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Leica S Lens AF issue


xiaubauu2009

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Well, the Contax Adaptor has not function properly since first acquiring it. It will not recognise the lens if I first turn on the body. I have to take it off and on in order for the body to recognise. And if it wakes from sleep mode, it won't recognise the lens anymore. Anyway, it's a known bug that cannot be fixed by user, and have to send back to Germany for factory update. Anyway, it's a nuisance.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I have had two Contax adapters and they are ok.

 

I swapped my faulty 120mm for a demo 100mm at my dealer and I still use the Contax Makro for copying work. Not better than the Leica 120mm but cheap and reliable.

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Anyone put there lens in and got it back within one month??. I sent mine to Germany on the 21st and hoping it will be back in KL by the time I get off the rig on the 22nd.

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wow. three lens... and what is Leica's response to you other than fixing the problem?

First was under warranty, so that was easy task. S-30 is two years old, i haven't had any statements about it and i assume that it will be under warranty too.

 

S-180 is question, i bought it second hand and it has no warranty left.

 

I told my dealer if Leica tries to bill me about fixing broken AF at s-30 and S-180 i will argue about it. I haven't got any official answer to that.

 

To answer your question, Leica haven't responded at all.

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First was under warranty, so that was easy task. S-30 is two years old, i haven't had any statements about it and i assume that it will be under warranty too.

 

S-180 is question, i bought it second hand and it has no warranty left.

 

I told my dealer if Leica tries to bill me about fixing broken AF at s-30 and S-180 i will argue about it. I haven't got any official answer to that.

 

To answer your question, Leica haven't responded at all.

 

Bah.

Anyway, my dealer here in China said that Leica's boss or manager actually came over to China for a conference with all the main dealer or reseller of leica (Since china has a huge grey market sector). In the meeting, he was giving out some usual 'We are doing great, and we will increase sales no. if this trend keep up in China. China is the biggest growing market etc etc etc'

 

Anyway, some reseller start telling him that leica's quality is going down the drain and people are getting afraid to go into the brand. The market and brand is good, but it's only in second hand market selling old bodies or old lens. Leica S is stagnant here. The reason being is 2 fold. One is that this is expensive item and it's not very well received if the fail rate is so high. The dealers was claiming that items arrived brand new already broken and has to be sent back. So the stuff that trickle down to your hand are the one that works, but it is already slightly reduced percentage from the total amount. Secondly, it's extra hard to get it fix or send back to Germany cause of Chinese customs and it has to go through HK. Anyway, the reseller just told that German guy that if he expect sales no. to rise, he need to up his game in Germany cause nobody's buying new leica body at the moment, etc etc etc. The Leica guy got pissed off and walked off the meeting.

 

Leica's going IPO, so, cranking up the sales no. is important for them. Hence all these iteration of T, Q, X etc etc etc. and they just cannot cope with their currnt setup and they suffer in terms of quality. But hey, it's all ok cause there's a huge fan base and they are milking the reputation at the moment.

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It seems Leica should improve their communication with customers. In my case I feel very well served and supported from LEica side, but I live in Germany.

Of course there are fanboys, but there are also people buying Leica products because they do like the product better than others.

I had a Hy6 with a Sinar back first and later switched to the S-System.

The optical Quality of the lenses and the user Interface of the camera are great IMO.

I am sure People who have a Problem with their S-lenses will get this fixed by Leica.

Personally I did not have more Problems with Leica products than I had with Nikon or Canon.

I think the mmistake some People make is to believe for the high Price Leica products would never fail.

Thats not the case, they are optically leading class, and they have a great user Interface and a nice build Quality, but that doesnt mean Leica is perfect or Leica products could not fail.

 

I think anybody with an S-product with bad Response from Leica should give them some pressure to get better Response. Maybe look for a better Leica- Store. Or contact Leica directly per phone.

I can understand if customers who are not treated like they should get frustrated and angry.

But I am also tired to hear this "Leica-Fanboy-Story" all the time.

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It seems Leica should improve their communication with customers. In my case I feel very well served and supported from LEica side, but I live in Germany.

Of course there are fanboys, but there are also people buying Leica products because they do like the product better than others.

I had a Hy6 with a Sinar back first and later switched to the S-System.

The optical Quality of the lenses and the user Interface of the camera are great IMO.

I am sure People who have a Problem with their S-lenses will get this fixed by Leica.

Personally I did not have more Problems with Leica products than I had with Nikon or Canon.

I think the mmistake some People make is to believe for the high Price Leica products would never fail.

Thats not the case, they are optically leading class, and they have a great user Interface and a nice build Quality, but that doesnt mean Leica is perfect or Leica products could not fail.

 

I think anybody with an S-product with bad Response from Leica should give them some pressure to get better Response. Maybe look for a better Leica- Store. Or contact Leica directly per phone.

I can understand if customers who are not treated like they should get frustrated and angry.

But I am also tired to hear this "Leica-Fanboy-Story" all the time.

