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My first Leica camera - a Digilux 2!


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Geoff, this is a heart-warming story which every wouldbe Leica owner should read. Well done Leica! Well don your dealer! I hope your D2 gives you much pleasure. Shooting with it is an experience unmatched by most more modern digital cameras.

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David, thanks for your comments. The whole experience has been a pleasant surprise, as both Leica & the dealer have been excellent. As James pointed out in an earlier post, given the very modest price I paid for the camera I thought the dealer might just refund the cost of the camera (I'm assuming a new circuit board would not be inexpensive).

Obviously, I'm very pleased the camera has been fully repaired and calibrated as it is in mint condition and I'm looking forward to many years use.

 

XX in the Leica Customer Care department provided excellent & friendly help, and the fact that she was kind enough to locate a lens shade & cap for me was a further bonus.

 

Regards,

Geoff

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williamgm schrieb:
David, thanks for your comments. The whole experience has been a pleasant surprise, as both Leica & the dealer have been excellent. As James pointed out in an earlier post, given the very modest price I paid for the camera I thought the dealer might just refund the cost of the camera (I'm assuming a new circuit board would not be inexpensive).

Obviously, I'm very pleased the camera has been fully repaired and calibrated as it is in mint condition and I'm looking forward to many years use.

 

XX in the Leica Customer Care department provided excellent & friendly help, and the fact that she was kind enough to locate a lens shade & cap for me was a further bonus.

 

Regards,

Geoff

 

Hi Geoff

I have just bought a D2 also not as cheap as yours but pretty cheap on ebay, anyway I digress I have a couple of questions

Do you have an email address for XX

 

Also do you care to share the PS action you mention in another post in this thread

 

Cheers

Mark

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Mark,

I simply sent an email, giving the camera serial number.

They will tell you if the sensor has been replaced, plus (presumably) any other work done on the camera.

XX replied to my email - by the way, I sent a similar query to Leica UK, asking whether faulty sensor replacement was still carried out under warranty, and they said it was no longer done! Fortunately, Leica Germany replied to say they are indeed still covered.

 

As others have said on this forum, it is always better to deal direct with Germany. Hopefully, your sensor will be a replacement, but at least you will know. Note they will only replace a faulty sensor , and I think that the later serial numbers are thought to be OK (serial nos. beginning 3xx), but this is only what I've gathered from reading this forum.

 

Regarding the Photoshop action, this was kindly sent to me as a favour by Thorsten Overgaard when I emailed him with a few queries about the Digilux 2 (this was some time ago). I would suggest you contact him via his web site to ask about a copy, as strictly speaking it is his 'copyright' and I'd hesitate to send it without his permission.

 

One more tip, the camera will only work with small SD (not SDHC) cards, 2Gb being the maximum size. I'd suggest buying a few while you can, as (understandably) they are becoming more difficult to find. I recently bought a few on a trip to Japan.

 

Regards,

Geoff

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williamgm schrieb:
Mark,

I simply sent an email to giving the camera serial number.

They will tell you if the sensor has been replaced, plus (presumably) any other work done on the camera.

XX replied to my email - by the way, I sent a similar query to Leica UK, asking whether faulty sensor replacement was still carried out under warranty, and they said it was no longer done! Fortunately, Leica Germany replied to say they are indeed still covered.

 

As others have said on this forum, it is always better to deal direct with Germany. Hopefully, your sensor will be a replacement, but at least you will know. Note they will only replace a faulty sensor , and I think that the later serial numbers are thought to be OK (serial nos. beginning 3xx), but this is only what I've gathered from reading this forum.

 

Regarding the Photoshop action, this was kindly sent to me as a favour by Thorsten Overgaard when I emailed him with a few queries about the Digilux 2 (this was some time ago). I would suggest you contact him via his web site to ask about a copy, as strictly speaking it is his 'copyright' and I'd hesitate to send it without his permission.

 

One more tip, the camera will only work with small SD (not SDHC) cards, 2Gb being the maximum size. I'd suggest buying a few while you can, as (understandably) they are becoming more difficult to find. I recently bought a few on a trip to Japan.

 

Regards,

Geoff

 

Thanks for the info my serial is 3xx, I just wanted to confirm whether had been replaced or not also I am after a round lens cap so will email to the address you gave.

