Q Shooting Blanks!!! HELP

[XVarior]

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This is the first time it happens to my Q. Yesterday during a hike, the camera started to chose 1 sec exposure in bright sunlight. It happened time after time after time during the whole day. Lost too many shots this way. When it starts shooting this way, it stick to the one sec exposure time no matter what. Only turning the camera OFF and then On it resumes to normal. It happened more than 5 times during the day. Any idea what could be the cause and the remedy?

an example EXIF of one shot captured from LR.

 

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[sumolux]

In which operation mode did the camera start choosing by itself?

P-A-S or M?

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[pechelman]

no idea on the Q, and not sure how this would be related, but on the M240 series camera, if I have lens autodetect set to on, and the lens information is not read or present, AND i have a minimum shutter speed set to "1/Focal length", the camera defaults to a very slow shutter speed. Cant remember what, but noticeably slow. (1/2s or 1/5s maybe?)

 

Obviously the Q has a fixed lens and no 6bit reader, but maybe this is in some way related to an auto iso setting?

[Manoleica]

If as you say it has happened more than once, I would contact Leica Corp..  Also have you tried a Reset & ReInstall the latest update? 

[dadohead]

Had this happen once when I was hiking in mixed lighting conditions (deep forest and then bright sunlight) and had the camera turned on. I carry the camera reversed over my shoulder (lens to hip), so the lens gets blacked out sometimes. I think it's because the Q is always metering and as it's bouncing around, it just meters the slowest shutter and then gets stuck there. You didn't notice it because you have the back button set to AEL which disables exposure compensation simulation. Just switch the shutter dial from auto to some other shutter speed and then back to auto again. That's what worked for me. Or turn the camera off until you want to take your next photo; that's the habit I've gotten into. Start up is so quick, it's not really noticeable and it helps with battery drain.

[XVarior]

Had this happen once when I was hiking in mixed lighting conditions (deep forest and then bright sunlight) and had the camera turned on. I carry the camera reversed over my shoulder (lens to hip), so the lens gets blacked out sometimes. I think it's because the Q is always metering and as it's bouncing around, it just meters the slowest shutter and then gets stuck there. You didn't notice it because you have the back button set to AEL which disables exposure compensation simulation. Just switch the shutter dial from auto to some other shutter speed and then back to auto again. That's what worked for me. Or turn the camera off until you want to take your next photo; that's the habit I've gotten into. Start up is so quick, it's not really noticeable and it helps with battery drain.

Very interesting input, thanks a lot. Well, Like you, I also have the camera always turned off and I turn it on when I'm anoint to shoot. I'm doing that to help saving battery as I don't have my extra batteries yet. The camera behaved as described above directly after running it on. Now after rising your comment, it could be happening to me because I'm turning it on and shooting directly! Could be that but also this is how I shoot the XV and I never seen such oddity.

I think Leica should know about this issue, have you reported it already ?

[XVarior]

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no idea on the Q, and not sure how this would be related, but on the M240 series camera, if I have lens autodetect set to on, and the lens information is not read or present, AND i have a minimum shutter speed set to "1/Focal length", the camera defaults to a very slow shutter speed. Cant remember what, but noticeably slow. (1/2s or 1/5s maybe?)

 

Obviously the Q has a fixed lens and no 6bit reader, but maybe this is in some way related to an auto iso setting?

No idea, I'll start taking notes of my shooting behaviors, varies the and see when and under which setting configuration the camera is shooting low speed.

[XVarior]

In which operation mode did the camera start choosing by itself?

P-A-S or M?

I remember seeing this issue in aperture priority, auto ISO, manual ISO set to 100, don't remember is shutter priority mode!

[XVarior]

If as you say it has happened more than once, I would contact Leica Corp.. Also have you tried a Reset & ReInstall the latest update?

I'll do a reset and see. So strange since this is almost a month now of shooting with it and last Sunday was the first time I got such an issue.

[dadohead]

I never contacted Leica because the problem wasn't really reproducible. As I say, it happened to me once, and has never happened again. I changed my handling of the camera a little and the problem went away.

[Iduna]

Rodrigue,

 

this happened to me also once but I remember to have forgotten turning it off. I carry the camera dangling on a sniper over across my body. If not turning it off the shutter can be touched easily and makes strange shots all by itself. Also the settings might be affected like in your case of "burnt high key shots".

Switching off also means saving battery. For permanent shooting I use the handgrip loop. But here you have to be careful and fix it from time to time because it comes off if the srew is rubbing on your clothes.

Altogether there are very few times when being kicked off the shooting.

But this also happened to my Olympus and even my Canon 5D MKIII has its own strange electronic lifebugs. 

[wda]

This is the first time it happens to my Q. Yesterday during a hike, the camera started to chose 1 sec exposure in bright sunlight. It happened time after time after time during the whole day. Lost too many shots this way. When it starts shooting this way, it stick to the one sec exposure time no matter what. Only turning the camera OFF and then On it resumes to normal. It happened more than 5 times during the day. Any idea what could be the cause and the remedy?

an example EXIF of one shot captured from LR.

Your picture looks grossly over-exposed. Does that give you a clue? Could you have inadvertently selected a very slow shutter speed? 1 second is recorded on your EXIF.

Edited April 26, 2016 by wda

[XVarior]

Your picture looks grossly over-exposed. Does that give you a clue? Could you have inadvertently selected a very slow shutter speed? 1 second is recorded on your EXIF.

Yes I know, and this is the weird thing. 1sec when the camera is set to aperture priority and shot in sunlight. Shutter was on A mode and yet the camera has chosen 1sec many many times that day.

[HenrikP]

Turn it to full Manual and back again, that worked for me once I had that isue.

[Leica Guy]

Was the shutter dial inadvertently set to "1" instead of "A"? Or is the shutter dial defective? "1" is the setting adjacent to "A".

[XVarior]

Was the shutter dial inadvertently set to "1" instead of "A"? Or is the shutter dial defective? "1" is the setting adjacent to "A".

Was on A, your theory is interesting, maybe sometimes turning the dial to A position get the camera set to 1sec instead, I don't know. I just came back from a long photography trip where I shot thousands of pictures and never seen that issue again!