Big Firmware Update for Leica SL2 (v.4.0) and SL2-S (v.3.0)

[Stuart Richardson]

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19 hours ago, fngl51 said:

After updating to Version 4.0 of the firmware, my image counter (file name) was reset to L1000000. Is there a way to restore the image counter to the correct number? Replacing the folder on the SD card with the correct folder does not seem to do the trick. I can't find anything in the SL2 instruction manual that addresses this issue.

I updated a Q2 and SL2 and both had the same problem. The image counter was reset, and it seems the only think I can change in the numbering is the first letter of the naming, which seems needlessly limiting to me...especially for someone with several different Leica cameras, all of which have a L10000001, L10000548 etc etc.

Otherwise the firmware updates seemed to work uneventfully for me. No errors, except when I chose the option to "set up via Leica FOTOS". It did connect, but after a bit there was just the "busy" screen prompt (of the spinning circle), but no text under it. Quitting the app on the phone did not do anything, and I just let the camera for several minutes to make sure that I did not mess something up, but after ten or more minutes it was still going, and I just turned off the camera and turned it back on and it just went ahead and did the lens update. So I would advise people not to "set up via Leica FOTOS", and just wait to do that until afterwards.

[LBJ2]

3 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

I updated a Q2 and SL2 and both had the same problem. The image counter was reset, and it seems the only think I can change in the numbering is the first letter of the naming, which seems needlessly limiting to me...especially for someone with several different Leica cameras, all of which have a L10000001, L10000548 etc etc.

Otherwise the firmware updates seemed to work uneventfully for me. No errors, except when I chose the option to "set up via Leica FOTOS". It did connect, but after a bit there was just the "busy" screen prompt (of the spinning circle), but no text under it. Quitting the app on the phone did not do anything, and I just let the camera for several minutes to make sure that I did not mess something up, but after ten or more minutes it was still going, and I just turned off the camera and turned it back on and it just went ahead and did the lens update. So I would advise people not to "set up via Leica FOTOS", and just wait to do that until afterwards.

When did the SL2 update appear on the Leica Photos app? I waited the entire first day of v4.0 release USA and never saw the update appear on the Fotos app so I just went with the old SD card update later in the evening. I had a very good experience updating the M11 with the Fotos app so wanted to try it with the SL2 as well but ran out of patience Ha !

Did you by any chance delete your Q2 and SL2 out of the Fotos app before attempting to update ? 

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[Jeff S]

3 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

 

Otherwise the firmware updates seemed to work uneventfully for me. No errors, except when I chose the option to "set up via Leica FOTOS". It did connect, but after a bit there was just the "busy" screen prompt (of the spinning circle), but no text under it. Quitting the app on the phone did not do anything, and I just let the camera for several minutes to make sure that I did not mess something up, but after ten or more minutes it was still going, and I just turned off the camera and turned it back on and it just went ahead and did the lens update. So I would advise people not to "set up via Leica FOTOS", and just wait to do that until afterwards.

Leica Miami guys recommend individually deleting all camera to FOTOS setups before proceeding with any FW update via SD card, and re-creating connections after completing the update.  Otherwise it won’t work properly.

Jeff

[Stuart Richardson]

51 minutes ago, LBJ2 said:

When did the SL2 update appear on the Leica Photos app? I waited the entire first day of v4.0 release USA and never saw the update appear on the Fotos app so I just went with the old SD card update later in the evening. I had a very good experience updating the M11 with the Fotos app so wanted to try it with the SL2 as well but ran out of patience Ha !

Did you by any chance delete your Q2 and SL2 out of the Fotos app before attempting to update ? 

I updated via SD. It was after the update when the camera was being set up that it asked if I wanted to connect to Leica FOTOS to finish setting up the camera. I did, and connected successfully and managed to use the remote etc, but the camera stayed "busy" the whole time while connected. Even after quitting the app, the camera still showed the rotating circle sign that it was busy. I left it for ten or more minutes and the screen was blank, but pressing a half press on the camera showed the rear screen still busy. So I turned off the camera and turned it back on again, and then it did the lens update for the lens on the camera. After that, all was normal.

 

[matted]

On 5/8/2022 at 12:02 PM, FrankX said:

Just press the joystick to switch the eye!

Unfortunately if you are using a joystick press to activate the autofocus when in MF mode then you can’t seem to cycle between eyes/faces/people, so if this is functionality you need you must have AF tied to the shutter button. 

