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m8 shutter recocking


jhawker

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Graham,

Sorry to hear your camera is doing this.

I would be surprised if it is a firmware issue.

The problem you described was the impetus for my M8's first visit to New Jersey (May 2007).

After that repair it worked for about 16000 exposures

and then the shutter failed completely on August 23, 2008.

That story is under a thread titled: M8 3105395 on this forum.

Leica fixed it all under warranty.

Got the camera back about 600 frames ago all is fine.

I hope your warranty is still good.

JH

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Thank you for the feedback. My wishful thinking would have the behaviour linked to the firmware update but it's probably just coincidence. Thankfully it's still all under warranty at least until February or so next year.

 

Time to have a chat with NJ and see what to do since ultimately the whole lot will get replaced as part of my pending 'silent' shutter & other upgrades in November.

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I had this problem about a year ago and was all ready to send it to Leica for repair. It happened just after I'd updated a firmware too, I can't remember which firmware it was.

I took the battery out and left it over night and when I put it back in the next morning the problem had gone. It has not had this re-cocking shutter problem ever since. Just try this. I hope it works for you too.

Jeffrey.

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If you have this problem, try this...

 

While the shutter is repeatedly trying to cock itself, hold the camera in one hand and tap it repeatedly onto the open palm of your other hand - not hard, obviously, but enough to try to get the shutter lock to engage.

 

 

Yes, my camera is doing this frequently now.

It definitely stops by gentle tap of the palm from the bottom up.

I used to remove the battery, it helps too, but this is faster.

 

Week 46 is my date for shutter upgrade, I will mention this, until then tapping helps.

 

Thank You, mr. Norton.

 

 

 

M

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  • 3 months later...

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I am also having this issue now (Jan 07 camera), but surprisingly it happens only when I go out in the cold weather (0-5 celsius). When I return home, after the camera warms up a little, the issue is gone. :confused:

After reading the manual, it says that camera should be operated between 0 and 40 degrees celsius. Note that I leave my camera out hanging on my neck strap.

Also batteries are always full, so they can't be the issue.

Are others experiencing this ? Do you think the cold could be a reason for a the delayed shutter problem ?

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The reason is that magnets of the shutter lock get dirty. (at least they cleaned mine).

It gets worse over time.

If you send it over, they will clean magnets- my advice is to request for them to exchange the part- they cleaned mine and it came back the same. Now it is there again- this time shutter lock exchange is mandatory.

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it happened to me too, first night out of the box, actually. i was rolling off a lot of frames on halloween in continuous, discreet mode. i was suprised and unsure what was the matter when it stopped firing and started whirring. even the model noticed it and looked perplexed. after popping out the battery and changing it back to normal mode, it was fine and I continued for the rest of that night until now without any recurrence. some of the stories told by members here on this issue sound awful and i'm not undermining their severity but i'm not overly concerned at the moment, certainly not enough to lose it for three weeks in repair and i'll keep in mind Mr Norton's knocking trick...full of good ideas that man!

john

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  • 3 months later...

I think we need to accept that, for now, there's a firmware bug when continuous and discreet modes are used in combination. Discreet mode should only be recognised in single shot mode. At some point, we'll get a new firmware version, until then, just avoid the combination.

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  • 1 year later...
The shutter has a locking mechanism which is designed to prevent accidental actuation of the shutter.

 

The shutter is released/controlled by a pair of small solenoids - an electromagnet with a moving armature or plate - pass a current through it the electromagnet and the armature moves to activate the shutter. For accurate shutter timing, these components are small and lightweight so that they can be made to move quickly. ...

 

My M8 had this problem:

 

turned on camera; battery indicator at 1/3 level

took a shot

took a second shot

===> heard cyclical whirring sound for 2-3 seconds <===

(later review of DNG file shows normal scene, no light flare)

pressed Play, no response on LCD

after this incident the situation was:

turn on camera

no display on top LCD

red LCD on back blinks once as usual

no LCD response to Play, Menu, or Set buttons

when press shutter button, red LCD blinks but nothing happens

 

I recharged the genuine Leica battery. That took two hours, shorter than a full chargeby about 45 minutes. While the two hours passed, I left the camera lying on its back with the base plate off. This was because the manual discusses condensation as a problem. Today the air is dry, but I had taken the camera outside yesterday. It was in the car during rain, and when the rain stopped I took a few shots in the open.

 

After the recharge and air exposure, the camera resumed normal operation.

 

Thank you for the explanation of the role of the solenoids in this problem.

 

Is the shutter design decades old, taken from M film cameras? If so, why hasn't the problem been reduced to a rarity?

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  • 3 years later...

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