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Help! my M-P display shows "Bottom Cover Removed"


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I think we've had this problem before. If I recall that correctly, it was due to a small magnet which was missing from the bottom cover and which is needed to close a magnetic switch in the bottom of the camera.

 

If so, locating a small but strong magnet and placing it temporarily at the proper place at the bottom of the camera might do the trick for the moment. For a longer lasting solution I would send it in for repair or replacement.

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Check that the bottom cover is placed correctly, and if that is not it, check that the little chrome magnet inside the bottom cover has not fallen off. 

 

It's the chrome magnet that tell the camera that the bottom plate is mounted. 

I've only experienced once that a person had a bottom plate where the magnet had fallen off. So it's not a common error. 

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I think we've had this problem before. If I recall that correctly, it was due to a small magnet which was missing from the bottom cover and which is needed to close a magnetic switch in the bottom of the camera.

 

If so, locating a small but strong magnet and placing it temporarily at the proper place at the bottom of the camera might do the trick for the moment. For a longer lasting solution I would send it in for repair or replacement.

These magnets are very common. They are available on eBay and I carry a spare one in my bag that I removed from a rather tasteless "kissing cats" pepper and salt set.

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I remembered I dropped the bottom plate.  After reading your post I went to check the floor where the bottom plate dropped AND I found it!  Such a tiny thing that I did not noticed before. I placed it back to the little pit it should there be and the message disappeared and things back to normal.  The magnet seems not glued.  I am afraid it will drop again.  I will glue it more firmly later.   Much thanks to your helps!

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And to think this would have never happened if the Leica camera bottom had a simple hinge.

 

So instead we all will  have to keep an eagle eye out to make sure we don't lose this magnet.

 

Just another enjoyable part of the "leica experiance"  :)

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And to think this would have never happened if the Leica camera bottom had a simple hinge.

 

So instead we all will  have to keep an eagle eye out to make sure we don't lose this magnet.

 

Just another enjoyable part of the "leica experiance"  :)

And how do you suppose the camera would detect whether the bottom was closed or open? Hinged or detachable, the task remains the same.

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Why does it need to? It just needs to detect the SD Card and the battery.

 

I don't suppose it needs to, but since the bottom plate provides necessary protection for the camera, it's quite helpful to be told when it's not properly in place.

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I remembered I dropped the bottom plate.  After reading your post I went to check the floor where the bottom plate dropped AND I found it!  Such a tiny thing that I did not noticed before. I placed it back to the little pit it should there be and the message disappeared and things back to normal.  The magnet seems not glued.  I am afraid it will drop again.  I will glue it more firmly later.   Much thanks to your helps!

It should be glued. A drop of epoxy glue should do fine.

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And to think this would have never happened if the Leica camera bottom had a simple hinge.

 

So instead we all will  have to keep an eagle eye out to make sure we don't lose this magnet.

 

Just another enjoyable part of the "leica experiance"  :)

Probably more broken hinges than lost magnets - and a lot simpler to glue in a magnet one can obtain easily than to send it in for repair...

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Neodymium-Disc-Magnets-3mm-Dia-x-1mm-Thick-Grade-N50-Small-Strong-Craft-Round-/380890848400

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Can the M10 be modified that this bottom plate sensor nonsense is entirely deleted?

At least with the M8 - MM there is the workaround of blocking the mechanic switch.

 

 

This is something that bugs the heck out of me since the very M8 - of course you are switching SD cards and batteries after ingesting your data from the cards and formatting cards, changing batteries, etc …

 

It bugged me that you always had to place the bottom plate on after every single SD card swap.

It bugged me that the cameras (M8,9,MM, …) cannot even be operated normally if the bottom plate is removed (think, quickly syncing time, formatting SD card, resetting the camera, …

 

To me this bottom plate has always been a real nonsense, completely anachronistic to the very idea of the Leica M being simple, easy, fast and professional.

I always wondered that the same people who are able to learn to meter with a simple meter, expose and focus a camera manually and use a rangefinder would be able to figure out to close their camera when it needs to?

 

What if the darn bottom plate slips your hand and lands in the ocean, falls off a cliff or is driven over by a vehicle - your entire camera body is paralyzed in the state of a vegetable, yet less useful as a vegetable?

 

That stupid bottom plate sensor has been added by an overzealous consumer minded engineer, not by a photographer.

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That stupid bottom plate 

 

I love the bottom plate. OK, not always the most practical but a strong link with the M line heritage that I for one would not like to see 'designed out'. It is not something you didn't know about before you decided to buy the camera.

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"What if the darn bottom plate slips your hand and lands in the ocean, falls off a cliff or is driven over by a vehicle - your entire camera body is paralyzed in the state of a vegetable, yet less useful as a vegetable?"

Throw the camera away & claim on your insurance. The Head Broadbean..

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I love the bottom plate. OK, not always the most practical but a strong link with the M line heritage that I for one would not like to see 'designed out'. It is not something you didn't know about before you decided to buy the camera.

 

The bottom plate is elegant minimal industrial design. Externally it simply looks like this is where the vulcanite ends and the metal body begins. It's as if there is no SD card or battery slot.

 

However, there is no need for the camera to check if the panel is attached or not, it's an inconvenience.

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Can the M10 be modified that this bottom plate sensor nonsense is entirely deleted?, …

 

 

Not having seen an M10 yet, I can not tell. However, as this thread is about the Leica M, the easy answer is: nobody stops you from gluing the magnet directly to the bottom of the body, so that you can store the base plate in a safe place until you decide to sell the camera with base plate.

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