M9 FirmWare Update Suggestions Thread...

[j_lir]

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So,

 

After having used the M9 for ~3 Weeks here's my list of suggested things to fix in the firmware.

 

1. Allow 6-bit override for Manual Settings. I.E. if you're set to manual for a non coded lens, and you pop on a coded lens. It should be recognized.

 

2. For AUTO ISO, I'd like to be able to set the shutter speed higher. So If you want to do some street shooting from the hip and you don't want to be still, I'd like to have it go up to a 4000th so you can guarantee more sharp frames if you're in motion.

 

3. For Aperture Priority I'd like to have the option to set the shutter to Soft & Discreet for a 1/30th and below. I don't need it unless I'm shooting at speeds of <1/30th.

 

4. The computer part of the M9 is dreadfully slow. Zooming in takes forever!

 

I'm curious what others would like to see.

 

This thing CRUSHES batteries.

Leica really needs to make a handgrip / extended battery pack.

Who wants to carry around 3 batteries for a night of shooting.

 

I'm absolutely in love with the frames, but the lack of a external battery / frame counter really bothers me.

 

That's my 2c.

 

 

thanks

 

Jesse

[2Bébèrt]

- shutterspeed in viewfinder when operating in manual mode would be nice.

(even alternating with the lightmeter readout or activation at firts presure point)

 

- lens code list to include all Leica optics. (the old ones Xenon, Sumarex ...)

(possible to select either the existing list or the whole list or

even a personal lenscode listing)

 

- exporting your personal profiles via USB or disk

 

- battery life is not to bad but could improve.

 

- for those who carry also the M8, a "lens setting" to compensate the extra IR filter that

you use on the M8. So you can swap your lenses more easelly between M9 & M8.

 

- try to keep menu's as simple as possible so we don't end up with NikCanPanSon telephone directory style menu's

[geesbert]

I want a top LCD!

[chrism]

I want a top LCD!

 

You can do that in firmware?

 

Chris

[Steve Fines]

Hello,

 

1. Processing speed to view images

2. Formatting cards - needs to speed up

3. Would be nice to shoot DNG but have a B&W jpeg preview

 

BUT

 

my biggest gripe is that they need to fix the Bulb mode.

 

This camera closes the shutter at 250 sec regardless. Even if you have a cable release locked open.

 

It then does a mandatory 250 sec dark frame subtraction.

 

This makes it worthless for star trails, or any exposure for longer than 4 minutes.

 

Firmware fixes -

 

1. Make the dark frame subtraction optional. If I could string together 250 sec exposures it would be a pain, but ok.

 

2. Make the camera actually have a bulb mode so the shutter can stay open as long as I want. Dark frame subtraction here should also be optional as with long exposures there is a good chance this will kill the battery.

 

Or, leave it as it is and start shipping the camera without the "B" on the shutter speed dial, as this really is a feature this camera does not have.

[2Bébèrt]

3. Would be nice to shoot DNG but have a B&W jpeg preview

 

that's already there :

-> Set camera to Jpeg + DNG and shoot in Black and White. (DNG stays in color)

[Guest roey]

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n+1. Allow me to specify what settings are managed through profiles, or, if that is not possible, at least exclude lens recognition/selection from profiles

 

n+2. Bug fixes

 

n+3. Improved quality of zoomed image display (I'd prefer quality over speed)

[yanidel]

So,

2. For AUTO ISO, I'd like to be able to set the shutter speed higher. So If you want to do some street shooting from the hip and you don't want to be still, I'd like to have it go up to a 4000th so you can guarantee more sharp frames if you're in motion.

Here I come again on that one. Yes, fully agree, it would be so great to be able to set a higher minimum speed in Auto-ISO. Also would be nice to be able to manually set the lower band of ISO range (Pull 80 instead of 160).

That was my main improvement suggestion on the M8, still on on the M9. Hope I don't have to wait the M15 to see it happen

[adan]

Leica really needs to make a handgrip / extended battery pack.

Who wants to carry around 3 batteries for a night of shooting.

 

So you'd prefer carrying 12 oz. of extended battery pack to 4 oz. of spare batteries? Also, that (and the return of the top LCD) sound like - ummm - hardware updates, not firmware....?

 

Not that I'm against an optional, M-motor-sized battery pack (with or without grip) as a hardware accesory.

 

Steve - be careful what you ask for - have you ever seen how much noise shows up in long digital exposures if there is not a dark-field exposure afterwards? You'd end up with way more "stars" than you bargained for - none of them with trails.

 

You also seem to be arguing that "B" is only useful for star-trail exposures of 250 sec. or over - which may be true for you, but what about the other 7,000,000,000 people on the planet....?

 

Not arguing against the need for user-controllable noise reduction. Just checking your premises.

 

My priorities for FIRMWARE:

 

1) Fixes to wide-angle lens corrections (18/21/24/28) to get rid of the red-left color drifts. This is the main problem with the M9 that I have that actually affects pictures.

