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M8 Nightmare

In contrast to at least one report above, I had the exact same thing happen with my used M8. I mailed it to Leica USA, with a letter that STARTED by saying I had bought the camera used, and therefore did not expect warranty service.

They remapped it, successfully, and returned it in about three weeks, FOR FREE.

I understand your pain very well. After I finally sprung for an M8, the last thing I wanted was an expensive repair. I was/am VERY pleased with the way Leica treated me.

Regards,
Reed

Reference to the post I made about this experience:
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19461
 

dude163

Active member
I really love that type of "search"... FWIW, my "results" are quite different:

Leica-- 6 930 000
Nikon-- 64 200 000
Canon-- 281 000 000

:D

boobs got me

"About 291,000,000 results"

I bought an M8 with a 1 year warranty and hopefully at 11.5 months I can send it in for a *once over*

To their credit, I bought it used and it had no software or IR filters so leica AG sent me:

2 x UV filters ( about 300 bucks) for free
1 key for Lightroom by Adobe ( 299) for free
and a key for Adobe photoshop elements 9 ( 129) for free

so far I am loving the Digital M experience
 

codocee

Member
Reed,
Great info. It gives me hope. I was thinking NJ as well due to transit and communication. Who knows, its worth a try.
Thank You!
 

ShiroKuro

New member
Email Charles (ShiroKuro) about this. He had a similar issue, if I recall, and got things fixed...
I responded to him via a pm ..not sure if he got it or not ...

My problem had more to do with having a bright light source in the frame and not exposing the image properly .... I have learned how to work around this and so far so good ...

As far as prices ,repairs and warranties go .... seems it really depends on the Gods . I just had the shutter replaced at the cost of $675.00 and 4 months of waiting . I purchased the camera from a member here and it was pristine with a very low shutter count. Leica could of cared less . I have read on various forums where others have had the same thing done at no charge or considerably less than what I paid ... some get full warranties on the cameras others only on the billable repair for one year ... I have read Solms treats their customers better than NJ .... Some sing the praises of Leica and their outstanding customers service while others shudder at thought of having to deal with them .... The way I try and make sense of the expensive repair is that I did not pay full price for the camera ... the money saved goes into repairing the camera . Needless to say it is an awesome camera and for me worth all the headaches .... and look forward to getting an M9 .... Advice I recently received from a member here ... Always buy a leica that is under warranty...or if you buy an M8 keep a $1000.00 tucked away to cover the "repair".......Also you might want to check your insurance they may help cover the cost .

Aloha ,
Charles
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Since the M8 was released I ve had probably 50 repairs through NJ . While some have been completed in NJ many went on to Solms . Fortunately most of these repairs are closer to maintenance than repair . I had one bad sensor(cracked) but other than that I could generally use my equipment and pick my timing to get them repaired. Of course I have been upset by endless phone calls ,emails etc to get simple things completed. And many items have not been fixed correctly the first time. Things are getting better but I still rely on have more equipment than I should need . (probably a totally different issue but I enjoy justifying it based on having redundant equipment).

For sure there is very little consistency in Leica s business practices . I have had both exceptional service and very bad service from not only NJ but the exact same customer service and technical personnel. It is a very small operation ..start thinking about 12 -15 employees total . To assume any consistency creates an endless sharing of both good and bad experience.

In general this may help you.

1. If you control the timing ....send the item in asap . Don t wait for the ideal time . You will get an estimate by mail . If you don t have it in 10 days call (they mail them...are you starting to see how this works) . Keep on them until you have a repair order number . If they don t have a repair order number you are even started .

2. You can ask how long" until hell freeze s over “ and you will never get better than a general timetable . Instead of I don t know ..they have progressed to its 6 weeks unless we have to send it to Solms (and then we have no idea and we don t recognize Solms as part of our Company.) Go ahead ask others how long its taking . The timetable is 6 weeks plus or minus 2 weeks ..otherwise you are a exception.

3. Cost and warranty coverage are determined after the technician evaluates your camera . His word is final and you can t talk with him . Did he read that detailed note you sent along with the camera ...maybe but customer service has no idea ....

4. They will not do a thing until they have determined how you will pay . You can call in your credit card number over the phone or wait for the repair order and complete the information on the form and mail it back .

5. It shows up when it shows up ...sometimes even to the correct address. If you have an address on file be sure its your shipping address . I ve had 3-4 repairs shipped to the wrong house even when I put the address on everything including the item itself .

