Leica Q Hits the Deck as Loop Fails & Unscrews

[cloneroom]

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Hi everyone,

 

Well the very thing we all dread with the Leica loop has happened to me.

I had my loop unwind and the Leica Q go crashing to the cement busting the compensation dial off the top of the camera a causing damage to the top plate.

I was furious as is expected, I had raised my worry with Leica Australia already .... and here we are.

 

I spoke with Leica Australia they asked me to send the camera, loop and grip in, I received a reply 3 weeks latter informing me the FAULT WAS MINE.

 

I would need to have the camera sent to Germany for a the repairs at my FULL expense

 

NOT acceptable AT ALL, it is obvious by the feedback here and elsewhere the loop has a tendency to work loose, even if you are dilegent you can be unlucky.

 

I will be contacting Leica Australia Monday to further discuss this unexceptionable issue

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Edited February 20, 2016 by cloneroom

[MickyW]

Oh dear ... sorry to be reading this. Please keep us updated as to your progress.

 

Wish you the best if luck with this ....

Edited February 20, 2016 by MickyW

[IronLion]

Do you mean the finger loop?

 

If so, I installed mine with loctite blue to prevent this very thing and it hasn't uncrewed a millimeter since I tightened it. As an extra precaution I use a wrist strap even when I'm using the finger loop. 

 

Really sorry to hear about that though. 

Edited February 20, 2016 by IronLion

[lucerne]

Sorry to read about this incident.  I'm not sure I understand what your term the "loop" refers to.  However, I did post a warning in December that the rings supplied with the Q strap were very poor quality and the ends of the strap are too narrow.  In my case, while I was in India, the end of the strap unwound itself from the ring and The camera almost dropped to the ground.    I've replaced my strap and rings with something better.    Is that what happened? 

 

Update:  I now know what you mean by "loop" .  Definitely not what I would use.  Overpriced and under specified.   Leica should accept the failure as an example of a weak design.  

Edited February 20, 2016 by lucerne

[IronLion]

Sorry to read about this incident.  I'm not sure I understand what your term the "loop" refers to.  However, I did post a warning in December that the rings supplied with the Q strap were very poor quality and the ends of the strap are too narrow.  In my case, while I was in India, the end of the strap unwound itself from the ring and The camera almost dropped to the ground.    I've replaced my strap and rings with something better.    Is that what happened? 

 

Update:  I now know what you mean by "loop" .  Definitely not what I would use.  Overpriced and under specified.   Leica should accept the failure as an example of a weak design.  

 

lucerne, for what its worth, I find the fingerloop to be an incredibly useful accessory (and I'm not sure what "under specified" means?).

 

While I agree the price is quite high for what it is, for me, it also does what it was designed to do in a way that justifies the price. I can walk around with the grip and loop and relax my right hand without clenching the camera at all but not be afraid of it falling, and when I want to shoot, the camera is there in a secure grip. I actually think it's an excellent design, and just that they should have included some blue loctite with it to prevent it from accidentally unscrewing.

 

I wouldn't shoot my Q without it, but if you don't need it, then I would recommend you continue not purchasing it as you have been doing. 

[lucerne]

It's not the customers responsibility to modify a component to make it reliable. My decision not to purchase was based on years of experience and an assessment of what might go wrong.    The failure is not a isolated incident and other prospective users need to know of such incidents in order to make rational purchasing decisions.  Thanks for your personal advice.   Enjoy your Q

 

BTW.  Even the OP had his doubts about the loop.  Read his post again.

Edited February 20, 2016 by lucerne

[IronLion]

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It's not the customers responsibility to modify a component to make it reliable. My decision not to purchase was based on years of experience and an assessment of what might go wrong.    The failure is not a isolated incident and other prospective users need to know of such incidents in order to make rational purchasing decisions.  Thanks for your personal advice.   Enjoy your Q

 

BTW.  Even the OP had his doubts about the loop.  Read his post again.

 

That is a good point, but I guess I am one of those people who can see common sense ways to prevent components to make them reliable in the ways they should be. It sounds like your years of experience paid off for you.

 

To anyone reading this that is potentially scared of the finger loop as a result- a little blue loc tite and a wrist strap turns what is clearly a horrendously terrible design into a delightfully functional and worry-free carry method.

 

And again, I hate to see cloneroom's Q pay the price for this design flaw. 

[Photo Moustachio]

A sad thing to see. I've read a few stories about physical damage to the Q having to be paid for, but little mention of the Leica Passport. Is this a Leica UK thing?

 

Cloneroom, maybe worth checking with where you purchased your Leica from to see fit hey have Leica Passports, which give you a years accidental damage cover. It would usually have to be registered to your product before claiming, but given the type of incident your camera got damaged in, they may do you a solid. Like I said, might not be available in Australia, but gives you another avenue to investigate before having to commit to paying for a repair. 

