New Leica T screen remains black despite lens - Can't update firmware

[Black Duck]

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I recently managed to get a brand new, yet very cheap (for about 1/4th of the original retail price !) Leica T 701 at one of my country's major electronics retailer ; I hadn't planned on buying a Leica, but that was an offer I couldn't refuse. And I had been reading about and dreaming of Leica cameras since a long time.

As the Leica glass is quite expensive (and my savings were quite in need of some rest after buying the Sony A7RIV last Christmas), I also ordered the 7Artisans 55mm F1.4, a "dumb" lens, but the reviews and pictures on Flickr were quite good.

I unpacked and set up the camera with a fully charged battery; a really beautiful camera indeed. Formatted a 128GB SD card, and put the lens on.

And... nothing. Screen is completely black apart from the info. Removed the lens, stared through it, played with the aperture and focus, no apparent problem. With the lens on, screen is as exactly as without a lens, i.e. perfectly black, not even some noise.

I absolutely refuse to believe it's a faulty sensor. No way. Such a well-made item, which box even had with a "Test certificate" card inside, hand-signed by a German quality control inspector. I think I can trust that.

Shutter doesn't do anything. It's as if the camera really expects a real Leica lens on it.

But how do people manage to take pics with the 7A then ? The firmware ? So I checked it, 1.1 and decided to update it.

And bang, another problem. I can't manage to get the Update Firmware screen. Yes, battery is fully loaded, and yes, the TUF file is at the root of the in-camera-formatted SD card. Did the "hold movie button and turn on" many times with various instance. Nope. Can't bring the damn screen on, instead when the camera is on, I see that screen as featured on the picture below. Also tried various TUF versions, the most recent 1.9 and also the oldest I could find on their site, the 1.55. It's as if the TUF isn't noticed. That, or the movie button doesn't work - let's hope it's just me not doing something the right way. 

I'm really upset. Is there a way I could make it work, apart from spending €2,000 on the Leica 23mm ?

Thanks a lot !

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[wda]

Speak to the vendor who might let you try a Leica lens on your new body. A sad way to say, Welcome. However the price mark-down might hold a clue to your problem.

[Dopaco]

If you are not using original TL lenses.
What adapter are you using? ... If the problem is not with the adapter, remove the battery, wait a few seconds and insert it again.
Once I had a similar screen lock and it worked.

[Black Duck]

The 7A lens is built with a L-mount, so no adapter. But the most worrying is that I can't bring the firmware update screen - or does the camera expects to have a TL lens on it for that too? 

Does the camera, when it works, allows to take pictures without a lens? Because my shutter button (as well as the movie button) seem to do nothing at all. 

[Black Duck]

New Info

It seems that the sensor is working OK - with the camera on "A" mode and the cap removed, aiming the naked sensor at a source of light and bringing the camera closer to it makes the shutter speed (as displayed on the top-left corner of the screen) increase : 1/100, 1/320, 1/640... That shutter speed varies quite swiftly when moving the camera towards or away from a source of light, and that also happens with the 7Artisans lens on, albeit the shutter speeds are then smaller (as expected).

So the sensor does indeed capture light, and the camera CPU readily computes a shutter speed from the available light, but the screen remains pitch-black, as if the camera's operating system refuses to output a live view of what the sensor "sees", for whichever reason. And that "bug" also manifests in camera refusing to record a picture when fully pressing the shutter button. 

So a software issue ? Too bad I can't manage to bring the damn firmware update screen on...

[jaapv]

Can you see the menus? Maybe you found the reason why the camera was so cheap. Contact the vendor.

[Black Duck]

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The screen, apart from showing no live view, works perfectly - I could configure very easily the date, time, etc. The Rule Of Thirds grid also displays fine.

The in-camera formatting of a SD card, which happens in a few seconds, also works fine - on the computer, card is then named "LEICA T" and has a DCIM folder.

And I must precise that the camera was absolutely brand new, sealing and all. It'd have made no difference had I bought that article back a few years ago.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Black Duck

[wda]

15 minutes ago, Black Duck said:

The screen, apart from showing no live view, works perfectly - I could configure very easily the date, time, etc. The Rule Of Thirds grid also displays fine.

