Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/21

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Subject: Re:[Leica] R8,again,alas, problem, Chin UP!
From: "Dan S" <dstate1@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 16:38:01 GMT

I think the expectation that any product made by human beings should be 
infallible is unreasonable.  While some people have had problems with their 
R8, it should be remembered that it is a very complex device.  People have 
also had trouble with their M's, their Canon F1's and their Argus C3's....

An enlightening comparison would be with other brands' top of the line 
cameras.  In that comparison I think you would be surprised how really good 
the R8 actually is!

Ask any Contax G list subscriber, or for that matter the owners of Contax 
SLR equipment about reliability and they (we) can sing you songs of woe and 
lament!  Tales of busted shutters and autofocus that doesn't!

Even the famed paragon of photographic perfection the Nikon F5 has had 
teething problems.

I conclude by saying that I have been lucky enough to own the top cameras 
from nearly all of the major 35mm manufacturers (except Minolta), and have 
had problems with every damn one of them!  The best made cams of mice and 
men go aft aglee!

So hang in there...

Dan States
Chicago Illinois



>
>I had problems with one of my R8 cameras, too.  It had a similar problem to
>yours.  I also was using a non 3501 flash unit.  They had to replace the
>electronic strip inside of the camera.  It was an electronic problem
>masquerading as a flash problem.  (Another symptom of my problem was the
>motor winder rewind wouldn't work either.)  It was returned to me in about
>two weeks.
>Don't give up on the R8.  It is a great camera.  I too had second thoughts,
>but I have since had too many situations where my R8 had the right
>combination of features and moxie to get me the shot.  Also, look at your
>chromes, have you ever seen anything better?  My guess is that you haven't.
>If you had why would you have switched to Leica?  Take heart, cameras are
>complicated pieces of engineering, sometimes they break, it is always a 
>good
>idea to have a back up.  Good luck I hope that you get your camera back 
>very
>soon.
>
>Leon.
>
>
>
>--
>
>ljdavenportphotography.com is a webfolio of my best work.  It has color and
>black and white images, most of which were taken with the Leica R8.  Please
>stop by and enjoy.
>
>
>
> > From: Grégoire Vandenschrick <vandenschrick@geog.ucl.ac.be>
> > Reply-To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> > Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 13:11:35 +0100
> > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> > Subject: [Leica] R8, again, halas, problem
> >
> > I'm very disapointed, I have now since 03/03/99 an R8, yesterday, I 
>tried a
> > flash on it, as it wasn't one with the SCA3501 adapator, I put the 
>camera on
> > X and Manual mode, and... no flash at all. I didn't sleep well, made 
>some
> > nightmares, then, run this morning to my dealer, He tried his flash on 
>the
> > camera, nothing, so now, I'm alone in Brussel, and my R8 is on its way 
>to
> > Solms. I expect a response from all the belgian Luggers: did you 
>encounter
> > this problem, can I hope the problem to be rapidly fixed by Leica, or 
>will
> > it take a long time to have my R8 back from Germany.
> >
> > I tried a long time to not listen to all the bad comments on the R8, now 
>it
> > happened to me, I'm very frustrated, I would say it's a shame for Leica 
>not
> > to build a good camera, totally proffessionnaly functioning.
> >
> > Any recumfortant answer is very pleased, thank you all
> >
> > (the good luck is that the body is under warranty, the bad luck is that 
>now
> > christmas and new year approach a little bit too fast for having the 
>camera
> > repaired for that time, sigh)
> >
> > Greg, Brussel
> >
>

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