Q2 Screen & EVF Cycling On and Off and On

[drunkenspyder]

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Hello All:

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. I searched but did not find this problem addressed. I've been using my Q2 for about seven weeks. In general, I love it, and so does my partner who uses it as her walk-around camera. On this most recent trip, it has developed a new problem which is quite annoying. The screen and EVF both, with or without my eye to the viewfinder, will only stay on for about 2-3 seconds before shutting itself off and then turning itself back on. Over and over again. And again. This does not prevent us from shooting images, though it constantly interrupts this process. It does prevent us from reviewing images, and makes it impossible to use the menu system. I have one battery, the original that came with it. I use both the Leica factory charger, and I travel with the Nitecore charger. The battery seems to get correctly charged, and the camera appears to measure it as charged. Picture IQ remains unaffected and is excellent. Don't ask me to reset the camera, because I cannot get the menu system to stay on screen long enough to do so, and on each cycle it starts over as if just turned on. Any thoughts? When I get back home, if I have not figured out a solution, I'll be reaching out to B+H. Thanks in advance!

Edited October 13, 2019 by drunkenspyder

[Leica Guy]

That is sure a frustrating problem. I'm very uncertain how to help. I would be looking closely at anything that might be interrupting the sensor by the EVF for detecting that your face is near it. Could there be some kind of trash there? I find occasionaly that I'lll have my strap near it and it goes kind of crazy or turns off. I'd consider cleaning that area with an alcohol lens tissue. Other than that, I'd persevere and figure out how to reset the camera. Just cycle through the menu until the last page then select reset. Super good luck! Go to a Leica dealer if you are near one.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Leica Guy

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[drunkenspyder]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I’ve cleaned around the viewfinder area. But this isn’t just a screen “selection” issue, and maybe that’s my fault for not being more clear. This is a power cycling issue. The problem is that both the screen and the EVF cycle on and off. The EVF and screen behave correctly when I put my eye to or remove it from the finder. But neither will stay on for more than 2-3 seconds. Then the red LED above the navigator buttons blinks a couple of times, and the camera shuts itself off. And then turns itself on. In this scenario, I can get to  the menu containing the Reset option, but don’t have time to switch from the default “No” to “Yes.” And of course, menu selection starts all over from the first page when the power cycles off and then on. There just isn’t time to get all the necessary clicks in. 

[lucerne]

I’d say that your camera has a fault.     Of course it’s possible that a combination of menu settings has made the system unstable, but this effect hasn’t been previously reported.   don’t waste time.    Get it back to Leica and let them deal with it.

 

[drunkenspyder]

I *may* have diagnosed my problem: flaky SD card. While going through these other difficulties, I decided to pull the SD card (a quality, SanaDisk gen2 high speed card less than a year old) and import its images. With no card in, I turned the camera back on, and it stayed on. I put a brand new card in (Sony 64gb Tough), and it stayed on. Sorry for the fire drill, but it looks like this was a case of starting from easiest (battery, SD card) before moving to more difficult. 

[lucerne]

I’m happy for you if you’ve solved it, but let’s not suggest that the Sony Tough is the only solution.    Plenty of happy Sandisk users on this forum!🤓

 

[Leica Guy]

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3 hours ago, drunkenspyder said:

I *may* have diagnosed my problem: flaky SD card. While going through these other difficulties, I decided to pull the SD card (a quality, SanaDisk gen2 high speed card less than a year old) and import its images. With no card in, I turned the camera back on, and it stayed on. I put a brand new card in (Sony 64gb Tough), and it stayed on. Sorry for the fire drill, but it looks like this was a case of starting from easiest (battery, SD card) before moving to more difficult. 

Excellent news. Sorry, my suggestions were off-track. I didn’t correctly understand the symptoms. I cannot tell if the Q2 is more sensitive to some SD cards or if there are just more bad cards out there than I realized. We’ve seen more than a few folks dealing with SD card caused problems. I exclusively use 32GB and 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 300 MB/sec UHS-II cards. I always buy from a reputable dealer, mostly B&H. I’m becoming more aware of fake Sandisk cards and that would seem to be part of the general problem. Super good luck. Glad you figured it out.