Or the Sony A7R with the 35/55 and run a wide angle on an adapter until zeiss make something for it.
Or, buy a cheap-as-chips GXR system to use your Leica glass on
Pete

 

[hepcat]

Wow... luck of the draw. Computers fail. Laws of physics. Sometimes bits drop off into the bit bucket. Frankly it's amazing to me that this stuff works at all! It's all magic.

In the old days, I've had autofocus lens motors fail, film transport fail, mechanical shutters fail due to cold and probably every other kind of failure that is possible to happen. As was said in another post, Leica is blamed a lot for failures, and they may have more than others but none of the other brands are immune either. It's life with computers. I've been fortunate in that my Ms have performed without issue.

Like you, I found the XPro1 to be a nice snapshot camera, but as a work camera it just didn't work the way I do.

I wouldn't get too excited about the whole thing unless it becomes replicatable. Computers are now designed by computers and no one really knows why they do what they do sometimes, and sometimes a re-boot really does fix the issue.

 

[L Collins]

What do you expect for $5000?

 

[raid]

Sorry for your loss of images.
I am keeping my M8 and M9 until they break down. Then I may try out cheaper alternatives.

 

[David_Manning]

Thanks for all the comments.

In the end, I guess I have to change the way I shoot (ie lower my expectations a bit). I'm also of the opinion that Leica's reliability heyday was probably during its film era.

That being said, I've committed, so I'll press on. After much research, I realized the previous owner hadn't updated the firmware to the most recent...not his fault at all, mine for not checking more thoroughly. It's just a bit disappointing that the only digital camera I've ever lost images on is a Leica (we all know the cost of admission). The only other camera as expensive was a real tank (I bought a new Nikon D2X when it came out...it took lots of abuse and soldiered on). Everything else was flawless from a data point of view.

So...I press on, with more knowledge, and patience, and perhaps humility.

I'm still a bit steamed, though :O

 

[taemo]

Yeah it happens and yes the M9 is a slow machine.
Coming from the 5DII and the Fuji X where I just click and click then turn the camera quickly without ever experiencing any issues, I learned that on the M9 I just have to leave it on for a while.
I lost a good shot (file displays an artifact line) only because as soon I took the picture, I turned the M9 off right away.

It happened with the Ricoh GR too while in Vegas, the camera just froze all of the sudden while street shooting and I had to pull the battery off then it started working again, fortunately I didn't lose any files.

This is why when travelling I like to bring both a digital and film camera

 

[doolittle]

I had trouble with my M8, until I got a new battery and a different SD card (Panasonic Gold cards, the older better value ones work fine for me). No problems since.

 

[Pete B]

I forgot to say, I use an 8gb Lexar card, not too big, not too small. I also run the penultimate firmware 1.62(?) but I only use the camera on single shot, discreet and soft.
Pete

 

[SuperUJ]

I have 2 M9s and they have never played up. BUT:
1) I shoot them like a film camera, usually waiting for buffering to stop before taking the next shot ( at most, 3 in quick succession).
2) I never review the image whilst buffering (well, very rarely)
3) I don't allow the battery to get too low on juice.
4) I never delete images from the card
5) I upload images to the computer ASAP then in-camera format.
6) I don't use them in anything but a normal climate

Despite never having had a problem, i know their reputation so I never take them on trips, shooting film Ms instead. I don't get much satisfaction from the other digital cameras available, so I'm stuck caring for these for the foreseeable future.
Pete

Pete's list is probably good for the other digital cameras as well. For M9, I make sure to have the latest firmware (v.1.196) to avoid the known issue. To add to the list, I would suggest:

A) I always use Sandisk Extreme III 16GB cards (from large retail stores as I found fake Sandisk cards on Amazon and eBay)
B) While it is cold out, I keep spare batteries close to my body for the warmth. I've never had problem shooting with the M9 in cold temparture between 20-30F. The battery drains slightly faster, though. Below 20F, I take the battery out and put it in my pocket of my shirt when I am not shooting.
C) I take the black leather half case off when shooting in temperature above 90F and under the sun. When it is over heat (happened once), I open the base plate and take the battery out for a breeze in the shade for 5 mins.
D) I avoid bracketing with the M9 for the slow buffering/processing. If I have to, 3 frames max at a time. My M9 starts to screem over 3 frames.


As I practice the above and back up daily when I travel, my M9 performs just fine (touch wood).

John

 

[David_Manning]

I appreciate all the user experience. I had none with digital Leica. My M6 was stellar, of course.

