What do you do with a dead M8

[Vickko]

Okay, this spring, the RF arm freezes up and my M8 is off to NJ.

Now, a segment is gone on the LED display. Fortunately, it doesn't hamper its photo-taking ability. It is only display, and the three LED's still work for manual display.

What next year? And the year after?

I do believe eventually, the M8 will be dead.

Then - what? It becomes ...

- a planter?
- a cup holder?
- ...

...what are your ideas?

Vick

 

[Pickett Wilson]

A testimony to the high quality of Leica cameras!

Couldn't resist.

 

[Pablito]

a doorstop, or a paperweight.
My Macintosh G4 cube became a planter.

 

[ChrisN]

Just another obsolete computer, I'm afraid.

 

[coelacanth]

There are people putting digital camera inside of Barnack and its russian copies. How about a pinhole camera?

 

[raid]

Send me your broken M8 cameras.
I will play with them.

 

[Ljós]

Sharpen the shutter blades and use it for cutting finger nails? "Manicure à la carte" 🙂

 

[Vickko]

Oh, a funny.

I wonder if I could rip the sensor out, keeping the meter, the wonderful 1/8000 shutter and RF mechanism, and install a film advance and rewind mechanism.

I'd have a film M8.

 

[victoriapio]

Both are repairable if you want to keep it.

Okay, this spring, the RF arm freezes up and my M8 is off to NJ.

Now, a segment is gone on the LED display. Fortunately, it doesn't hamper its photo-taking ability. It is only display, and the three LED's still work for manual display.

What next year? And the year after?

I do believe eventually, the M8 will be dead.

Then - what? It becomes ...

- a planter?
- a cup holder?
- ...

...what are your ideas?

Vick

 

[-doomed-]

Send me your broken M8 cameras.
I will play with them.

This is essentially my standard response.

 

[35mmdelux]

How many clicks please?

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Send it to our genius friends here or on the LUG who are engineers. They can hack it up & possibly reverse engineer the ROM for all those fantasy firmware upogrades that we've been wanting.
Either that or stick a nice lens on it & drop it into a fishtank as some ambiance for a group of ciclids.

Phil Forrest

 

[back alley]

if only there were a way to convert them into rd1s...

😉

 

[Vickko]

umm, yeah, but at what cost?

That is a big issue. Leica is not known for economical repair costs.

I waited good and long, for M8 prices to drop into my "discretionary dollar range", and for Leica demo units to appear, with warranty. The warranty expired in April for my camera.

...V

Both are repairable if you want to keep it.

 

[ferider]

A good backup body when traveling. Remember you always need to carry two bodies. This can fill the spot. 😎

 

[umcelinho]

you can keep it in the bag as a burglar decoy ;-)

 

[kkdanamatt]

here's what I would do...

here's what I would do...

...pack it carefully and enclose a detailed letter, stating clearly each and every issue, along with copies of your expired warranty and bill of sale. Ship it to the Leica Repair Dept. in NJ and call them before it arrives, just to place a priority on this service. Sometimes Leica will bend the rules to maintain good will with their clients. You have almost nothing to lose and a lot of upside. Good luck. Oh, BTW, I do agree that eventually the M8 will become a planter, but that's true with every digital camera.

 

[MCTuomey]

I'm sorry for your trouble, Vick. Realistically, cameras do break. I've had to repair a number of bodies from various manufacturers, some analog and some digital, and I don't think my experience is unusual. The repair shops seem to have a lot of business.

Get it fixed and keep using it if it suits you. Otherwise, sell it and get a replacement that does please you.

 

[MCTuomey]

... Oh, BTW, I do agree that eventually the M8 will become a planter, but that's true with every digital camera.

well, it's also true of me ... why should cameras be different?

 

[swoop]

...pack it carefully and enclose a detailed letter, stating clearly each and every issue, along with copies of your expired warranty and bill of sale. Ship it to the Leica Repair Dept. in NJ and call them before it arrives, just to place a priority on this service. Sometimes Leica will bend the rules to maintain good will with their clients. You have almost nothing to lose and a lot of upside. Good luck. Oh, BTW, I do agree that eventually the M8 will become a planter, but that's true with every digital camera.

True. Leica NJ is very understanding. They are people. Not robots. I've had pieces come off my M7 and they sent me the parts free. I recently broke my M9 and they said it would cost a fortune to repair with parts and labor. They sold me a new one at manufacturing cost. New in box. Free extra battery, charger and copy of Lightroom for me.