 

Hope this helps. 

[Orguy]

Sorry to read about this incident.  I'm not sure I understand what your term the "loop" refers to.  However, I did post a warning in December that the rings supplied with the Q strap were very poor quality and the ends of the strap are too narrow.  In my case, while I was in India, the end of the strap unwound itself from the ring and The camera almost dropped to the ground.    I've replaced my strap and rings with something better.    Is that what happened? 

 

 

lucerne and others: I've been using the strap supplied with the camera and am satisfied with it. I am concerned that you said your rings failed - mine look fine after 6 months of use. Should I replace the rings and or strap for safety? I have seen some very expensive strap options discussed here but think it is silly to spend the money when I'm ok with the original strap. Do others of you out there also see failure of the supplied strap and rings? I'm willing to replace them if it really is necessary, but I'm not sure it is. What is the consensus,  if I'm not dissatisfied with the original (length, feel, lack of neck pad etc.) ?

[jaapv]

A sad thing to see. I've read a few stories about physical damage to the Q having to be paid for, but little mention of the Leica Passport. Is this a Leica UK thing?

 

Cloneroom, maybe worth checking with where you purchased your Leica from to see fit hey have Leica Passports, which give you a years accidental damage cover. It would usually have to be registered to your product before claiming, but given the type of incident your camera got damaged in, they may do you a solid. Like I said, might not be available in Australia, but gives you another avenue to investigate before having to commit to paying for a repair. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Passport is a UK resident thing only

[hoppyman]

That is a horrible feeling when your camera is damaged. I have done it. If this the finger loop accessory? It has a single bolt that passes through a hole/fitting in the loop assembly and screws into a thread in the camera? Orhers already mentioned the precaution of using threadlock compounds I read.

Unless you meant that the thread stripped or fractured and the bolt pulled out of its threaded socket or the actual loop physically broke? Those could be design failures or manufacturing defects

[lucerne]

lucerne and others: I've been using the strap supplied with the camera and am satisfied with it. I am concerned that you said your rings failed - mine look fine after 6 months of use. Should I replace the rings and or strap for safety? I have seen some very expensive strap options discussed here but think it is silly to spend the money when I'm ok with the original strap. Do others of you out there also see failure of the supplied strap and rings? I'm willing to replace them if it really is necessary, but I'm not sure it is. What is the consensus,  if I'm not dissatisfied with the original (length, feel, lack of neck pad etc.) ?

 

Opinions vary widely on straps and rings, but straps are such a personal thing, I wonder why we even debate the subject.  Personally, I find most straps too short as I like to wear my camera with the strap across my back.   To do that, I contacted a Portuguese camera strap supplier I found on eBay, and he made me a leather strap of the required length, with a neck pad, and lug protectors and a couple of decent rings.  It didn't cost me anything near the ridiculous prices being asked by some manufacturers and it was designed and made to measure.

The rings supplied with my Q strap were a dull metal, were weak,  and were a smaller diameter than normal.  The problem with "small And weak, is that it doesn't take much movement for the leather strap to find one of the openings and start unwinding itself.   It sounds unbelievable and impossible to some, but that's what happened to me and it has happened to others and on more than one occasion to Thorsten Overgaard on his M9 or M240.  In fact he reported this on his blog and may even have posted comments on the Leica Forum.

Check out Murphys Law and Sods Law!.  "if something can go wrong - it probably will", so you make your own mind up whether you understand the risk and take steps to reduce it.   You could simply buy better / larger rings for a very small amount of money.  You could obtain triangular rings which some believe to be less prone to the unwinding problem.

If you read all the posts on the forum, you will also have seen the report last week by one member regarding his expensive accident which was the result of weak implementation of a design of a finger-grip on his new Q.    We all have to use our personal or group experience to evaluate the available solutions .  Hence my warning about the rings.   Keep the strap, replace the rings. It's no big deal.

 

here's my new strap with integrated leather protector and strong ring. At no time can the ring touch or damage the camera body.

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Edited February 22, 2016 by lucerne

[jmschuh]

If I understand the incident correctly, the screw at the loop didn´t break. If you screw in something, everyone knows that it could screw out over time. This is the concept of a screw ;-), if you do not secure it for unscrewing.

 

I use the finger loop with my Leica Q, too. And every day I use my Q, I first  check if the screw is tightened. This takes only a moment when I put my fingers in the loop. It takes a second, not more. It´s your fault not to do so from time to time. Do you think a screw doesn´t loose someday, especially when it holds a rotating object? Every screw you can unscrew with your fingers can be unscrewed by itself, given time. Life teaches something like that, doesn´t it?