I enjoy the M user experience, and so I'll press on. I'd be incredibly happy if Leica didn't let the M9 series die on the vine and continued tweaking firmware, a la Fuji. Boy, that company knows how to please it's user base.

 

[hausen]

I had the same problem with mine a year or two ago in Tahiti. Luckily I had a X100 and Xpan with me. Was gutted at the time and had to listen to my wife give it to me about how a camera that cost that much could do that!! That is why I have an RX-1 now and soon a A7r.

 

[David_Manning]

I told my wife...she just shook her head. I think I lost a bit of common-sense credibility.

 

[furcafe]

This pretty much tracks my experience when I had an M9 (2010-2013, replaced earlier this year by a 240), though I did allow batteries to go low (always had several backups), often had my camera splashed by (non salt) water, beer, & other beverages (don't ask), & used it extensively on trips, foreign & domestic. Had the occasional lockup which required rebooting (popping the battery out & back in), usually when I rudely interrupted the card-writing process (see (1) & (2)), but never encountered lost or corrupted files.

I have 2 M9s and they have never played up. BUT:
1) I shoot them like a film camera, usually waiting for buffering to stop before taking the next shot ( at most, 3 in quick succession).
2) I never review the image whilst buffering (well, very rarely)
3) I don't allow the battery to get too low on juice.
4) I never delete images from the card
5) I upload images to the computer ASAP then in-camera format.
6) I don't use them in anything but a normal climate

Despite never having had a problem, i know their reputation so I never take them on trips, shooting film Ms instead. I don't get much satisfaction from the other digital cameras available, so I'm stuck caring for these for the foreseeable future.
Pete

 

[Frank Petronio]

You guys are doing a fine job of dissuading me of ever buying a digital Leica. As much as I complain about Nikon's bone-headed user interface and poor quality control with new bodies, I've never had to deal with superstitious rituals just to get the cameras to work.

 

[taemo]

You guys are doing a fine job of dissuading me of ever buying a digital Leica. As much as I complain about Nikon's bone-headed user interface and poor quality control with new bodies, I've never had to deal with superstitious rituals just to get the cameras to work.

how i see it is you shoot a digital leica like you would a film camera, no chimping, no opening the back mid-roll.
sure the interface is sluggish but i love the simplicity of the menu and controls. the only thing i use them for is for formatting the card and changing the ISO.

 

[hepcat]

You guys are doing a fine job of dissuading me of ever buying a digital Leica. As much as I complain about Nikon's bone-headed user interface and poor quality control with new bodies, I've never had to deal with superstitious rituals just to get the cameras to work.

Frank, you buy a Leica because it's the only coupled-rangefinder digital camera available. If you don't care about that, then any camera will do. If you want a rangefinder digital, you buy Leica. That, in a nutshell, is the deal.

And as I said in my post above, it can happen to any brand and any model. We just don't hear about it hear as much... and when it does happen, we're more likely to hear about it because of the small user base of Leica digitals and the high percentage of that user base who are hooked into this forum and the LUF.

 

[tomtofa]

Seems like being a Leica digital owner requires a similar mindset to pre-Ford Jaguar owners - for its excellence in a few specific areas one put up with an untoward number of annoyances.

Jaguar jokes:

How do you know if your Jaguar is out of oil or coolant?
it quits leaking.

Why do Jaguars have heated rear windows?
To keep your hands warm while you're pushing it.

 

[Frank Petronio]

And as I said in my post above, it can happen to any brand and any model. We just don't hear about it hear as much... and when it does happen, we're more likely to hear about it because of the small user base of Leica digitals and the high percentage of that user base who are hooked into this forum and the LUF.

I don't know about that... I've been shooting digital since the Canon Xap Shot and somehow the gyrations described here have somehow escaped me and my peers using our Kodak 420s and later....

 

[hepcat]

Seems like being a Leica digital owner requires a similar mindset to pre-Ford Jaguar owners - for its excellence in a few specific areas one put up with an untoward number of annoyances.

That's probably not an unreasonable perspective. The Leica IS, however THE finest coupled-rangefinder digital camera available as it is the ONLY coupled-rangefinder digital camera available today. 🙄

If you want a coupled-rangefinder digital camera today, you shoot a Leica M8, M9, or M240. That's the long and short of it.

 

[burancap]

That's probably not an unreasonable perspective. The Leica IS, however THE finest coupled-rangefinder digital camera available as it is the ONLY coupled-rangefinder digital camera available today. 🙄

If you want a coupled-rangefinder digital camera today, you shoot a Leica M8, M9, or M240. That's the long and short of it.

Is the Epson R-D1 not a digital coupled RF?