Seeking Long term user experiences with on the s007?

[yudafu2]

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On 10/28/2019 at 1:22 PM, albireo_double said:

I have not read the entire thread, so apologies if I am going to repeat some points. I’ve had the 007 for four years now. Shooting with it exclusively this week, while on a holiday in Greece, so my memories are very fresh. Lenses are fantastic but large and heavy. I always travel with two lenses only (45/100 this time). Most of my S lenses have had a failed AF motor (4 out of 7). Which means taking two lenses only a bet in the lottery. Now I hope that all my lenses have been repaired using the new AF gears, but I am not sure. The camera body has a good shape and great viewfinder. Battery lasts a long time. Weather sealed and very robust (I know, I dropped it from 1.5 m when I stepped on the tether cable....which is attached so well that it literally pulled the camera from my hands). Now the issues. I absolutely hate the multifunctional top wheel, especially if I am shooting in M and wish to change aperture and shutter speed independently. In this situation, the top wheel serves to change shutter speed. However, more than half the time, it finds itself in the image review mode where it moves between images. You need to half press the shutter to put the camera in the shooting mode again and make the top wheel change shutter speeds again. It is very annoying for me. The other annoyance is that, in Leica’s true tradition, the sensor seems to collect more gunk and dust than on other similar cameras (did not have to clean the sensor on the GFX ever, same with D850, same with the Phase One XF...). I have flown with a bottle of Eclipse in my luggage but I expect that I may find myself in trouble one day for packing a bottle of a toxic flammable liquid in my luggage and certifying that I have not done so every time I check in. But I won’t touch the sensor with anything else. I have written about problematic tethering on this forum several times, so will not go into details again. My issues aside, the pictures are great, of course. 

Your complaints are exactly the two complaints I have about the camera. 1. The setup of the top wheel, and the inability to change speed/aperture without the half-press is very annoying. It should be a simple thing to fix, and I do not know why Leica designed it that way. 2. I do feel that the Leica cameras are particularly prone to sensor dust. So far I cannot figure out whether the dirty spots I see in my S2p images are simply dust or corrosion spots, because sometimes my S007 images are no less clean. It is annoying but easy to fix in post-processing. 

Other than those issues, I don't have much complaints. 

[Sarnian]

31 minutes ago, yudafu2 said:

So far I cannot figure out whether the dirty spots I see in my S2p images are simply dust or corrosion spots

Let me share with you one of my corrosion spots. The tell-tale sign of sensor corrosion as opposed to a dust spot if the haloing around the spot (which is more of a smudge).

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Regarding dust spots, how many people here clean the sensor themselves? It's an awfully long way down to the sensor! 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Sarnian
Question added

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[helged]

@Sarnian: Sensor cleaning on the S (S006 with a new sensor in my case) is not particularly tricky, except that you need to do a double sweep to cover the entire sensor. Typically I use a loupe with led light to inspect the sensor. Three drops of liquid (Eclipse) is added to the swab. That's essensially it. I entered the world of wet cleaning with the M9 years ago (lots of dirt and oil on that sensor!). Since then various sensors have been 'washed', without any specific problems as far as I can recall. If you have some training with wet cleaning of a FF sensor, cleaning the S sensor should be fine. 

Edited October 29, 2019 by helged

[Sarnian]

@helgedThanks for that; you've given me renewed confidence.

I had a Phase One P65+ before my 006 and I've wet cleaned that. I've also cleaned the sensor on a Sony A7Riii. With both of those cameras, however, the sensor was pretty much right there (especially on the P65+) so slow and full strokes of the swab were an easy task. If I royally mess things up that will force me to get the - corroded - sensor replaced!! 😎

[peterv]

On 10/28/2019 at 6:22 PM, albireo_double said:

 I absolutely hate the multifunctional top wheel, especially if I am shooting in M and wish to change aperture and shutter speed independently. In this situation, the top wheel serves to change shutter speed. However, more than half the time, it finds itself in the image review mode where it moves between images. You need to half press the shutter to put the camera in the shooting mode again and make the top wheel change shutter speeds again. It is very annoying for me.

 

2 hours ago, yudafu2 said:

The setup of the top wheel, and the inability to change speed/aperture without the half-press is very annoying. It should be a simple thing to fix, and I do not know why Leica designed it that way.

 

We each have our preferences and I have only worked with the S007 now for four months. So I think I recognise what you guys are talking about but I don't find it a problem at all.

