Firmware Release Info (From Leica)

[Iron Flatline]

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Groovy, I'm pleased.

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[robsteve]

With all the glee and enthuisiasm about the release of 1.091 am I the only one who is disappointed that the cyan corner fix is delayed 2 months (Feb -April) and the IR filters are shipping a month after they were promised (Feb -March.)

 

I purchased my M8 (in November) for a planned 5 week trip to SE Asia at the end of March and I will be leaving without a complete IR fix and who knows if I will receive my Leica IR filters in time.

 

I hate sounding like Scrooge in the midst of this Leica fest but it's hard not to feel a bit disappointed.

 

I hope that 1.091 helps fix the occasional crashes that I have experienced but time will tell

 

Herb:

 

The B+W 486 filters have been available in Canada since December. I had emailed the B+W distributer in November about them and they immediatly put in an order for the Leica sizes. He emailed me when they came in in December and I then purchased them through the Montreal Leica Dealer. You could also order them from Vistek or any other dealer that handles B+W.

 

For a 5 week trip, I wouldn't take the risk of waiting for Leica to send you a few filters.

[Michael Jones]

What a pleasant surprise! Very well communicated by Leica management. Vielen Dank Leica for all of your efforts.

 

My M8 is repaired and left Solms last Wednesday. I hope I will receive it from Leica NJ without delay. It will be interesting to see if the problem (sudden death syndrome) was repaired without installation of 1.092. I think that would reinforce the belief that sudden failures are the result of a hardware and not a firmware issue.

 

The excitement is building again! Maybe this week

 

 

Michael

[mhoutman]

this makes the interim non- release of V. 1.091 a real collectors item

[gwelland]

Good communication in the light of product issues goes a long, long way in keeping customers loyal and happy, well ok, relatively happy! :-)

 

Kudos to Leica for releasing the interim firmware update - the cyan vignette issues with filters is undoubtedly a difficult problem to code around and maintain quality images so I'd rather they take the necessary time and get it right. I know it's frustrating in the meantime but the pain of getting a half baked solution to hit a self emposed deadline (Feb) as opposed to hopefully getting it right with more testing/fix time is worth the wait IMHO.

[rosuna]

New article by Michael Reichmann.

He reports many problems with the M8s in his Antarctica Expedition:

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/aa-07-worked.shtml

 

There were four people abourd who carried Leica M8's, myself among them. I primarily used mine in Buenos Aires for a bit of street shooting, and aboard ship for some snapshots of ship life. My only real problem was that the 67mm filter holder on the new 16-18-21mm Tri-Elmar jammed on, freezing the aperture ring. Some dissection followed and the eventual solution when I finally was able to remove it showed that there is a thick rubber O-ring used to seal both it and the lens shade, but that it is very easy for this to become cross-threaded when the filter and shade are being interchanged. Once this happens and the ring is dislodged, it appears impossible to get it to work properly again. I have found that I now have to use a bit of black plastic electrical tape to hold the lens shade in place. Not the usual quality of materials and construction that one expects from Leica.

 

Two of the other M8 users had more serious problems. One found that his two week old camera was dead on the first day of the trip at Buenos Aires airport. Just dead. No physical damage, just non-operational. We tried multiple batteries, incantation in medieval German, and a bit of whacking with the heal of the hand, but nothing worked. Needless to say, he was not amused, and had some choice things to say about Leica's QC of their new cameras.

 

Another person had intermittent problems with their M8, with it ceasing to operate after just a small number of frames, even with a freshly charged battery. A new battery would bring it back to life, but again for only a short while. Either the camera's battery regulation circuit was scrozzled. or the charger's. The fourth M8 user had no problems with their camera even though it was used extensively under all sorts of conditions.

 

I hope the new firmware solves all these problems !!

[parigby]

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It's available now on the site for download.

 

 

philip