Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/05/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 5/6/07, Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin@optonline.net> wrote: > > I don't know what percentage of the LUG owns M8 cameras but a number > of Luggers have complained about glitches, inadequacies, and outright > failures. > --------------------------------------- A number of Luggers complained about glitches with the M7, M6ttl, M6 and M5 too, also earlier cameras. . Most of those glitches got fixed, and they go on. My own new M6 had no operating film counter out of the box, and five years later it failed again. No other problems that I can remember, but that wasn't even electronic. ---------------------- I too would be more than a little pissed if my long awaited > Leica camera was defective. --------------------- That was the thing that held me back a couple months, and M8less, I expressed some of the same things you and Walt do, until an M8 user offered to let me use his for a month. I did not take him up on that wonderful offer, but it made me think about how much he believed in it. So, I went ahaed and got the next one available from Newtonville Camera. -------------------- Arbitrarily assuming that 10% of the LUG > has purchased the M8 and that only a dozen buyers are unsatisfied, > that's a failure rate of about 6%. Far too great for a $5000 prestige > camera. ------------------------ The key word here is "Arbitrarily." You base a lot of facts on an arbitrary assumption. I would expect more precision from an engineer. In my work, you need to cite references. I know that there have been problems and glitches, and I'm sorry that this shutter fault has occurred to my pal Jeffery, but as I have chased an answer for him, I cannot find many references to this fault. There are others, but it seems to be relatively rare. Neither of us have access to worldwide sales, but I'd expect that the number of glitches from the total is rather lower than 6%. I can't prove that, but then you have no basis for 6%; just a guess. ------------------------- But why so many complaints about a new digital camera when older Leicas are cherished for their reliability. ---------------------- If they are so reliable, why does DAG, Sherry,Ken Ruth, and Leica have such a backlog? While you are correct that some of us have had trouble, the lion's share of grousing about the M8 and "why it is such a piece of work" comes from people who don't own it. This is a scenario that is played on every forum serving Leica users. Meanwhile, those of us who are using it are finding that it shows us the weaknesses of lenses, and our own pilot errors. I love my M8 because it has returned me to the point that I control the picture, and that's something no digital camera offered me before. Even Jeffery loves his, he just wants it to work right, and that is totally understandable. I have no question that it will. > > -- Regards, Sonny http://www.sonc.com Natchitoches, Louisiana USA