And you wanted to know ....how much it will cost and when you might have it returned ? Oh did you say you had an important job or vacation where you need it? Have reasonable expectations ...you can help by staying on top of the repair order. But don t be surprised if the technician knocks it out for you and then it sits in shipping because one of the guys had a vacation day .


I also send any used equipment , out of warranty stuff to DAG for mechanical repairs . He takes about the same time but he gets the calibration right the first time and he is less expensive.
 

David K

Workshop Member
If you're going to send it to Solms you will still be faced with the issue of whether to send it directly or thru NJ. There are potential customs issues involved in making this decision...at least here in the States. If it goes thru NJ to Solms then it comes back to you thru NJ and you avoid any holdup in customs. And if you give it to your dealer to give to NJ to send to Solms... it comes back the same way, Solms>NJ>Dealer>You. Unless your dealer notifies NJ that they should ship it directly back to you. Pretty easy to lose a week or more just due to the convoluted shipping required.
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
david

How would you bet the risk of a hold up going thru the dealer/NJ/Solms verse US Customs ? This is a trick question.

Roger
 

David K

Workshop Member
Roger, seeing as you currently hold the world record for Leica repairs I think you probably know better than anyone :) Based on the advice I got from Leica NJ, I went the Dale>LeicaNJ>Solms route, with a minor shortcut on the way back thanks to David and Josh telling Leica NJ they could ship my S2 and lens back to me directly. It was the spectre of having to pay customs duties on the way back that persuaded me. But since you say this is a trick question... I'm guessing I chose wrong :)
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
My lens went from Dale to Solms and then Solms sent it back to me directly...to the WRONG address. Because Dale used my ATLANTA address but specified it should be shipped directly to them . Solms shipped it to an empty house .

No customs interference coming back .

The trick part is who knows how it will be shipped ...not that you chose wrong. I haven t found anything thats consistent . But ..good news the lens came back in a few weeks and it has worked fine every since.
 

Charles2

Active member
Some day there will be a decent body with an M-mount

Some day there will be a decent body with an M-mount for all that wonderful glass. Won't be from Leica; maybe a successor to the Fuji X100. If it develops a problem, you will be able buy a second body and still spend less than the cost of a Leica body and one repair.
 

jaapv

Subscriber Member
And this camera was originally a frog and has been kissed on the nose by a prince?
 

Peter Klein

New member
There are two kinds of vertical line problems. One is a sensor flaw that requires a trip to Leica. This kind of vertical line splits the frame exactly into two halves.

But the other kind of vertical line is really just a hot or stuck pixel, which causes a line to be "interpreted" into the picture. The line isn't real, it's just one pixel.

Look here:
http://pixelfixer.org/

PixelFixer is a free program that works on the M8/9's raw DNG files. It's for the PC/Windows only, not Mac. It will map out the hot pixels in each picture. You calibrate it by shooting a picture with the lens cap on at ISO 1250 or 2500 at 1/30 of a second or so. Feed that into PixelFixer, and it writes a map file for the camera.

Then, all you have to do is point PixelFixer at a folder of DNGs, tell it to run, and it will map out the hot pixels in each file and rewrite the corrected file. Presto, no more funny bright dots, and no more vertical line.

Try it before you worry about expensive repairs. If Leica had included a hot pixel mapping routine in the firmware, as Olympus and Panasonic do, then it wouldn't be needed. But they didn't.

Hope this helps!
--Peter
 
G

gtto

Guest
i have a similar problem. I bought an M8u from another forum. the camera looks like new but when shooting some high iso pics, I noticed the dreaded line. the seller claimed not to know about it and i believed him. luckily, there was still two weeks left on a mack warranty. I sent them the camera and they sent it to leica in NJ. that was 2 weeks ago. i hope it doesn't take forever and comes back fixed. It is a drag but at least I am not paying anything and hopefully, they will also do a CLA.
 

woodleica

Member
I went through this with my M8. My camera was out of warranty for 2 weeks and I was about to sell it to get an M9 when I noticed the problem ( fortunately, I would have hated to have sold it with a problem ). I sent it in and Leica fixed it under warranty. Pixelfixer did not work for me. It was a sensor flaw. Having said that, I had some great images from my M8 and it convinced me to get an M9. It is a bummer, and it seems to happen much to often with M8's but at least in my case, Leica's customer service was top notch and the camera came back in perfect condition.
 
W

Wozza604

Guest
I had the same problem when I bought my used M8. New Jersey charged me $485 to fix it and adjust the rangefinder.
I've never been truly satisfied with the images from my M8 and have since purchased an M9 which I adore.
 
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