[Jeff S]

27 minutes ago, matted said:

Unfortunately if you are using a joystick press to activate the autofocus when in MF mode then you can’t seem to cycle between eyes/faces/people, so if this is functionality you need you must have AF tied to the shutter button. 

I haven’t tried, but is that the case even if one moves the joystick side-to-side, without depressing it?  I ask because, while I have focus set to the joystick in MF, I can still perform some functions using the joystick, without depressing, for instance moving the focus point.

Jeff

[keith_lee]

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Stuart Richardson

"...and I just turned off the camera and turned it back on and it just went ahead and did the lens update."

This was also my experience when I installed the software update.

[LocalHero1953]

35 minutes ago, matted said:

Unfortunately if you are using a joystick press to activate the autofocus when in MF mode then you can’t seem to cycle between eyes/faces/people, so if this is functionality you need you must have AF tied to the shutter button. 

My brain hurts enough when I'm looking at 2-4 faces and so up to 8 eyes, all in movement, so MF is one option I'm happy to avoid. (Stage drama - they don't wait for the photographer to fiddle with his camera).

[matted]

28 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

I haven’t tried, but is that the case even if one moves the joystick side-to-side, without depressing it?  I ask because, while I have focus set to the joystick in MF, I can still perform some functions using the joystick, without depressing, for instance moving the focus point.

Jeff

The problem is that when you aren't depressing the joystick, the camera just thinks it is in MF mode, so it is not identifying faces or eyes. It only begins this process once the joystick is depressed. While depressed you can still move it side to side, but it doesn't appear to change the eye/face selection. It does move the focus box around when it loses faces/eyes, however.

24 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

My brain hurts enough when I'm looking at 2-4 faces and so up to 8 eyes, all in movement, so MF is one option I'm happy to avoid. (Stage drama - they don't wait for the photographer to fiddle with his camera).

Agreed, MF is not the best tool in that regard! I only mentioned MF because in my preferred arrangement from DSLR days is to have the camera in MF by default, and activate continuous AF as needed via a button, giving you AF-S, AF-C, or MF behaviour without changing any settings, and disconnected from shutter release. This still works with eye AF, just so long as you are happy with the face and eye the camera picks... If you set the camera to Face/eye AF mode, then it will detect eyes and faces while in standby and you can select which one you want before you even half press the shutter.

[LocalHero1953]

I was caught by a glitch in the firmware update this evening. Afterwards I remembered it had happened to me in a previous firmware update (perhaps in the SL?), but had forgotten.

As per all the previous discussions, I saved my settings and user profiles to card before updating, and reloaded them after, and they appeared to be all present and correct.

But what happened (I think) was that any function that is changed/altered/improved as part of the update CANNOT be set by an old user profile. I shoot mainly in A mode, and set the dials to front-aperture, rear-EC. After the firmware update, the dial settings were set on rear-aperture front-ISO, even though I had selected my user profile. (This confused me in the middle of a photo session!)

The wheel settings have been updated in the new firmware to include ISO. I am guessing, but perhaps whatever code for wheel settings was saved as part of my user profile in the old firmware was incompatible with how the wheel setting code is now written. An understandable glitch, but an annoying one nonetheless.

In hindsight, there was an indication that all was not well. Those who use user profiles know that, after selection, they are displayed in the quickstart menu with a number next to the user profile icon. But each time I selected the user profile, the number did not appear. As everything else seemed to be set correctly, I didn't notice this at first. Now that I have correctly reassigned my wheel settings and resaved the user profile, the number is displayed. I hope that means wheel assignment was the only function lost from my user profiles.

Edited May 10, 2022 by LocalHero1953

[scroy]

On 5/5/2022 at 2:21 PM, scroy said:

Video mode works fine, only stills are compromised. 

I believe I've cleared my issue, things are now working properly.

What I did => 1) reformat cards. ; 2) Remove battery; 3) turn off SL2; 4) Re-insert battery ; 5) turn on SL2.

Don't know why, but now things are working as expected.

 

[beewee]

Not sure if anyone has tried the latest firmware update with the remote feature on the FOTOS app. I tried it ages ago and found it so buggy and slow that I gave up on it and pretended the feature didn’t exist.

Just out of curiosity, I gave it a try again and found it surprisingly responsive. It’s slightly lower resolution but it’s responsive enough that I can actually frame with it and eye/face/body detect actually works and you can see where the focus point is being tracked.

