Anyone figure out why the 240 freezes up?

[dante]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Dante, I have absolute sympathy for your described scenario. I hope you can see the difference between what I was describing, directed at an earlier rant and your clearly dysfunctional camera.

 

Sorry erl - didn't really mean to go off like that - and I see what you mean about the prior post (which I didn't catch the first time). But this was an extremely frustrating day, and for a family christening, I'm not going to grab my D700 (which is the bulletproof solution for most jobs - just not as easy to handle in terms of weight/bulk as I would like).

 

The battery-out thing exacerbates the asinine bottom-plate loading thing, which is (was) only tolerable because the battery life is greater and card sizes are humungous. For the first couple of months I had this camera, including a week of heavy Eyefi Mobi use on a trip, it performed admirably. But now that the MTBF is apparently measurable in minutes?

 

I'm not afraid of the "extra" features of the M 240, but I am also of the opinion that just like having a food allergy, if Leica can't get its cameras to perform basic functions, it should strip out everything but DNG generation and work upward from there, adding one feature at a time, until the thing works every time.

 

Dante

[erl]

Dante, you are allowed to 'go off'. It is part of the cure.

 

Early in my career/life I learned the best/only sure fire cure is a spare body! I still have a Hasselblad 500CX (as backup to my main Blad 203FE) which is many years old and only had I think 3 rolls of film through it. I know if I had not had that insurance the main camera would have continually failed.

[Advertisement]

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

[MarkP]

Dante,

 

this is not normal.

Send the camera back to Leica for repair.

 

Since I upgraded to the latest firmware after I received the camera a year or so ago it has never frozen on me. My computer locks up on me more than my camera does.

 

Regards,

Mark

[drdannn]

Only one freeze for me. That was with the last firmware.

[erl]

Funny, I always thought of California as being warm.

[algrove]

Dante,

 

this is not normal.

Send the camera back to Leica for repair.

 

Since I upgraded to the latest firmware after I received the camera a year or so ago it has never frozen on me. My computer locks up on me more than my camera does.

 

Regards,

Mark

 

Mark

 

Sad fact, but Leica does not admit to freeze ups in California or Antarctica. That was my experience directly at CS Solms last summer. I have 240 #'s 7 and 8 right now and both lock up even with latest FW 0.12. One was delivered with it and the other has the latest FW downloaded by Leica NJ, USA.

[rscheffler]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I have not figured out exactly why my M freezes up from time to time... at least, I haven't developed any new theories beyond what I've posted in the past.

 

As a refresher, I believe my M does not like being forced to multitask when it's digesting a sequence of images. Filling the buffer and looking at an image on the LCD often results in 1) the need to press the play button multiple times before an image appears (a telling sign that the CPU is very busy) and 2) often this makes the camera inoperable until the buffer clears - no further shots are possible until the red light is out. Every once in a while the red light keeps going indefinitely (until my patience runs out), forcing either 1) turning off the camera, or if that doesn't work, 2) pulling the battery, which always works. If the battery is pulled, often the camera reverts back to how it was set when first turned on, which usually means a different ISO, exposure compensation setting, etc..

 

In addition to this, I'm growing suspicious about my camera's shutter, which is probably a different problem. But I've had a couple black frames and the occasional situation where the shutter sounded different. I had one instance where I was shooting a sequence and the first 4-5 frames sounded fine, then suddenly the camera fired at a higher frame rate (maybe ~5 fps). At first I though "cool" but quickly realized any such 'bonus feature' is likely to be unwelcome. Sure enough, endless flashing red light forcing the battery to be pulled. Ended up with nothing from the entire sequence. Fortunately it was not a critical situation... But I've been using the camera for weddings and doing over 1000 frames each time on it, and pretty much every time I get at least one lock up. I try really hard not to chimp while the red light is flashing....

 

I do have it set to continuous most of the time. I do use the EVF, but not the majority of the time. Capture is DNGc. I found that DNGc + Jpeg resulted in even more lock-ups, for me. I usually have the camera set to never sleep, because many times I need it to be ready to shoot immediately. Firmware is 2.0.0.11, which from my understanding is supposedly the same as .12...