 

2) ON-OFF setting(s) for high-ISO noise reduction and/or digital moire reduction. The M9 definitely gets at least some of its smoother high-ISO noise performance through image-softening in-camera processing, and while it is not a bad algorithm as NR algorithms go, there are times I'd rather have maximum sharpness and accept the extra noise.

 

This goes all the way back to the Digilux 2 and DMR - in-camera NR or moire-filtering that affects sharpness MUST be user-controllable! And if that includes Steve's long-exposure option, that's OK, too.

 

Being able to turn off extra in-camera processing would also likely boost battery life and speed up writing times.

 

3) An SD-card fast-format option at M8 speed. Not sure why it take 20 seconds to just wipe the directories and create new ones.

 

_____________________________

 

I'm going to step back for a moment and note that some of the M9's idiosyncracies vis-a-vis the M8 may be power-saving measures. The slower formatting, the slower zooming on review, the removal of the separate battery/exposure-counter LCD, the darker, contrastier main LCD.

 

The M9 runs two processors to the M8's one, and every picture is 1.8 to 3.6 times as large a chunk of data to process and write. It may well be that Leica is cutting back on performance/clock speeds everywhere else to save more battery life for actual picture taking.

 

I. E. I'd also love 4) M8-style review/zooming, where the hi-rez image is loaded in the background for every picture before zooming begins, to speed up the zoom - but if that means cutting exposures per battery by 20%, then I'm not so sure.

 

Sometimes these firmware (and hardware) preferences threads remind me of the scene from "When Harry Met Sally":

 

Harry Burns: There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance.

Sally Albright: Which one am I?

Harry Burns: You're the worst kind; you're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance.

Sally Albright: I don't see that.

Harry Burns: You don't see that? "Waiter, I'll begin with a house salad, but I don't want the regular dressing. I'll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side. And then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the mustard sauce on the side." "On the side" is a very big thing for you.

Sally Albright: Well, I just want it the way I want it.

Harry Burns: I know; high maintenance.

[Rolo]

Rolo's Instant Focus Check

 

How about adding an instant 100% view by rotating wheel in reverse.

 

Centre of screen would be sufficient just to check for focus. Don't think I've ever stopped at less than 100%, other than for navigation.

[charlesphoto99]

Rolo's Instant Focus Check

 

How about adding an instant 100% view by rotating wheel in reverse.

 

Centre of screen would be sufficient just to check for focus. Don't think I've ever stopped at less than 100%, other than for navigation.

 

Nice idea but it would have to be implemented somewhat differently as now when you turn wheel backwards it gives you thumbs to scroll through.

 

Definitely needs zoom speed up (even my wife commented on that and was like "how much did you spend on this camera??") and format speed up. AWB improvement is probably a given and I would bet anything they are sweating bullets and working overtime on the wide angle red fringing.

 

We most likely won't see extra functions added (at least for quite awhile if ever), really just improvements in speed and image quality. Been through all of this with the M8 and I'm sure it will play out similar.

[mjm6]

I haven't done the lens testing yet, but those issues clearly need to be resolved. Plus, add a system to permit older lenses from the LTM days to be properly adjusted (external software to write a new lens definition and then upload to the camera, I presume?).

 

My one big wish right now is the exposure lock/exposure compensation process. The manual says that the shutter/dial exposure compensation combo is temporary, but the addenda says it is a permanent. I would MUCH rather it be temporary. If I wanted a permanent adjustment, I'd go through the 'set' screen to set a permanent adjustment.

 

Second, I want to see the exposure lock work on the 'soft' shutter setting. I don't think there is a reason why that wouldn't work (or allow the exposure lock to be turned on/off independant of the shutter settings).

 

 

---Michael

[Guest roey]

My one big wish right now is the exposure lock/exposure compensation process. The manual says that the shutter/dial exposure compensation combo is temporary, but the addenda says it is a permanent. I would MUCH rather it be temporary. If I wanted a permanent adjustment, I'd go through the 'set' screen to set a permanent adjustment.

 

Actually, I prefer it to be permanent.

[marknorton]

It's easy to see how cameras like the Nikon D3 have so many options when here is a simple example of Roey and Michael having diametrically opposed preferences.

[sfokevin]

I would like an option where the auto picture preview would be of the zoomed in focus patch for 3 seconds then the whole picture for 3 seconds... That would give you a focus check... then a composition check... And make this available to us m8 boys!...

[hoppyman]

snip..My one big wish right now is the exposure lock/exposure compensation process. The manual says that the shutter/dial exposure compensation combo is temporary, but the addenda says it is a permanent. I would MUCH rather it be temporary. If I wanted a permanent adjustment, I'd go through the 'set' screen to set a permanent adjustment.

 

Second, I want to see the exposure lock work on the 'soft' shutter setting. I don't think there is a reason why that wouldn't work (or allow the exposure lock to be turned on/off independant of the shutter settings).

