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M262 hourglass and lock up problem

262

By 262
in Leica M (Type 240 / 262)

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262

262

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Hi!

 

I have been looking solutions for following problems and seen that in previous years many m240 users have had some of the similar problems but in recently no one haven't much complained about these problems any more.

 

1) Some photos show magenta cast when I zoom in the preview. Seems to happen only when I shoot DNG.

2) Camera will lock up regularly (sometimes after taking 30 photos and sometimes after 100 photos) and only way to recover is to do power off/on. I have pined down that about minute or so before the crash, the LCD will show hourglass every time the SD card led is blinking, so basically every time I take a photo.

I also want to note that when auto power off is set for example to 2 minutes, then I can just wait 2 minutes and camera will power off, after which I press the shutter to wake the camera up and proceed to take more photos. So for some users some lockups may happen even without the user knowing it, because camera will recover from them with auto power off.

 

I have M262 with the latest firmware 1.0.0.6.

I use 32GB and 64GB sandisk 95mb/s cards which I always format with SD Card Formatter after the use. I have also tried 32GB and 16GB sandisk 45mb/s cards but the outcome is the same.

Battery level seems not to have any effect on this. Fully charged battery have same chance for lockup as under 20% one.

My workflow for taking pictures is most part following: 1) Take the photo 2) use 3 or 5 second auto review 3) sometimes zoom in to confirm the focus 4) never turn the camera off.

 

My local Leica shop says that Leica has always had these problems and sending it to Germany will probably not fix these issues.

 

So is it normal?

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jim0266

jim0266

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No, this is not normal. I am about 10K on my 262 and it does not glitch. Did the camera come with this firmware and it not, did it have these issues before? Chatting with Tony Rose at Popflash one day he recommended reloading firmware for weird issues like you describe. 

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262

262

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Thanks for the suggestions!

Camera came with 1.0.0.6 firmware. Since its very easy to replicate this problem, I did try reset and lockup still happened, after that I re-flashed M262_1006.FW and lockup still happened.

 

Here is google drive link for the video which will show how the lockup will occur, starting with the hourglass. Video should play in browser.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mJueZ5G3m_Gk1U2JI9-vjgpMZ-N46UTW/view

 

I personally started to think that I may use DNG preview zoom too aggressively after taking the photo? When used JPEG+DNG then probably JPEG is used for preview as it's easier for the camera.

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262

262

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Do anyone know what this hourglass icon mean? Here is more similar topics:

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/262619-hourglass-in-the-evf/

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/241564-hourglass-and-weird-behaviour/

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/261613-leica-m-240-fw-2030-problems/?p=3107233

 

I've also tried to switch DNG only to DNG+JPEG right after I saw hourglass the first time. It will prevent the lockup from happening when I pause about 10 seconds from each shoot, but the hourglass will always pop up when I take the photo, even when there is 10 minutes between the shoots (auto power off is disabled).

 

So its seems that it may be some sort of emergency mode which will kick in if something has failed?

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262

262

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Well, camera is bought second hand and inquire about warranty has not given any results from Leica support email (customer.care@leica-camera.com). They take more than a week to answer?

 

Since it's very easy to replicate, maybe someone with m240 on m262 can give it a try to make sure its not firmware bug?

 

1) Auto Power Off must be disabled.

2) File format must be DNG only.

3) Auto review must be at least 3 seconds.

4) ISO must be at least 2500 (seems to happen faster if the shot is made in low light, meaning it takes more power from the camera)

 

Take the photo and zoom in the preview right away, take another photo and zoom in the preview right away and so on. Sometimes it's enough to just take 10 pictures with this settings until the "hourglass mode" kicks in. After you see the hourglass you can take about 2 or 3 additional photos with this method and the lockup should occur.

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Exodies

Exodies

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I tried this using your settings on my M 240. I didn't get an hourglass but the camera did lock up after 12 shots. Not the old type of lockup where the red recording light stayed on but the shutter wouldn't fire anymore and the menus were inactive. Pressing the shutter caused the shutter speed in the viewfinder to become --- but nothing else happened.

 

Anyone else?

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262

262

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Hourglass might be m262 thing but it might be also unrelated.

But yeah, your description matches my problem - all menus are inactive and shutter will not fire. Thank you for testing it! It will give some hope that it might be firmware problem and Leica might fix this, especially when there is very specific steps to replicate the problem.

 


Here is google drive link for the video which will show how the lockup will occur, starting with the hourglass. Video should play in browser.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mJueZ5G3m_Gk1U2JI9-vjgpMZ-N46UTW/view

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
262

262

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I've got response from Leica support and they would like me to send my camera to them, but since Christmas is coming and I don't want to spend it without taking any photos, I probably send my camera in beginning of next year.

 

I also did let them know about this forum topic and this might be firmware bug, so about that I still wait them to have a response.

 

And as a side note, today Leica released new firmware 1.0.0.7 for M262. As soon as I got it installed, I will run some new tests to see if something has changed about this issue.

 

If there is someone else who has seen same problem but does not want to publicly post here, then you can leave private message or look me up on reddit /u/salasource

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Gregm61

Gregm61

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I've had maybe 2-3 lockups in the 2 years I've owned my M262 now. Removing and reinserting the battery solved the issue.

 

Of course, two years means the initial warranty period is almost up (gulp), LOL....nah, I'm not too worried....

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262

262

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I've had maybe 2-3 lockups in the 2 years I've owned my M262 now. Removing and reinserting the battery solved the issue.

 

Of course, two years means the initial warranty period is almost up (gulp), LOL....nah, I'm not too worried....

There is probably reason behind every lookup, and the reasons can vary widely.

As of the current case, if you don't use said settings and shooting workflow then you should not be affected by this bug.

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  • 3 months later...
262

262

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I asked Leica about the status of this bug fix and got following reply:

"We do not have the exact information unfortunately when the firmware update is available.

I am sorry for this information."

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262

262

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Now I got this response from Leica. They promised to release the firmware fix for the bug that causes crashes and now they just drop the support for M262 and M240 after my camera is out of warranty and I can't return it to the store.

We sincerely regret that you have been inconvenienced by described error. This is a firmware-related problem, a new firmware will unfortunately not be released for your Leica M262.

 

We ask for your understanding that it is not possible to develop and test a software that works absolutely flawless under all conditions and settings. We must focus on optimizing the most common and relevant errors and, if necessary, leaving minor errors untreated to ensure the stability and quality of the firmware.

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frame-it

frame-it

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so no more support for M240 and M262 ?

 

 

 

Now I got this response from Leica. They promised to release the firmware fix for the bug that causes crashes and now they just drop the support for M262 and M240 after my camera is out of warranty and I can't return it to the store.

We sincerely regret that you have been inconvenienced by described error. This is a firmware-related problem, a new firmware will unfortunately not be released for your Leica M262.

 

We ask for your understanding that it is not possible to develop and test a software that works absolutely flawless under all conditions and settings. We must focus on optimizing the most common and relevant errors and, if necessary, leaving minor errors untreated to ensure the stability and quality of the firmware.

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