It gives me hope that Leica is seriously committed to the FOTOS app and sees it as an integral part of the camera’s user experience rather than some add-on feature that just serves to let them check a box on the spec sheet.

Edited May 10, 2022 by beewee

[Bikie John]

On 5/8/2022 at 5:23 PM, fngl51 said:

After updating to Version 4.0 of the firmware, my image counter (file name) was reset to L1000000. Is there a way to restore the image counter to the correct number? Replacing the folder on the SD card with the correct folder does not seem to do the trick. I can't find anything in the SL2 instruction manual that addresses this issue.

I don't think anyone else has suggested this, so .....

Resetting the file name is a bit fiddly but not difficult. Take a shot after the upgrade and it will be L1000001. Turn the camera off, take the card out, mount it in a card reader for your computer and rename the file. I usually rename it to one less than the last one I shot before the update. Put the card back in and take another shot - the new shot  should have a file name the same as the last "real" photo you took, and it will carry on incrementing from there. So you can "lose" the two that you have just taken and the numbering will carry on seamlessly.

I was a little surprised that it wasn't necessary after updating the M10s at the same time.

John

[T.J.]

Does anyone know where to find a list of the new assignable functions.  I’m currently traveling and dot not want to update anything until I get home.  I am however, very curious. 

Thanks - T.J. 

[Photoworks]

1 hour ago, Bikie John said:

Resetting the file name is a bit fiddly but not difficult. Take a shot after the upgrade and it will be L1000001. Turn the camera off, take the card out, mount it in a card reader for your computer and rename the file. I usually rename it to one less than the last one I shot before the update. Put the card back in and take another shot - the new shot  should have a file name the same as the last "real" photo you took, and it will carry on incrementing from there. So you can "lose" the two that you have just taken and the numbering will carry on seamlessly.

Interesting that anyone cares about that!

So when the card is full and you put a different card that already has an image on it the numbering changes again.

In my case I use two cameras all the time. What to do now?

I think keeping the filename L000001 on a computer is silly. It does not say anything , and eventually it will reset. Best Practice would be to rename on import to something meaningful .

I use Photo mechanic to import. I can rename the RAW+JPG the same and keep them together. at the same time add all other useful information like location and copyright terms.

[beewee]

3 hours ago, T.J. said:

Does anyone know where to find a list of the new assignable functions.  I’m currently traveling and dot not want to update anything until I get home.  I am however, very curious. 

Thanks - T.J. 

Press and hold the assignable function button until you see a list of assignable functions for that button.

[matted]

2 hours ago, Photoworks said:

Interesting that anyone cares about that!

So when the card is full and you put a different card that already has an image on it the numbering changes again.

In my case I use two cameras all the time. What to do now?

I think keeping the filename L000001 on a computer is silly. It does not say anything , and eventually it will reset. Best Practice would be to rename on import to something meaningful .

I use Photo mechanic to import. I can rename the RAW+JPG the same and keep them together. at the same time add all other useful information like location and copyright terms.

And personally I don't fret about either... the file name is essentially meaningless if you are using a DAM, so long as it is unique within the folder that it is in (which is where keeping the first letter unique comes into play; this addresses the multiple camera scenario). If you are worried about one day losing your DAM and all associated metadata like keywords, then keep .xmp sidecar files with your RAW files and use folders to say something about the images within if you need to.

 

Personally I just have Lightroom copy the files into folders by date on import so I never have duplicated file names. Any further renaming or worrying about having the numbers increase where I left off is a waste of my time... I'm never hunting through the Finder or Explorer looking for a specific image; Lightroom has 37 ways to find it that are faster and better. YMMV, of course, and obviously this is all very personal and we all have our own ideas of what is "best" (for us).

[matted]

3 hours ago, T.J. said:

Does anyone know where to find a list of the new assignable functions.  I’m currently traveling and dot not want to update anything until I get home.  I am however, very curious. 

Thanks - T.J. 

According to Reddotforum: "Leica has provided a lot more options to the assignable function buttons, for a grand total of 55 possible choices, up from 31 possibilities from the previous firmware."

So 24 additional options. I have not seen a list anywhere unfortunately, and unless I downgrade my SL2-S I would only be relying on memory for what was there before...

[Pelu2010]

There is a printed reference that you can order for free from Leica. 
 

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[Geoff C. Bassett]

Want to chime in to how wonderful this update is for my workflow. Changing video exposure with the dials when shooting video for me is a godsend and the ability to finally star photos quickly is great for fast turnarounds.