Leica CL/TL2 and TL Firmware Update with Improvements, New Features and Bug Fixes

[scott kirkpatrick]

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People who have undergone L-mount firmware upgrades know that if you follow the directions and upgrade with a freshly formatted chip, you will end up with the first shots starting in a directory 101LEICA and filenames like L1000001.  That may not be the first letter you had in mind and it is certainly not the next file number to follow the most recent shot you took on your regular chip.  Here's what I do to avoid this.  I'd be happy to hear of a simpler subsitute.

 

Ignore the stuff about formatting a fresh chip.  Place the new firmware .upd file in the root of chip currently in use.  If you have run through more than one chip with the old firmware, you may find there are directories such as 103LEICA with current files in it, but no 100LEICA, 101LEICA, and 102LEICA.  Those earlier directories were created on chips you filled and removed long ago.  The new firmware doesn't know about them.  So if this is your situation, create the missing directories on the chip.  Leave them empty.  Now put the chip in the CL, with a fresh battery, save your profiles, install the update, restore your profiles, and take a test shot.  It should follow your current filenumbers, or at worst come in a new directory, numbered one higher than the last one you created. 

[scott kirkpatrick]

It works for me. Long press on the left wheel brings up a close padlock icon and another long press an open one. Great when children are using the camera... as long as they don't know how to unlock it...

That wasn't my concern, although I do hand the camera around the table in restaurants and that would be a good use of the new total lock.  What irks me is that unlock doesn't unlock the thing that gets locked most often.

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[SrMi]

I am also somewhat disappointed by the latest upgrade. CL is an excellent camera for manual focus, but not so much for auto-focus mode:

- no back button focus (but I do not see how it could be well implemented with current button layout)

- no way to (only) lock the focus point movement (prevents an accidental move)

 

I have a hard time understanding what the new lock function wants to accomplish.

 

Still, CL is a great camera with great lenses.

[wda]

I don't understand the button lock feature...what is its purpose?

I never had an issue in the first place with accidentally pushing buttons...but the new update basically locks everything except the shutter release. Why?

You don'T have to use it. It needs a sub-menu to be more selective in its application.

[ramarren]

The frustration level very much depends on what sort of subjects you might want to point the camera at and in turn how quickly you might need to make fine or detailed setting adjustments, the ability to do which is at least for me what decides how versatile any camera is, and in my maybe less than humble view nothing digitally so far has equaled let alone beaten the simplicity of having a 'M' like shutter speed dial coupled to a aperture ring.

Hence in the heat of a split second photo opportunity moment my CL before this latest firmware was already far too slow to fine tune, and post firmware is now slower still, hence my frustration as otherwise this camera is so capable of such superb results and could be so much more versatile than it is. Don (frustrated) Morley, Ex News and Sports Photographer.    

 

 

So ... Your frustration seems to be the result of trying to use a camera inappropriate to your needs or personal control desires. 

 

I have similar issues using any camera with automation vs a simple manual camera. I know my exposure/focus/etc needs very well and can do them by touch and gut instinct: I generally have no need or desire for an AF system to run focusing for me, AE system to run exposure for me, etc. So I don't use AF or AE when I'm trying to do those sorts of things, and when fine control plus speed are essential—this is why I have a Leica M-D typ 262. No controls except the bare minimum, no in-camera image processing, just a simple film M with a digital sensor in it. Perfect, for whatever the range of subjects is that fits within its capabilities. 

 

I use AE and AF when I'm doing non-critical, casual shooting, when timing and manual control are not essential. My SL was great at that, my Olympus E-M1 and E-PL7 are great at that, my Light L16 is great at that, my iPhone 8 Plus is great at that. 

 

I'm buying the CL body-only to be able to do the other things that my SL did which I can't do sensibly with the M-D: macro, table top, and maybe a little bit of long telephoto work. Its smaller format with the same pixel density as the SL is a bit of a plus for some of these efforts, its TTL viewing is essential; its compatibility with my M and R lenses and accessories is a huge win. So many of the CL features will forever be unused in my hands, but studying the owners manual indicates to me that the controls will be simple and easy to work for my needs. I'll know for sure when I get it and spend some time doing what I have in mind with it. If it doesn't work out ...

