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The roar about the unwanted IR sensitivity of the Leica M8 was just loud enough to tilt a few photo frames on the walls of Leica’s headquarters in Solms, Germany. (See our Special Report.) But the shouting about Leica’s proposed fix of the problem that directed Leica M8 owners to purchase optional IR filters after spending nearly $5,000 for a camera body must have been deafening.
That could explain why Leica reversed course and declared that current and future registered owners would receive two screw-type IR/UV filters to correct that problem. Click here to read the announcement.
The customer will be able to choose the filter sizes for the two free filters. However, if you have more than two lenses for the M8 with different threads, you’ll have to either purchase an adapter ring or another IR/UV filter (cost N/A) from your Leica dealer.
In the same announcement, Leica also admitted that some early production models had banding and ghosting problems, but that problem has been corrected in currently shipping models. A free fix to that problem, (which we’ve come across before in early production models of digital cameras in the past but didn’t notice in our testable M8), involves shipping the camera back to Leica.
Finally, the occasional problems that some early users and reviewers (including this one) noticed with the M8’s automatic white balance remain unsolved. But Leica assures its loyal following that a free firmware upgrade should do the trick.
With these current and future solutions, Leica has gone a long way towards removing the barriers that were stopping many loyal Leica owners from even considering the M8. Is it now worth the price? We'll let you know for sure in our upcoming full Pop Photo Lab Test.
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