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M9 FW v1.116 available...


mby

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Regarding use of the Zeiss 18mm f4 lens on the M9 (and also the Leica SE 18mm)...I have some questions pertaining to red edge issue at ISO's below 640 for example and how things have changed (or haven't changed) for these two lenses....especially that there are a choice of two mounts (and coding) for the Zeiss 18mm.

 

1. For those using a Zeiss 18mm with a 28/90 lens mount and coding it as a WATE...does anyone see any changes or improvement with this new firmware vs. previous one (regarding red edge)?

 

2. Similar question....for those using a Zeiss 18mm with a 50/75 mount and coding as a Leica SE18mm, does anyone see any changes or improvement with this new firmware vs. previous one (regarding red edge)?

 

3.. I wonder with the new firmware, is red edge more effectively reduced with the Zeiss 18mm if it has 28/90 mount and coded as a WATE or if it has a 50/75 mount and coded as a Leica SE 18mm?

 

4. For those with a Leica SE 18mm...is the amount of red edge reduced with this new firmware vs. the old firmware (with this lens)?

 

5. Lastly (and I know its going to be a while before this question may be answered)....but using the Zeiss 18mm with one of the two mounts and subsequent codings that is most effective against red edge ....how does it now compare against the Leica SE 18mm regarding red edge...all using the new firmware?

 

Dave (D&A)

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There is no comparison between a computerized matrix measuring system with a database of tens of thousands of reference images and a simple semi-spot system that relies on the brain of the photographer. I can assure you that on a Leica M camera manual exposure is not only faster, it is more accurate too, as long as the photographer understands the basics of exposure. I was testing the outside window compensating system on a D700 last week and the owner was astounded that the M9 on manual performed exactly as accurately and exactly as fast by just switching to manual...

 

 

..still i need some months of training....but is true I have noticed that the semispot it is easier to manage than I thought...

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This is not my experience: the red led flashes only once and in my case it is certainly not related to the writing of data. This happened even before the update and also happens after shutting down the camera for more than an hour... This is not of any concern to me since I still can take pictures :)

 

Best regards

 

Andreas

 

Here are my observations (these are not suggestions but actual observations).

 

• When the switch is set to off and it gets pushed down, the red LED in the back lights up on my M9. This happened with the old FW and it does also now with the new FW. I first noticed that when the trigger arm of my Visoflex III needed adjustment as the M9 fired (switch set to on and pressed down) before the mirror had moved out of the way. So, I switched the camera off, did the adjustments, pressed the switch down and found it odd that the red LED in the back came on. I have since pressed the off switch down a number of times (when it was in the off position), saw the red LED come on, but of course the shutter didn't fire. My M9 has consistently behaved that way. As it doesn't seem a big deal to me I have not reported it to Leica.

 

BTW, the battery in my camera holds the charge pretty well. Even after sitting switched off over night there is no degradation in the battery charge. I have set both "Auto review" and "Auto power off" to "OFF" and have made it a habit to keep the on/off switch set to off unless I want to take a picture.

 

• With the old FW, by mistake, I switched the camera off while it was still processing and was impressed that it finished the task before it actually switched off - that is with these settings: "Auto review" and "Auto power off" to "OFF". If I remember correctly, initially I had set "Auto power off" to "1 min." and noticed that my M9 would switch actually off after that time even though it hadn't finished formatting with "Overwrite" selected. That observation made me choose: "Auto power off" to "OFF" from then on.

 

I wonder how many similar observations there are from others?

 

Thanks, K-H.

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There is not a shred of proof of course, but it might be a situation of: "if the camera does one thing, after the update it will do the other as well"

 

Maybe you're right. I can live with those issues until the next FW update comes out in a years time

...and fortunately my widest lens (for now) is a pre-asph 35 lux :)

 

Andreas

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There is not a shred of proof of course, but it might be a situation of: "if the camera does one thing, after the update it will do the other as well"

 

I have encountered the shut-off issue, but not the blinking light long after shutdown, so I think they are separate, and the red light stuff may be more camera-specific. The response from Leica USA doesn't tell us that Solms has not heard of the "shut-off while viewing," since Solms reads this forum, and we have been pretty clear in describing it.

 

Personally I think the progress in speeding or cleaning up the initial M9 performance is great, the improved profiles to decrease the visibility of the red corners is progress, and the bugs that got through, or that were introduced at the last minute don't bother me particularly, as long as they get noted and fixed in time.

 

scott

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Here are my observations (these are not suggestions but actual observations).

 

• When the switch is set to off and it gets pushed down, the red LED in the back lights up on my M9. This happened with the old FW and it does also now with the new FW.

 

Exactly my experience, but formulated in a preciser way :)

 

Andreas

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I checked to see if the new firmware had made it possible for the M9 to write faster to a 30MB/sec Extreme card than to a 15 MB/sec Ultra card. I have been using 16GB Ultra cards, class 4, bought within the last few months, and I have an 8 GB Extreme II class 6 card bought about a year ago. The test methodology is simple. I load up Online Stopwatch and start it counting, displaying the time in minutes, seconds, and milliseconds. I turn off all the functions I can (fixed ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, fixed WB) set standard advance, and switch the beast on to C mode. Focus on the stopwatch time on the computer screen and hold the shutter down. (I recording uncompressed DNG, no JPEG). After seven exposures, things slow down, but I hold the shutter down for four or five more shots. Then I lift my finger, wait for the red light to stop blinking, and shoot one last time to record when the buffer was drained. The time of each exposure is now in the images taken. If I am really obsessive, i can time the continuous shot speed to about 10 msec accuracy, the speed while the buffer is running at capacity to 100 msec accuracy, and the time to drain the whole buffer to about 1/2 sec.

