Connect M11 to PC or Mac via USB-C

[FlashGordonPhotography]

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6 hours ago, jakontil said:

Hi gordon, are you saying that if formatted in exFAT, it is writable and readable on both windows and mac os? It could be useful for external drive backup since i still run on windows and ipad for now, and might add macbook soon 

Yes. I have been swapping external drives between Mac and Windows for years (I use both systems). exFAT allows you to have read/write permissions on either with no issues. If you have something older (like NTFS) you can get a third party program for Mac to write.

Almost all new external drives you can buy are pre-formatted exFAT.

As an aside, I changed my primary laptop to a 14" MBP about three months ago. My last MBP was from 2011. I kept and am still using my Mac pro though. Although I do miss having a touchscreen/stylus on the MBP the speed, especially on battery, for common photo tasks is staggering. My i9 Asus with dedicated graphics, gets close when plugged in but on battery there is simply no comparison. The Windows machine is far behind in both speed and battery life. *If you're wondering whether a MacBook Pro is worth a look*.

Gordon

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[FlashGordonPhotography]

4 hours ago, SrMi said:

 

There is a saying: life is too short to remove USB drive safely :).

AFAIK, and all the information I can find online, exFAT drives also need to be safely ejected if OS writes to them. If you plug it out while data is being written, the data may become corrupted.

Windows 10 has introduced the "Quick Removal" option (must be set in preferences), which does not cache disk write operation. With that option set (default?), write access is slower but more predictable.

Macs do not have that option.

Note that even when just copying data, there may be write-accesses to the SD card.

Absolutely. If you pull a drive while it's writing it'll probably corrupt.

I've been pulling drives on Windows for years. It has a much better progress bar than Mac. When the progress bar closes it's safe to pull a drive. Also if I don't eject a drive on Mac I can plug it into my Windows machine just fine and only when I plug it into the Mac will I need to run it through Disk Utility to *repair* it. Windows never asks for this unless it actually needs a repair.

I don't know of any wndows user who ejects drives. We wait. We pull.

Gordon

[jakontil]

4 hours ago, FlashGordonPhotography said:

Yes. I have been swapping external drives between Mac and Windows for years (I use both systems). exFAT allows you to have read/write permissions on either with no issues. If you have something older (like NTFS) you can get a third party program for Mac to write.

Almost all new external drives you can buy are pre-formatted exFAT.

As an aside, I changed my primary laptop to a 14" MBP about three months ago. My last MBP was from 2011. I kept and am still using my Mac pro though. Although I do miss having a touchscreen/stylus on the MBP the speed, especially on battery, for common photo tasks is staggering. My i9 Asus with dedicated graphics, gets close when plugged in but on battery there is simply no comparison. The Windows machine is far behind in both speed and battery life. *If you're wondering whether a MacBook Pro is worth a look*.

Gordon

Thanks and quite interesting.. i will take note on the exFAT 

[mirekti]

I have just tried PTP with Win11 and Lightroom. I am able to import the files, but for some reason LR didn't recognized all previously imported photos (even though I have option New Photos checked). All files are checked and none are grayed out. I had to manually uncheck them all and select the new photo.
If you see the import menu LR thinks there are 62 new files while in fact it is only 1.

EDIT: Once the single (last) photo was added through USB-C that photo became known to LR it is already on the disk. Other old photos still seem to be new for LR.

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Edited October 24, 2022 by mirekti

[oregonharrier]

I put my M11 in "PTP" mode, connected to my PC with a USB-A <=> USB-C cable and the M11 showed up as external storage.  No hocus-pocus or smoke & mirrors; 'piece of cake with Linux Pop-OS.

[zvorygin]

Created account explicitly to post here, since it's the first topic found in Google by "leica m11 usb windows" search.

So I have Windows 11, and Leica with latest(at the time of this post) 2.0.2 firmware.

I plugged Leica in(switched it to PTP transfer mode first), and nothing worked. Checked devices, and there indeed was MTP device, with some "Leica" metadata in it, but no "storage" device visible, and Lightroom didn't provide any options. Leica wasn't even charging.

So, I have had some issues with cheap USB3 cables in the past - and I decided to use short and thick USB3 cable from my external SSD. And you know what? - it worked like a charm I instantly got Leica "visible" in "My Computer", and Lightroom picked it up.

So if you have some issues, with latest firmware and latest windows - maybe you have to check your USB3 cables.

[Boakium]

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I need help on this as well. I have been using many cameras over multiple brands and NEVER had any problems with connecting the camera to my windows 11 PC. But with my new M11, I do...

I tried to connect with a USB cable to my PC in all USB modes:

- Apple MFi

- PTP

- Tetherring.

Nothing appears on my explorer ever...

I tried turning off the USB charging and tried again all connection modes. Nothing. Every time I change mode I, off course, turn off and turn back on the camera.

 

I'm at a loss...

 

I want to connect to my camera to:

1- transfer the firmware file from my PC to my camera

2- transfer photos from the camera to my PC 

[jaapv]

Why would you not follow the instructions for installing firmware? The camera reads it off an SD card or through the app. Nothing else. For the rest: use a USB cable that is designed for data transfer. A card reader would be cheaper, simpler to use and faster, though. 

