A Response From Leica

[tommonego@gmail.com]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

My CL died in mid August, I sent it to Leica NJ US, the diagnosis was a failed circuit board and a out of adjustment sensor. I tried to get an idea of what caused this, even speculation would be better than nothing. Stacey McHenry Manager of Customer Care from Leica responded "I apologize, the technician is not able to determine what caused the problem, just that the circuit failed." I was kind of hoping it was some thing I had done, or something I could avoid. Guess asking a Leica tech for speculation isn't a thing.

[ramarren]

Many times electronics failures are like this, it isn't a fault of the Leica tech. By the time the device has gotten to the tech, the failure is long past and there's little evidence of what caused the problem in most cased. Some things are obvious, like long term water incursion causing corrosion, etc. But many other sources of failure are nearly impossible to determine and the tech's job isn't to sleuth out the cause of a failure—it's to determine what has failed and repair it. 

No company in today's world wants their service techs to speculate on the cause of a failure due to product liability concerns. If a failure isn't completely simple and obvious, it's best to just fix a problem and move on.

G

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[frame-it]

though i wonder if it was because of the 3rd party batteries that seem to come in all forms and flavors.

[JonPB]

I expect that if there were signs of any particular problem -- such as deposited rings from water, cracks from impact, or an obviously failed discrete component -- that would have been reported. I would translate that answer as, "an integrated circuit failed, and most likely it was going to fail at some point no matter what you did." 

[ramarren]

2 hours ago, frame-it said:

though i wonder if it was because of the 3rd party batteries that seem to come in all forms and flavors.

Hardly likely. The CL uses the same battery as the Q which uses the same battery as several Panasonic and other models. I've been using a pair of Leica OEM batts and a pair of Wasabi replacements in rotation since 2018... no substantive difference in performance detectable. 
 

G

[tommonego@gmail.com]

The camera had been iffy all summer, as I said I suspected a battery issue. I mostly use Leica batteries, but I do have Wasabi batteries in case I need more than one replacement. Anyway I just would have liked to know if it was something I did. No disrepect of the Leica tech intended. I do kayak with the CL but it is mostly in a dry bag, may have a fewdrops onthe body, but I keep a towel handy. Just not used to a failure of a 3 year old camera. I do use it a lot. I'll have it back tomorrow. 🙂

[pocholin]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I'm afraid my camera will have something similar...just today as I took my daughter to play with her new paddle board the camera started acting weird all of the sudden! First the right wheel went all the way left (decreasing EV), then it wouldn't work at all. Then the camera started shooting pictures by itself. Then the power button wouldn't work! I had to remove the battery in order to shut it down. Did something like that happen to you? 

There's a Leica shop in town (Tamarkin in Chicago), I will call them tomorrow to see if they can service/repair...I hope I can have it back before our trip to see the foliage...in two weeks! Seems unlikely, guess I'll have to un-dust the old Nikon D90! 

Edited September 14, 2021 by pocholin

[Le Chef]

17 minutes ago, pocholin said:

I'm afraid my camera will have something similar...just today as I took my daughter to play with her new paddle board the camera started acting weird all of the sudden! First the right wheel went all the way left (decreasing EV), then it wouldn't work at all. Then the camera started shooting pictures by itself. Then the power button wouldn't work! I had to remove the battery in order to shut it down. Did something like that happen to you? 

There's a Leica shop in town (Tamarkin in Chicago), I will call them tomorrow to see if they can service/repair...I hope I can have it back before our trip to see the foliage...in two weeks! Seems unlikely, guess I'll have to un-dust the old Nikon D90! 

I don’t think Dan has repair capabilities for Leica digital cameras but I could be wrong. There’s an argument with cameras to behave like the British Royal Family: apart from the heir, you always need a spare…

[papimuzo]

I have a better explanation ...🤣 : a cosmic ray killed one of the thousands semiconductors on the circuit.

Hope this helps.

[MDCT]

I have a CL since new and it has been flawless. I did have a dead circuit board on a 11-23 and a screen replacement on my TL2 (it was de-laminating from heavy use). Leica service did a great job fixing both. I love these cameras because they are an investment worth fixing. The total for the fixes was less than 300.00.

[pocholin]

1 hour ago, MDCT said:

I have a CL since new and it has been flawless. I did have a dead circuit board on a 11-23 and a screen replacement on my TL2 (it was de-laminating from heavy use). Leica service did a great job fixing both. I love these cameras because they are an investment worth fixing. The total for the fixes was less than 300.00.

I've had this camera for almost two years and it had been flawless...until yesterday! Oh well. 

[ramarren]

I've had my CL since Summer 2018. It'd been flawless in operation. 

About four weeks ago, I took it out and it misbehaved: the EVF/LCD switching wouldn't work reliably, some buttons weren't responding after a short time. I stuffed it back in my pack and didn't think about it 'til I got home. Examining it after I got home, I found a significant amount of fine dirt and grime in all the crevices of the body exterior, including the viewfinder ocular. A little lighter fluid, a box of Q-tips, and a couple of micro-fiber cloths later, the camera was spotless again—and everything works flawlessly again. 

Sometimes the problems are simple things.

G

[pocholin]

11 hours ago, Le Chef said:

I don’t think Dan has repair capabilities for Leica digital cameras but I could be wrong. There’s an argument with cameras to behave like the British Royal Family: apart from the heir, you always need a spare…

You're right, they would need to send it on my behalf...at least, it is still under warranty!

[tommonego@gmail.com]

The camera is back, had to do a complete set up, my fault for not exporting my profiles. So my cat was catwas hanging around.

CL 23 Summicron, 1/20sec f2 ISO 1600   

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!