Can someone supply a brief Status Report on Leica M8?

[cpj]

I have been off Photo.net since December due to a computer glitch. Sometime back I got an email from

Leica saying new 2008 firmware would be coming out for the M8. If so, I don't have it. Also, if I read it

correctly, there was something about all M8s again having to go back to the factory in Germany at some

vastly expensive cost to the owner--like $1,200 for an upgrade. Can anyone enlighten me about the

status of the M8. Mine was back to Germany for 10 weeks last fall. Are there more changes coming and

what are they supposed to correct?

 

Thanks.

[Richard Williams]

Firmware is here:

 

http://en.leica-camera.com/photography/m_system/m8/download-121_10.html

 

The upgrades are entirely optional:

 

http://en.leica-camera.com/service/service_and_repair/m8upgrade/

[bueh]

WOW! €1120 (exluding tax) just for a shutter and display upgrade sure is expensive. Leica amazes me over and over again. You might even find a used EOS 5D body for that much money...

[steven_moseley1]

...You can find used 5D's for that (stupid amount of) money...

 

...tricky call, a full frame DSLR..OR a new LCD screen and a (supposedly) quieter shutter with a lower top speed...mmmmmm

[Richard Williams]

...and you could buy quite a few of these for your $750 EUR:

 

http://www.invisibleshield.com/digital-camera/leica/m8.php

[marc_bergman1]

Richard,

 

Thanks for posting that link. I have some cameras and a MP3 player that could use that product.

[jim_a]

Invisible Shield is amazing stuff. It was made to protect helicopter rotor blades. I have it on my iPod and had them make a custom piece to go over the LCD on my light meter since it often goes in my pocket along with keys, coins and other scratchy stuff. I didn't bother using IS on my DSLRs though. I've never had a problem with those.

[andy_piper2]

"You might even find a used EOS 5D body for that much money..."

 

Wondering how a used EOS 5D would make my M8s quieter....?

 

For that matter - I could buy 40 bathroom sinks at Home Depot for the price of the M8

optional shutter, but so what? They won't make my M8s quieter, either.

 

(Nor will the fancy LCD glass, for that matter, and fortunately Leica had the good sense to

revise the program so that one can buy only what one requires, not a "package".)

 

$20 spent on something one has no use for is a much bigger waste than $1000 spent on

something one DOES have a use for.

[trex1]

I wonder what the price of the M8s will be when someone comes out with a full frame M body?

 

My own idea is for a ground up build of an interchangeable lens RF digital camera. Just like the EOS revolutionised AF cameras, (Nikon still has not caught up), at some point a digital RF will be done properly. Do it right, or don't bother, that seems to be the lesson of Nikon and Leica.