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Don't drop your M8

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Beginning of my second of nine days in Prague and I dropped my m8.
It fell on the vented corner of he 24mm's lens hood.
The 24mm looks unscathed, but its focusing helical is completely jammed. It is set to a position so that it looks it might be ok if I hyperfocal at f/5.6 or so.

At first the camera, which also looks completely unscathed, it now unable to meter correctly or to work the shutter correctly at speeds faster then 1/30.
Taking off the lens, I can see that the shutter leaf with the white stripe is invisible, instead I see shutter blades with what appear to be a couple of pivot points or rivets. On faster speeds, the shot appears either completely dark or well exposed for a portion of the image, with the remainder masked. The slower the shutter speed, the more of the sensor is exposed.
Looks like for the remainder of the trip I will use the Mark I eyeball meter and a 50mm summarit, since it is the only lens I have that will work with the 3 stop ND I am carrying so that I can get the shutter to 1/30 at f/16 in the sun.

Note that I would have pulled out my backup body, but it hs been in New Jersey for the last seven weeks for a rangefinder tuning.

<rant>
Reliability calculations include all sorts of factors, including partial failures, whether there are backups available, and how resistant any component is to abuse. We used to use a figure of merit called A0 which stood for availability. That metric is the normalized portion of time a system was available factoring the mean time to failure and the mean time to repair including any parallel or serial failure components.
So far, my only problem with Leica is that the MTTR is too long (it will be eight or more weeks for a simple rangefinder tune-up compared to six calendar days including shipping with Nikon for a repair of similiar magnitude. I am scheduled to go on the MOAB trip, but unless I get a couple of bodies back in time I will probably be shooting Nikon
</rant>
-bob
 
W

workingcamera

Guest
That stinks… both the drop (always a nasty feeling when that happens) and the maintenance turnaround issue Leica has these days.

all the best an hope you can still bring back stellar pics regardless

Craig
 

PeterA

Well-known member
Ouch...my sympathies, I dropped my M8 recently, but fortunately everything survived 'cept the hood on the 21. Ther esure is a lot more to go wrong with an accidental spillage in these digi cameras.
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Ouch, that canon sure looks worse for the fall than does my M8.
Subject to my "LOMOised" M8's limitations, I was still able to get a few shots today such as this so it is not a total loss
-bob
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Bob that just hurts, we will make sure though you have M8's for Moab. Not to worry there.
Guy,
Thanks for that. As long as Leica finishes body Nr1 and it comes back from NJ ok then I will be there with at lease one M8. I am glad that you will help back that one up.
-bob
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I will make sure we have extra M8s. Linda will have some plus I will ask leica for a loaner for the workshop.

BTW if folks did not know Leica does support our workshops with Leica reps and demo gear for all our needs and are on site the whole time. Really a wonderful addition to the workshops is having them there. Great chance to try things out before putting money out to buy.
 

jaapv

Subscriber Member
Hmmm... Fell into a ravine, I was bruised and scratched, but the M8 fell deeper: 1700 Euro....:(
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Yea it hurts when this stuff happens . I had my moments . Dropped a Hassy into Lake Louise in Canada from a helicopter . Oh that was fun. LOL. Busted a 200 1.8 canon attached to some body i can't remember. I was lucky just the mount went south. This stuff happens and you just want to shoot yourself in the foot but you can't , it is just part of camera life.
 

woodyspedden

New member
When in Germany this summer with Guy, David Farkas et al, I dropped my black body with the 35 Lux on it. Rangefinder was trashed but luckily I was in Solms and Ralph Hagenauer, head of the Leica akademie, took them to the service dept and had them back to me by the end of the trip. (Thanks to David Farkas of Dalelabs for hand carrying them back to the U.S. to avoid customs issues!)

Further on into the trip I had the 90 Cron in a pocket of my Domke vest (The pocket on the upper front of the vest). I bent over and out it came right onto the concrete. Aperture ring and focusing ring damaged. So back it went to Solms where it languished for almost three months waiting for parts.

I just thought it was the fact that I had just turned 70 and had some major defects of my own. Now I am reading about you younger guys dropping your cameras as well. I hate it for you but there is a little bit of "I am not the only dropsy guy in the Leica world."

Robert I really feel for you, especially as you are on a †rip where imaging was one of the primary goals. See if you can find a VLux for rent somewhere in Prague and shoot away. My wife had one of Ralph's loaners in Germany and got some outstanding images.

Woody Spedden
 
D

Digital Dude

Guest
Do not drop ANY camera. Period...:confused::mad::D
Damn! This reminds me of the proverbial scene from a movie where the car door opens and a passing car rips the door off from its hinges. I’ve bumped my lens against a few obstacles and only now can I see that I’ve been blessed. I’m clumsy by nature so I’m overly careful any time I pick up my camera. For me the M8 is a retirement toy so I treat it with the care of a newborn although I realize it’s always a possibility. :scry:
Regards,
 
R

roubaix

Guest
Ouch.. I dropped mine about 6 weeks ago dinging the screen, Everything else seemed to work fine. As painful as it was, it is scheduled to ship this week. Painful is not the word to describe Christmas without the M8... Perhaps excruciating...
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Got my first body back from NJ along with the 35/1.4
Gosh it is good to have an M8 again!
Turn-around time for a rangefinder adjustment was a mere 10 weeks of a 4-6 week estimate:thumbdown:.
I can hardly wait for the repair estimate for the one that I dropped destroying the shutter:bugeyes:
I couldn't help but take it out after it stopped snowing.:clap:
 

Maggie O

Active member
I lost a Konica T4 when a wide receiver, a safety and two other photographers all collied with me.

I feel your pain.
 

Farnz

Member
I stopped at Green Lake near Whistler in Canada to take some shots and unzipped my Lowepro Rover backpack containing my M8 that was wearing a tasteful 35 'cron outfit, cracked the backpack in half ready to fish cameraphernalia out and put it down on a picnic table. I surveyed the grand scene in front of me - snow-capped mountains, clear-blue sky and sun clambering below the horizon only for my pleasure to be interrupted by the sound that can reduce grown men to tears.

The cracked-in-two backpack had decided that it was too uncomfortable and had started to spring straight again, during which, the top end had made it past the edge of the picnic table and vengefully flung my M8 down onto the concrete apron beneath the picnic table. Gulp.

The camera was hidden from view by the picnic table so my mind immediately warped into overdrive horror-mode and conjured up images of hideously twisted, dented metal and broken glass. Heart in mouth, I rounded the table to find the M8 lying on its head on the concrete and if cameras could show dazed expressions it would have had one.

I picked it up but no tinkling sounds came from inside. Still unconsciously holding my breath I examined the camera and lens and to my amazement couldn't find a mark on them. I noticed that the lens cap was cracked and bruised and immediately feared the worst but there were no marks on the front element either!

I've taken more than 5,000 shots with the M8 since, of which perhaps 25% were with the 'cron and I haven't noticed any negative effects. Phew. My only regret now is that I didn't buy a lottery ticket on the day.

I don't put my backpack on picnic tables anymore.


Pete.
 
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