The in-camera formatting of a SD card, which happens in a few seconds, also works fine - on the computer, card is then named "LEICA T" and has a DCIM folder.

And I must precise that the camera was absolutely brand new, sealing and all. It'd have made no difference had I bought that article back a few years ago.

Have you spoken to the vendor about your problem?

[earleygallery]

Have you read your instructions? I don't know the T but it sounds like there must be a setting for using 'dumb' lenses so that the camera knows not to expect any communication coming via the lens (and of course it needs to be used on Manual or presumably AE). 

[earleygallery]

17 hours ago, Black Duck said:

I absolutely refuse to believe it's a faulty sensor. No way. Such a well-made item, which box even had with a "Test certificate" card inside, hand-signed by a German quality control inspector. I think I can trust that.

 

 

About those little certificates........people here have bought new Leica lenses with aperture and focus rings fitted back to front, still signed off by the Leica QC inspector. 

Electrics can and do fail, often quite soon after manufacture - your new camera will in any case have a manufacturers warranty so if it is faulty and the store doesn't have any more, Leica will repair it for you. 

Edited January 20, 2020 by earleygallery

[Black Duck]

The manual says nothing about dumb lenses, but it does mention the F0.0 I've got on my screen : 

Quote

When using Leica M lenses with the Leica M Adapter T available
as an accessory, only aperture priority and manual setting are
available, i.e. the automatic program (P), shutter speed priority
(T) and the subject programs are not available. If one of these
modes is selected, the camera automatically switches to
aperture priority mode when the adapter is attached. The mode
displayed in the monitor also changes to A . The aperture value
displayed is F0.0 .

 

[Black Duck]

1 minute ago, Black Duck said:

The manual says nothing about dumb lenses, but it does mention the F0.0 I've got on my screen : 

 

I don't know if that adapter "dumbifies" the lens.

[Dopaco]

Either it is a defective camera or something is not being done well.

Does it allow you to reset the configuration as it comes from the factory? ...

[Black Duck]

A factory reset is indeed doable directly from the menu, and it does nothing more than erasing the date, time, ISO etc. settings - it doesn't magically make the camera fresh new.

I tried it a few times as well as the eject battery thing. No effect whatsoever. I've seen the battery eject solution quite a few times in the archives; it's sad to have to rely on such a low-level trick because the software is full of bugs.

[Black Duck]

By the way, regarding firmware update, this how-to mentions the following:

Quote

Switch the camera on while simultaneously holding down the red video record button, until the rear LCD prompts you to update the firmware (then you can release the red video record button).

How much time do you have to hold down the that button until the FW screen appears ? I don't think I had held it down more than, say, 7 seconds.

[Marac]

A mad suggestion from a madman... if you are using a MF lens with a native L mount made in china you may want to try putting some black tape over the contacts, either lens or camera and then report back with your findings.

 

Oh yeh, if I remember correctly you may have to set the camera to shoot without a lens in the menu (not sure if it is a setting with the T can't remember).

Edited January 20, 2020 by Marac

[tommonego@gmail.com]

On a CL the 7A 55 reports as a 50 Summilux. May not be the same for a T.

One question, is the lens f stop closed down to 16? If you have the lens closed down and the camera speed fairly high, it is going to give you a black screen if you are inside. If you can turn off lens ID can't hurt. 

[Xoan]

Has anyone discovered how to fix this? I've just bought a second hand Leica T and I'm also getting the same problem: black live view. My camera is already in the latest firmware version (1.9).

[BigCat]

I'm in the same boat. I just bought the T but my firmware is 1.1.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[BigCat]

On the off chance anyone still needs this information, in order for the camera to recognize the firmware when updating it has to have "V" in the name. I downloaded the latest firmware 1.9 but the file name was T701_190.TUF. It needed to be T701_V190.TUF. Once I added the V the camera went info update mode by holding the record button while turning it on. I'm still working on the black screen but I just rented a Leica lens to try on the camera. It arrives in 2 days.