Dominik Peter Fotografie

Box pews

MP | Nokton 40/1.4 | Double-X | Diafine

Whilst I love the Leica film Ms, I have never been drawn to the digital rangefinders that followed - M8 et al. I have two M2s one is 52 years old and never been serviced and never faltered. The other is 48 years old and has been serviced once, due to me falling in a water filled trench. My CL is now 38 years old and never had a problem. I have never put batteries in it. My MP is only 6 years old but is battered, bruised and brassing like hell. Used everyday and again with no batteries and it has never missed a beat.

However, there is a “We are all gonna die/It’s the end of the world” hysteria thread running over on the Leica User Forum with regard to the M8. A user was told Leica can no longer repair/replace the LCD screen. Eventually Leica’s Stefan Daniel, Director Product Management responded directly to the forum thread:

“As promised yesterday by JJ, please let me state our position about the serviceability of the M8 and M8.2 Display.

First of all, we are very sorry, that some of you encountered issues with your cameras. It remains our aim to find the very best solutions to satisfy you. Please let me give you some more information and details on the display issue.

The cameras with a display problem stay operational, image quality and the main functions are not affected. The effect only occurs on a single production lot of displays, both built into M8 and M8.2. The serial number of the camera doesn’t give information about the lot of the display.

The lot in question was pulled out of service stock as soon as we have recognized the issue.

Meanwhile the manufacturer of the LCD displays had stopped production, in general these parts have a very short life cycle and Leica did not have a possibility for additional production. As the display and the rest of the electronics are linked very much together, it was not possible to create a repair solution up to our quality requirements.

The display of the M9/M9-P is a different display and is sourced from another manufacturer and is therefore not affected. For the M9 as for all our products, we are taking measures that we are able to service the camera for a period of at least ten years after production will stop. In the case that (especially electronic-) parts are no longer available, we will offer an upgrade program. As you know, we have quite a history of being able to service our products for a period much longer than that!

The upgrade program will work with both a M9 or M9-P, with a slightly different premium. Please contact your local Leica Customer Care for details should you have concerns with your M8/ M8.2 display.

Best regards from Solms,

Stefan Daniel, Director Product Management”

So if you have an M8 and the screen goes or you damage it you have one hell of an expensive paperweight on your hands. You could of course upgrade to the next variant but …………………..?

Think I will stick with reliability for the foreseeable future.

doyoulike: Laurent Chehere - Flying Houses (2012)

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 13:58:40 +0200

doyoulike:

Laurent Chehere - Flying Houses (2012)