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Come on Leica give us a firmware !


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Leica Q has been my favorites camera for weekend and familly travel but unfortunately so much potential in tge camera is not being used because of missing features...

 

1-Now everyone knows this camera is ready and capable for 4K so plz add this via firmware or at least give us the 25 and 50 fps option.

2-it can be used for proper flash photography so how hard is it to add the option to turn off exposure simulation ?

 

Plz Leica upgrade the features in Q we need Fuji like software updates with new features i am sure u can do it if Fuji can do it !

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And let me lock AE or AF with a button press, i.e. act as a switch, not have to hold the button down. 

 

I'd also like the Function button to bring up a quick menu with user-selected options as to what is in the menu. I'd like quick access to the EVF/LCD view modes, JPEG settings (shoot raw but like to go between color and monochrome) and the digital zoom function. Everything in the current function button menu is basically worthless to me; nothing that I need quick access to is there so it is a wasted button on my Q. 

Edited by seratti
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I wish Leica would learn from Apple and give regular updates to cameras in their first decade of use. My iMac is 8 years old and I just updated to the latest OS. For free! It greatly enhances the usability of my old computer. Eventually they stop including older computers and I decide it’s time to buy a new one soon.

 

Having said the above, I wish they would allow re-purposing the video button to some other function. For me, I’d use it to select one of the focus modes. That would be very handy.

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Leica's firmware department is lazy and lacks skills in my opinion, lots of small bugs and 'workarounds' are used by them to make their own cameras work... 

 

The Leica S would even ignore the shutter release button in an earlier firmware version if GPS signal was available but an accurate location was not acquired yet. I wrote them 5 times telling them how to reproduce the problem.

 

4 years after release of the camera it was finally fixed... 

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Leica ignores the Q customers. They got your money. :-(

 

Every cheap camera gets regularly firmware updates. Look at Olympus or Fujifilm - they improve their cameras with new functions and bug fixes and it feels like getting a new camera. And Leica? Nothing!

 

The Q is a good camera, but there is more potential to make it to one of the best cameras. Hardware is only one part today, software is the other part.

 

There are some failures in the Q firmware and many functions that can be optimized for a better handling of the camera. We don't need new functions, we only want a better and optimized tool.

 

Leica should wake up. The internet and this forum are full of wishes for a new firmware for the Q. The Q was my first Leica and I sold a camera with several lenses to buy the Leica Q. I love the Q, but I think it will be my last Leica, because Leica ignores customer feedback. I thought a small german company listens to the customers. Japanese manufacturers are more attentive when it comes to listening to customers.

 

How long do we have to wait for a firmware update? Another two years? Or will the Q have the same short and boring life as some X-cameras - dead after one generation (X-Vario) and no firmware updates at all?

 

I would be very surprised to see any new firmware updates to the Q. I do not believe it anymore. They forgot us. :-(

 

I hope I am wrong.
 

Edited by Qurious
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Leica ignores the Q customers. They got your money. :-(

 

Every cheap camera gets regularly firmware updates. Look at Olympus or Fujifilm - they improve their cameras with new functions and bug fixes and it feels like getting a new camera. And Leica? Nothing!

 

The Q is a good camera, but there is more potential to make it to one of the best cameras. Hardware is only one part today, software is the other part.

 

There are some failures in the Q firmware and many functions that can be optimized for a better handling of the camera. We don't need new functions, we only want a better and optimized tool.

 

Leica should wake up. The internet and this forum are full of wishes for a new firmware for the Q. The Q was my first Leica and I sold a camera with several lenses to buy the Leica Q. I love the Q, but I think it will be my last Leica, because Leica ignores customer feedback. I thought a small german company listens to the customers. Japanese manufacturers are more attentive when it comes to listening to customers.

 

How long do we have to wait for a firmware update? Another two years? Or will the Q have the same short and boring life as some X-cameras - dead after one generation (X-Vario) and no firmware updates at all?

 

I would be very surprised to see any new firmware updates to the Q. I do not believe it anymore. They forgot us. :-(

 

I hope I am wrong.

 

 

I suppose that Leica would dismiss what you say but of course what you are describing here have all the hallmarks of an attitude towards their customers which is lacking in empathy and could never be described as customer-facing.
I'm not sure why Leica is showing such poor judgement in respect of the treatment of their customers but they are certainly out of step with the camera industry and pretty well all technology industries in general.
 
They certainly don't seem to appreciate that their customers' expectations are far different now than they were when Leica was producing film cameras.
Leica doesn't seem to appreciate that their customers are far more aware now of the possibilities which are available through firmware programming and Leica doesn't seem to have appreciated that their customers tend to measure their expectations against what is being provided by other camera producers.
 
Even if it is just a marketing trick, Fuji in particular produces regular firmware updates for their cameras – even if those cameras have been superseded by newer models. This is fantastic customer service. This is fantastic customer care. Fuji customers quite justifiably get the impression that they are still being looked after even though firmware upgrades help to keep their out-of-date cameras still reasonably current and therefore unlikely to be replaced.
Leica don't seem to appreciate that this customer-facing approach nurtures brand loyalty.
Maybe Leica thinks that by paying £5000 for a camera and many thousands of pounds for lenses automatically produces brand loyalty because customers who have invested so much are less likely to want to leave the brand because there is too much money at stake: a sort of honey-trap.
 
