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M8 vs. M8.2 vs. M9 shutter question.....

jac0224

New member
I love my M8, warts and all, but the shutter is like a bomb! It has never really bothered me, but I know it's there. Finally tried a friend's M9 the other day and the shutter was sooooooo soft and smooth. With the M8, I believe you can get an upgraded shutter (to M8.2 standards), but how does that compare to the M9's? I don't have the finances to upgrade to a full on M9, but a 'minor' upgrade on the shutter may be a possibility..... Thoughts, experiences?
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
You should check on the prices on the leica website but I believe the shutter upgrade was over $1000 and you had an option to upgrade the finder (more accurate) and the rear screen cover . The shutter is a very worth while improvement and the repair came with a years warranty. The original M8 shutter had a fair share of repair problems .

The M8.2 corrected all the issues . It had a more accurate finder and the sapphire screen cover neither of which were continued to the M9 .
 

ShiroKuro

New member
I must be the only one , but I actually prefer the sound of the M8 over the M8.2 ..
Half of it anyway .... if I could have the initial sound of the shutter releasing of the M8.2 and the second half of the shutter re cocking of the M8 which is nearly silent .... it would be perfect . The shutter of the M8.2 over all sounds smoother but the re cocking is not nearly as silent as that of my M8
With that said I did have to replace the shutter in the M8 . I choose the original over the upgrade though the cost of the repair was close to doing the whole upgrade . In the end I was very pleased as the shutter came back so smooth and quiet .. As mentioned above the initial clack of the shutter releasing seems loud but the re cocking of the shutter is nearly silent .
I like the frame lines of the M8.2 , miss the the higher sync speed when using flash and the faster shutter speeds ...
The M8.2 seems much more refined but in the end it was difficult for me to part with the M8 .... Since you asked ... I would for go the upgrades and get the M8.2 ... Having had the M8.2 for about two weeks I would have happily of kept my M8 and it's not so noisy shutter . But yes the shutter seemingly is much smoother in the M8.2
 

jonoslack

Active member
Oh . .. having had two M8s (both of which had the shutter upgraded to the M8.2 shutter) and three M9s. . . I think the more recent shutters are much quieter . . but that the variation between cameras is almost more than the variation between models. Spend money on quiet shutters with care!
 

cam

Active member
i upgraded the shutter on my M8 and am still thrilled every time i take a shot.

but, as noted by Jono, there are variations between cameras -- such that my M9 sounds and feels like a bomb compared to the upgraded M8. (the M9 is getting worse with time, so i think it's going for a spa visit to Solms shortly.)

i disagree with him on whether it's worth the money to upgrade. for me, it was. i can hand-hold much longer exposures, have less shutter-shake, and don't cringe with every shot. it's *not* a minor upgrade, though, nor is it cheap.

keep in mind, though, you're not likely to get your money back if you sell the camera...
 

Chris C

Member
........ I think the more recent shutters are much quieter . . but that the variation between cameras is almost more than the variation between models.......
Over thirty five years ago when I was shooting 35 mm film and couldn't afford to get into Leica, the attraction of the 'M' above any other was the whisper quiet shutter. After many years of roll-film working I down sized to my first Leica, an M8, and was horrified by the absurd clack of the shutter compared to the sweet sound of vintage 'Ms'. That clack still disturbs me, and still prevents me doing some of the work that should be elemental for an 'M' camera.

I think the second part of Jono's quote above points to a problem at Leica; that their great former standard for exquisitely quiet cameras has been substantially down graded, otherwise clacking M8s would not have been released, and reports that 'variations between cameras' [including M9s] would not [and should not] be acceptible to Leica.

For what it's worth, the only M9 I have tried was a substantial improvement over the noise of my M8's shutter, but if I were in the market for an M9 I would not buy without testing the shutter sound first in case I would otherwise buy another clacker. But if I were buying an M9; I'd much prefer it to be as quiet as a vintage 'M'.

