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Sl2 system error


Gavin Cato

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Hey guys. Whilst shooting the shutter made the typical shooting noise then a red error came up. 
 

SYSTEM ERROR 
 

The shutter appears stuck over the sensor. See attached photos. 

Any ideas how to fix without sending to leica and having it away for ages?

Cheers 
 

Gav 
 

 

 

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Gavin Cato,   I Googled SL2 System Error and several forum threads came up that address the issue and ideas how to clear it.  I would start there.  Here is one such link.  If your camera is new, you might be able to get Leica Australia to simply swap the body out.  In the meantime, I suggest you Google:  Leica SL2 System Error.   Hope this helps. r/ Mark

Try:  

PS...I don't have my SL2-S Manual handy but you might check there for malfunction notes as well.  

PSS....You might read this thread.  It could well be your SD card.  Try:  

 

Edited by LeicaR10
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Pretty sure it's stuffed mechanically - the shutter is stuck over the sensor, and no software will fix that.

I ended up buying 2 x SL2-S's (I think they are a better fit for weddings) and I'll keep 1 x SL2 as a spare/personal cam, and sell the other SL2.

I didn't really intend on doing this but shooting as many weddings as I do I really should have 3 x SL bodies. Lets hope these ones don't break!

 

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On 1/8/2022 at 2:30 PM, Gavin Cato said:

Tried all that. No go unfortunately. What a hassle.

I'm going to have to buy another SL2 today to get me by until I can get this one fixed. 

 

On 1/8/2022 at 2:55 AM, Gavin Cato said:

Hey guys. Whilst shooting the shutter made the typical shooting noise then a red error came up. 
 

SYSTEM ERROR 
 

The shutter appears stuck over the sensor. See attached photos. 

Any ideas how to fix without sending to leica and having it away for ages?

Cheers 
 

Gav 
 

 

 

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!

My first SL2S gave me a system error 5 minutes after turning it on right out of the box just delivered from B&H.  Never even had a chance to put on a lens or insert a SD card.   Returned it and just got the 2nd body yesterday.  So far no issues.  

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Gavin Cato,  You buying the SL2-S for weddings is a good move.  The files are better and sensor renders better in low light.  Most people don't want large prints of their wedding. When I used the S system for over a decade for my former business, needing large files and pixels was a necessity for very large prints for my clients.  Now retired, 24 MPs are enough for most projects.  As for the SL2 or SL2-S, I have not had any issues whatsoever.  Most cameras today are simply optical capture computers.  Depending on environmental conditions and treatment by the photographer, they can be prone to breakdowns.  Your having 2 camera bodies to shoot weddings is a very wise decision.  When I use to shoot weddings in college many, many moons ago, I dreaded the thought of having a camera or flash unit die or malfunction on me.  Having a bridezilla come after you for ruined or no photographs, is not my idea of having a good day either.  r/ Mark

Edited by LeicaR10
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Hey Mark,

Yep 1300+ weddings under my belt here :) In addition to the leicas I have a fuji spare, and a sony spare, so always plenty of gear.

But I'm now based on Leica, so definitely wanted 3 x SL bodies to avoid grabbing another brand at a wedding in case of problems.

The SL2-S's seem lovely, I used them at a engagement shoot yesterday. Super clean files. I'm keeping a 47mp SL2 as my spare/personal cam (i.e. landscapes on holidays if covid ever goes away).

cheers 

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It may not be the culprit, but like most modern Leica camera's, to protect itself, the SL2 will "lock up" if the SENSOR just gets too hot,
I assume You have tried to get it working after a period of cool down time.
This may be good info for ALL users to know anyway.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

How wonderful. So as I described here on Jan 8th 1 of my SL2's failed with the red system error. It's in Germany at the moment with no ETA.

I bought 2 x SL2-s bodies to get me going, and have been primarily using them at weddings with my other SL2 as a 3rd cam when I need it (i.e. remote cam and similar).

At last nights wedding, it too also failed in exactly the same way as the SL2 I posted about. 

So 2 x very expensive SL2's have failed - terminally - within 6-7 weeks of each other. They were bought at the same time.

I can understand one camera dying, hey stuff happens right. But both of them - with probably a multiple month repair turnaround. Now that's getting annoying.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I dropped off my broken SL2 with Leica Sydney on Jan 9th.

I just heard back from the store yesterday, 1st of March that it's still "waiting for assessment" in Germany.

So 7 weeks have passed, and I asked them if they could possibly follow up to hurry it up. I then received an email back saying "I need to explain something in regard to Leica camera repair. The normal process of repairing Leica camera is" then followed by a description basically ending with saying it'll be a few months in total.

I don't blame the Leica store here at all (the guy in it is super nice and obviously not his fault and he's trying to organise me a loaner). But this is absolutely lousy for such a pricey piece of gear. Of concern also is that the same problem happened on another SL2 as described in my previous post (I haven't had time to go back to the store), so I'm going to have the same thing with 2 bodies.

2 things to note here.

- 3-4 months downtime is s considerable chunk of the warranty period used up.

- Australian consumer law has a clause in it that repairs must be carried out in a reasonable length of time - Personally I don't think a few months is reasonable.

