M240 SD Cards and Associated Camera Function Speeds

[thighslapper]

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Hi Maurizio, no solution so far AFAIK but aside from the best performance of some small "SD" cards, i've found that a startup time of 2 seconds or slightly less (1.7s at best for me) is not out of reach when using SDFormatter and 8 to 16 GB fast cards like Sandisk Extreme Pro, Panasonic Gold "pro" or Toshiba Exceria.

Sounds like all M240s don't behave the same way with the same cards though.

http://tinyurl.com/kp8qe83

 

I agree.

 

I've tried a multitude of cards and all are within the 1.7-2.4 sec bracket depending on size, how full they are and whether recently formatted.

 

To be honest 2 secs is plenty fast enough for 99% of the time ..... if you switch on, raise camera and focus at least 2 secs has elapsed anyway.......

 

My only grouch would be the fact that the Leica M technical data clearly states:

 

'Start Up Time: approx 1s'

 

......... most of us with M's are well adrift of this promised figure.....

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[Mauribix]

I agree.

 

I've tried a multitude of cards and all are within the 1.7-2.4 sec bracket depending on size, how full they are and whether recently formatted.

 

To be honest 2 secs is plenty fast enough for 99% of the time .....

 

Well, to me this is actually not true. Any point and shoot camera is a better perfomer here, let's not talk about the the "machine gun" DSRLs, that can already stomp something like 10frames by the end of the 2 seconds after switch on.

Nevertheless, this is not what I need, I need to be at least as fast as the M9 is, otherwise this is nothing but a camera issue.

The camera is making a check on the cards, the Leica should explain, or remove, or make asynchronous (best option imho).

 

2 seconds (which is anyway the best performance for some cameras, i.e. usually it is worse, and get worse after you shoot some frames) is not fast enough when you shoot a wedding, an event or similar, for example. Anyway my camera is stuck on semthing like 3 to 4 seconds... no matter what I tried.

In many situations this is not acceptable, have you ever tried to say "oh, well, can you please hug spontaneously your father once again, 'cause my camera was sleeping and it takes some time to switch it on?"... this is not what a Leica M camera is supposed to do.

To be sincere then, 1" is more than enough to me to focus and shoot, as many here, yet YMMV.

[lct]

I agree but 3 or 4 seconds is not normal Maurizio. Did you try to format your cards with SDFormatter? Once is enough generally unless the cam goes slower again.

[Mauribix]

Yes, unfortunately the best result I got is a little more than 2Seconds, but as soon as i shoot some frames, it goes worse again. So the best results are get only with empty cards, and/or small ones.

Any 32GB card is simply just a pain. IMHO they should get a workaround at least for this, the switch on time of the M9 is not the best, but it's just fine, I can't really understand why they're making this check at startup.

If I switch on my camera with no card in, I can shoot, and it takes a fraction of a second, so I guess this is just a bug.

[lct]

I thought that all digital cameras do check the cards at startup as well but i may be wrong. Anyway wakeups times are not faster when the cam has been sleeping for 2 minutes more or less. That and the 30fps refresh rate make the M240 a sluggish camera unfortunately... The next firmware update will fix startup and wakeup times hopefully but i don't hold my breath.

[Jeff S]

I take longer to wake up than my cameras. Shots missed are almost always my fault.

 

Jeff

[jaapv]

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I thought that all digital cameras do check the cards at startup as well but i may be wrong. Anyway wakeups times are not faster when the cam has been sleeping for 2 minutes more or less. That and the 30fps refresh rate make the M240 a sluggish camera unfortunately... The next firmware update will fix startup and wakeup times hopefully but i don't hold my breath.

I find the refresh rate of the OVF quite good. The EVF is just an auxiliary thing - it does not determine the character of the camera.

[lct]

I did not say the contrary but 30fps is not the refresh rate of the EVF but that of the camera. Just a fact.

[jaapv]

Well, that is a whole lot faster than I can push the shutter...

[lct]

Arthritis? Just kidding but arthritis is not funny at all.

[MirekE]

I agree but 3 or 4 seconds is not normal Maurizio. Did you try to format your cards with SDFormatter? Once is enough generally unless the cam goes slower again.

 

My SDFormatter formatted 32 GB Sandisk Extreme Pro also takes 3-4 seconds (both cold start and wake up from sleep).

[lct]

My SDFormatter formatted 32 GB Sandisk Extreme Pro also takes 3-4 seconds (both cold start and wake up from sleep).

It is my slowest card with 2.7s but i had never heard of times that long so far. Thanks for sharing.

[Mauribix]

It is my slowest card with 2.7s but i had never heard of times that long so far. Thanks for sharing.

 

Seems like all of my brand new 32GB cards are on the same league (3-4seconds).

No matter if they're lexar, or Sandisk or whatever.

As to limit cards sample problem, I've bought them from 3 different sellers (including B&H), but nothing changed.

Yesterday I just tried the new 80MB/s 64GB Sandisk card at my local Leica dealer, with no success. Still slow.

[lct]

...

Yesterday I just tried the new 80MB/s 64GB Sandisk card at my local Leica dealer, with no success.

...

The Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB has faster specs (95/90 MB/s) but i did not try it so far given the poor performance of the 32GB on my M240 (2.7s).

[Mauribix]

I tried the 95MB/s 64GB too, but it was nothing really "faster" than 32GB 95MB/s.

 

I still keep on thinking that this is a software design fault. The card check that the camera is making must be asynchronous, and not in the main thread of the power on procedure.

 

In fact, if you remove the card and switch the camera on, it goes fast and you can almost suddenly shoot, even before the camera's red led stops blinking.

[jaapv]

Seems like all of my brand new 32GB cards are on the same league (3-4seconds).

No matter if they're lexar, or Sandisk or whatever.

As to limit cards sample problem, I've bought them from 3 different sellers (including B&H), but nothing changed.

Yesterday I just tried the new 80MB/s 64GB Sandisk card at my local Leica dealer, with no success. Still slow.

I still get 1.5 sec. approx....

[Mauribix]

I still get 1.5 sec. approx....

 

Which is still worse than the old M8 and M9. Isn't it?

[k-hawinkler]

Well, better lucky than smart!

 

If an M is out of spec, will Leica exchange it for one that is in spec?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[jaapv]

Which is still worse than the old M8 and M9. Isn't it?

By about 1/2 a sec. I guess. It doesn't make me miss shots, though. As the battery has a very long life, I simply leave the camera on when in use.

[Mauribix]

So this is not a regression?

The M8/M9 can shoot in less than one second, so, it's better to say that it's not just "about 1/2 a sec." Jaap, but it's more than one second in the best case recorded (and to me, it's something about 2.5-3" slower than my M9, following SD cards suggestions given by Leica).

 

Whether this is not important for some, it is important for many others (just think about the fact that any camera and phone maker, is putting serious R&D on cameras power-on timing... even Apple with its iPhone).

 

I consider the facts: many M cameras are showing something around 3" time to power on.

Leaving the camera always on is not a solution imho, it's just a workaround, and nevertheless it will dry up your battery faster.

Last, but not least, in any computing design you wouldn't stop the main function of a tool, with an non-essential check made on the mainthread, particularly when it could be simply (as good design suggests) asynchronous.