carta Posted December 13, 2014 Share #1 Posted December 13, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi all, I conducted a quick search but came up with nothing, so I request your help. I am currently using M240 with a recently purchased Noctilux 0.95. Today, I was shooting some photos, and noticed in my screen that I had black photos. Oh great, I forgot to take off the cap, how stupid . . . I thought, but to my suprise the lens cap was taken off. I took another couple of photos, this time with a significantly slow shutter speed to make sure it wasn't a wrong exposure that caused the black frame. Again, i came up with black photos. I turned the camera off and turned it back on, and then newly shot photos came out fine - however the previous photos were still black (not a screen fault). This happened one more time after about an hour. After taking out the battery and putting it back in, this has not happened. Yet I am afraid it might happen again. . . hate to lose a great photo to this error. Unfortunately (and so stupid of me) I deleted the black photos in camera, but next time this happens I will export it to my pc for a check in LR. Both the camera and noct was bought brand new, and firmware should be the newest. Owned the camera for about a year and had no similar trouble with other lenses. Your insights are most welcome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 13, 2014 Posted December 13, 2014 Hi carta, Take a look here Pitch-Black Photos?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jip Posted December 13, 2014 Share #2 Posted December 13, 2014 Battery may be still new and gives lower voltage, needs a few cycles to get perfect. Also it can be your SD card, make sure you don't use it in other camera's and you format it in the camera. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
algrove Posted December 13, 2014 Share #3 Posted December 13, 2014 If it happens again, perhaps a check at CS will discover some error codes on the shutter side of things. So far with 2 M240 I have had 2 shutters replaced just within the last month. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
magosak Posted December 13, 2014 Share #4 Posted December 13, 2014 If it happens again, perhaps a check at CS will discover some error codes on the shutter side of things. So far with 2 M240 I have had 2 shutters replaced just within the last month. How many clicks did you have on them? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carta Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share #5 Posted December 14, 2014 jip Thank you for your answer. I was surprised that batteries can take more than a year to break in, but that certainly may be the case. I also formatted the SD in camera and will switch to a new one if this happens again. Do you have any suggestions on how to "clean" the golden connection plates(?) on the batteries? They do have some significant black residue of something. algrove Thank you for your answer. That certainly sucks to change your shutter twice in a month. . . However, when I took the "black" photos, I am certain I heard shutter clicks, and the clicks were that of moderate shutter speeds. I am not sure if it is the shutter that is problematic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 14, 2014 Share #6 Posted December 14, 2014 If you view the image in the camera do you get a text “L123456 (or another number) on it? If so, you have an SD card that a has either been used in another camera and not reformatted in the Leica, or an SD card gone bad. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carta Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted December 14, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) If you view the image in the camera do you get a text “L123456 (or another number) on it?If so, you have an SD card that a has either been used in another camera and not reformatted in the Leica, or an SD card gone bad. Thank you for your reply. Once again today this happened - I checked and there are no such messages. Let me post some pictures once I get home. I will contact Leica on Monday. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carta Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share #8 Posted December 14, 2014 All, Here is what the black photos look like: Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I will be contacting Leica about this issue. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I will be contacting Leica about this issue. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/238422-pitch-black-photos/?do=findComment&comment=2727986'>More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 14, 2014 Share #9 Posted December 14, 2014 Good plan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
microview Posted December 14, 2014 Share #10 Posted December 14, 2014 If you view the image in the camera do you get a text “L123456 (or another number) on it?If so, you have an SD card that a has either been used in another camera and not reformatted in the Leica, or an SD card gone bad. The other day I confused reinserting cards into my M240 and an X113 I had recently bought; found the later could not display images on the "240's" card, just displayed the DNG number in white. Card was fine back in its "proper" home. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted December 15, 2014 Share #11 Posted December 15, 2014 … Do you have any suggestions on how to "clean" the golden connection plates(?) on the batteries? They do have some significant black residue of something. ... The residue will be from 'frying' of the contacts and will be carbon graphite so the best and easiest thing to use is a simple pencil eraser. Pete. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
algrove Posted December 15, 2014 Share #12 Posted December 15, 2014 How many clicks did you have on them? Currently traveling without either camera, but I would say around 2000-3000 clicks on each camera. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-hawinkler Posted December 15, 2014 Share #13 Posted December 15, 2014 The residue will be from 'frying' of the contacts and will be carbon graphite so the best and easiest thing to use is a simple pencil eraser. Pete. Exactly! Thanks. Works also for memory cards in computers. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carta Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share #14 Posted December 16, 2014 All, I contacted Leica and showed them the above pictures via e-mail. The repair personnel told me that no such case was reported in the past, but as the exif data seems normal (iso, shutter speed), he suspects either 1. Bad SD card 2. Sensor error or 3. Shutter malfunction He asked me for the DNG of the black photo, and also requested that I take the camera to the support center for a checkup. I also obtained a new SD card, and will see if things work out. Also, thank you farnz for your information on the residue. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carta Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share #15 Posted December 28, 2014 Hi, just received my camera back from Leica support. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! They examined the black DNG file and understood what the problem was, but were unable to re-create the situation at their labs. However, they were kind enough to exchange the shutter unit, the image sensor unit, and the circuit that connects with the SD card - pretty much a brand-new camera. It was within warranty so no charge. Initially I was told that I may not get the camera back within the year, so that was unexpected but very welcome. Again, thank you all for your input - hope that nobody will have to go through the same problem! 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! They examined the black DNG file and understood what the problem was, but were unable to re-create the situation at their labs. However, they were kind enough to exchange the shutter unit, the image sensor unit, and the circuit that connects with the SD card - pretty much a brand-new camera. It was within warranty so no charge. Initially I was told that I may not get the camera back within the year, so that was unexpected but very welcome. Again, thank you all for your input - hope that nobody will have to go through the same problem! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/238422-pitch-black-photos/?do=findComment&comment=2736558'>More sharing options...
CheshireCat Posted January 6, 2015 Share #16 Posted January 6, 2015 They examined the black DNG file and understood what the problem was, but were unable to re-create the situation at their labs. However, they were kind enough to exchange the shutter unit, the image sensor unit, and the circuit that connects with the SD card - pretty much a brand-new camera. And the problem was ... ? If they replaced all these components, I strongly doubt anyone understood what it was. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timde Posted January 6, 2015 Share #17 Posted January 6, 2015 And the problem was ... ?If they replaced all these components, I strongly doubt anyone understood what it was. Or they found _other_ problems with each of those components ... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 6, 2015 Share #18 Posted January 6, 2015 Or the fault in one component triggered a fault in the next, etc in a chain reaction. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carta Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share #19 Posted January 7, 2015 And the problem was ... ?If they replaced all these components, I strongly doubt anyone understood what it was. You are correct - although they understood the situation (black photos being produced), they were unable to pin-point what component was causing it. Hence, they elected to replace every part they could think of that could have been causing the problem. It could be what Jaap said, a chain reaction of malfunctions, but I guess I will never know what exactly caused it. Leica said they never heard of such malfunction, and a quick google search and forum search yielded no similar situations for me, so I guess (and strongly hope) this was just me. Thankfully everything is working fine now. I suppose this is a problem large enough for some to make them completely turn away from using Leicas in the future, but for me as long as it works for me it's fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralfgosch Posted January 17, 2015 Share #20 Posted January 17, 2015 Have the same problem with my two week old M. Found out, that I cannot use the live view either. Switch it off,on,off,on. Take the battery out, put it in. Then it works for a while again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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