 

I've kept my M9 as back up just in case, and the M's occasional weird shutter behaviour has me the most nervous. IMO, where Leica needs to invest some money is in service turnaround. While a second M would be a reassuring backup, it's not a realistic option for me at the moment. Having the M go down and be in NJ for several weeks would be a real drag.I pay for Canon CPS membership and would like to see something similar from Leica, if it ensured either faster turnaround (within a week) and/or loaner equipment. Canon Canada had a fairly so/so service reputation until they introduced paid CPS membership. Suddenly loaners were plentiful and they were fixing problems correctly the first time, most of the time. Leica offers an express service option at additional cost in the EU. It would be great to have such an option for North America too.

[jto555]

I also got the dreaded 'Black Frames' on a recent shoot. The only think I did differently was to use Photo Mechanic to read the card for an earlier shoot and rate rate a few photographs on the card. Then, when I put the card back into the camera I forgot to format the card, and I started to shoot a new job.

 

When I released that I had a 1/2 full card I tried to delete a load of images but a few of the rated images would not delete. Then I got a full lock-up where even pulling the battery out did not reboot the camera. Luckily enough after pulling the battery out and trying the camera a few times I managed to shoot a few frames, which were the dreaded black frames but this seemed to clear the camera and I was able to continue shooting.

 

I have also found that changing the lens while the EVF is on increases the risk of a lockup.

 

 

The funny thing about all the lockups that we are getting, is that when I rang Leica Germany about the issue, I was the only person who has ever had this issue, and it must be my camera that is faulty...

 

 

 

Firmware 2.0.0.12

Sandisk Pro 64Gb

EVF

26 deg C

Sunny

1 very hot and boddered photographer who did his best to look calm while his life passed in front of his eyes!

[algrove]

To answer the OP's initial question

 

 

BECAUSE LEICA REFUSES TO ADMIT IT OCCURS and thus they cannot fix what does not occur.

[Guest roey]

There's a difference between knowing something occurs and admitting it. Leica seems to follow the lead of many other companies who simply refuse to admit any product fault until they have a plan for addressing it.

[jaapv]

I also got the dreaded 'Black Frames' on a recent shoot. The only think I did differently was to use Photo Mechanic to read the card for an earlier shoot and rate rate a few photographs on the card. Then, when I put the card back into the camera I forgot to format the card, and I started to shoot a new job.

 

When I released that I had a 1/2 full card I tried to delete a load of images but a few of the rated images would not delete. Then I got a full lock-up where even pulling the battery out did not reboot the camera. Luckily enough after pulling the battery out and trying the camera a few times I managed to shoot a few frames, which were the dreaded black frames but this seemed to clear the camera and I was able to continue shooting.

 

I have also found that changing the lens while the EVF is on increases the risk of a lockup.

 

 

The funny thing about all the lockups that we are getting, is that when I rang Leica Germany about the issue, I was the only person who has ever had this issue, and it must be my camera that is faulty...

 

 

 

Firmware 2.0.0.12

Sandisk Pro 64Gb

EVF

26 deg C

Sunny

1 very hot and boddered photographer who did his best to look calm while his life passed in front of his eyes!

 

I learnt at a very early stage of my digital photography to ALWAYS lock the card prior to reading it out. The mess that computers dump on the card can play havoc with any camera. In this case I am convinced that the rating of the photographs was the culprit.

[Guest Nick932]

I learnt at a very early stage of my digital photography to ALWAYS lock the card prior to reading it out. The mess that computers dump on the card can play havoc with any camera. In this case I am convinced that the rating of the photographs was the culprit.

 

Very useful tip.

[jto555]

I learnt at a very early stage of my digital photography to ALWAYS lock the card prior to reading it out. The mess that computers dump on the card can play havoc with any camera. In this case I am convinced that the rating of the photographs was the culprit.

 

 

I think you are right Jaapv. I normally format the card after doing any work with the card in the computer. So I am not blaming Leica for this one.

 

I am still getting a few lockups, but most of them are when I change a lens while the EVF is active. As my dad used to say more speed - less haste. The M seems to benefit from 'slowing down' while shooting, and so would my photography...

