I got flamed on the Leica Users Group forum for mentioning this, but my M8's were anything but reliable. My first one died after about a week, and Leica ignored all of my phone calls and emails until I finally contacted the president of the company personally. If you aren't a professional photographer, you can forget about customer service from Leica. You don't exist. The second M8 body would not recognize any of the memory cards I used. Leica blamed the memory cards and refused to repair or replace the camera. I bought every different brand of memory card listed as compatible on Leica's site, and all gave me a "no memory card" error until I removed the battery, waited a few minutes, and then reinserted the battery (which apparently rebooted the camera). I had to repeat this every time I wanted to shoot a frame. Once the camera was turned off or turned itself off, the no memory card error reappeared. Until a new firmware upgrade appeared last year, the M8 just sat in a drawer. The firmware upgrade seems to have fixed the memory card problem.
Pro photographers and photographers wealthy enough to afford an attorney get good service from Leica USA. Grunts like myself (a teacher) aren't given the time of day. I have refrained from mentioning my problems on the LUG except when a pro photographer posts a message saying that Leica customer service is absolutely the best. I then mention the problems I had and get my ass flamed as a heretic. I finally unsubscribed from the LUG as it became less and less a forum about photography. The die hard photojournalist types on the LUG now post incessant photos of their dog, their flowers, or buildings. Leica film rangefinders are great, and reliable. Leica doesn't seem to know anything whatsoever about digital cameras. If you want a digital camera with a Leica lens, buy a Panasonic! They are great! If you can live with only wide angle to normal lenses, the GF1 is a wonderful little camera. Jeffery On May 18, 2010, at 8:22 AM, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > I worked with Leica RF cameras on and off from 1969 to 2002. I'd enjoy > an M4-P again, but I know I'd never work with film enough again to > warrant the expense. I'd enjoy an M8 or M9 now. > > Have fun with it. Although it's expensive, it's just a camera ... a > darn good one with a great lens. > > -- > Godfrey > godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