 

The answer is that the timing of the first seven shots doesn't depend on the card you use (natch -- everything is being done in the buffer). The shot to shot time once the buffer fills does depend. The latest Ultra cards take around 4 sec (as little as 3.8), while the Extremes require around 5 seconds to clear one frame from the buffer. The time to drain the entire buffer into an Ultra card seems to be about 26 sec, while writing the same amount of material into an Extreme card takes about 35 sec.

 

My net of this is that the factor of two lower price that the Ultra cards enjoy makes them the best choice this year. The performance differences, while still a bit puzzling, don't separate them.

 

scott

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Has anyone had any issues uploading the new M9 firmware on an iMac using the leica M9 USB cable hooked up directly to the M9? or do I need to upload it to then SD card first and not directly to the camera? All of this stuff is rathe new to me. Did do an update on my D-Lux 4 and got it right, even though I had not idea as to what I was doing!.

 

Thanks

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• When the switch is set to off and it gets pushed down, the red LED in the back lights up on my M9. This happened with the old FW and it does also now with the new FW.

 

I wonder how many similar observations there are from others?

 

I saw that several users did report that with their M9s but I didn't notice that with the previous firmware nor with the current v. 1.116 firmware.

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Has anyone had any issues uploading the new M9 firmware on an iMac using the leica M9 USB cable hooked up directly to the M9? or do I need to upload it to then SD card first and not directly to the camera? All of this stuff is rathe new to me. Did do an update on my D-Lux 4 and got it right, even though I had not idea as to what I was doing!.

 

Thanks

SD card, not USB !!!

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Has anyone had any issues uploading the new M9 firmware on an iMac using the leica M9 USB cable hooked up directly to the M9? or do I need to upload it to then SD card first and not directly to the camera? All of this stuff is rathe new to me. Did do an update on my D-Lux 4 and got it right, even though I had not idea as to what I was doing!.

 

Thanks

 

Leica's instructions are quite clear that you need to use a card reader to load the firmware onto the card. Get a card reader and follow the instructions!

 

Jeff

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Sorry for my silly question:

 

Did anybody make a complete reset of the functions in the menu after loading the new firmware? And did - perhaps - anybody see different results as far as the glitches of the new firmware are concerned - e.g automatic switch off at the preset time even if one moves in the menu or chimps on the display - or even the red edge problem?

 

I am asking this as someone reported in the German forum that the display was suddenly considerably sharper after the reset than before.

 

Just a silly idea...

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Has anyone had any issues uploading the new M9 firmware on an iMac using the leica M9 USB cable hooked up directly to the M9? or do I need to upload it to then SD card first and not directly to the camera? All of this stuff is rathe new to me. Did do an update on my D-Lux 4 and got it right, even though I had not idea as to what I was doing!.

 

Thanks

 

You should read the included instruction PRIOR to any FW Update. NEVER use the USB cable to update FW. You have to use a formatted SD card.

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CV 15mm examples, uncoded and coded as 28mm f/2, new firmware. Yesterday I was quite enthusiastic when saw results inside an apartment. Today morning I took few shots outside. Left and bottom part becomes better (but still shift is visible), but top and right part becomes worse...Blue sky is gone. And even like new shift would appear... Have a look. I think still Corner Fix is a solution. These are RAWs just opened in LR and exported as JPGs. No vignetting applied.

 

I planned to buy WATE, but if I would still have to use Corner Fix for such money, I will wait. Tomorrow I will get 24mm f/3.8, so can test it too.

 

 

CV 15mm @4.5 (uncoded)

2010-03-16%20%5B09-58-33%5D%20%28L1000873%29.jpg

 

 

CV 15mm @4.5 (coded as 28mm f/2)

2010-03-16%20%5B09-58-40%5D%20%28L1000874%29.jpg

 

 

CV 15mm @4.5 (uncoded)

2010-03-16%20%5B09-58-59%5D%20%28L1000875%29.jpg

 

 

CV 15mm @4.5 (coded as 28mm f/2)

2010-03-16%20%5B09-59-08%5D%20%28L1000876%29.jpg

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Successfully installed the update and can offer the following observations:

 

1. I can confirm that with auto-shutoff settings of 1 or 2 minutes that the camera will shut down while playing back recorded pictures. Doesn't matter if some image actions are being done.

 

2. I can now smoothly transfer large number of images (>~35) to my Mac while in the "mass storage" mode. With the former firmware the transfer would usually hang up about halfway through the process.

 

3. I, too, like the "instant zoom" capability for reviewing images. I do note something I didn't notice before - after selecting a new image there's about a one second pause before the image snaps into final quality. I don't remember seeing that with the former firmware.

 

4. The quick card formatting is much better. :)

 

Since I only received my M9 a couple of weeks ago (after ordering it in October) I can say that Leica's responsiveness to my complaints is great. ;)

 

Carroll Lam

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CV 15mm examples, uncoded and coded as 28mm f/2, new firmware. Yesterday I was quite enthusiastic when saw results inside an apartment. Today morning I took few shots outside. Left and bottom part becomes better (but still shift is visible), but top and right part becomes worse...Blue sky is gone. And even like new shift would appear... Have a look. I think still Corner Fix is a solution. These are RAWs just opened in LR and exported as JPGs. No vignetting applied.

 

I planned to buy WATE, but if I would still have to use Corner Fix for such money, I will wait. Tomorrow I will get 24mm f/3.8, so can test it too.

 

 

Jerry,

 

The red edges seem to generally be the exception with the WATE, and even in the worst examples I have seen posted, they are nowhere near as bad as the CV15. I would suggest trying one out on your M9 to see what you think. My bet is that you don't find any red edge issues.

 

Jeff

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