Love my Leica gear (mostly the lenses). But not too thrilled at the moment. If I'd stayed with Sony they'd have had the gear repaired in days, not months.

 

 

 

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First and foremost I sympathize with your situation and glad to see your dealer has stepped up to get a loaner.  

I moved over to the Leica SL2, in early 2021 and have enjoyed the system.  I am in the US and I don’t think that the warranty/repair situation is any better over here, in that most people I know that have sent a SL2 or lens to New Jersey for repairs end up having the lens sent on to Germany.  

I don’t know if like Nikon, Canon, Fuji (all brands I have used in the past and still have some), Leica has a full time repair center in the US, one that is capable of tearing down a L mount lens to replace a AF motor, or re-calibrate the optics.  Also not sure if they have a ability to fix a SL2 or SL body without sending it off to Germany.  

Another solution would be to have a value add type offering where you could get a loaner to use while your camera is in for repair. I love the Phase One value add offering, which is now included with a new back purchase.  Most times a Phase One back is going back to Denmark for a major repair which on average takes about 3 to 4 week total turn around.  So having a Value add loaner makes that process much easier to handle. 

The lack of communication you have had so far with Leica, also concerns me, in that you have had to proactively reach out to them each time for updates.  Just not the way it should be.  

My SL2 has worked well, however it occasionally does have issues, none that so far have caused me to reach out to Leica for a warranty repair.  But I did go ahead and purchase a used Panasonic S1R, so I would have a backup body that would still allow me to use the L lenses I have purchased if my SL2 has to go to Leica for service.   The Panasonic S1 or S1R both have very good used pricing at least in the US, 1/2 or less of retail. 

I hope you get your bodies back soon, but with everything now going on in the world, repair times may slip. 

Paul 

 

 

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  • 1 year later...


Hmm - this started to me at the start of a concert shoot. I removed all cards + battery and lens - I think this is important.  I waited 5 minutes (using my second body so I didn't lose two much rythm in the shoot.  I then put things back together and it was all OK.  Now keeping my fingers crossed.

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I keep getting the odd random email & instagram message from other SL2 owners who encounter the same problem asking what I did to fix it etc. so I thought I'd log in one last time to be clear for anyone finding this thread from google.

Since approx March/April 2022 I've switched my wedding kit to Canon R5's. I've shot over 100 weddings since then and absolutely zero problems. I truly mean zero issues.

I have no more leica gear for weddings, and I never got a answer from Leica as to what the problem was. Quite frankly the service from the company was a disgrace. After spending probably $75k-$80k on gear, to be spoken to as if it was a privilege and a favour to me that they send the gear off to germany for months at a time and acted surprised and shocked when I said 4 months repair time was a bit extreme for a working professional.

Best wishes to everyone, but I won't be touching the SL system again.

Please no more emails or instagram messages, I'm not on the system anymore so can't help.

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18 hours ago, Gavin Cato said:

Since approx March/April 2022 I've switched my wedding kit to Canon R5's. I've shot over 100 weddings since then and absolutely zero problems. I truly mean zero issues.

I have no more leica gear for weddings, and I never got a answer from Leica as to what the problem was. Quite frankly the service from the company was a disgrace. After spending probably $75k-$80k on gear, to be spoken to as if it was a privilege and a favour to me that they send the gear off to germany for months at a time and acted surprised and shocked when I said 4 months repair time was a bit extreme for a working professional.

 

Really sorry it worked out this way - and shame on Leica Australia for letting you down so badly.  On the rare occasion I've had problems Leica in London have been super helpful and given me a loaner while things were being sorted out.  Best of luck with future work.  Everything I hear about the R5 is great (I shot 5D variants for years).  It's just the Leica glass that is so damn good - and so far my M's have been faultless (I stuck at M10-R) and the SL2s has been solid (apart from the glitch I reported above...) 🤞

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There just is no same service with Leica as there is with Canons and Nikons. I have been working as a photographer for 13 years and actually now sold my R5 and Canon lenses to transfer to Leica. My only concern now is reliability. I have M11 that has already been in Germany and it took way too long (only 1 month) in that repair trip. With Canon you get a replacement in 1-2 days because they offer a service for pros.

How I have solved this concern is that I keep my 1DXmk3 and 5Dmk4 and some lenses for these systems and I also use these in sports photography. I have SL2-S and M11 always with me in weddings and other commercial shoots so if one fails I can keep up with other. And 3 years warranty so let them fix any issues and I can always pickup some Lumix second hand and sell it back then if problem occurs or keep shooting with Canons that just work.

Imho high priority for Leica would be to set up some professional program (CPS like) that would cost like 100-200€ a year that would include a loaner as a backup for pros or others if something happens during a repair trip.

But about R5 what a plastic feeling (compare to Leicas or even 5D dslr 1-4) and the shooting feeling is just complete gone imho, its a camera that disconnects me from what I'm shooting. And then there is this yellow/red tint in portraits that is hard to get rid of. I am happy about my switch even that it brings some concern. But yes a great camera and get the job done!

Edited by Mikko Kankainen
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