Who intends keeping their M8 FOREVER?

[eleskin]

I will!!!

I will!!!

Well, my M8 in many cases outperforms my Medium Format equipment, so that is proof that I will keep it. Hell, the longer I use it, the better the value, and if I want another used one, they will be cheaper. I will get so much use, that when I decide to buy a used M9, that will be cheaper too!!

Who says shooting with a Digital M has to be expensive!!

HAA HAA HAAA, I love value, especially DURING TAX SEASON (APRIL 15th COMETH) !!!!!

 

[daleeman]

I imagine I will need to. Mine was a gift from my wife, so she likes seeing me use the M8.2 a lot, although she still smiles when she sees me with the Hasselblad.

Lee

 

[DRabbit]

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'm with ya! LOL
If the M9 were the same price new as the M8 was when it was first released, I could see selling my M8 to fund the purchase, but since it's $2K more, that means selling my M8 would barely make a dent.

If I had $5K I'd be able to come up with $7K without selling the M8 honestly.

Plus, I love it. I have the original M8 and I think I'd miss the 1/8000 shutter speed. One day when it dies and I have to fix it, or replace it, I'll be hoping to keep the same shutter. Not interested in the M8.2. But if it's my only choice, well then...

Someday I'll buy a used M9 (or buy a new one if I win the lottery)... in the meantime, my intentions are to keep the M8 forever.

😀

 

[maggieo]

What Amy said!

 

[Revdockj]

I am currently enjoying both the M8 and the M9. I have no intention of selling either no matter what else comes out.

Ken

 

[dng88]

Camera body has certain appeal. Perhaps that is the appeal of film camera as you can have many different bodies for the same film / slide. DIgital body design stilll cannot match the difference due to at least time period it is being available and short life span one expects from them.

Somehow M8 does not click. It is still the smallest and best Leica M camera I can afford and like. But somehow the body just does not click and hence M9 may not be for me. So far 124G, CV R3A, Nikon F4, 8x10 and Pentax 67 click. (Surprise 4x5 does not click even it is smaller and Hessey is in the margin.)

I am currently selling my M8, R4A, 101T etc. to finance my Pentax purchases. I would keep R3A (like 1:1)!

Looking at my R3A, I know that R2D2 would click. I really knew that as I have offer one (to one RRFer here) and bought the cash on the way (but the camera was sold), tried one (and take the best people photos I ever got) and bought one (and keep for one day before swap it for this new M8 last year!)

Please Epson! Just a D300 chip on your RD1x and that is it.

 

[selfdialogue]

I am hoping the second hand M9 price will come down to $3500-4000 in a few years. Then I'll sell my M8 and get an M9. But at that point, I might just wait for M10. Ever since I switched to Leicas, I have no real urge to keep up with technology upgrades.

 

[blimey]

digital camera bodies always change with new technology. lens however, especially leica lens does not change for decades. honestly, the thread was created because we cannot justify paying 7k for the m9. in short, many of us cannot afford it. im sure there is probably a thread that says "Do you intend to keep your M9 forever?"

 

[kemal_mumcu]

It must be a tough decision to think about upgrading to the M9 for M8 owners. I mean, 7000 clams is a lot of clams and those clams could be used to buy other things too, like some pretty awesome Leica glass. I know for me, I'd use 7000 dollars on glass before I'd buy an M9.

I started with the M system about 2 years ago thinking eventually I'd buy a digital M. I still might but I'm more than satisfied with film right now. I think the whole heritage of the Leica system plus its digital chapter and cross compatibility makes for a very tempting package. One reason why I believe Leica costs have been going up. Sadly. 🙁

As for me. I think I'd purchase an M8 before an M9 and I'd probably keep it until it died.

 

[tcline]

I will keep mine untill it breaks to a point that is unfixable, and even then I would probably pick up another working one if the price was right. I am hoping I have and use it long enough that I wear through the chrome plating to the brass, that would indeed be a well used and abused camera. The original M8 black paint and chrome plating is holding up surprisingly well fconsidering how rough I am with it.

 

[hteasley]

I'm happy with what my M8 produces, and don't anticipate becoming unhappy enough to sell it. I'd like an M9, though.

 

[robklurfield]

until it dies AND leica runs of out spare parts. now that the paint has started to rub off it's all mine. I regret every Leica I ever parted with, except maybe the Digilux 2 that memphis is enjoying (keep shooting Blake).

 

[Peter Klein]

If and when a used M9 price drops to 50%-ish of new, as has the M8, then I might sell my M8.

If a later "M" body comes out with drastically better high-ISO, then I might sell my M8.

This also means that I won't sell favorite lenses (e.g. 50mm) I accumulated in the film days that are not so frequently used on the M8, but would be on the M9 or its successor.

In the meantime, my attitude towards the M8 is the same as my attitude towards most of my long-term purchases: "Use it 'till it rots!" I've got the IR filters, I've got lenses, and I'm more of a normal to short-tele person than a wide-angle person. So I'm good.

The M8 takes great pictures. So it's not a matter of needing to change just because of yet another merely incrementally better new body. It's a matter of whether another body that would significantly improve my photography gets within financial reach. At that point, the M8 becomes "x" dollars off the price of the next camera. Until then, it's *my* camera.

 

[LightBender]

Sell it fast!

Sell it fast!

Assuming someone is getting the M9 and being able to get $3,000 for the M8 now, it makes no sense to me why someone would keep $3,000 lying around in a drawer depreciating. Unless, you want to carry around two bodies and lenses, I doubt most people would ever use the M8 again except as a back-up. Makes no sense to me to keep it.

Sell it fast!

 

[ianho]

I wont let my M8 go until they come out with a new camera that goes back to having 1/8000 shutter speed. I live in a tropical country that's bright as heck all day, everyday, 365 days a year n I sure need the speed to shoot wide open. I regularly hit 6000-8000 here in sunny Malaysia

 

[arunrajmohan]

Could not vote because, I don't intend to get one forever. May be an MP but no M8/9/10...

Arun

 

[Roger Hicks]

I wont let my M8 go until they come out with a new camera that goes back to having 1/8000 shutter speed. I live in a tropical country that's bright as heck all day, everyday, 365 days a year n I sure need the speed to shoot wide open. I regularly hit 6000-8000 here in sunny Malaysia

Or of course an ISO 80 'pull' facility...

Or ND filters, or stop down.

Cheers,

R.

 

[faris]

I have 2 of them. They have travelled the globe with me. Till death do us part.

 

[_goodtimez]

We have an M8 and an M8-2 and berely use them.
Should we sell / trade ?

 

[noimmunity]

Assuming someone is getting the M9 and being able to get $3,000 for the M8 now, it makes no sense to me why someone would keep $3,000 lying around in a drawer depreciating. Unless, you want to carry around two bodies and lenses, I doubt most people would ever use the M8 again except as a back-up. Makes no sense to me to keep it.

Sell it fast!

$3000 is a little over the price a used M8 (not M8.2 or M8u) can command on the market. I paid less for a new one 18 months ago. A used one now goes for around $2200, give or take.

I would love to move up to an M9, but that will probably take 3-4 years, maybe two if I'm really lucky (or stupid😀). So hanging on to the M8 now makes sense for me. I figure even when an M10 comes out, the M8 used prices will still hover around $1000. So for another 3-4 years of use, at minimum 5000 shots per year (probably much higher), the depreciation of $1200 is worth it to be able to keep shooting digital M.