Daniel Beacock Posted December 19, 2016 Share #1 Posted December 19, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi All I'm a bit concerned with the behaviour of my 3 year old M240 lately, and it seems to be getting worse. Hard to explain but it just seems that the shutter release is a little "temperamental" at times. I can't seem to pin it down to a particular time, although it is possible it starts behaving that way more after a burst or two of continuous shooting. Even when i think the buffer is empty, (ie the little red light has stopped flashing, completely), the shutter release will occasionally allow me to press the shutter button, but nothing will happen for a split second or two, and then the shutter fires, obviously hopelessly missing the required point of release. If i am using the EVF the EVF will also go black for that split second as well, so something is definitely happening electronically. I've tried formatting the card, both external with SDFormatter and internally, but the issue remains, and odd though it sounds, it may even get a little worse when the card is over 50% full. Main card is a SanDisk 32Gb Extreme Pro U3 95mb/s. Tried another card and again it was mostly fine until the card got closer to it's full limit and the issue becomes more pronounced again. The frustrating thing is this definitely did not use to happen. I shoot a lot of theatre work, low light, sometimes quick movement and, although I am fully aware that the M240 is far from the ideal tool for the job, it has always delivered in spades and it's never caused me any problems to doubt using it. Now though..... now I'm seriously having second thoughts about it's suitability, it is that noticeable a decline in responsiveness. I've read a couple of other grumbles on here about sluggish shutter release. Is this a problem that is just coming to the surface with the M240? Anyone else see a decline of this sort? I'm loathed to give up using it, but it is starting to really bug me. Thanks Daniel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 19, 2016 Posted December 19, 2016 Hi Daniel Beacock, Take a look here Sluggish shutter?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted December 19, 2016 Share #2 Posted December 19, 2016 I had it once, about two years ago. Leica replaced the shutter in a quick turnaround. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpittal Posted December 19, 2016 Share #3 Posted December 19, 2016 when my battery gets low, my 240 and 246 seem to slow down (esp with EVF; such a joy when EVF is removed and everything gets real snappy again). WIth a 3 yr old battery, I wonder if battery age and decreased capacity may be an issue. Have you tried another battery? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beacock Posted December 19, 2016 Author Share #4 Posted December 19, 2016 I had it once, about two years ago. Leica replaced the shutter in a quick turnaround. Thanks Jaap. Presumably this was under warranty? Did they specify a cause as to why they needed to replace it? when my battery gets low, my 240 and 246 seem to slow down (esp with EVF; such a joy when EVF is removed and everything gets real snappy again). WIth a 3 yr old battery, I wonder if battery age and decreased capacity may be an issue. Have you tried another battery? Interesting point. I have two batteries, both are similar ages, but I will try one versus the other with that in mind. Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 19, 2016 Share #5 Posted December 19, 2016 Yes- it was warranty, but I would not be surprised if there would be be a bit of courtesy in a defect like this. No, they did not specify the exct cause and I did not inquire. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted December 19, 2016 Share #6 Posted December 19, 2016 [...] Main card is a SanDisk 32Gb Extreme Pro U3 95mb/s. Tried another card and again it was mostly fine until the card got closer to it's full limit and the issue becomes more pronounced again. [...] This card was rather slow, if not the slowest, when i did some tests on the M240 2 years ago. I would try a Sandisk Extreme Pro 64 GB to see if it fixes your issue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
albireo_double Posted December 19, 2016 Share #7 Posted December 19, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) I had it about two years ago with a new M-P. Leica replaced the shutter in a slow turnaround (10 weeks). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike51 Posted December 19, 2016 Share #8 Posted December 19, 2016 My M240 exhibits this behavior (as described by Daniel) from time to time. I notice it when using the EVF. I find it irritating, but not a calamity. I haven't monitored when it tends to occur (ie battery strength, card space etc), but will from now on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ricoh Posted December 19, 2016 Share #9 Posted December 19, 2016 It sounds like some form of processor overload between pressing the release button and the shutter being activated, and not the shutter mechanism itself. Clearly the manufacturers know best, but a shutter replacement for the fault described doesn't sound logical. Incidentally, there is a known defect with the shutter 'system' in a number of M240's. The shutter fails to fire in response to the release request, resulting in 'black frames' being recorded. In such circumstances the shutter makes a weird, feeble noise alerting the user immediately to a lost frame. I've had it happen to the first M240 I owned, Leica replaced the shutter (8 week turnaround) however the replacement shutter failed in the same manner. I rejected the failed camera and received a new M240 as a replacement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beacock Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share #10 Posted December 20, 2016 It sounds like some form of processor overload between pressing the release button and the shutter being activated, and not the shutter mechanism itself. Clearly the manufacturers know best, but a shutter replacement for the fault described doesn't sound logical. Incidentally, there is a known defect with the shutter 'system' in a number of M240's. The shutter fails to fire in response to the release request, resulting in 'black frames' being recorded. In such circumstances the shutter makes a weird, feeble noise alerting the user immediately to a lost frame. I've had it happen to the first M240 I owned, Leica replaced the shutter (8 week turnaround) however the replacement shutter failed in the same manner. I rejected the failed camera and received a new M240 as a replacement. That's what it feels like, like it's struggling to keep up in some way, even though the buffer is apparently clear, it stalls. Damn frustrating! I'm going to try the card Jaap mentions plus try each battery in turn and see if either of those solve it. If that all fails, back to the mothership! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ricoh Posted December 20, 2016 Share #11 Posted December 20, 2016 It could be many things, but it does 'sound' more electronic than electro-mechanical. Don't forget the camera's shutter should fire without a memory card, and it would be interesting to understand how it behaves with the card removed. Li-ion batteries have a rather flat discharge curve so I would be surprised if this was the culprit. It would be really useful if manufacturers provided a detailed description of the repairs they carry out in response to reported issues. Adding this information to the FEQs would help owners no end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
okram Posted December 20, 2016 Share #12 Posted December 20, 2016 My M240-P has, and this is bothering me, shutter sound that differs from time to time. Occasionally sluggish would be good term. If I turn on the camera and fire for the first time, the sound feels like it has a slight delay compared to the next shots. Sound of the next few shots is swift, shorter untill I pause, just a second and then again one "slow". Shooting continously, I can hear this from time to time, like it stutters. Sometimes it feels/sounds like its shooting 1/15s... LV off and classic mode metering, manual exp. at any exposure setting and any iso. All exposures are as set, there seems to be no problem with exposure at all, in this regard. Anybody can check this or noticed this? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ricoh Posted December 20, 2016 Share #13 Posted December 20, 2016 I believe I've experienced this on my new replacement M240; just that short yet discernible difference in time lag between pressing the shutter release button and the shutter firing and making its usual noise. I've tried lighting a candle in the city cathedral ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodies Posted December 20, 2016 Share #14 Posted December 20, 2016 I hope you've all sent your cameras in for repair. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
okram Posted December 20, 2016 Share #15 Posted December 20, 2016 Why? It works fine, sound differs in a predictable manner- first shot after pause. Its a small difference, I thought its normal, but a bit strange. Coming from M8.2...its great. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ricoh Posted December 20, 2016 Share #16 Posted December 20, 2016 I hope you've all sent your cameras in for repair.And from my experience say goodbye for 8 weeks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beacock Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share #17 Posted December 23, 2016 This card was rather slow, if not the slowest, when i did some tests on the M240 2 years ago. I would try a Sandisk Extreme Pro 64 GB to see if it fixes your issue. lct hit the nail on the head. Changed the card to the 64Gb one and Bingo! Back to how it always used to be. Amazed that that was what it was, as that means the 32Gb card has somehow deteriorated in performance over the 3 years I've been using it. Surely a solid state card shouldn't do that? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrogers Posted December 23, 2016 Share #18 Posted December 23, 2016 lct hit the nail on the head. Changed the card to the 64Gb one and Bingo! Back to how it always used to be. Amazed that that was what it was, as that means the 32Gb card has somehow deteriorated in performance over the 3 years I've been using it. Surely a solid state card shouldn't do that? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk These cards (even the cheapest ones) are surprisingly complex. They have internal processors managing their media, moving stuff around, ensuring that all parts of the device get exercised (so they wear out at roughly the same rate), recognizing and throwing away bad blocks of memory. The camera is totally unaware that the card is doing this behind its back. The end result is a large capacity card that seems quite reliable, even though large parts of that card may have been set aside as unusable. Over time, a card that doesn't have many spare blocks left could get noticeably slower (often they just stop working altogether). If an older card starts to slow down, I'd get a new card. Card failure is likely not far off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted December 23, 2016 Share #19 Posted December 23, 2016 The 32Gb was slow out of the box when i did my tests two years ago but your copy needs perhaps a good formatting. I would try to format it with SDFormatter if you didn't do so already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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