 

 

 

 

John

[helohe]

had my first lockup today. latest firmware version 2.0.1.5. LV disabled (classic mode/ lv disabled). No EVF attached. Camara was in standby mode (I guess), took a picture, shutter sounded weird, like the exposure time would be very long. After that nothing happened. Only taking out the battery could solve it.

Temperature was very mild around 20°C.

I hope leica can fix this problem somehow.

[algrove]

I was hoping these kind of posts would be eliminated with the new FW.

[k-hawinkler]

Hmm, so far my A7R has not locked up once!

I am still happy with my decision to pass on the M.

[Rick]

Hmm, so far my A7R has not locked up once!

I am still happy with my decision to pass on the M.

 

Do you really want to high-jack this thread and rehash all of the serious problems with the faulty A7R? This is a Leica forum and I for one am very interested in whether or not this problem is mostly solved, as I actually own the M (and like a lot of folks here returned their A7r).

Edited July 12, 2014 by RickLeica

[rscheffler]

Now working with the latest firmware, which I installed within about 24 hours of release...

 

Still getting lock-ups. Maybe 3-4 during an entire wedding day. It's never always the same kind of lock-up either.

 

Just this past wedding, had what seemed like was describe by someone else just above, where it sounded like the camera started an exposure, but the second curtain never triggered. Had to pull the battery to reset the camera.

 

Also had the ~5fps frame rate glitch happen once. Pulled the battery for that one too...

[lct]

Were you in LV/EVF mode? In standby mode? In warm environment? Just curious.

Edited July 14, 2014 by lct

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[rscheffler]

Sorry I didn't reply. I did another wedding yesterday and had at least three lock-ups.

 

Weather was warm, but not hot. In the low-mid 20s C and somewhat humid due to some rain. I'm typically in continuous advance mode, sometimes use live view for framing purposes, but didn't use it much yesterday and don't recall it being on any of the times the camera locked up. Not once yesterday did I use the EVF. I've disabled auto power off so that the camera is always immediately ready. File format is compressed DNG. I generally go through 2.5 batteries per wedding.

 

It's usually a problem around sequences of images. One that happened yesterday was definitely during a sequence and the last 4-5 frames were lost. There really wasn't a telltale sign of a problem until I noticed the ongoing flashing red light. Another lockup was immediately obvious once the camera started shooting at ~5fps. As soon as this happens I now know to immediately pull the battery, as there is never any hope of the last few images being saved to the card. The third lock-up was the one whereby the shutter seemed to go through half a cycle - it didn't re-cock. Pulled the battery to reset the camera. I also noticed that at least two of these instances reset the file numbers to a point in the past, perhaps since the last lock-up, as I have segments of the wedding with three duplicate file numberings. The camera will sometimes also reset to the settings of the last 'stable' period, perhaps from the last time it was turned off properly. Therefore I am in the habit of immediately checking the ISO, otherwise I'll end up outside at ISO 1000 or inside at ISO 200 and a few unusable, poorly exposed images, before I catch them. That's about the only setting I regularly change on the camera, otherwise I'd also double-check thinks like DNG vs. Jpeg, etc., after each lock-up.

 

All of these lock-ups are identical to what I've experienced in past use.

 

The only difference yesterday was that I used a PNY 128GB SDXC UHS1 card, rather than Panasonic Gold (non-pro) 32GB SDHC UHS1 that were a holdover from the M9.

 

Despite my own misgivings about 'putting all my eggs (images) in one basket' with such a large capacity card, I decided to give it a shot so as not to need to ever think about hitting the end of the card at an inopportune time during an event.

 

The PNY's performance seems OK. Start up time after formatting with the SD Formatter app is about 2.5 seconds empty and about 4.5 seconds ~60% full. Full buffer clear time is about 17 seconds for ~13 frames, which is about 2-3 seconds faster than the Panasonic cards. The PNY is rated 90/60 MB/s read/write, whereas the Panasonic is 90/45. I don't think a faster card makes much of a difference in the M240, but does appear to have trimmed buffer clear times slightly.