 

I've had frustrations similar to yours in the past. They generally lead me to selling/trading the camera for something more apropos. Why spend so much money and stay frustrated? Better to lose a little on a trade, consider it the price of my education, and move on.

 

To return to the subject of this thread, the firmware update: by and large, the ability to configure the dials more flexibly is the largest win to me. It's nice to be able to put the controls where I want them. The button lock feature is also interesting and might be useful ... It's sometimes easy to accidentally hit a dial or button when doing tabletop work where what you really want to do is just set up the capture scene and drop different items in front of the camera without disturbing anything. Dunno about that, but I'll see how it works out. 

[Guest VVJ]

Red Dot on the new 2.0 firmware:

https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2018/06/firmware-ver-2-0-for-leica-cl-released/

[jay968]

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Has anyone noticed an image quality improvement since the update? I've made a lot of mention of my frustrations with out of camera image quality from the CL but I have to say that since the update I am seeing some of the most gorgeous color and tonalities that I have ever seen from a digital camera.

[lct]

Wishful thinking? Just kidding.

[jaapv]

Has anyone noticed an image quality improvement since the update? I've made a lot of mention of my frustrations with out of camera image quality from the CL but I have to say that since the update I am seeing some of the most gorgeous color and tonalities that I have ever seen from a digital camera.

I was waiting for this post  by somebody

[LocalHero1953]

The firmware upgrade was accompanied by a squidgyware upgrade to my brain which has improved composition and timing to an extraordinary degree. Well done Leica!

[Don Morley]

So ... Your frustration seems to be the result of trying to use a camera inappropriate to your needs or personal control desires. 

 

I have similar issues using any camera with automation vs a simple manual camera. I know my exposure/focus/etc needs very well and can do them by touch and gut instinct: I generally have no need or desire for an AF system to run focusing for me, AE system to run exposure for me, etc. So I don't use AF or AE when I'm trying to do those sorts of things, and when fine control plus speed are essential—this is why I have a Leica M-D typ 262. No controls except the bare minimum, no in-camera image processing, just a simple film M with a digital sensor in it. Perfect, for whatever the range of subjects is that fits within its capabilities. 

 

I use AE and AF when I'm doing non-critical, casual shooting, when timing and manual control are not essential. My SL was great at that, my Olympus E-M1 and E-PL7 are great at that, my Light L16 is great at that, my iPhone 8 Plus is great at that. 

 

I'm buying the CL body-only to be able to do the other things that my SL did which I can't do sensibly with the M-D: macro, table top, and maybe a little bit of long telephoto work. Its smaller format with the same pixel density as the SL is a bit of a plus for some of these efforts, its TTL viewing is essential; its compatibility with my M and R lenses and accessories is a huge win. So many of the CL features will forever be unused in my hands, but studying the owners manual indicates to me that the controls will be simple and easy to work for my needs. I'll know for sure when I get it and spend some time doing what I have in mind with it. If it doesn't work out ...

 

I've had frustrations similar to yours in the past. They generally lead me to selling/trading the camera for something more apropos. Why spend so much money and stay frustrated? Better to lose a little on a trade, consider it the price of my education, and move on.

 

To return to the subject of this thread, the firmware update: by and large, the ability to configure the dials more flexibly is the largest win to me. It's nice to be able to put the controls where I want them. The button lock feature is also interesting and might be useful ... It's sometimes easy to accidentally hit a dial or button when doing tabletop work where what you really want to do is just set up the capture scene and drop different items in front of the camera without disturbing anything. Dunno about that, but I'll see how it works out. 

Sorry but you are taking my comments way out of context. For what it is worth like many other Leica devotees I ordered my CL unseen and as soon as it was announced. So yes on arrival I was disappointed with several setting up aspects of it, BUT I still loved it, hoped a later firmware update would solve any of my own misgivings and had and still have no intentions of changing it.

 

My greater concerns then and now was what I still see as a lack of versatility due to the way this camera has to be set up and controlled and although I do not feel I should have to explain myself further as to the why's and wherefores the latest firmware update proved a massive disappointment to me, not least as it failed to address such as the floating single or spot focusing point problem which i still regard as being inexcusable.

 

Beyond that I do also expect more versatility from virtually any modern digital camera including the CL in this day and age, and indeed especially the CL given it is the main part part of a system which for example with its three zooms costs in the UK somewhere in the region of £7000. In short I did not mind spending that amount but assumed or hoped for better value for money. Don Morley     

[jaapv]

The firmware upgrade was accompanied by a squidgyware upgrade to my brain which has improved composition and timing to an extraordinary degree. Well done Leica!

