Who intends keeping their M8 FOREVER?

Who intends keeping their M8 FOREVER?

  • Yes ... I will keep it forever.

    Votes: 125 48.1%
  • No ... I won't keep it forever.

    Votes: 77 29.6%
  • I haven't decided yet!

    Votes: 58 22.3%

  • Total voters
    260
Many have talked about lenses as 'a body cap' such as the collapsible 50mm 2.8.
When I have the dough for the M9 then I will keep my M8 as a back cap for my 50mm!

Seriously, the M8 is marvelous. And my camera was rejuvinated some time ago. New finder, some electronics, it has been revamped + lenses CLA'd, and I saw the counter went from 14.000 pictures to 200 pictures. As well I got a 6 months total warranty card [I didn't have to bribe the Solms guys for that :) just sign a repair order ] :rolleyes:

So my camera is a keeper now. I initially thought the warranty would be a good stimulus to sell it off immediately. I got attached to it again.
But in time it will get a companion M9.
I do change lenses a lot, so this will be a good everready solution.
Alberti
 
Back in 2005 I successfully fired up this Intel 8086. That makes it a functional 25+ year old computer! Here's to hoping all your M8's live that long and more. :D

S-100 forever, I say! I need to dig out my Imsai 8080A and see if will still fire up. The Processor Technology VDM-1 video board was getting flakey the last time I tried it.
 
If I had an M8 I would sell it like NOW!!...After seeing & reading Ken Rockwell's photos & review of the M9 I am, like Ken convinced that it's the best digital camera in the world!...and I'm serious! Those photos he took with it while he was on vacation are stunning & it blows the Nikon & Canon full frame dslr's away! An M8 is no where in the class of an M9 and doesn't even measure up to a RD-1 for black & white.

Here we go!
'it blows the Nikon & Canon full frame dslr's away! '
I hope this was tongue in cheek GB:D sounds to me like you're after an M8 or RD1
REALLY? how so? real world pictures or pixel peeping madness? post some shots and let's see. I agree with you it's good but blowing the Nikon's and Canon's away? I don't think so!
I'm using full frame Nikon and real world prints you won't see any differences apart from the noise above 2000 with the Leica. haha. And NO i'm not M9 bashing. I think it's wonderfull and it's on my 'to do' list purely for size and lens considerations so that I can use my Leica glass. In fact i'm off to try and get a play with one today.
Seriously though, let's see some real world comparison tests with equal focal length lenses. Canon, Nikon, Leica. Not brick walls or newspaper front sheets but real pictures and I will bet on no one knowing the difference.
 
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Wow, the "Keep It Forever" percentage is higher than those who would keep their wives forever. Leica must have some magic going on.



I think part of the prevalence for this voting trend is to do with people's perception of value. The M8 was a very expensive piece of kit for those of us who took the plunge and bought it new ... to see $3000.00 fly out the window if you decide to sell it used a couple of years on sticks in the throat for many ... especially seeing as it didn't quite live up to expectation in the first instance!

Better maybe to hang on to it good bad right or wrong and at least keep what you paid for ... that's my angle at least!
 
I've still got all my old D1 and D2 bodies, not because I love them as they have some big flaws by today's standards, but as the second hand value is so low it's better for me to hang on to them as back-ups to my D3 bodies. I imagine that the same will be true of my M8 when I replace it with, hopefully, two M9 bodies. Although by the time this happens a M10 may be out.

Crop factor and IR filters aside I have no issues with the M8 so I'm in no great rush anyway. Other than for the price it doesn't make my coffee in the morning, which I think the Leica boys should look into...
 
Yup- big investment. The cost of ownership of my 17-year old DCS200 is down to just over $700/year.
 
Difficult one for me to answer, so I didn't vote.

I would very happily have kept my M8 for many many more years, had it not been stollen. Of course I was pleased when the M9 came out, knowing that at some point it may become cheap enough for me to acquire one at some point, but I was more please to see it as a demonstration of Leica showing commitment to the dRF. But after the M8 and lens bag was stollen and my insurance company paid out, I had enough cash to make a decision between a used M8 with one good Leica lens and a bunch of third party lenses, or an M9 with two CV or used 50's-60's era lenses. In the end, I saw a sad affair as an opportunity to get a new M body, and knew that this would probably be the only time in my life I would have that chance. I took it.
I do miss the handheld IR photography I started to do with the M8. I also miss it, well, because it was a superb camera and I catually felt like I had a bond with it. I haven't had the 9 long enough to feel that yet. I also do miss the outstanding IQ and small weight of the 35'cron ASPH that was attached to the M8 most of the time.

Regarding depreciation, my only other digital camera is a Canon 300d (the original digital rebel without a clue!), and it is now worth so little that I should probably give it to a keen friend. It has not seen any use in years except for telephoto work in the Gallapagos Islands. That Canon lost about $1000 US depreciation in perhaps 3 years, and it was not nearly as good a camera as the M8. At least with the M8 you know it will be supported by Leica repair service for a lot longer time than Canon. I never had a bond with the 300d like I did with the M8, and I had no illusions whatsoever that I might keep the 300d forever. I have a feeling that had I stayed with Canon, my upgrade cycle would have been more expensive in the long term and I still would not have been happy with the weight of my camera bag.

So how could I vote in this pole? I would have happily kept my M8 forever, but given the chance to replace it with another M8 I didn't. I wonder how many of the voters here would have done the same

(It should go without saying that having your camera bag cut from you in front of your 1 yr old child by four people holding knives in front of your face, is not a recommended path to the M9. In that repsect also I would much rather I still had the M8.).
 
Yes forever ... when life has gone full circle and you're being spoon fed in the old folk's home ... will you still have the M8 sitting beside you? :D

That's not "forever". If I were Connor Macleod, then yes, forever. But I'd have to battle off all the collectors and Nikonites first.

There can only be one. :D
 
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