 

If the screw is broken, it is Leica´s problem, if not broken, then it´s your´s, because you never checked the screw. Shit happens, you´ve learned something.

[cliffp]

I have some sympathy for the OP in relation to the cause of the accident apart from obviously feeling his pain due to the damage and cost.

 

Not everyone has had experience of something screwed together coming apart under normal usage. I think Leica should warn the user to check the screw for tightness before each use (maybe they do - I am assuming not as it hasn't been mentioned). Assuming there is no such warning, I think Leica should repair the camera foc and put a warning as suggested to avoid similar occurrences. 

[emilspix]

Crap sorry to hear.  This shouldn't be a screw in but more of a lug clamp like the Leica T's strap.

A similar situation happened to me when I first bought an A7R.  I reached out to grab something and the camera strap was tangled with that something and the camera just plummeted to the concrete.  I had the camera for about two weeks. 

[Orguy]

Opinions vary widely on straps and rings, but straps are such a personal thing, I wonder why we even debate the subject.  Personally, I find most straps too short as I like to wear my camera with the strap across my back.   To do that, I contacted a Portuguese camera strap supplier I found on eBay, and he made me a leather strap of the required length, with a neck pad, and lug protectors and a couple of decent rings.  It didn't cost me anything near the ridiculous prices being asked by some manufacturers and it was designed and made to measure.

The rings supplied with my Q strap were a dull metal, were weak,  and were a smaller diameter than normal.  The problem with "small And weak, is that it doesn't take much movement for the leather strap to find one of the openings and start unwinding itself.   It sounds unbelievable and impossible to some, but that's what happened to me and it has happened to others and on more than one occasion to Thorsten Overgaard on his M9 or M240.  In fact he reported this on his blog and may even have posted comments on the Leica Forum.

Check out Murphys Law and Sods Law!.  "if something can go wrong - it probably will", so you make your own mind up whether you understand the risk and take steps to reduce it.   You could simply buy better / larger rings for a very small amount of money.  You could obtain triangular rings which some believe to be less prone to the unwinding problem.

If you read all the posts on the forum, you will also have seen the report last week by one member regarding his expensive accident which was the result of weak implementation of a design of a finger-grip on his new Q.    We all have to use our personal or group experience to evaluate the available solutions .  Hence my warning about the rings.   Keep the strap, replace the rings. It's no big deal.

 

here's my new strap with integrated leather protector and strong ring. At no time can the ring touch or damage the camera body.

 

 

Lucerne - thank you for your answer. I think your compromise to just replace the rings and use the supplied Leica leather strap with it is good. That being said,  which rings would people suggest? This split D ring for $5.99 from B&H seems closest:

 

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1186320&gclid=CjwKEAiAo7C2BRDgqODGq5r38DsSJAAv7dTP4pNUOB3ibOvD7g4TGwRgbQzZQFFBrNJ92npuso1M7hoCzobw_wcB&is=REG&ap=y&m=Y&A=details&Q=

[kirkmc]

Is there a third-party version of the finger loop? I'm not spending £100 for that, though I'd like to try it out. I'd still use a wrist strap, though, like a Peak Design Cuff, or something similar. 

[Orguy]

On 2/23/2016 at 11:49 PM, Orguy said:

 

 

Lucerne - thank you for your answer. I think your compromise to just replace the rings and use the supplied Leica leather strap with it is good. That being said,  which rings would people suggest? This split D ring for $5.99 from B&H seems closest:

 

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1186320&gclid=CjwKEAiAo7C2BRDgqODGq5r38DsSJAAv7dTP4pNUOB3ibOvD7g4TGwRgbQzZQFFBrNJ92npuso1M7hoCzobw_wcB&is=REG&ap=y&m=Y&A=details&Q=

I keep hearing about the failing metal rings supplied with the Leica strap. 

Do you recommend these split D rings from B&H or something else to upgrade this part?https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1437716-REG/ruggard_tsr_2pk_split_triangle_d_ring_twin.html

[Guest]

On 2/20/2016 at 8:52 PM, cloneroom said:

I was furious as is expected, I had raised my worry with Leica Australia already .... and here we are

Sorry this happened, but you still used it after raising concerns? Maybe why they’re saying it was your fault.

Personally if I had doubts on an accessory, it would be binned or returned for refund. 

Again, sorry this has happened and hope you get the resolution you require. 

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, OThomas said:

Sorry this happened, but you still used it after raising concerns? Maybe why they’re saying it was your fault.

Personally if I had doubts on an accessory, it would be binned or returned for refund. 

Again, sorry this has happened and hope you get the resolution you require. 

As this was over 6 years ago I also hope the OP got it sorted