[Leica] Down Loading M8 firm ware update.

[hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson)]

Richard did you ever see the thread on the user forum where the guy 
disassembled his M8 and photographed the process? Horrendous!
Old school mechanical perfection, it ain't ;-)
Back when I was involved in aircraft and weapons engineering  processes, we 
had a standing joke, quoting a technical writer who
blithely stated that such and such a new system upgrade and integration 
"would only involve some sheet metal work and some simple
software changes". Believe me, developing, integrating, implementing and 
certifying upgrades to any technical object like the M8 is
no trivial process. 
cheers
Geoff 

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org 
[mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Richard Man
Sent: Tuesday, 5 February 2008 09:08
To: Leica Users Group; 'Leica Users Group'
Subject: RE: [Leica] Down Loading M8 firm ware update.

Oh absolutely, I didn't mean to imply a full frame 35mm sensor for the M 
would be easy :-)

As for being hand-made: Leica stresses that the M7 and MP are hand-made, 
that has to be mostly true with the M8 too right? Well, at
least hand assemble. A chuck of electronics, a chunk of shutter, a chunk of 
RF :-) Why, may be they should sell a DIY kit for 20%
off or something like the old Heathkit Electronics :-)

At 02:55 PM 2/4/2008, G Hopkinson wrote:
>Richard, as you say the assemblies may well be partly modular and there 
>are less complications than in an SLR. Probably not too much completely 
>manual assembly in the bodies these days but I guess the upgrades are 
>entirely by hand. Really though the technical challenge must be to 
>source a 35mm frame size sensor that will do the job. Don't forget that 
>the current one is a custom design and had to be made for the short 
>lens to focal plane distance. If that was easy the current M8 would 
>have had one from the start! As to the prices, I think the factors are 
>long well understood. This is a Leica group ;-) The idea of offering 
>upgrades though, I think is laudable. Just what ones will be available 
>and whether people are willing to pay for them, we shall see. My bet is 
>that the current first offered upgrade will mainly cause everyone who 
>has yet to buy an M8 but wants one, to wait a little longer. The new 
>improvements must make it into serial production. Any possible future 
>upgrade including a 35mm sensor will be a very different story for 
>current owners, in my opinion.
>cheers
>Geoff

// richard (This email is for mailing lists. To reach me directly, please 
use richard at imagecraft.com) 


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