............. Chris
 

Chuck Jones

Subscriber Member
Chris, you and I are on the same page. The original M8 I bought was a rude surprise after working for years with M cameras. The M9 is a welcome upgrade, but still not nearly as quiet as my M6, M6TTL, or M7 which nobody heard, even in a quiet church.

But what really frosts me is the re-cock on all of the digital M's. The best "upgrade" to a digital M I could fantasize would be bringing back the film advance/shutter re-cock leaver!
 

cam

Active member
The best "upgrade" to a digital M I could fantasize would be bringing back the film advance/shutter re-cock leaver!
i actually had a dream about this last night -- and it was really sweet :p

i was serious about the Epson, btw -- that's what i started with -- and being able to manually recock was a joy. not only was that action much more discreet than Discreet (which i always use), it also allowed you to get better purchase on the camera (rather than having to buy a ThumbsUp).

in the beginning i had hoped that Leica would offer it as an upgrade option, one that i would gladly have paid for. alas, they never did... but i never thought they'd be able to make it as smooth and lovely and quiet as my M2.
 

LCT

Member
The M8.2 shutter is not far from film Ms' as far as shutter noise is concerned, and it is less loud than that of the R-D1 and R-D1s per se, but the motor noise is painful to say the least. The discreet mode is usefull for sure but it only postpones the motor noise and does not damper it in any way. This is one of the reasons why i've always considered the M8 and M9 as in-between cameras, with hope that the M10 will look -and sound- more like a true Leica. Agree with Cam about ergonomics as well but it is another story.
 

Chuck Jones

Subscriber Member
Setting the shutter to "discreet" has absolutely no use to me. That has to be the biggest "cop-out" I've ever seen on a Leica body too. If the engineers knew that the dang shutter rewind was too noisy, HELLO, why not just put some sound dampening on the dang thing in the first place? They saw - heard - the problem. Instead of fixing it, they put a band aid on it that is practically USELESS! The whole point of shooting moments is to have your camera ready and able for the next frame, and to really work a subject when it is in front of your lens.

Holding down the shutter button until a convenient time to make an outrageously rude grinding sound is NOT a feature - it is nothing more than a delayed rude noise that interferes with your being ready to shoot the next moment - and almost as distracting as the noise itself competing with your subjects for attention. Thanks, but I prefer my focus on my subjects, not having to hold the dang release button down so as not to draw attention.

I mean come on guys, what are you supposed to do? One shot, hold down shutter release while running into the cloak room to make your rude noise, then run back to the Wedding service? Camera farts are almost as bad as the other kind - neither of which are publicly acceptable in quiet, polite settings!
 

LCT

Member
« Outrageously rude grinding sound » is exxagerated IMO. As fas as the M8.2 is concerned, its motor noise is less loud than that of the Leica winder of my M4-2 which was saluted as the quietest one in the seventies if memory serves. Now we're not in the 20th century any more and i don't see serious reason why the digital Ms are still louder than some entry dSLRs.
 

Chris C

Member
Setting the shutter to "discreet" has absolutely no use to me.......

Holding down the shutter button until a convenient time to make an outrageously rude grinding sound is NOT a feature.....
Well, that statement might be true for you, but not for my M8. I have a problem with my M8's shutter sound only, it's rewind sound at arms length is very acceptible. We are back to the premise that if there isn't a rigourous quiet-standard for Leica 'Ms', the customer buys into the risk of being stuck with clackers, or/and grinders. I got stuck with a clacker.

I could have lived with a cloth shutter and manual rewind, but I wonder which part of the digital internals would be sacrificed to fit their component parts in. [HINT - see Mark Norton's photographs of the crammed insides of the M8 at LUF; 'Anatomy of an M8'.

............ Chris
 

ramosa

Member
I have an M8. Personally, I would never pay for a shutter upgrade. I would, instead, use that money for an eventual upgrade to FF.
 

Brian S

New member
Try using a half-case with the M8, it dampens the sound considerably. I like the 1/8000s top speed of the m8; the curtains move faster, makes more noise. The M9 is quiter, especially in the half case.
 
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