Under exposure issue with LiveView/EVF

[ho_co]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Arthur--

Your best bet is probably just to give them a call.

 

They're generally good about answering emails so long as it's addressed to a specific person.

[arthury]

Thanks, I am already in contact with them.

[Advertisement]

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

[justj]

I have similar exposure errors as OP but worse.

 

When using EVF or LV in Aperture Priority Mode, the first image taken will usually over exposed (washout) but sometimes slightly underexpose. The second picture taken right away after the 1st always turned out expose correctly.

 

The strange thing is the two pictures have the same ISO, shutter speed, aperture, taken at the same place at the same time and yet the exposure result can't be more different.

 

I took my M to Leica shop and showed to the technician but was told that it's firmware issue and he will report it to the HQ. How professional.

[simplygood]

I have experienced the same issue as the OP, but upgrading to an SD card and/or not deleting files in camera seems to have mitigated the problem. I went from 16gb to 32gb. I'm about to order a 64gb card to see if that improves matters further.

 

I'll report back with results.

[Overgaard]

I was wondering you used Advanced Mode for light metering and/or spot meter or matrix. I have no experience with those as I use the Classic and Center Weighted all the time (which is the same light metering method as in the M9 and MM).

 

But I did have an issue with my M240 where it shot half frames as the first frame from time to time after wake-up, and over-exposed (and a few underexposed frames). What made it distinguished was the different shutter sound.

 

I sent the camera in and expected it to be the EVF-2 viewfinder electronics.

 

They changed the shutter, and that made complete sense although the weird behavior of the EVF-2 (going white, making colored stripes and going out) had me suspect that was it.

 

Everything was solved with the change of the shutter.

 

I would contact Customer Service in Solms for most cases as they are the authority. Then they can redirect to another repair service if needed, or handle it there. They are currently very overworked (because of the events and all) but normally they will answer emails within a day or two.

[arthury]

As facts stand, I have not been getting this behavior as described in my original posting. Or, at least, it wasn't as blatant as I can detect it.

 

Not sure why.

[DigitalHeMan]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

As facts stand, I have not been getting this behavior as described in my original posting. Or, at least, it wasn't as blatant as I can detect it.

 

 

 

Not sure why.

 

 

Did you send it to Leica to get repaired, or did it fix itself?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[arthury]

Did you send it to Leica to get repaired, or did it fix itself?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

No, I did not send it in.

It went away mysteriously.

[shmak]

No, I did not send it in.

It went away mysteriously.

OMG, mine has the same problem as yours.

[epand56]

Maybe Leicas are like sick dogs, when you take them to the vet, they feel quite better before entering the medical ambulatory

[urxtream]

Both my friend's M240 and mine exhibit the same behaviour. He sent his to Solms and they replaced the shutter on his camera. The under exposure problem seem to have gone away after the shutter replacement, however, he's now experiencing another problem which I'm not quite sure what it is since his on vacation now.

 

I'm still contemplating whether or not to send mine in to have it checked out (most likely a shutter replacement). What do you guys think I should do?

[rnz]

it seems i have the same problem, and i was using LiveView as well. with this mysterious 1/45 sec underexposed photo.

[algrove]

I nearly always shoot with EVF, but in manual mode. I often shoot by looking at the exposure in the EVF (classic/center weighted). My images seem to be alright even after latest FW update. I almost never use A.

[clngood]

On 3/5/2014 at 6:00 AM, arthury said:

Problem:

- When using LiveView or the EVF, I get badly underexposed images 20-30% of the time.

- The amount of underexposure is in the order of -2ev to -3ev (bad and unusable)

 

How to reproduce the issue:

 

1. Turn LiveView or EVF on
2. Focus the subject using Focus Peaking
3. Release the shutter

 

 

The first image is usually good if you have started from a cold boot-up.

 

Wait for 20 seconds

- Focus using Focus Peaking

- Release the shutter

- And, you should get the underexposed image.

 

If you want to repeatedly get the underexposed effect, wait for another 20 secs and repeat it.

 

Cause?

a) It seems like I need to keep the sensor warm in order to get correct exposures after the first exposure from a cold start-up. I thought there is another sensor (the light meter) that is handling exposure apart from the CMOS?

Does the light-meter goes into a sleep mode after 20 seconds when in LiveView/EVF mode?

c) Looks like a firmware bug to me (I hope).

 

Settings

 

1. If I unplug EVF or not use LiveView, everything behaves as normal.
2. Exposure set to Classic/Center-weighted or Advanced (Multi-segments) --- did not make a difference
3. Using latest firmware 1.0.0.12 (came installed)

 

 

Have you guys seen this?

Sorry to post on this old post, but i've been having the same issue and I'd like to know how you handled it in the end.

[jaeger]

It's on post #28, it went away by itself. 

When I read thru this post, I would probably test it on a tripod, pointing at the same subject under the same lighting and use set to classic spot meter.  so I can find out has the reading changed after few shots and see if it's consistent.  I will test all other light meter settings on a tripod and see if behavior changes. 

The fussy logic in advanced matrix meter will use different area as reference every time, I guess 1/45 second discrepancy is not unusual.  so what's your light meter setting?