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Confirming the temperature problem.


jaapv

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I returned today from a five-week stay in Central/East Africa. The M performed excellently, but for one problem: If the ambient temperature is over 37 degrees Centigrade letting it run in LV/EVF will push the internal temperature too far beyond the specified maximum of 40 degrees.

The camera will, in that case, freeze after it has written the shot to the SD card. It can be unlocked by switching off and on. It will still be able to take photographs one by one. Quite annoying but it can be avoided by switching off when not in use manually instead of by auto shutoff.

Before we get a Leica-should-have discussion, all digital cameras and other digital gear, unless designed -expensively- for extreme temperature use, have operating ranges like 0-40 degrees.

 

 

I will post some results as soon as I get my MacPro repaired (dead power supply:()

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I returned today from a five-week stay in Central/East Africa. The M performed excellently, but for one problem: If the ambient temperature is over 37 degrees Centigrade letting it run in LV/EVF will push the internal temperature too far beyond the specified maximum [...]

 

37C - how anthropomorphic!

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Same thing happened to me in Italy in the first week of August when it was rather hot. Switch of the LW, I didn't have a EVF at that time, and keep it away from the sun, I have a black body, was enough for me at that time.

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Before we get a Leica-should-have discussion, all digital cameras and other digital gear, unless designed -expensively- for extreme temperature use, have operating ranges like 0-40 degrees.

 

I agree about the specs, although I understand the specs to refer to ambient temperature, not internal temperature, which the user has no way to measure. If that's the case, your camera stopped working three degrees before it should have.

 

Perhaps a more important difference between other cameras is the safety margin. I've not done any testing.

 

I've never pushed my M240 wrt temperature, but I have used my D4, which is spec'd from 0 to 40C, with no problems when it had been sitting in the sun and was too hot to hold comfortably.

 

Jim

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I have had similar problems as I reported. The only way to avoid the one shot at a time situation is as follows:

 

Get a second M which I have done. Then you can alternate between bodies which often helps. If they does not help then three bodies will work better.

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Interstingly, when my iPhone gets too hot it also "freezes", but shows "Too Hot!" in the display.

 

If the M240 has an internal temp sensor then it would be a simple firmware change to show the status rather than just freeze.

 

If failure is inevitable, fail gracefully.

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I doubt that. With those temperatures I and the camera tend to be in the shade. I am convinced that the ambient heat combined with the camera-generated heat cause the problem.

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Before we get a Leica-should-have discussion, all digital cameras and other digital gear, unless designed -expensively- for extreme temperature use, have operating ranges like 0-40 degrees.

 

But haven't you used your M8 and M9 without problem under similar conditions?

 

Jeff

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There is indeed a bug here. My understanding is that it would be caused by a temperature depending mode that is being activated above 40° C and that this behavior will be improved in the next firmware update but i cannot elaborate about that.

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I guess we don't want a 'should have' discussion but we do want a 'should' discussion, in the sense that Leica should fix it?

Or was this just a statement of a fact that should have no consequences? Or should users just not use the EVF when it's 37 degrees?

 

For a $7k camera this is too much and very annoying to most users.

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I hope Leica will be able to fix it - if it is a hardware problem it might not be too easy. It is not the end of the world, the camera remains operable and there is a workaround, but it is rather annoying.

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