If you find this behaviour so annoying, can you not switch off Auto Review?

It has happened to me several times that I look at the five seconds review and decide I want to change the shutter speed, turn the dial and then unexpectedly zoom in on the displayed image, instead of change the shutter speed. If that happens, it's only a half-press off the shutter button away to get back into Record Mode, which I don't see as troublesome at all and I do appreciate the fact that I can instantly zoom in to a photo with the shutter speed dial, while the camera is in Play Mode.

One more thing, I've seen the complaints about the shutter speed dial not being engraved on the S007 earlier here on this forum and personally I'm definitely pleased with the fact that there is nothing to read. When I'm taking pictures I don't want to see readable figures, numbers or text, which compels me to read it. For me something to read distracts and I regard this as unnecessary visual clutter since I already know what every button will do when I press it short or long or dial left or right. I find letters and numbers distracting visual impulses that I don't need when I'm concentrating on the image I'm trying to make.

Besides, since I know my shutter speed I can count the clicks and know the changes I've made without having to look at it and if I really, absolutely want to make sure, I can easily look at the top panel display. So I'm happy with the fully black, unmarked shutter speed dial.

Like I said, we each have our preferences 🙂

Kind regards, Peter

[yudafu2]

3 hours ago, peterv said:

 

 

If you find this behaviour so annoying, can you not switch off Auto Review?

 

Thanks! This works! It never occurred to me that simply switching off Auto Review solves this problem!!  I wish I knew this earlier. --- In this case, the S007 is one step closer to perfection for me. 

George

[albireo_double]

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Yes, it kind of helps, but if I shoot in manual, I do want to review the image/histogram to see if I need to adjust the shutter speed. So switching auto review off will only make me press the playback button and I am back where I was before. I would prefer it if I could decouple the top wheel from image review through a firmware setting. 

[Sarnian]

On 10/28/2019 at 9:18 PM, Sarnian said:

I bought a 30mm Elmarit for £1,749. The autofocus seems fine so I wonder if I should send it away to get the autofocus motor replaced (c.£280) or just keep using it and it may or may not die? It would certainly have better future sale potential if I had the AF motor replaced and was able to prove that fact to a potential buyer by showing them some Leica paperwork. If the work only took 2-3 weeks I'd do it in a heartbeat but the prospect of my lens being in Germany for several months kind of defeats the object of me buying it in the first place!

Yes, I know that I'm quoting myself!

I've decided to send my Elmarit 30mm off to Leica to get the AF motor replaced as a preventative measure (and to increase its future sales potential). It was apparently with Leica in 2016 (when the previous owner owned it) but the technician didn't make a note on the records as to whether a replacement old style AF motor was fitted or whether it was the new style one. They'll open it up and have a look. If it was the new style AF motor that was fitted in 2016 I'm totally at the mercy of an honest technician.

Anyway, start the clock.. NOW!! 😴 

[davidmknoble]

On 10/29/2019 at 4:13 PM, yudafu2 said:

Your complaints are exactly the two complaints I have about the camera. 1. The setup of the top wheel, and the inability to change speed/aperture without the half-press is very annoying. It should be a simple thing to fix, and I do not know why Leica designed it that way. 2. I do feel that the Leica cameras are particularly prone to sensor dust. So far I cannot figure out whether the dirty spots I see in my S2p images are simply dust or corrosion spots, because sometimes my S007 images are no less clean. It is annoying but easy to fix in post-processing. 

Other than those issues, I don't have much complaints. 

The latest firmwares for the S007 took some updates in the SL and included them.  I like the ability to adjust direction of the wheel turn - so it mimics my M shutter speed.  I understand the preview and changing the shutter speed, but that has only happened to me once or twice in real life. I guess it has just become a habit to push the shutter to clear the back screen.

Regarding dust, a couple of thoughts.  1) any camera with a mirror that slaps up and down is going to add to the dust movement, more so than the M or SL.  2) other than the SL, none have a vibrating sensor to try and clean the dust - canon and nikon include that religiously (I hope the S3 has something like that, but will wait to see).  3) Most sensors I have seen with a lot of dust have had significant lens changes out in dry, dusty or windy conditions - where static electricity draws the dust, or the wind draws the dust.

I think dusty sensors is no different than getting dust off of film negatives before printing or scanning.... Just my thoughts!