Aperture leaves change even before half-pressing shutter

[coolandrew]

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Hey guys, wanted to throw in the confusion before seeking replacement: I noticed my Q2 (in all-auto mode with firmware 3.0) would physically change the aperture leaves when pointing to a different light source, even before half-pressing the shutter.

This doesn’t happen consistently, as I’m still experimenting the pattern. Normally as we know, cameras would do some metering and display the auto exposure “combo” (the aperture, iso, and shutter speed for the current scene it is pointing to) on the screen, but would not physically slow down the aperture leaf until you half-press/press the shutter, right? Mine does that, but once in between, it’ll start to actually physically change the aperture (as you can hear/see the leaves moving) when merely pointing to a dark scene vs a light source (as if I half-press the shutter). It’ll stop doing that if I restart the camera, but comes back in an unknown pattern.

Wondering is this an expected behavior/feature of the machine, or am I dealing with some malfunctioning with the camera or the firmware? Great thanks for help!

Edited January 10, 2021 by coolandrew

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[coolandrew]

Minimal update: when it does present this weird behavior, from my limited testings, it doesn’t stop down the aperture blades at every stop. Instead, it physically moves them from when passing f/1.8 and f/2.8.

[hdmesa]

Normal behavior. My GFX/GF-lenses do this as well – adjusting the aperture on the fly for optimal focus depending on lighting and distance to target then changing to the set aperture at the moment of exposure/half-press. On the GFX, I can force DOF-preview mode if I don't want it to do that.

[coolandrew]

1 hour ago, hdmesa said:

Normal behavior. My GFX/GF-lenses do this as well – adjusting the aperture on the fly for optimal focus depending on lighting and distance to target then changing to the set aperture at the moment of exposure/half-press. On the GFX, I can force DOF-preview mode if I don't want it to do that.

Thanks, that makes sense, I can see how this relates to the camera responding to different lighting and such. I guess my confusion rises from the reproducibility/control variable perspective, where my Q2 is not doing this every time when experimenting. From a bright floor lamp to a dark under-desk scene, I assume the exposure difference/dynamic range is some how controlled, yet sometimes only the f-number on display jumps, other times aperture blades start stopping down without engaging in shutter button.

[hdmesa]

34 minutes ago, coolandrew said:

Thanks, that makes sense, I can see how this relates to the camera responding to different lighting and such. I guess my confusion rises from the reproducibility/control variable perspective, where my Q2 is not doing this every time when experimenting. From a bright floor lamp to a dark under-desk scene, I assume the exposure difference/dynamic range is some how controlled, yet sometimes only the f-number on display jumps, other times aperture blades start stopping down without engaging in shutter button.

Hmm, just checked my Q2M. It stays wide open until I take a shot or half-press. Are you sure the aperture blades are stopping down with no input or are you maybe hearing the lens stabilization running and thinking that’s the aperture stopping down?

Edited January 11, 2021 by hdmesa

[coolandrew]

1 minute ago, hdmesa said:

Hmm, just checked my Q2M. It stays wide open until I take a shot or half-press. Are you sure the aperture blades are stopping down with no input or are you maybe hearing the lens stabilization running and thinking that’s the aperture stopping down?

Haha I know right, I’d expect the camera stays wide open/or do whatever consistently (and my Q2 does stay f/1.7 most of the time). I’m 90% sure it is actually stopping down the blades, as I also visually checked several times when it started to act like that.

[hdmesa]

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20 minutes ago, coolandrew said:

Haha I know right, I’d expect the camera stays wide open/or do whatever consistently (and my Q2 does stay f/1.7 most of the time). I’m 90% sure it is actually stopping down the blades, as I also visually checked several times when it started to act like that.

Weird. Could be the shutter button is glitching (electrical short or mechanical defect) and activating a half-press without your input. My first Q-P would not do a half-press hold so I could focus and recompose — it just would refocus when I took the photo. I returned the Q-P and the next one I bought was fine. A few other people here had the same issue. I think the Q-P has a similar/updated shutter switch (same?) to the Q2, so it wouldn’t surprise me.

Might try a full camera reset to see if it helps.

[coolandrew]

21 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

Weird. Could be the shutter button is glitching (electrical short or mechanical defect) and activating a half-press without your input. My first Q-P would not do a half-press hold so I could focus and recompose — it just would refocus when I took the photo. I returned the Q-P and the next one I bought was fine. A few other people here had the same issue. I think the Q-P has a similar/updated shutter switch (same?) to the Q2, so it wouldn’t surprise me.

Might try a full camera reset to see if it helps.

Thanks for the input! Will try that and contact Leica.

[pilu]

Buonasera Coolandrew, ho un Q2M e anch'io ho riscontrato lo stesso problema. A volte lo fa, a volte no. Potrebbe essere normale? Anche a me a volte quando cambio la fonte di luce, le lamelle del diaframma si aprono e si chiudono anche se non premo a metà il pulsante di scatto. Non ho però notato malfunzionamenti ... se spengo la fotocamera o rimuovo la batteria tutto torna alla normalità. Qualcun altro ha notato la stessa cosa?

[coolandrew]

1 hour ago, pilu said:

Buonasera Coolandrew, ho un Q2M e anch'io ho riscontrato lo stesso problema. A volte lo fa, a volte no. Potrebbe essere normale? Anche a me a volte quando cambio la fonte di luce, le lamelle del diaframma si aprono e si chiudono anche se non premo a metà il pulsante di scatto. Non ho però notato malfunzionamenti ... se spengo la fotocamera o rimuovo la batteria tutto torna alla normalità. Qualcun altro ha notato la stessa cosa?

Hi there, (through translation) seems yours behaves in a similar way to mine 🤣; and yes, I'd hope that's the expected behavior (but don't find it consistent though) I shoot Leica an email, but they don't seem to have an official answer to that, only asking me to send in for a check (or that's their normal procedure). I'm thinking returning this one if no concrete answer is available from them.

Edited January 11, 2021 by coolandrew

[pilu]

...thanks Coolandrew, of course I apologize for the bad translation...😉

[pilu]

has anyone else had this problem?