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M-P 240 + EVF + frozen = Not Impressed


Jon Pop

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I have now found that the lock up situation has greatly improved with my Leica M240, albeit at a cost.  On a recent self organised trip to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, I lost my EVF and little leather case whilst walking around the old part of Riga.  I was wearing a Paclite Gortex raincoat at the time and was unaware that a hole had developed in one of my inner pockets where the EVF had been.  Although I retraced my steps, I could not locate it and ended up finding a recently opened Leica shop would you believe.  After unsuccessfully trying to track down a cheaper Olympus EVF, I ended up biting the bullet and bought a brand new Leica EVF for 350 Euros (£250; thankfully the pound is strong).  I was pleasantly surprised to find that my camera was more responsive to this newly acquired EVF and suffered no lockups thereafter.  I certainly feel that this new EVF is making a difference, though it may be early days.  Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

 

By the way, the Riga Leica shop had a brand new 50 mm APO Summicron for 6650 Euros (about £4720).   I almost was tempted, but am happy enough with my 50 mm ASPH Summilux.

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I'd have preferred the Leica EVF2 but having the offer of an Olympus silver version to match my silver M at half the price was too much of a temptation.

Leica only did them in black.

 

Anyway, I have had no problem with the Olympus version. Olympus made the EVFs for Leica , didn't they?

 

I don't mind OEM stuff but for Leica to double the price is rather naughty in my mind ... unless it really adds that much value.

 

From what I have read most problems with lockups are to do with the SD card not being formatted in the camera which is a standard instruction in the manual. RTFM.

 

RTFM is an acronym I am well acquainted with from working with computers since 1967 and the meaning has never been lost.

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Beside the point. It is a straw we are grasping at to try and explain the differences of behavior between cameras. Maybe there are small differences in the electronics between the ones Epson made for Olympus and the ones for Leica. There is a subtle difference in the plastic housing, so it is a dedicated series.

Another thing is that Leica did not manage to get the successor Olympus EVF working on the M, so there is a strong possibility of hardware differences between the Olympus and Leica viewfinders, no matter how  small.

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I don't mind OEM stuff but for Leica to double the price is rather naughty in my mind ... unless it really adds that much value.

 

 

 

Leica is not a wildly profitable company, they have large R&D, development and manufacturing costs to fund. It benefits us all that Leica keeps their business healthy.

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It is worth investigating. I use the Leica one and have no lockups.

Any other users care to chip in?

 

 

Actually Jaap, I should have been more explicit in saying that my old lost EVF was a Leica one, hence I was more upset at losing it because it was costlier than the Olympus one. Perhaps there is some sample variation in electronic robustness with the newer branded Leica EVF so far being an improvement. The only other difference was that the old lost EVF was used extensively on my XVARIO before it was used on my Leica M240.

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My thoughts exactly... Which is why I mentioned that mine was a relatively recent one... You still ok with your replacement?

 

It would be good to know... As I said, I have NEVER had a lock up issue, but then I don't fill the buffer with extended bursts, I don't use the EVF unless necessary (the rangefinder is faster in most conditions), and I have always used the 64/95 card and formatted in SD Formatter and ALWAYS reformat in the camera whenever I insert the SD card anyway...

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My thoughts exactly... Which is why I mentioned that mine was a relatively recent one... You still ok with your replacement?

 

It would be good to know... As I said, I have NEVER had a lock up issue, but then I don't fill the buffer with extended bursts, I don't use the EVF unless necessary (the rangefinder is faster in most conditions), and I have always used the 64/95 card and formatted in SD Formatter and ALWAYS reformat in the camera whenever I insert the SD card anyway...

 

The replacement seems an improvement, though it is early days, as I have had it only just over a week.   I use my camera quite conservatively only ever in single shot or delayed shot mode.  I tend to switch off when changing lenses or removing/reinstating the EVF.  I do use the EVF about 98% of the time though as I am quite fussy about the accuracy of framing the shot; I really like precise symmetry particularly in taking architectural shots.  I have struggled with the accuracy of framing the shot when I have relied on the illuminated lines in rangefinder mode.

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Just got back from a week in Maui with my newly repaired MP 240. Before the repair I was having a number of different of lockups in several different scenarios and having them quite often. 2000 shots taken in Maui with zero lockups.

 

I shot with with these 4 different SD cards that were all formatted with SD Formatter:

 

Lexar 64gb Professional 2000x UHS-II (300 MB/s)

Lexar 32GB Professional 1000x UHS-II (150 MB/s)

SanDisk 64gb Extreme Pro SDXC UHS-II (280 MB/s)

SanDisk 32GB Extreme Pro UHS-I SDHC U3 (95 MB/s)

 

Multiple shooting situations - Exposure Bracketing, Continous up to 20 shots, long exposure, and anything else you can think of. Still zero lockups. I have to say I was pretty shocked and impressed with the outcome. And I'm still not totally sure what was done for the repair.

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  • 1 month later...

That is not a surprise. The surprise always was that you bought into a rangefinder system that does not suit you.

Holy crap is this a condescending remark.

 

So he rightly calls out the manufacturer of one of the worlds highest priced luxury cameras with a fault no camera should have at any price, and because he does then it just doesn't "suit him"?

 

I realize all cameras have problems...I shot Fujis and before that Canons and I'm a member of several other forums for different camera systems, and I have been trolling these forums for quite a while now and I can say without a shred of hesitancy that the amount of issues that these cameras have is far and away what's reported on other systems.

 

It seems that once you drink the Leica kool-aid, they can't do any wrong and anyone who has a problem with them must have a mental deficiency that precludes them from appreciating that fact.

 

FYI: This is precisely the mark's of a religious cult; that those who point out error, are immediately suspect and discredited as if it's their fault.

Edited by rpavich
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