Solving Leica M8 Handling Issues

January 13, 2009 ·

Michael Reichmann

In my field report on shooting with theLeica M8 in Marrakech, in January, '07, I made a point of the frustration I had with that camera's power switch, which is positioned around the shutter release. It has four positions – OFF, SINGLE FRAME, CONTINUOUS, and SELF TIMER. My problem was that I found the switch to be too easily accidentally moved to an inappropriate position simply though the normal handling of the camera.

This is the second M8 which I have used, the first being an early production camera with a serial number around 300, while this one has a serial number around 1,700. I have also handled an even more recent camera in the mid-2000 range. All felt essentially identical, with this control being far too easy to move to the wrong position.

Curiously, after the article was publish there was quite a bit of discussion online about how some people had camera with much stiffer switches. I was also told by a senior Leica representative that the people that hand-as...

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Michael Reichmann

See all articles by Michael Reichmann

Michael Reichmann is the founder of the Luminous Landscape. Michael passed away in May 2016. Since its inception in 1999 LuLa has become the world's largest site devoted to the art, craft, and technology of photography. Each month more than one million people from every country on the globe visit LuLa.