menos
Veteran
I have found a used Leica M8.2 for a standard price (no bargain, but not outrageous either).
The camera shows some brassing on the edges and therefore seems to be well used.
What prices are the going rate at the moment?
Are there issues known with the M8.2, that were taken care of over the known issues with the M8 (dead pixel lines, shutter failure, coffee cup LCD, flawed rear wheel, camera lockups,…)
I followed certain "problem treads" on different fora these days, to be informed, what to check.
Anyhow, I feel still uncertain about the reliability and issues that made word about a used M8 (strange, I had no such contemplations, buying a used R-D1 in an eye blink earlier).
The camera shows some brassing on the edges and therefore seems to be well used.
What prices are the going rate at the moment?
Are there issues known with the M8.2, that were taken care of over the known issues with the M8 (dead pixel lines, shutter failure, coffee cup LCD, flawed rear wheel, camera lockups,…)
I followed certain "problem treads" on different fora these days, to be informed, what to check.
Anyhow, I feel still uncertain about the reliability and issues that made word about a used M8 (strange, I had no such contemplations, buying a used R-D1 in an eye blink earlier).
menos
Veteran
I did it
I went there yesterday and did a 45 min scrutinizing, including shooting lots of photos under certain conditions with all lenses (including the high ISO capped shots).
My sample does not show any dead lines.
It looks reasonable regarding banding (I knew, the M8 is no night shooter).
The camera is beautifully lightly brassed on all edges with no impact marks.
I didn't find out about the actuations yet.
It seems a rather new camera (1 or 1 1/2 years old).
How can I determine the manufacturing date?
It is a 3559xxx SN.
After one evening playing and several hundred test photos two things are obvious:
1) pushing ISO:
My R-D1 will not get retirement soon - it drives circles around any digital Leica at night.
People claim a 1 stop gain in usability with the new M9, whihc brings it right into the ISO 1250 usability.
The R-D1 can be shot right at ISO 1600, pushed to ISO 3200 and looks better than the Leica M8 @ ISO 1250.
This indeed was a bit of a surprise to me.
2) rangefinder:
My rangefinder is off (especially vertical - what a bummer
)I'll try, to use it until I can come near to a service man who does the vertical adjustment for me.
The 0.68 magnification [2010-02-11: I corrected this - thanks Jeff for the find ;-)] is a joke - coming from a 0.85 M7 or the 1x EPSON finder, the Leica M8 finder looks broken.
Why didn't Leica just use the standard finder in the digital cameras?
Based on the niggles, I found about the M8 (which are not considerably changed in the M9), I am very, very happy, I didn't shell out the 7.000 EUR (!!!
) asking price in Shanghai these days. The M9 is just not worth this kind of money in my book.A M7 + R-D1 combination + a nice used M8 sounds much more sane.
I am happy now ;-)
Last edited:
adavis47
Well-known
I don't think brassing on an M8.2 is indicative of lots of or hard use. Mine showed brassing on the edges after about 3 months and I am not hard on the equipment. Seems the black finish rubs off easily on the edges.
menos
Veteran
When I bought it, it had over 19.000 exposures on it already, which is about, what my lightly used Nikon D300 had, when I sold it after 1 1/2 years.
I guess for a M8 this is a rather high count in the time of 1 − 1 1/2 years.
In any case, the brassing looks absolutely sweet! i like it much, much more than a virgin black paint camera or black chrome. It does show character ;-)
I guess for a M8 this is a rather high count in the time of 1 − 1 1/2 years.
In any case, the brassing looks absolutely sweet! i like it much, much more than a virgin black paint camera or black chrome. It does show character ;-)
Jeff S
Well-known
The M8 magnification is .68, not .58. The framelines show more area than the equivalent M7 (.72 standard mag) framelines, which is good for long lenses, but is not so good for wide lenses, especially considering the crop factor, which means a wider lens for equivalent FOV. Any more magnification and the 28 lines would be very difficult to use, especially for eyeglass wearers.
Jeff
menos
Veteran
Jeff, thanks for the correction.
I apologize for the misleading information. I guess, I got too used to the M7 0.85, I used lately and the lovely x1.0 viewfinder of the R-D1 ;-)
I tried my 1.4 magnifying diopter on the M8.2 and must say - the magnification of 0.85 with the M8.2 would be just about perfect !
I agree, that for eye glass wearers, the 28mm bright lines are just out of their vision.
The diopter though makes using the M8.2 more awkward and I will use it only with longer lenses as my 50 Lux and 90 Elmarit.
I corrected the wrong value in my original post.