Leica’s announcement last week of a “perpetual update program” involving hardware upgrades to the Leica M8 to keep the camera always up to date with the “latest refinements and developments in technology” is certainly an interesting development. Given that Leica has such a commitment to the body size and shape of its cameras, and the really solid build quality – unlike other modern cameras, it certainly makes great sense.
The cost of the upgrade is now said to be 1200 euros (£900.) This seems fairly reasonable compared to the replacement cost of a quality digital camera – and particularly given Leica prices. After the upgrade the M8 will essentially be a new camera with a new guarantee period. I’m not sure if the update policy will keep my M8 useful for as long as my Leica M2 has been but it is certainly a revolutionary policy for a digital model.
The Nikon D200 which I’ve now been using intensively for over 2 years, will cost me rather more to replace and I probably will do so fairly soon (and in any case I will soon have to take it in for fairly expensive repair.) So
One of the more interesting statements from Leica is “We are presently investigating
the possibility of further upgrade steps including the cameras complete digital section, even including the sensor itself.” What has become clear is that at some future date Leica hope that this will include the replacement of the current 1.3x sensor with a full-frame one, assuming that they can find a technical solution to the problem of using such a sensor with Leica wide-angle lenses. Those people who’ve said to me that they are “waiting for the M9” need wait no longer.
I downloaded and installed the new firmware (1.201) and it seems to have improved the colour balance noticeably; I haven’t yet found any problems. You can download it and the information about the upgrades from the M8 download page.