Leica doesn't seem to realise that a few firmware updates, however minor, "freshens up" the camera for their customers and keeps it exciting and new even if it is a couple of years old.
 
And finally in my view, one of the biggest errors of judgement that Leica makes is their failure to communicate with their client base.
Leica must be fully aware of all the threads on this forum asking about firmware updates, suggesting improvements, identifying possible glitches – and yet firmware updates to one side, there is merely a deafening silence.
 
I'm not sure that there has ever been somebody from Leica on these forum pages discussing or enquiring or even simply telling us that, no, there won't be any more updates on their way.
 
Of course Leica is generally speaking great if something goes wrong with your camera and you have to return it for repair. We hear lots of stories of potentially very expensive repairs being carried out to cameras which are well out of warranty. A big Kudos for that. But by doing this Leica demonstrates that they engage well with their hardware but seem unable to engage with their customers.
 
In other circumstances this could be described as a kind of Autism.
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And let me lock AE or AF with a button press, i.e. act as a switch, not have to hold the button down. 

 

I'd also like the Function button to bring up a quick menu with user-selected options as to what is in the menu. I'd like quick access to the EVF/LCD view modes, JPEG settings (shoot raw but like to go between color and monochrome) and the digital zoom function. Everything in the current function button menu is basically worthless to me; nothing that I need quick access to is there so it is a wasted button on my Q. 

I use the function button for user profiles, one of which is set to monochome. I agree with your assessment but this proved a quick workaround for at least one issue you mention.

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I use the function button for user profiles, one of which is set to monochome. I agree with your assessment but this proved a quick workaround for at least one issue you mention.

 

Thanks, yes, I do the same. I use this same method for a quick-change of the auto ISO minimum shutter speed. 

Edited by seratti
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Would be great if the "framelines" button can be customize just like the FN. Also, there should be another LCD display setting - basicaly LCD display off. It can be disabled in the menu, but takes a lot of time changing the setting (this is vf only setting). It should work like this: in auto display mode it does basically what the menu only vfdoes, just quicker with back display button. but also can be usefull if you have the vf off, and only use screen. Than you can go all black and still take photos...

 

BTW: can one change names of customeprofiles? if not, this is another thing to add...

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I don’t know how often, but I am certain that someone at Leica monitors this forum. They are a small company and likely with limited resources. As a former R&D Manager, I can say it’s always a challenge supporting improvements to existing platforms versus designing new ones. Never any easy answers.

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And let me lock AE or AF with a button press, i.e. act as a switch, not have to hold the button down. 

 

I'd also like the Function button to bring up a quick menu with user-selected options as to what is in the menu. I'd like quick access to the EVF/LCD view modes, JPEG settings (shoot raw but like to go between color and monochrome) and the digital zoom function. Everything in the current function button menu is basically worthless to me; nothing that I need quick access to is there so it is a wasted button on my Q. 

 

I agree with you regarding the AE lock button. The thumb wheel doesn't provide options enough. I would like to use it to change the frame from 28 to 35 or 50 mm.

I never use the exposure compensation and this wheel doesn't do much else.

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And let me lock AE or AF with a button press, i.e. act as a switch, not have to hold the button down. 

 

I'd also like the Function button to bring up a quick menu with user-selected options as to what is in the menu. I'd like quick access to the EVF/LCD view modes, JPEG settings (shoot raw but like to go between color and monochrome) and the digital zoom function. Everything in the current function button menu is basically worthless to me; nothing that I need quick access to is there so it is a wasted button on my Q. 

I believe that you can lock AF with a button press. However, for AEL, you have to hold the button in. I agree that it should take only a button press and hope that there is a firmware correction.

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I honestly believe many Leica Q user wouldn’t even notice there is an upgrade, maybe that is why nothing is coming.

Seems like a lot of people have been clamoring for a long time about this...not sure why you think people wouldn't notice. Especially considering a few new versions of the Q have been released, I would assume that the product cycle is going to last for a while before we see the next 'Q'. 

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I believe that you can lock AF with a button press. However, for AEL, you have to hold the button in. I agree that it should take only a button press and hope that there is a firmware correction.

In a sense that's true, but only because they don't allow the shutter button to continue to control AF lock when back button AF lock is set as an option. This seems weird to me as all my other cameras still allow the shutter button to be AF/AE even while back button AF lock is set as an option. In this way you can use the camera traditionally with AF/AE on the shutter half press, but then when focus lock is needed it can be locked with the back button and the shutter button becomes the AE lock. With the Q, once the option for back button AF is set, you no longer can use the shutter button for AF, only AE exclusively. 

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and slightly off topic, but if a new Q model is released, I'll be in heaven if it's totally waterproof!

I was on vacation last month (Pacific Northwest) and because of the rain I ended up leaving the Q in my room. What good is a camera that you are afraid of using in the rain?

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