Shipments of M8s stopped or what?

Anybody knows if Leica has already stopped ALL shipments of M8s until the problems are sorted out

and fixed? What I mean by this is, my order - placed a few days ago - will be in a batch my dealer is

supposed to receive around the beginning of December. That's in 3-4 weeks. Do we know if Leica will

delay shipment of such batches until they fix the problems, or if they'll go on with shipping the M8s as

they are, until they publish their "plan for a solution", and wait for the customers to return the

faulty ones for repairs? Though I trust Leica will do their best to satisfy us, I am still a bit worried.

Putting aside the subject of ethics, to which unbelievably there seems not to be unanimous agreement here, it would be financially stupid for them to ship more of them to distributors around the world only to have to ship them back to Solms and then back to the distributors. Furthermore it would be stupid for the distributors to ship them to the dealers, and the dealers to ship them to customers, only to have them returned. If the dealers make the customers pay to return-ship them, that will cost the dealers goodwill.

 

The only financially sound reason for continuing shipping them and selling them is if Leica already knows the fix will not involve returning them to the factory, such as the firmware update plus selling the customers filters they have to put on each lens (after having them sent out and pay for coding).

They better decide on the fix before shipping more. Customers are not happy with external IR filters. Resolution or something else suffers if it goes in front of the sensor. That leaves a nasty problem for them. I think they made the wrong choice and most certainly knew of the problem, but did not expect the customers to be so bitter about it.

 

My guess is a recall for internal filtration addition. Of course these are not available and dissasembly is required for the mod. The fix will be a long time coming. So they will continue to sell as is and sell filters as a temporary solution and the customers can return the cameras at some future date.

 

I am not affiliated with Leica, so this is simply my guess.

 

Buy one if you can live with the purple problem for a while, but if you are a wedding photog and do not wish to repair every black tux, buy the filter or wait for the mod. I don`t see the fix coming anytime soon. 6 mo to a year. They will have to design the filter, manufacture some samples, test, and then go into production. Then again they maybe already tried a rejected the internal filter solution so it totally back to the design dept. Then the wait will be longer.

 

Myself, Portra 160 and Delta 100 will stay in my bag along with HP5.

Too bad, it is a nice camera.

I would hope so.

Ronald, the filters-and-firmware "solution" only addresses the purple cast defect. There is also the horizontal streaking/banding and green ghosting from bright overhead lights. There is also some mention being uncovered about vertical banding in some situations. Those issues affect photos taken in places such as theaters, bars, the subway, and outdoors at night, whether in colour or monochrome. It is not simply one issue that affects wedding photographers.

Stick an IR filter on and be happy,Jeez.<div></div>

Allen, do you have an M8 on order? If so I hope you will be happy taking your own advice. Many people reject buying and adding filters to the front of lenses to counteract a problem that should have been addressed in the sensor design. And it is touted as a solution to only one of the issues preventing the M8 from making usable photographs in many situations.

Jeez, relax won't you?

 

We all know they're about to roll out a wonderful Christmas edition (der Heiliger Weihnachten Neun) and finally make the critics SHUT UP.

If so I hope you will be happy taking your own advice

 

I was being sarcastic, i apologise for not making myself clear , and i understand.

 

Anyway, goodnight,and God bless.

When they print an upsidedown image on a stamp at the post office or a double struck gold coin it becomes collectible. Well Leica has for decades made special editions and this $5000 camera is one that would make a great paper weight.

 

I think anybody who can afford this much for his hobby must be a smart enough person not to let someone sell him a paper weight of a lemon. Cancel your order until you hear that the problem is solved.

Maybe the banding solution is the same as the purple solution. I surely do not know and nobody but Leica knows and maybe not them. but I doubt it.

 

Leica does things in search of the most perfect image. Others compromise either because they need a camera built to a price or they are sloppy, or they realise compromise must be accepted. Sometimes the "perfect image" solution works, sometimes not. But it should not have left Germany this way.

<I>But it should not have left Germany this way.</I><P>

 

Seems that issue should have been discovered 12 months ago in development.

I hope that my camera is not delayed; I think I'll benefit lots more in being able to use it now, in it's present state, than waiting for who-knows-how-long until every last complainer is satisfied. In any event, I doubt if many had any intentions of buying a new M8: Too expensive, not enough pixels, holding out for a full-frame sensor; I wonder why these guys just don't buy a Canon and be happy.