Picture this

[Guest Essemmlee]

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Picture this. There’s these really old guys, German, been at the factory since time itself was an amoeba. They’re having their lunch, bratwurst I think it is. One of ‘em chirps up “ ‘ave you seen the Leica forum lads?” After about three minutes the youngest one, the only one without a beard, says he spotted it yesterday. After having another bite of his sandwich he comments “The fifty euros I had on them saying we altered the noise at high ISO came in, pay up chaps”.

 

No-one moved, things don’t happen quickly at Leica. Inevitably though a response was initiated by a straggly bearded old boy who intimated “ I had 30 euros on them thinking we altered the white balance, any joy with them believing that old chestnut?”

 

The guy with the torn white vest replied affirmatively ”Yeah, they fell for that one, hook, line and sinker.” What about the faster response to playback? They didn’t go for that one surely?” “They did, and that’ll be 50 euros to me”

 

Mr Clean Shaven, who I think must be a manager, finally stated ”this is the first time we’ve thought of renaming an old firmware update and putting it up on the interweb. We’ve saved ourselves another month before they start moaning again”

 

So everybody’s happy, Leica are – they’ve not actually done anything definable and the annual holiday is due any minute.

 

The punter’s, they’re happy ‘cos they think they’ve had an update but they’re not really sure. They have got a piece of software to mess about with for a day or two and a conversation piece, till they all get bored and go back to the normal discussion on the merits of the CV15.

 

It’s nearly a perfect world.

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Been to the factory not the case at all, a lot of young folks there. Well under 50 . LOL

 

BTW management is in the 30 and 40's of most of the folks that i know. I'm the old dog

 

Also there not shutting down for holiday as most German companies would.

 

Facts are indeed important don't you think. Stereotyping is a bit of a insult and sorry your story is not amusing and I'm all for having a laugh. Not cutting it here

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[cocker]

I agree Guy - glib, patronising and not funny.

[george +]

OK. Now that we have settled this, could someone please tell us what was supposed to be in this release? In clear words, no generalisations please.

 

Is that really so much to ask? They must, I presume anyway, have logs and workbooks of what they are working on. Yes? No?

 

As said before, I am an old friend of Leica and rather like my M8 which is a great camera.

 

But this lack of intelligable communication - in any language - is hurting Leica. And that is too bad!

[Guest guy_mancuso]

George i am not completely sure myself and i did not beta test this so what leica mentioned to me was we beta testers really did not need to test this out so much since it was some fixes and AWB and they were able to work on that and just release. Which i find fine since they turned it quickly to users hands no need for us beta testers to see it first. Our list of fixes was long and features and they know what they are and i guess there not telling us is just there way , don't fully agree but that is there way. i know for a fact AWB was worked on and some internal fixes. i expect more releases to users more quickly as i suggested to Leica to make updates faster and don't wait for the bomb shell updates just keep making the fixes quicker and in our hands, they also liked that idea and seems that is what they are doing. I would expect more again soon, I do know of one major update coming but can't comment on it but folks will certainly like it.

Now what's in it and what they have done i would like to know also. Guess the collective forum will have to help figure it out but i would not look to deep into this release except for AWB which many are reporting better . i have both bodies loaded but have yet to try it for more than 5 minutes. Just came off a huge job and trying to catch up to life in general but i'm glad this release came out and leica has a list that there following and this one was at the top with AWB, is it perfect . i doubt it very highly but no one is with AWB. Also let's stay on course here the forum from my view in the last week was a little weak in great info but more whining. Let's not lose sight of what we all have done and accomplished on this forum. This is the M8 bible and i encourage everyone to keep on track, yes we all have our opinions and whines and certainly worth going over but many attacks that i have seen also and trolling comments. Problems and issues are worth talking about and let's just stay on track folks. Just my humble 2 cents

[george +]

Guy, many thanks for your explanation.

 

Don't worry - not that I think you do or care - I keep buying Leica stuff and not regretting it either. As far as I am concerned Leica can package their fixes any which way they like and release them at their convenience.But better communication and a more (digital) professional approach is something I believe they could do. It would show respect for the customer - and make their own lives simpler too.