[Boakium]

7 hours ago, jaapv said:

Why would you not follow the instructions for installing firmware? The camera reads it off an SD card or through the app. Nothing else. For the rest: use a USB cable that is designed for data transfer. A card reader would be cheaper, simpler to use and faster, though. 

I did follow the instruction to install the firmware. It gave two options. The first one from the app (did not work, android?), a second through the usual process by copying a file onto a SD card.

Since my first post:
I used a 00' method of using a USB card reader dongle to transfer the firmware file to the SD card. It reminded me of times when I was younger with a somewhat unsavory feeling of nostalgia. I put it back in the camera and installed the firmware (2.1.2). Done. It worked fine despite the antiquated method. Since this camera has an internal memory, I was expecting that I could use it to store the firmware file, but since I can't see my camera from my computer, I could not do that and had to fallback to the SD card solution. And no it is not simpler nor faster to use a card reader dongle. When your camera is properly connecting to your PC, it can't be faster and simpler than that! No removing of the battery, no removing the of the SD card and plugging into a dongle. Then after, doing all this in reverse when you are done transferring your files... 

I am still unable to make my Leica M11 visible to my computer (windows 11). At this point, my guess is it's the USB cable the problem. But I am not clear as to what exactly are the specs I need for the cable. I used a cable that I know for a fact that works because I am transferring files from my Fujifilm cameras to my computer without any issue. I tried 4 other cables. Two of them were the thick ones that says 100w. I was able to connect my camera to my wife's Apple computer with one of the cable. We were able to see my pictures from the photo app (not in Finder). The same cable did not work on my windows. Nothing in Lightroom Classic (latest version).

That said, it would be appreciated if anyone could specify what specs the usb cable needs for it to work with this camera. I would like avoid having to buy usb cables from amazon at random until I find one that works. A link (to amazon) to a cable that works would be the best.

Thanks a thousand times!

Edited August 30, 2024 by Boakium

[jaapv]

Simple: https://leicacamerausa.com/usb-c-to-usb-c-cable.html

[Boakium]

1 hour ago, jaapv said:

Simple: https://leicacamerausa.com/usb-c-to-usb-c-cable.html

Thank you for the link, but no specification are given for this cable. I find that 50$USD is kind of expensive for a usb cable! On top of that I will have to pay delivery, customs (I'm in Canada) which will bring me close to 100$CAD for a cable...and delivery will take for ever. And there is no guarantee that it will work on my windows. Maybe it's also a software issue?

I would prefer know what specs I need exactly, so I can search for it on Amazon and have it delivered tomorrow, no customs.

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Edited August 30, 2024 by Boakium

[Derbyshire Man]

I’ve found most will work but a safe bet is a usb c to usb c off the apple website. 

[marchyman]

The issue is that "USB-C" specifies the connector.   It does not specify the data lines supported nor the current carrying capabilities.  As a result manufacturers are free to do pretty much anything they like.  Don't be surprised that some of the no-name super cheap cables are near worthless.

Example: I have some USB-C "charge" cables.  They can charge power hungry devices, but have minimum data handling abilities.  The cables that can handle fast data transfer are more than just wires -- there are small electronic circuits built into the connector, too.

Look at the USB level -- 2, 3, 3.2, 4, whatever, to see how well they claim to transfer data (but you can't always trust the claims). This recent article has some good tech info in the "How we test USB-C cables" and FAQ sections at the bottom of the article.

I use a card reader and therefore get by with a slower cable -- the one that came with my iPad.

[Boakium]

Success. I found what I was looking for on this post: 

 

In short, you need a USB 3.1 gen 2 cable. I bought two from amazon for about 10$CAD (each), delivered in 24h. They both work. One of them has a 90° angle which is very practical because the usbc port on the camera is on the bottom plate. So if you don't want to have your camera positioned at an odd angle when plugged in, this work well(ish).

Would have been better to have a rubberized port on the side of the camera, something that looks like this one that I saw on the M typ 240: 

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So now when I plug my M11 in, after a short while (5 seconds), it appears in my window explorer in the usual place: This PC > Devices and Drives as a Leica camera. From there you can copy or delete your files on your SD card or the internal memory.

In lightroom (classic), it appears as expected in the import window.

Good day to all.

[Photoworks]

1 hour ago, Boakium said:

Would have been better to have a rubberized port on the side of the camera, something that looks like this one that I saw on the M typ 240: 

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that is not a cover. and for placement, it would not be usable for tether shooting unless you are left-handed.

[jaapv]

On 9/1/2024 at 2:46 PM, Boakium said:

Success. I found what I was looking for on this post: 

 

In short, you need a USB 3.1 gen 2 cable. I bought two from amazon for about 10$CAD (each), delivered in 24h. They both work. One of them has a 90° angle which is very practical because the usbc port on the camera is on the bottom plate. So if you don't want to have your camera positioned at an odd angle when plugged in, this work well(ish).

Would have been better to have a rubberized port on the side of the camera, something that looks like this one that I saw on the M typ 240: 

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!

So now when I plug my M11 in, after a short while (5 seconds), it appears in my window explorer in the usual place: This PC > Devices and Drives as a Leica camera. From there you can copy or delete your files on your SD card or the internal memory.

In lightroom (classic), it appears as expected in the import window.

Good day to all.

That is a bumper for the strap...🤣