[Leica] Cameras Real Pros Use

[cummer at netvigator.com (H&ECummer)]

Hi Luggers,
Most of you know my M8 experience. I was an early adapter in Hong Kong - 
paid HK$35,000 (US$4516) from the Leica Shop in Vienna during one of their 
shows in HK.
Locally the camera wasn't available at that retail price - all sellers were 
selling over retail - mostly to rich mainlanders. Four months after purchase 
the shutter failed
while I was photographing in Northern Ontario. I couriered the camera to 
Solms. It was insured for the Canada Post maximum of $1,000 and DHL lost the 
camera for a month.
I only found it by dealing with the office of the President of DHL in North 
America! Solms, after receiving the camera, told me German Customs ruled the 
replacement body would have to be sent
to Canada because the broken camera came from Canada. By then I was back in 
Hong Kong. I sent an email written in capital letters asking them if a 
German photographer had a
camera failure in Mongolia would the repaired or replacement camera have to 
be sent back to Mongolia? The next day they replied the replacement camera 
would be sent to Hong Kong.
I used the replacement camera for 30 days and it developed a blue pixel 
line. I took it to Schmidt, the Leica agent in HK, and they wanted HK$500 to 
look at the camera even though it was
clearly under warranty but not bought from a HK dealer. I threw a tantrum 
and the repair man, on his way to Solms carried the camera in his luggage, 
had the camera repaired in a week,
and carried it back. It then worked well and I decided, finally having a 
functional body, to upgrade and paid HK$14,000 ($1,806) for new frame lines, 
shutter and sapphire glass cover.
I took about 18,000 pictures with the camera over three years and then it 
developed the coffee stain on the LCD. I contacted Leica New Jersey about a 
replacement LCD
and as everyone knows Leica have no spare LCDs. They offered to take the 
camera in as a trade and give me some credit toward a new M9. But I already 
had an M9  and so I sold the
camera for its approximate trade-in value ($1,300) and moved on. Like Phil, 
the experience has shaken my confidence in the reliability of Leica digital 
products. Every time I
pick up the M9 (which is a better camera in some ways than the M8 but still 
has SLOW processing and not great low light high ISO capability) I wonder if 
it is going to fail. I can't help it!
Howard.
PS: To be fair and balanced I have had one digital failure with a Nikon. My 
D70, out of warranty, had a circuit board fail. It was quickly replaced free 
of charge by Nikon at its repair facility in Vancouver.