WLAN Settings: causes camera to reboot

[slikrik98]

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Today I unpacked a new Leica Q. I have been unable to get WLAN to work (either as a host, or connecting to my network), with two separate Android phones. If I go the QR code route, the app on the phone successfully connects to the camera's wifi network, however the app and the camera never connect (it just times out eventually).

 

What's even more concerning is about 50% of the time, whenever I power on my camera and go to the WLAN settings, the camera immediately reboots. Same thing: I navigate to the WLAN settings again and it instantly reboots.

 

So I did a factory reset on the camera. Same thing: full reboot, however this time, it kept restarting with the initial Leica animation (which they only show the first time you power on your device). Every time the WLAN reboot would occur, I'd see the animation and I'd have to yet again enter my time, and initial setup questions.

 

The last time this happened, it rebooted, but then the screen stayed black. Flipping the power switch to off and back to on did nothing; a $4500 paperweight. I had to remove the battery and re-insert, only to be greeted with the initial animation again.

 

Has anyone seen this type of behavior before? Do I simply have a defective unit? Not a great first impression with Leica, unfortunately. I really wanted to love this thing but I can't reliably keep it powered on.

 

-Rick

Edited February 7, 2017 by slikrik98

[Leica Guy]

Rick, Bummer it should not operate like that. I use the wifi connection with an iPhone and it operates as expected. If it's relatively convenient, I'd send it back and ask for a replacement. Perhaps someone else on the forum who uses an Android can offer some advice. Good luck. That's a terrible first experience with such a nice and I might add expensive camera.

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[etk]

I've had practically no joy with the WLAN modes on my new Q either. I'm using an iPhone 7+ and at least 70% of the time can't even manage a connection. Even when it does connect, transferring images hardly ever works and the slightest little thing will cause a loss of connection which means a reboot of the phone, camera or both.

 

Overall it has the feel of an app that has been put out with little or no testing, one that can't even do the simplest of tasks - very strange considering how polished and downright usable the rest of the camera is. I've given up with it for now, if they release a new version I might come back to it but as it stands it's pointless.

[Herve5]

- which version of the Q firmware do you have? (if not the last 2.0 one, consider upgrading)

- which android devices, which version of android?

- when you set the Q to connect your home wifi, can you verify it remembers the wifi access codes?

- did you try with only one SDcard?

Even with the old Q ROM, connecting both to home LAN and deploying/using the app on Andro 5 & 6 did work here...

[slikrik98]

@herve5

 

I tried on a Google pixel and a Note 5, so two modern Android devices. I've only tried this with one SD card.

 

I'm also on firmware 2.0

 

I can deal with a flaky wifi option (although I will say this was a big feature for me because I've had nice cameras in the past without wifi and the added burden of having to sync photos was a high enough bar that the cameras usually stayed at home), I'm just worried that there may be something defective with the unit.

 

I'll replace it.

 

Thanks!

[slikrik98]

Update: this morning I cannot get the camera to power on at all. The battery should be close to fully charged, but there's something else strange. After realizing it wouldn't turn on, I thought perhaps somehow the battery was fully drained (not sure how this would be the case, since the indicator said fully charged when I turned off the camera for the night). So I put the battery in the battery charger, the green charging indicator light came on, but then went off right away (before, it stayed on for a couple hours while it was charging).

 

It makes me question whether or not something is wrong with the battery, and if that could possibly be the reason for the device's flakiness.

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The camera might also hang on power on if the SD card is damaged.

[Herve5]

For having used one of these Eye-Fi SDcards in the past, I can say, at least with Eye-Fi, using Wifi does drain power (a lot).

What was the wifi status when you switched the camera off? (mine is always off unless I use it for this purpose)

One thing you could do is getting back to the reseller, and try with another battery and another SDcard...

(I for one systematically buy my cams with 2 batteries)

[slikrik98]

I think all along my battery was not fully charged even though it was showing it was on the indicator. I was in the UK (with a US unit) trying to charge w/ a US-UK converter and I think that may have led to a low-charged battery.

 

My guess is switching WLAN mode on was enough to sap the battery, and now that I'm home and confirmed I have a fully charged battery, all those issues went away.