markus_biedermann Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Dear Forum Members, first a "hello" to all the people here as i am a new user to this forum! My first question here is: I just bought a Leica R 8 (black), used but only for 2 films (as new) for a good price. But I read about some Bugs concerning early production numbers. So what have I to be aware of? The serial number starts with 229####. Thanks for any responses! Markus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_n_f Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 As usual, Andrew Nemeth has some answers! Please check out his site at http://www.nemeng.com/leica/005c.shtml I am a late model R8 owner and have not had any problems over the last two.5 years (since new). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus_biedermann Posted April 25, 2003 Author Share Posted April 25, 2003 Thanks for leading me there. Sounds like: No winder > no problems. OK, that's cool. I can live with that. When I need fast shooting for series or just snapshots I still have my Minolta 7000i still giving great performance in that respect. The Leica will be for different situations. Any other comments? BTW, excuse any glitches in my english. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert knapp md Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 The other problem is potential film scratching after about 150 rolls. This is due to a defective plastic roller in the back that gets eroded itself and then scratches the film. Watch out and if you see it get it repaired asap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus_biedermann Posted April 25, 2003 Author Share Posted April 25, 2003 Oh, that indeed is not very nice. Hope the R 8 will not be affected by this. Would that be an expensive repair? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imran_ahmed Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Markus My R8 of around same serial after 3 rolls developed a problem in it's shutter speed dial. In that I could only set speed from 1/30 to 1/500 correctly on other speeds it would set a different speed then selected I git it fixed under warranty. For R8 atleast in UK Leica extended passport or warranty to 5 years from normal 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus_biedermann Posted April 25, 2003 Author Share Posted April 25, 2003 Well thanks again. All your answers give me a good overview for what I have to keep an eye on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtodrick Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Another thing to remember Markus is that electical problems have a habit of showing up fairly quickly. If the camera is this old, and has seen any use at all to speak of, in all likelyhood is doesn't have any problems or they have already been fixed. Things like a disintigrating plastic roller would, however be another matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiri_rehorek1 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Dear Markus,congratulations for the purchase.I bought the R8 in 1997 - one of the first series 229##.During time it developed a few problems - something (lever) loose hanging inside viewfinder, PC flash connector stopped triggering external (studio) flash, problems with film transport yelding to camera back exchange, the whole camera stuck dead with the mirror-up during shooting. At the end I got it exchanged by Leica for a new body after 3 years.I was very satisfied with Leica service center services though. Everything fixed quite promptly and - due to 5 year warranty - free of charge.I know that the list of problems is pretty long but I used the camera quite extensively and traveled with it a lot.Personally I would suggest the PC contact flash triggering function and the winder connection as well. (I actually like the winder quite a lot and it balances the camera body nicely. I bought a second one instantly while purchasing my R9 :) (Another story there)) happy shooting Jiri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus_biedermann Posted April 25, 2003 Author Share Posted April 25, 2003 I bought the camera from a collector. So it may be old from date of being manufactured, but it is not old at all in terms of use. The camera was only once put out of its case to take something like 48 pictures and thats it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus_biedermann Posted April 25, 2003 Author Share Posted April 25, 2003 Dear Jiri and others, i see the list gets longer..... ;) I don't have a flash for the camera yet, so testing this will be possible later. > the whole camera stuck dead with the mirror-up during shooting that sounds pretty worrying... > something (lever) loose hanging inside viewfinder I dont't really understand what that means. :? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiri_rehorek1 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 ... sorry, my ability to express myself properly in english is somehow limited.Regarding the loose thing in the viewfinder, I just noticed one day something like a strange shade in my view when taking pictures. When I looked at the viewfinder I found something like a small lever which appearently went loose inside the viewfinder mechanism and was blocking the view slightly.The camera went to repair center and got fixed in a week or so.I think that it's worth to mention that Leica was appearently doing upgrades of some parts during the fixes even when the original parts were not necessarily faulty (e.g. motor winder contacts upgrade). regards Jiri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus_biedermann Posted April 25, 2003 Author Share Posted April 25, 2003 > ... sorry, my ability to express myself properly in english is somehow limited. It might also be that my ability to understand english properly is somehow limited. :):) thanks for the explanation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leica_phil Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Albert and others, Did leica address the scratching issue in the R9? If not, that really stinks. They know there is a problem (even if they don't admit it) and they should fix it. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiri_rehorek1 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Hi, the design of film plate which holds the film flat against the film window is completely new in R9 although the rollers and the plastic piece which were reported to cause scratches look the same like on my R8. I have never experienced film scratching caused by reasons mentioned above. (With lot more than 150 films through my R8). Can't comment on the R9 yet:) regards Jiri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert knapp md Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 I believe that the rollers and the end of the film back plate have been "modified" in the R9. Leica has been very coy about this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus_biedermann Posted April 26, 2003 Author Share Posted April 26, 2003 One more thanks. I just enjoy my camera now and hope it will work whenever I need it. The warranty card is not stamped and filled, so because I bought it privat now there is no warranty. Wenn man den Teufel nicht an die Wand malt, geht eher alles gut aus. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray_moth Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 I had an R8 in which the aperture control ring was sticking. The effect of this was, the lens did not stop down consistenly to the taking aperture when the shutter was released. I wondered, at first, if it could be a problem with the lens; however, since it happened with all six of my R lenses, I concluded that the fault must be in the camera. I understand, from members of this forum and other Leica sites, that this purely mechanical problem was fairly common with R8s. The dealer who sold it to me in Indonesia agreed to send it to Hong Kong for repair but it came back in the same condition, so I got rid of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boris_karkowski Posted April 28, 2003 Share Posted April 28, 2003 Hi. Got my R8 last autumn and experienced the following problem: The display on the "backdoor" does not always work. I cannot figure out why this happens sometimes - and what helps against it. In some cases, switching the camera off and on again fixes it for the moment. But not always. Then, after a while it just works again. It's not really a big problem, as the counter still works in the viewer. But for changing ASA, it is a bit annoying sometimes. Any one else experiences the same problem? There has been much talking about film scratches. So far I have shot about 100 rolls and there are no visile scratches on slides. Projection is fine. But when I scan my slides with a really good resolution like 300dpi, there are fine scratches that can be clearly seen at this resolution on the monitor. Is this quite normal or is this what you are talking about? Thank you. Boris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
status_flo Posted April 29, 2003 Share Posted April 29, 2003 on this note: i think mine might have locked up on me temporarily on saturday night when i was shooting a rave.. it was hard to tell what was happening because of all the noise.. maybe i just turned the dial to off because 10 minutes later it was working fine. i like you have an early model.. one of the first 600 made. but it's been problem free other than that. it's third hand and i think the first owner might have got it serviced because the second owner (the guy i bought it from) showed me that it worked perfectly with his winder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy__str_m Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Hi Boris. The display on the "backdoor" of my R-8 has the same problem as yours. It has been so for a year or so, but I dont care anylonger. Except from this minor problem with the LCD the R-8 works very well. So I chose to live with it. Tommy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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