I really don't want to make a rude suggestion, but you'll have to stick the SD card into your slot for that.

[ramarren]

{snip} ... Don Morley     

 

 

So you have decided to remain an unhappy camper. I don't understand this at all, but it's your choice. 

 

Personally, I don't really expect anything like "every expensive digital camera should be hugely versatile to do what I want in this day and age." I buy what I think will work, see if it does, keep it if I like it, and return or sell it if I don't. It keeps things simple for me.

 

 

"Simplify, simplify, simplify.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

"One 'simplify' would have sufficed." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

[ramarren]

The firmware upgrade was accompanied by a squidgyware upgrade to my brain which has improved composition and timing to an extraordinary degree. Well done Leica!

 

Can I buy just that upgrade?

[bags27]

So you have decided to remain an unhappy camper. I don't understand this at all, but it's your choice. 

 

Personally, I don't really expect anything like "every expensive digital camera should be hugely versatile to do what I want in this day and age." I buy what I think will work, see if it does, keep it if I like it, and return or sell it if I don't. It keeps things simple for me.

 

 

"Simplify, simplify, simplify.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

"One 'simplify' would have sufficed." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson never said that. There is a massive body of made up facts about Emerson's humorous or not-so-humorous responses to Thoreau based on 1. the actual tension between them that began perhaps as early as 1846 when Thoreau was in deep despair over the death of his brother and Emerson was trying to help him out of his writer's block; 2. on a romantic sense that somehow Thoreau lived a more "authentic" life than did Emerson. The more famous pseudo quotation is that Emerson said to Thoreau: Henry, what are you doing in jail, and Thoreau replied: what are you doing out of jail? Thoreau was in jail for one night, got sprung by an unknown donor who paid his fine (maybe Alcott, maybe a relative), and that was that. Thoreau then went off to be captain of a huckleberry party. Emerson only heard of it afterwards, and did record in his journal that he thought Thoreau's action frivolous (famously repeating it in his magnificent, heart-rending eulogy to Thoreau), but never said anything to his face.

[ramarren]

Emerson never said that. There is a massive body of made up facts about Emerson's humorous or not-so-humorous responses to Thoreau based on 1. the actual tension between them that began perhaps as early as 1846 when Thoreau was in deep despair over the death of his brother and Emerson was trying to help him out of his writer's block; 2. on a romantic sense that somehow Thoreau lived a more "authentic" life than did Emerson. The more famous pseudo quotation is that Emerson said to Thoreau: Henry, what are you doing in jail, and Thoreau replied: what are you doing out of jail? Thoreau was in jail for one night, got sprung by an unknown donor who paid his fine (maybe Alcott, maybe a relative), and that was that. Thoreau then went off to be captain of a huckleberry party. Emerson only heard of it afterwards, and did record in his journal that he thought Thoreau's action frivolous (famously repeating it in his magnificent, heart-rending eulogy to Thoreau), but never said anything to his face.

 

 

LOL!

[WinnowingFan]

I updated my TL without a problem  The TL2 however is another story. I've tried different SD cards, reformatted in camera. Tried different batteries and still I get the camera saying the firmware is up to date when it is not. Is anyone else having this issue? Any suggestions?

[Don Morley]

So you have decided to remain an unhappy camper. I don't understand this at all, but it's your choice. 

 

Personally, I don't really expect anything like "every expensive digital camera should be hugely versatile to do what I want in this day and age." I buy what I think will work, see if it does, keep it if I like it, and return or sell it if I don't. It keeps things simple for me.

 

 

"Simplify, simplify, simplify.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

"One 'simplify' would have sufficed." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yes I can see you don't understand! Don

[jaapv]

Yes I can see you don't understand! Don

I do understand, especially the annoying wandering focus point and the weird decision to "solve" the problem by locking ALL controls (If I wanted that I'd buy a Sofort). But I think you may be overstating your case

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[Don Morley]

I do understand, especially the annoying wandering focus point and the weird decision to "solve" the problem by locking ALL controls (If I wanted that I'd buy a Sofort). But I think you may be overstating your case

Possibly!