AF not locking properly

[jss134]

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Had the exact same issue with my Q-P that was purchased in December. After a bit of a hassle with the dealer, finally got it swapped out for a new one. So far, the replacement is working properly. 

[zampelis]

I am sorry for your problem, I can completely understand how you feel as it is happening on my brand new Leica Q replacement. I initially thought that it was a 3.0 firmware option not to do focus and exposure lock by half pressing the shutter button. Apparently I was still using 2.0 on my old one. Then I realised that some times it worked properly. And then I found out that the shutter button (the inner button, not the ring that turns the camera on/off and selected shooting modes) rotates freely and when it is aligned on specific locations, then something strange happens: If you have half pressed and locked focus/exposure and then decide to fully press the button to take the photo, at the point that the button clicks, for a fraction of a second the contact of the button gets lost, the press gets released and if you still keep pressing it, it then makes contact again and it tries to refocus again..

This has many implications: You can't lock focus and exposure by half pressing the button in auto focus mode. When in manual focus mode some times you press the shutter button and it doesn't take a photo if you instantly release it - or the completely opposite: it takes 2 and 3 photos even when in single shot mode if you keep it pressed for a bit longer (we are always talking about a fraction of a second). This is very frustrating with electronic shutter as there is not a feedback that the photo was taken. I have ended up missing a large amount of shots because of this. And also when in continuous shooting mode, the shots get interrupted and instead of shooting 10-12 photos and stacking them in a single stack, it takes random amount of shots and creates random number of different stacks.

It is obviously a mechanical problem and from what I can see something that has happened to other people, not just me. I don't know if I want to go through the nightmare of Leica's engineer expertise again and wait another 4 months just not to have my camera fixed. I will have a chat with my local dealer and I will probably sell it for good.. Issues like these should have been spotted on first place on brand new cameras of such a price before they get in the box. Also the fact that mine is a silver makes me feel that they may not even have a silver shutter button to replace it judging from their response to the previous problem I had... 

Edited April 18, 2019 by zampelis

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[Jaclo]

You're photographs are what got me interested in the Q but having seen what you have gone through is disturbing.  This issue  the EVF issues, bad on/off  switch on QP, floating focus on CL, very slow repairs, etc, I would thing at these prices you could at least expect very fast repairs but, maybe  Leica is to focused on watches these days??  

[zampelis]

5 hours ago, Jaclo said:

You're photographs are what got me interested in the Q but having seen what you have gone through is disturbing.  This issue  the EVF issues, bad on/off  switch on QP, floating focus on CL, very slow repairs, etc, I would thing at these prices you could at least expect very fast repairs but, maybe  Leica is to focused on watches these days??  

Thank you so much for your kind words Jaclo. Well some times I just think that all these are just first world problems! But then they can get pretty annoying

Here is a video demonstrating the problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d99Ag6_1Xho&feature=youtu.be

In this video from 00:00 - 00:20 you can see how the button works when in the “bad” placement. I focus on the keyboard by half pressing it, I turn the camera with the button half pressed on my laptop screen and then I press fully the button. At that point the camera should instantly take a shot of the blurry screen. Instead of that it tries again to focus on the screen and some times it doesn’t even take a photo when it can’t focus.

Then from 00:20 - 00:42 I rotate the button to the “good” placement (you can see the marks on the shutter button that I added after lots of try and error in order to be able to identify it easily). Now it works as expected. The focus locks on the keyboard when half pressed and when fully pressed on the screen, it takes a photo of it even when it is blurry without trying to focus, as the focus has been properly locked.

Then from 00:42 till the end of the video I place it again in a “bad” position and it looses the focus lock again..
 

Edited April 18, 2019 by zampelis

[Mexy]

On 4/18/2019 at 11:14 PM, zampelis said:

Thank you so much for your kind words Jaclo. Well some times I just think that all these are just first world problems! But then they can get pretty annoying

Here is a video demonstrating the problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d99Ag6_1Xho&feature=youtu.be

In this video from 00:00 - 00:20 you can see how the button works when in the “bad” placement. I focus on the keyboard by half pressing it, I turn the camera with the button half pressed on my laptop screen and then I press fully the button. At that point the camera should instantly take a shot of the blurry screen. Instead of that it tries again to focus on the screen and some times it doesn’t even take a photo when it can’t focus.

Then from 00:20 - 00:42 I rotate the button to the “good” placement (you can see the marks on the shutter button that I added after lots of try and error in order to be able to identify it easily). Now it works as expected. The focus locks on the keyboard when half pressed and when fully pressed on the screen, it takes a photo of it even when it is blurry without trying to focus, as the focus has been properly locked.

Then from 00:42 till the end of the video I place it again in a “bad” position and it looses the focus lock again..
 

I hava the exact same question as this thread described (AF cannot be locked when half-press the release). Have you got it right? 

[sweh]

vor 4 Minuten schrieb Mexy:

I hava the exact same question as this thread described (AF cannot be locked when half-press the release). Have you got it right? 

Yea. I brought my Leica to a dealer in Hamburg and he sent it to Leica for repair. Got it back two months later, since then: no problems at all. This is an error with the circuit board, with was changed in my repair.

[FlyingMushroom]

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On 7/6/2021 at 8:40 AM, sweh said:

Yea. I brought my Leica to a dealer in Hamburg and he sent it to Leica for repair. Got it back two months later, since then: no problems at all. This is an error with the circuit board, with was changed in my repair.

Hi, I’m currently experiencing the same issue with my Q-P I recently bought second-hand. The condition is more than excellent, I believe the guy never really used the camera in the 3 years he owned it. I believe he wasn’t aware of the problem.

Did you have to pay for the repair since it seems to be a production error? If yes, how much did it cost you if I may ask?

[sweh]

vor 9 Stunden schrieb FlyingMushroom:

Hi, I’m currently experiencing the same issue with my Q-P I recently bought second-hand. The condition is more than excellent, I believe the guy never really used the camera in the 3 years he owned it. I believe he wasn’t aware of the problem.

Did you have to pay for the repair since it seems to be a production error? If yes, how much did it cost you if I may ask?

The repair was free of charge, but it was short after my purchase of a brand new camera, so it was in warranty. My guess is, that you will have to pay for it if the camera is already three years old.