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Just received a D2 for Christmas. New to photography as this is my first camera. It has roughly 1000 +- actuations but does fall in the serial number range where apparently there have been problems. In the past day or so, I have not discovered any issues with the camera.

 

Lots of questions and I have read many pages on this forum with many more to go. I am middle aged so late to the "sport" sort to speak. The D2 gift was from an uncle who is a fan of Leica film cameras but rarely used this model. He said it would give me a good learning experience.

 

I am not fond of computers and I am hesitant to spend a lot of time processing photos. I fear I may lose interest quickly. I would like to shoot lots of pictures and fiddle with the mechanics of the camera. Take my time to "get it right" from the camera and perhaps buy a very good printer for prints. Really do not want to sit in front of a computer. If that is a stark reality of digital photography, my "tenure" may be a short one.

 

The pictures on this forum are wonderful. Would all those print just as nice? Lots of processing? Send it out or buy a good Epson printer like a 3880?

 

Comments, thoughts, suggestions welcomed.

 

Ken

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Ken -

 

Congratulations. Even though the D2 first went on sale in march of 2004 and lacks some of the development that technology has achieved since then it is still an excellent camera and one that many of us Forum members treasure and still use.

 

The "problem" within your serial number range is a possible failure of the sensor, which Leica continues to fix at no charge. You might want to ask your uncle if he ever had the sensor replaced. Other than that, the camera is most reliable.

 

For now (and possibly forever) only shoot jpeg files since the D2 produces excellent jpeg files. Do not shoot RAW files which will require your doing more fiddling on your computer than you seem to be willing to do.

 

Initially I would not recommend getting a printer since getting the most out of prints requires using your computer to tweak the images for the best results. Additionally, unless you use the printer regularly the separate ink cartridges' nozzles will gum-up and possibly need replacement, which is a fairly costly affair. Assuming you want just 4 x6 prints to admire and give to others, for the time being just put the files you want to print onto another SD card (the memory card in your D2) or onto a thumb drive and take it to a drug store to print on one of the kiosks -- CVS has stores in your area that have Kodak kiosks.

 

If you manually focus, always zoom in all the way, focus, and then zoom out to frame and shoot. The auto focus is quite good, and you might want to use that instead. The lens produces sharp images even with its aperture fully open (a setting of 2 - Aperture is the denominator of a fraction with a one in the numerator. The smaller the aperture number [of f-stop] setting the larger the opening). Many lenses lack sharpness when the aperture is fully open, but that's not the case with the excellent D2 lens. Most of us shoot with the aperture fully open most of the time.

 

You can use the camera in three ways:

1. As a point and shoot with the shutter speed dial set to Automatic (A), the aperture ring on the lens set to Automatic (A), and the lens focus ring set to Auto Focus (AF).

2. Fully manual in which you change each of those settings manually, while checking the exposure setting on the meter you can see in the viewfinder - A change of shutter speed by one setting (such as from 60 to 125, which means a 60th of a second to a 125th of a second - is the same amount of change in light reaching the sensor as a one number change in aperture setting. Play around with those settings so that you get a sense of what they do. They allow creativity in ways too long to explain in this message.

3. Semi-automatic in which you leave either the shutter dial or the aperture ring set to automatic and let the camera decide what to set it at. Most frequently, many of us leave the shutter speed on A and set the aperture ourselves (called Aperture Priority), again for creative situations that take too long to explain in this message.

 

Go into Google and search on Leica D2 batteries. Order at least one spare to keep charged and with you when you go out shooting. Get extra SD memory cards, but they must be regular SD cards, not high capacity cards, and with no greater capacity than 2 GB. they are hard to find these days so order them when you can. Forum members have been having good results with SD cards from Lexar and San Disc.

 

Best of luck with your D2, and be sure to post some photos here (in the photo sections) for us to see.

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Stuart & Ken

 

Regarding sensor replacements, I think you will find that Leica do now make a charge for the labour involved, but not the new sensor itself. I had a new sensor fitted in June/July this year (I'm in the UK, and dealt direct with Leica at Solms); however, I think mine must have been one of the last to be replaced at no cost. This post covers some of the details:

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-d-lux-digilux-v-lux/296269-digilux-2-sensor-replacement-no-longer.html

 

Geoff

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Regarding the sensor. What are the symptoms? The camera seems to be fine in all respects. I would really rather not send it in unless it needs to be addressed. My uncle had no idea of the issue and never sent it in.

 

Regarding printing. It would seem to me that the pictures printed from CVS or Walmart and the like would be of far less quality than a good inkjet printer. I would rather print my own work as opposed to going to CVS. In addition, I would like to have large prints exceeding 8 X 10 if possible with the D2.

 

How much processing is required? I am not completely averse to it. I just do not want to spend hours in front of a screen. I have a copy of Lightroom 4 that came with my Macbook Air 2011. I have never used it. Will have to play with it a bit and learn how to manipulate it. Good resources for learning Lightroom?

 

Regarding the battery. I only have one. Apparently, one of the originals was left in the camera and is dead unable to charge. Is there a good source for new batteries that are compatible without issue?

 

Thanks.

 

Ken

Edited by gpbm
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In my case, what alerted me to a possible sensor problem was the appearance of a canvas-like texture in parts of an image, when viewed at 100% in Photoshop. I had tested the camera in the shop before buying, and looked at the images on the shop's computer (I was aware of the sensor issue that affected some of these cameras). All the shots looked OK, but further testing at home in the following days showed a possible problem.

I contacted Leica customer services; they confirmed that the sensor had not been changed & suggested I email one or two images for them to inspect. Their reply was that it might need a new sensor, new circuit board, or both!

They kindly sent a UPS shipping label (carriage paid) and, as I mentioned in the above post, Leica replaced the sensor under the (then) extended warranty & the shop warranty covered the circuit board.

Contact Leica with your serial number, then if necessary email them an image or two:

customer.services@leica-camera.com

Batteries are still easy to find (Google search), also bear in mind that the maximum size memory card you can use is 2Gb SD (not SDHC etc).

It is all worth the effort, as they are wonderful cameras even if they are 'old' in digital terms.

 

Geoff

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Regarding the sensor. What are the symptoms? The camera seems to be fine in all respects. I would really rather not send it in unless it needs to be addressed. My uncle had no idea of the issue and never sent it in.

 

Regarding printing. It would seem to me that the pictures printed from CVS or Walmart and the like would be of far less quality than a good inkjet printer. I would rather print my own work as opposed to going to CVS. In addition, I would like to have large prints exceeding 8 X 10 if possible with the D2.

 

How much processing is required? I am not completely averse to it. I just do not want to spend hours in front of a screen. I have a copy of Lightroom 4 that came with my Macbook Air 2011. I have never used it. Will have to play with it a bit and learn how to manipulate it. Good resources for learning Lightroom?

 

Regarding the battery. I only have one. Apparently, one of the originals was left in the camera and is dead unable to charge. Is there a good source for new batteries that are compatible without issue?

 

Thanks.

 

Ken

A little-used D2 is a fine gift. I would not worry about the historic sensor failure. You will know very clearly if you get it. Mine showed a strong purplish veil which obscured all image data. It was unusable and repaired FOC by Leica some time ago.

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