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I did a search here on the Forum to see if there was any history or discussion on an interesting problem I was having with my M Monochrom 246 but found nothing. Therefore, I thought I would document my experience for the record. My issue was that the shutter was randomly misfiring, either too fast or too slow. This was producing some "unusual" results with some exposures unpredictably wildly off the mark. In my blind trust of Leica, I was a bit slow to conclude that the problem was with the camera rather than me. At first, I could not understand how such varying results could be produced in aperture-priority mode but gradually began to suspect the shutter. I took a series of shots of the same scene and the same lighting, with the same aperture, but with a manually-selected shutter speed both in "S" and "C" modes. As it turned out, the shutter speeds for each image file were all over the place with the minority at the actual set speed. Furthermore, it did not seem to matter what shutter speed was selected and, of course, it did not matter what lens was on the camera. When I wrote to Leica Camera USA describing my situation, I got an answer in pretty short order with the suggestion to do a camera Reset. This worked! The Reset function apparently is a like a o/s reboot on a computer which sadly had not occurred to me as a possible solution. Of course, all my menu-driven customizations were wiped out with the camera reverting to the factory default but that was a small price to pay to have normal shutter operation restored. Anyone else seen this?

Today i experienced for the second time that my Monochrom M246 failed to capture an image. It triggered as usual, it indicates the right shutter time in playback mode but nothing was captured/registered in the image. It's just a blank (read black) unexposed picture. I've tried to google this but did not find anything about this problem, that's why i'm trying here. Nothing was captured in the sensor and it's only a black picture with no data recorded at all. Has anyone in this forum experienced something like this?

Just found out that my next M246 suffers from sensor issues. My first M246 was replaced because there was an error with the sensor on the first one, and now it's happening all over with the M246 which replaced the first one with sensor error; i have to send my next M246 to service. Three years ago i jumped in the water: I switched to Leica from Nikon (and a short period with Canon) after 25 years without any techinical faults or issues what so ever, and i never looked back. That is until now, because i'm wondering if i really want to stay with Leica after these experiences after all. Three years with severe errors on two different digital bodies (sensors). - Is this sufficent enough? - What would you expect from Leica's customer service in this matter? - Would you go the other way around again, turn the back on Leica and return to Nikon based upon the experiences these (first) three years? Or shall i just tolerate this?

Its now nearly a year since I purchased the M246, and I was thinking to take a quick look back at how my experience has been with this camera. It was during a relative cold and dark period of the winter last year here in Norway that I was evaluating what I could do to enhance my photographic interests and capabilities. At the time I was using the Sony system, which to be fair I was very happy with. The sensors were impressive, and the lens setup had become very good, especially when taking into account all the amazing lenses from Leica and other producers that could be used with a simple adapter. Still, there was something intriguing about owning and using an M. I had always looked at Leica cameras as somewhat mystique. One the one hand I found them simple and elegant - which is stark contrast to Sony cameras. On the other hand I wondered why people would actually pay to not have features that I found so important for a modern camera. A simple thing like not having to do a black screen after a long exposure or the ability to move around the focus point in an electronic view finder was to me almost a must at the time. But I wanted to try a Leica - to find out what the fuzz was all about. I had a few choices of course. I could opt for an old M9, but knew that I would despise its low ISO capabilities. The M240 was nice, but I didn’t really see how it would change my photos from what I achieved with my Sony. So I opted for a special camera instead, a camera that only saw things in black and white and had its speciality in distinguishing between light and dark. As soon as I tried the camera I was in love. Never before had I pressed such a smooth shutter. The body was sturdy, with no plastics. Everything was manual, and apart from ISO i could always see the settings before pressing the shutter. The camera felt good to hold, and more importantly the rangefinder was a joy to use. I quickly learned that I was just as right-eyed as left-eyed, while I have always used my left eye for photography. And somewhat surprisingly, I seldom saw the need for an electronic viewfinder, and all other quirks, techs and specs from the Sony camera soon became obsolete. It didn’t take long before I discovered that the M246 was a very special camera, not only because it was only in black and white, but also because it thrived in whether conditions that most cameras despised. Not long after I purchased the M246 I travelled to Lofoten for a week with photography. Originally I hadn’t planned to use the Leica that much, but in the end 85 percent of the photos I took that week was with the M246. The key was the weather. Every day was stormy, and the weather conditions were the worst I have ever experienced. The wind was so strong that a tripod became unusable for large periods at the time, and snowstorm after snowstorm came in from the north, forcing me to run for shelter every 10 minutes. Pockets of sun were just that, pockets that lasted for minutes before they were overrun by a new snowstorm. It was in this weather I discovered why the M246 was so special. The camera loved bad weather. The darkness, the storms and the wind was captured in a beautiful way that no other camera could capture. That I only had black and white made the images more pure and raw, thereby amplifying the mood created from the lack of light. It is this that is special for the M Monochrom. It shines when light is scarce, whereas most cameras shine when light is abundant. This has opened up a whole new world of photographic perspectives for me. Since then I have never looked back. I now see shapes and light in a completely different way, and its all thanks to the M246. ISO capabilities are incredible, and it is fantastic to be able to take photos with ISO up to 10 000 without really sacrificing contrast or details. I truly believe that I have become a better photographer after acquiring it. At least I find it much more inspiring to plan new trips and projects. Are there things about the camera that bothers me? Of course. Like several others have mentioned on this forum, its easy to burn highlights with the M246. This has not been a major problem for me, because I just avoid overexposing in the way I have done with other digital cameras. Besides, the level of details in the shadows is very impressive, and its easy to adjust for under exposure in post-processing. I still miss being able to move around the focus point when using the EVF, but thats also only a minor issue as I most often use the rangefinder. Thanks for reading, and now some photos.