 

As to AWB, I have gotten into a habit of using Kelvin settings and find that these are more likely to give me the pictures I am looking for. Of course I tend to throw away most JPG files the minute my DNG-s are done. But even in C1 I often get a - for me - more pleasing color balance working up from specific Kelvin numbers. To each his own, eh . . . ?

 

Thanks again:)

[farnz]

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Good to hear that there is a major update that will please folks; and well said, Guy, I absolutely agree. A little more patience is the soup of the day.

 

Pete.

[Guest guy_mancuso]

On the communication part i agree and have talked about it at length with them. There better but still there's room for improvement. They have talked about many things with there website to improve and i think that will be there vehicle to do this. let's hope they do get on this a little quicker, i think as things have settled down a little on the big rush on M8's and lenses there will be some time for them to improve here. I will say they folks I have meet and talked too and deal with are all wonderful folks so that is not the issue, they could not be more friendly and helpful but just that there slammed. Let's hope that they can get back to normal mode and improve in his area

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Good to hear that there is a major update that will please folks; and well said, Guy, I absolutely agree. A little more patience is the soup of the day.

 

Pete.

 

I know Pete but patience is a varying thing with different folks and the M8 has been out awhile so it's time to get on track too. But the camera is running pretty good now and that does help with patience

[Guest Essemmlee]

Mmmm.....sense of humour bypass.

[blakley]

While I wasn't offended by it, I'm afraid I agree with the other posters that there really wasn't much humor to pass by.

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Nor was i just did not make me fall on the floor laughing. Nice attempt though:)

[carstenw]

It sounds so far like the changes are just better (but not perfect yet) button press handling, smoother high ISO for JPGs, and AWB.

 

Steve, I found it funny

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Steve i did not wake up in a great mood either so sorry if i was a little brash. I just got home from a long week in NY working day and night and come home to find a client that has owed me in large 5 digit numbers for over 4 months now has still not sent a check and this is one of my best clients so this has put a sting in my attitude this morning. I 'm a little pissed to say the least.

[delander †]

I think to some extent Leica deserved the OP's sarcasm. They released a FW update with very little indication of what it did. What they did say was so confusing that its possible meanings were the subject of various posts here.

 

What they did not say was that using the new FW1.107 would remove the 18mm focal length value in the EXIF when using the WATE with the camera set to lens detection 'on'.

 

This is not only a backward step but it lead myself and others (still waiting for filters) to conclude that the lens was no longer recognised and therefore that no corrections were being applied.

 

Leica - who read these forums - had time to chip in and say don't worry we did this because the 18mm was not necessarily accurate but the lens is still recognised and corrections are applied. They did not and it took members of this forum to determine for themselves that corrections were being applied.

 

If they had mentioned the change with the WATE, as I never use AWB I would probably not have upgraded.

 

You can no longer download FW1.102 from the Leica website, but to their credit they did email me a copy today so that I can revert to FW1.102. But dare I do it?

 

Jeff

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Jeff we asked for the 18mm default to be removed and for the camera to remember the last setting even if you turned the camera off.many folks are new here and not up to date on some of the feature sets that we all have asked for. Folks really need to goback and look at some of the lists that have been implemented to leica from us users, becuase some don't understand what we already asked for and there making these changes. i agree a list would be nice ,no question but many companies do not do this and some do.

[sergiolov]

Hi Steve,

well written, you were able to create a funny athmosfere, (and a reading guide for those willing to go back to the first posts after the release..)

I enjoied it, (like that other comment on the placebo effect).

But you are clearly overextimating the fantasy and creativity of engineers. What you describe has no chance to rapresent reality....

 

Sergio

[sdai]

Even the worst trolls have lost interests in this product ... flash back 6 months, then the board was full of fun. Good try, Steve ... though perhaps many forum members don't have the mood to enjoy it.

[Guest Essemmlee]

Apologies to anyone who found this post offensive. It wasn't meant to be. I may have vented my frustration in the wrong way.

 

When I'm like this, not fully functional I mean, I find I can't articulate as well as I should. I believe it to be my age.

 

Well, what's done is done. I must go and shoot with my recently acquired Nocti.

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