Blackfin DSP Bugs

[marknorton]

Originally Posted by scott kirkpatrick

I haven't made a study of this sort of thing, but I take it as fairly normal. Replacing one level of the microprocessor with the next level, or with a different microprocessor would just require living with a different list of "anomalies."scott

Scott, I agree this is far from unusual and there's a wealth of experience to be built up learning how these processors work; if they decided to change processor to another vendor, they would start learning all over again and not necessarily for the better.

[digibob]

Mark,valuable information ,understanding the infrequent "shut downs" which i seem to experience when the battery is in the lower 1/3, is a relief .many thanks rf.

[mhoersch]

Thank you Mark for this information which renders virtually hundreds of fierce battles fought in this forum obsolete:

Clean the contacts of the battery! Drain the battery completely! Never drain the battery completely! Use SD cards of a different brand! Never had a problem with mine! If it does not wake up don't use the sleep mode! Never format in the PC! Always format in the PC! You must be doing something wrong because my camera never fails! Stop complaining, go out and take pictures! And so on, and on, and on...

When the processor is riddled with that many bugs we shouldn't be surprised by anything this camera does or does not do. Isn't it a pity and a superb bit of irony that a marvel of 21st century engineering for €4.800.- and an optical masterpiece of a lens for another €3.000.- can be rendered helpless if not useless by a mass-produced electronic part for $27.-?

This finally explains to me why Leica Customer Support asked me if I really had to use continuous mode when I complained that my M8 not only locked up when making more than 5 consecutive exposures but also failed to write the images at all.

As you suggested, the calculator might miscalculate numbers with three digits and an 8 in the middle. The solution is easy: don't use it for such numbers!

[marknorton]

To be clear, I'm not saying this processor is the root cause of any particular problem, but it's clear there are issues which a firmware developer needs to be aware of. A bit of a mine field...

[pat hattori]

"Alternatively you could keep your camera and wait for the next firmware update. Currently we are implementing some sort of "safety functions" that should prevent the camera from crashing."

This coming from a message I got from a tech at Leica. This is a month ago.
Question was "send it in, or wait"
Regarding the battery out lock-ups.
Guess they're working at getting this bug solved...

Pat

[mhoutman]

Originally Posted by pat hattori

"Alternatively you could keep your camera and wait for the next firmware update. Currently we are implementing some sort of "safety functions" that should prevent the camera from crashing."

Pat

excellent info pat !

this thread is imho a perfect example of what engineers have to deal with developing a new camera and this is only one chip

[wparsonsgisnet]

Originally Posted by stunsworth

There's a thought. How big would an M8 be if it used valves rather than chips?

Then, we'd get even more "Leica glow" to our pix.

[george]

Mark, many thanks for the information which I consider good news. Good news in the sense that it explains many of the random failures that can be fixed by a single re-load of the battery.

If I read you well, these faults will keep on happening but will seldom become terminal. That to me, an eternal optimist, is good news.

Thank you.

[delander]

But shouldn't Leica replace all the 0.3 with 0.5 chips if this is the cause of the problems. Those that bought the M8 early on should not have to continue suffering this fault if the solution is available. More new FW is simply just a patch and surely cant have the same result as using the new version of the chip?

Jeff

[wparsonsgisnet]

I would think that a chip replacement would involve travel for the camera (what a lucky guy) and $300 or more in labor.

I believe it's the Audi station wagon that has its engine horsepower governed by a chip. The default wagon comes with "small" horsepower." The guy I know who has one (love that English sentence structure) told me it's $800 to change the chip.

My M8 sure ain't broke. Reading about the glitches referred to above that cause "downtime," I find that replacing the battery at the last indicator keeps it from behaving oddly.

[diogenis]

Let's hope they can circumvent some of the chip's design flaws directly from camera's OS (firmware), after all they know where to look.

[george]

It could be nice if Leica volunteered to make their early cameras perfect for us.It would be a class act.

But I would need a replacement while in repair as the fixing of the small inconvenience of battery in/out does not warrant a multi-month absence.

Besides, those of us who stood in line to get early cameras - and I got mine in early November - should have considered glitches. All in all they were not that bad.

[redfalo]

very interesting. considering all those "anomalies" it´s kind of amazing that the processor - and the camera - works AT ALL

[wparsonsgisnet]

Of course, replacing the dsp would just give us a different set of bugs to work around.

What we have here is the bark of the dog with which we are familiar.

[scott kirkpatrick]

Originally Posted by redfalo

very interesting. considering all those "anomalies" it´s kind of amazing that the processor - and the camera - works AT ALL

No, it's absolutely typical of complex microprocessor development. Who do you think were the users who exposed those "anomalies" which firmware writers can now to work around? Perhaps us, for some of them. And just because the next release of the micro resolves many of the anomalies doesn't mean that the new one lacks a few surprises of its own. I'll take a mostly solved problem over an undiscovered problem any day...

scott

[mhoersch]

Originally Posted by pat hattori

"Alternatively you could keep your camera and wait for the next firmware update. Currently we are implementing some sort of "safety functions" that should prevent the camera from crashing."
Pat

This is really great news, Pat! Thank you! I'll wait for sure...