 

I am not a Leica Fanboy, I used my camera as a hobby. I have used M8 all the way to M240 (sold all my M kits as I don't see any advantage), S system (Own 2 body and 6 lens). So far, I am very satisfied with the QA of the M but not so much with the S. The customer service is good, but could be better, and some problem should not even occured in the first place. I used Canon, Sony and Alpa (12MAX, STC and FPS with Rodenstock Lens and Leaf back, CCD and CMOS). I have had some problem with the CCD digital back, some dust got under the filter cover over the CCD... sent back to Denmark for 1 month and got it fixed.I am sure any system can have problems. I am not saying Leica should be immune to it. But the rate it is going, it's unacceptable.

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I've had my share of issues, recently bought a 24mm and a 120mm, both had broken af on arrival, both! I sent them straight back and got a replacement 24mm which had bad performance so sent it back, 120 arrived as a non cs and I had bought a cs so sent that back too. Gave up on the 120 and currently using a loan S and 24mm whilst mine are being checked out. The customer service is brilliant but I'd certainly rather not use it, I have no issues with accepting things go wrong, that's just life and as I use the cameras for business I can forgive a lot for the files I get so overall I am happy with everything, if the service had been bad I'd have sold up and gone back to Nikon but my dealer is really excellent.

 

Mat

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I've had my share of issues, recently bought a 24mm and a 120mm, both had broken af on arrival, both! I sent them straight back and got a replacement 24mm which had bad performance so sent it back, 120 arrived as a non cs and I had bought a cs so sent that back too. Gave up on the 120 and currently using a loan S and 24mm whilst mine are being checked out. The customer service is brilliant but I'd certainly rather not use it, I have no issues with accepting things go wrong, that's just life and as I use the cameras for business I can forgive a lot for the files I get so overall I am happy with everything, if the service had been bad I'd have sold up and gone back to Nikon but my dealer is really excellent.

 

Mat

 

Yes. I agree about the customer service. But you know, these shouldn't happen in the first place.

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I found a solution to the AF issues on the S lenses - I sold them all along with the S2 recently. As luck would have it, the S 180 which was working fine, stopped working as soon as the buyer tried it out - basically it's AF just died. Pretty embarrassing as  a seller, but the buyer was a nice chap and even though I offered to take it back, he suggested a partial refund instead. He also said that his new S 70 bought from a dealer, was dead out of the box - same issue, i.e. AF not working, so he wasn't surprised with the failed AF on the 180. 

 

I agree with the post above - at this price, these AF failures shouldn't just happen. And, Leica should extend the warranty on all S lenses.

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I found a solution to the AF issues on the S lenses - I sold them all along with the S2 recently. As luck would have it, the S 180 which was working fine, stopped working as soon as the buyer tried it out - basically it's AF just died. Pretty embarrassing as  a seller, but the buyer was a nice chap and even though I offered to take it back, he suggested a partial refund instead. He also said that his new S 70 bought from a dealer, was dead out of the box - same issue, i.e. AF not working, so he wasn't surprised with the failed AF on the 180. 

 

I agree with the post above - at this price, these AF failures shouldn't just happen. And, Leica should extend the warranty on all S lenses.

I still have not had any issues with my lenses though.

What do you use now instead of the S system?

If so many S lenses dye at the same time...maybe it has something to do with the latest firmware changes. If so, I am sure Leica will fix it in general.

If I did like everything else about the system I would not give up that fast for one issue.

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This wasn't a hasty decision. My 120 AF failed twice and it took Leica 4 months to fix and return it this year when it failed the 2nd time. Earlier 35 AF failed. Then 180 last week. I cannot wait for months without my equipment, esp things that cost so much.

 

I am using Sony A7Rii and Leica R lenses now. I can say with confidence that the 180 APO Elmarit with the A7Rii sensor is at the top of the game, comparable to the best and exceeding them in many areas. 100 APO Elmarit is not bad either on this sensor, but 180 is astounding. Resolution galore and wonderful colors too.

 

Coupled with magnified live-view, the ability to focus the 180 precisely at fine structures miles away is unmatched by any OVF and shows how fine this lens is and the sensor too. I was floored when I was able to easily focus the 180 in dark conditions using live-view, to the point of resolving fine wires on a hotel about a mile away in dark conditions.

 

And, there is no risk of AF failure with the fine R lenses!

 

R 21-35 is also very nice on the A7Rii producing lovely colors.

Edited by ravinj
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Nice nice nice ravinj but this is the Leica S forum, I'm sure the A7 is nice, but it's not a solution to the problems with the S. Also 4 months is way too long, I've never heard it take longer than 3 weeks for lenses except in your case...

 

I know the A7 to be a capable camera especially with some good lenses from the R series...

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It does take longer than 3 weeks in many cases and not in just my case. Just because someone didn't hear about something doesn't mean it didn't happen. I have had the pleasure of dealing with Leica service for a long time now and have a nice collection of padded customer service lens boxes.

 

In any case I wish good luck with AF mechanism for everyone's S lenses.

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I got my S-180 back today, it was month on its way. As i told earlier i'd bought that lens second hand and it didn't have warranty left.

 

Repair didn't cost me anything, it was done as "good will" repair.

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The AF-motor?

 

This came with the lens in a separate minigrip bag. It also included handwritten note where was lens s/n, lens model nr, motor nr and "motor einbau" 15.04.2011 (someone who knows what that means, please translate it)

 

Motor itself is quite small and plastic!! gear is like 5 or 6 millimeters diameter. Gear shows damages all over it, which isn't fully visible in the photo.

 

No wonder if these keeps breaking up.

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