Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/08/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Larry, Why would you have to purchase a new computer, printer etc? I still use the printer, computer etc. that i've had for 3 years, still works just fine with my M8. I do want a new iMac laptop, but not because I bought the M8, I wanted that before my M8 came along. As to living near the water, and salt spray, that is an issue with any camera, even so I always used my R and earlier M cameras at the ocean etc. That is just a self maintenance problem, for anyone using a camera. Gene -------------- Original message from Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin@optonline.net>: -------------- > > On Aug 30, 2007, at 11:51 AM, George wrote: > > > Your second career "travel writer/photographer" would certainly allow > > you to "depreciate" your equipment; including a complete write off in > > the year that you purchase it; assuming that you file a schedule C as > > a self employed "writer/photographer." > > > > Also, I'm very curious as to how many of the off list nay sayers have > > owned and used the M8. > > I try to deduct all my expenses but the IRS says that I have to make > money three years out of every five - otherwise photography is a > hobby. Springing for an M8 would kill my profits for this year. And, > of course I would need a better computer, Photoshop CS3 or Lightroom, > a much better ink jet printer, etc., etc. Since Moore's Law predicts > that the price of digital electronic declines by half every 18 > months, maybe I'll wait until next year. Or perhaps I'll buy a used > M8 exchanged for an M8.1 or M9. At a price of $2000 or less I could > learn to live with the camera's peculiarities. > > Most of my photography is done on or near salt water. One of the > reasons for my reluctance to take Leicas aboard a boat is the high > probability of damage from salt spray. I have done enough actual > Leica repair (mostly on LTMs) to know that, whatever their other > sterling qualities, Leicas are not internally corrosion resistant. > Solms is not a coastal city and Oskar Barnack was a mountain hiker, > not a sailor, so water sealing seems to be one of the things Leica > left out. The Olympus camera line has good water sealing, and for > really bad conditions I use an old Nikonos II. Even if I fall > overboard, the camera will survive. > > But your second point is most interesting. I havn't seen any hard > statistics about the failure rate of M8s, or for that matter, the > percentage of Leica owners that have purchased them. Until we get a > handle on the actual failure rate, any comments pro or con are mere > speculation. Combing through back postings of the LUG gives the > impression that half of all references to the M8 are praises, the > other half are complaints. Or maybe it is the just the same three or > four users lauding the camera and another three or four bitching > about it. Does anyone have any definitive information from Leica > about the number of cameras that had to be returned, replaced, or > repaired as a percentage of total sales? Any breakdown of failure > modes? Bad shutters, logic board glitches, sensor problems, broken > cases, etc?. A couple of the nay sayers were very specific aboout > problems with their M8s - as for some of the others, I can't say. > > Peace, > > Larry Z > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information