 

To be honest not sure if a PS action can be copyrighted, all I wanted was an idea of what it does to try and turn it into Lightroom preset as I don't use PS, But I understand where you are coming from and will contact Thorsten directly

 

I know about the SD card as have had an LC1 for a few years now, but I have been looking for a decent writing speed sd card and 2gb seem to be pretty scarce

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On a slightly different matter, I've been looking for a spare battery for the Digilux 2 (I appreciate there was an earlier thread about this, but it's relatively old, several of the products were only available in the USA & some batteries are just no longer listed).

 

There seem to be a number available online (eBay, Amazon etc) but most have slightly different voltages - 7.4v not 7.2v, and different mAh figures - 1500 or 1600mAh. As I understand it, the higher mAh figure means it will give power for longer, but as I aware of the effect of small voltage increases on electronic circuits, would a 7.4v battery be a risk?

 

I've emailed customer services in Germany to ask about voltage tolerances (if any) & they've given me a part number for a Leica battery, available via their UK office. I'm awaiting a reply, but if it is available it will no doubt be expensive (& now made in China, not Japan?).

 

Any help/advice on what to buy in the UK would be appreciated.

 

Geoff

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On a slightly different matter, I've been looking for a spare battery for the Digilux 2

 

If it's of any use to you, the "same" camera sold by Panasonic (DMC-LC1) uses the battery type CGR-S602E (7.2V, 1400 mAh). The Digilux 3 (Panasonic DMC-L1) uses a battery which could be used in the D2 as well. I can't find out which type that was as I don't own that camera any more.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I recently found the information on how to check shutter actuations etc. on the Digilux 2.

From the mint condition of the camera, I thought it must have had only light use, but I'm surprised at just how light.....

 

VER: 1.09:001C

PWRCNT: 170

SHTCNT: 366

STBCNT: 58

 

 

Geoff

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I'm not really sure about the exact symptoms of printed circuit board failure, I can only tell you about my recent experience. Shortly after buying the camera, I noticed three potential issues (I did take a series of test shots in the shop, but as I had no access to a computer I had to rely on the camera screen to assess the results).

Firstly, a narrow blue line appeared on some shots, near the top of the image. It ran the whole width of the image area. Second, several shots exhibited a very subtle 'canvas' effect across the whole image; this was only visible when the picture was magnified (e.g. 100%).

Last (possible) symptom - I noticed several flashing red lines on the display when I switched the camera on & off.

As I was initially concerned with possible sensor failure, I contacted Leica in Germany (Customer Services) & they asked me to attach the images to an email. After seeing these, they said it could be either a sensor or circuit board failure & that I should send the camera in to be checked. As it turned out, they replaced both, so I'm not sure which symptoms were a result of sensor problems & which were caused by circuit board failure (assuming the circuit board issue caused a visible problem - it may just be that something showed up in testing at the factory).

No mention was made of the red lines on start up/shut down, but these no longer appear.

 

Fortunately, Leica still cover the cost of sensor replacement & the circuit board was covered by the warranty from the camera shop. I have no idea of the cost of the circuit board repair as the paperwork for this was sent to the shop.

Contact Leica Customer Service, they are very helpful.

 

Geoff

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  • 1 month later...
I found a mint Digilux 2 at a Leica dealer in the UK, 3 months warranty for £200. I took a chance & bought it, though I have yet to find out if the sensor has been replaced (I've emailed Leica).

One thing I cannot do, in spite of downloading the manual, is access the 'Play' menu to format the card - can anyone help with this? I thought I could find my way around camera menus, but this one has me going in circles.

I also need to find a lens hood somewhere.

 

Thanks in advance for any help/advice/tips.

 

Geoff

 

you got for a good price, i always desired this camera :)

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I started looking for one of these cameras well over a year ago, maybe even two years, but was put off by the high prices (& I don't like buying on eBay). I'd almost given up on the whole idea until I saw this one at a very low price (and in absolutely mint condition), so I thought I'd take a chance. Although the sensor & circuit board needed replacing, it was all under warranty (though as I understand it, Leica now charge for the labour if a sensor needs replacing).

 

It's a great camera and the lens is really special. I'm still experimenting with it, trying both jpeg & raw; the drawback with the raw files is the slow write time.

 

Keep looking, hopefully you'll find one eventually!

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