 

 

---Michael

Michael, my prefernce is to use setting ring only and I do like it to be persistent. Very easy to adjust with your thumb while the camera is to your eye. Personal taste of course.However I don't see how you could implement exposure lock with the soft release mode in firmware? The whole idea is to use that point as the release rather than exposure lock surely? Instead of the more traditional exposure lock you just dial away with your thumb while the camera is to your eye.

[Steve Fines]

 

Steve - be careful what you ask for - have you ever seen how much noise shows up in long digital exposures if there is not a dark-field exposure afterwards? You'd end up with way more "stars" than you bargained for - none of them with trails.

 

You also seem to be arguing that "B" is only useful for star-trail exposures of 250 sec. or over - which may be true for you, but what about the other 7,000,000,000 people on the planet....?

 

Not arguing against the need for user-controllable noise reduction. Just checking your premises.

 

 

 

Hello,

 

Shooting with the 1dsm2, 1dsm3 and d3x FF cameras (and never using dark frame subtraction) I have been very happy with 60, 90 and 240 min exposures at iso 100 and 200. iso 400 gets borderline. I expect the FF of the Leica should be able to do this at iso 160 at least.

 

I've sold several large prints from these that aren't 'noisy' at all.

 

I have little doubt that my 8 core, 16gb ram desktop computer can give the CPU of the M9 a run for its money when it comes to noise reduction. I would rather it did the job.

 

Dark frame subtraction is great - I just want the ability to turn it on / off and not have it be mandatory.

 

As for the B mode comment. You are correct, of course, that the vast majority of folks don't need exposures longer than 4 min.

 

However, this is just the same at Leica putting 1/20000th sec on the dial, but when you select this option the camera actually shoots at 1/5000. It would be fraud.

 

They have put a "B" on the dial, but the camera doesn't have a "B" mode. It has a 4 min exposure labeled as "B". Leica shouldn't just get to re-define these things as they see fit - if it says B it should be a user controlled on/off shutter, or they should take the B off.

[AlanJW]

Hello,

 

Shooting with the 1dsm2, 1dsm3 and d3x FF cameras (and never using dark frame subtraction) I have been very happy with 60, 90 and 240 min exposures at iso 100 and 200. iso 400 gets borderline. I expect the FF of the Leica should be able to do this at iso 160 at least.

 

I've sold several large prints from these that aren't 'noisy' at all.

 

I have little doubt that my 8 core, 16gb ram desktop computer can give the CPU of the M9 a run for its money when it comes to noise reduction. I would rather it did the job.

 

Dark frame subtraction is great - I just want the ability to turn it on / off and not have it be mandatory.

 

As for the B mode comment. You are correct, of course, that the vast majority of folks don't need exposures longer than 4 min.

 

However, this is just the same at Leica putting 1/20000th sec on the dial, but when you select this option the camera actually shoots at 1/5000. It would be fraud.

 

They have put a "B" on the dial, but the camera doesn't have a "B" mode. It has a 4 min exposure labeled as "B". Leica shouldn't just get to re-define these things as they see fit - if it says B it should be a user controlled on/off shutter, or they should take the B off.

My vote is with Steve. A firmware change to make B mean B (or "T" with self timer) and the option to turn off dark frame subtraction. I've tried star trails and other long exposures on the M8 (not yet on M9) and was completely frustrated. Should not be that complicated. The limiting factor will then be battery life. All this sounds simple unless there some kind of heat buildup that could be damaging -- its obviously not the case in other high end cameras that provide the option to turn off dark frame (but they are CCS). At least I would like to hear an explanation from Leica as to why the suggestion is not feasible. That's not too much to ask.

[adan]

OK, I stand corrected that recent cameras seem to develop less long-exposure noise than the last time I looked at DPreview samples and tests:

 

Noise Reduction: Digital Imaging: Glossary: Learn: Digital Photography Review.

 

Whether the M9's Kodak CCD is the same I don't know.

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Hallo,

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[jaapv]

Hello,

 

Shooting with the 1dsm2, 1dsm3 and d3x FF cameras (and never using dark frame subtraction) I have been very happy with 60, 90 and 240 min exposures at iso 100 and 200. iso 400 gets borderline. I expect the FF of the Leica should be able to do this at iso 160 at least.

 

I've sold several large prints from these that aren't 'noisy' at all.

 

I have little doubt that my 8 core, 16gb ram desktop computer can give the CPU of the M9 a run for its money when it comes to noise reduction. I would rather it did the job.

 

Dark frame subtraction is great - I just want the ability to turn it on / off and not have it be mandatory.

 

As for the B mode comment. You are correct, of course, that the vast majority of folks don't need exposures longer than 4 min.

 

However, this is just the same at Leica putting 1/20000th sec on the dial, but when you select this option the camera actually shoots at 1/5000. It would be fraud.

 

They have put a "B" on the dial, but the camera doesn't have a "B" mode. It has a 4 min exposure labeled as "B". Leica shouldn't just get to re-define these things as they see fit - if it says B it should be a user controlled on/off shutter, or they should take the B off.

I think it is a bit naive to expect a CCD of any size to support unlimited exposures. In astronomy, where those are made, liquid nitrogen is used to cool the sensors.