My new M11 is bricked... Leica Spain

[Fotoklaus]

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Perhaps the Pope knows someone to write a proper software for a digital camera in 2022...

[Chimichurri]

On 8/4/2022 at 2:34 PM, Antonio Russell said:

Unfortunately my M11, has become unresponsive after just 30 days. Red LED stays on when you turn on the camera but the display dos not come on and the camera is not responsive... I am obvously very disappointed given the cost of the camera that this should happend. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed? I have contacted Leica Spain and they are not helpfull (the suggest sending the camera to Weltzat for 1 month!!). I beleive that if they cannot replace the camera then they should at least provide a refund. 

 

This is a known M11 issue known as the RLOD. Red Light of Death. 

The nice folk here will always try to help, but there is no help. The only help is for Leica to give you another brand new M11. 

It famously happened to Hugh Brownstone and they jerked him around when they just needed to replace it. Hopefully the Leica guy was right and Leica already has solved this by automatically giving people a new camera instead of sending it to get fixed. 
 

Hugh made a video with the Leica executive and he said that they in fact had this issue. Not only the camera was having this issue but apparently the stores were sending the camera through the repair process instead of automatic replacement. So Hugh’s camera went here and there for weeks on end instead of just giving him a new one.

I guess the memo didn’t get to every Leica store. 

To be honest I will not buy from the main Leica store here. I went there once and their attitude really sucks. So I buy all my Leica gear from an official Leica retailer that is just a normal camera store authorized Leica dealer instead of the main store. 

I’m happy I went for the M10R though. This problem is a real issue with the M11 unfortunately. Too bad. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Chimichurri

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[lct]

1 hour ago, Chimichurri said:

Hugh made a video with the Leica executive

Any link? Just curious.

[jakontil]

1 hour ago, lct said:

Any link? Just curious.

I watched it, i think his video was made for M6 reissue release

[lct]

17 minutes ago, jakontil said:

I watched it, i think his video was made for M6 reissue release

I can't seem to find it.

[Jeff S]

8 minutes ago, lct said:

I can't seem to find it.

Jeff

[hdmesa]

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6 hours ago, Chimichurri said:

This is a known M11 issue known as the RLOD. Red Light of Death. 

The nice folk here will always try to help, but there is no help. The only help is for Leica to give you another brand new M11. 

It famously happened to Hugh Brownstone and they jerked him around when they just needed to replace it. Hopefully the Leica guy was right and Leica already has solved this by automatically giving people a new camera instead of sending it to get fixed. 
 

Hugh made a video with the Leica executive and he said that they in fact had this issue. Not only the camera was having this issue but apparently the stores were sending the camera through the repair process instead of automatic replacement. So Hugh’s camera went here and there for weeks on end instead of just giving him a new one.

I guess the memo didn’t get to every Leica store. 

To be honest I will not buy from the main Leica store here. I went there once and their attitude really sucks. So I buy all my Leica gear from an official Leica retailer that is just a normal camera store authorized Leica dealer instead of the main store. 

I’m happy I went for the M10R though. This problem is a real issue with the M11 unfortunately. Too bad. 

In the video with Hugh, Leica says it was an issue with early M11s, but we know for a fact that people are still getting new ones with the same issue.

I sold my M11 and won't be back until the P or Safari version if this gets worked out.

[lct]

54 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

In the video with Hugh, Leica says it was an issue with early M11s, but we know for a fact that people are still getting new ones with the same issue.

I sold my M11 and won't be back until the P or Safari version if this gets worked out.

I will keep my copy which has no problem so far but the video saying that "it was a problem of a very small batch of the first production run that came out of the factory it was fixed we have not had any other problem with the M11 like you had" sounds strange indeed.

[hdmesa]

2 hours ago, lct said:

I will keep my copy which has no problem so far but the video saying that "it was a problem of a very small batch of the first production run that came out of the factory it was fixed we have not had any other problem with the M11 like you had" sounds strange indeed.

If true, it must mean the firmware likes some of us but not others 

[Huss]

2 hours ago, lct said:

I will keep my copy which has no problem so far but the video saying that "it was a problem of a very small batch of the first production run that came out of the factory it was fixed we have not had any other problem with the M11 like you had" sounds strange indeed.

reminds me of the M9 and 'only 0.5% of cameras have a defective sensor' line they put out.

[lct]

9 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

If true, it must mean the firmware likes some of us but not others 

The firmware must hate CV and ZM shooters i guess... Just kidding but i am one of them and i had the feeling the M11 prefers coded lenses until i spent a couple hours with an uncoded Hexanon 50/2 with a screw head in the way of the 6-bit sensor. I expected some problems and almost hoped them to happen, to no avail. The lens behaves exactly like a Summicron 50. So what am i doing right i don't know. I just use UHS-I memory cards that i format with SD Card Formatter, but i may well format them with the camera too, i don't give contradictory orders to the camera, like a 35mm profile for a 28mm lens, and i use randomly the continuous mode, besides this nothing special. I just don't spend my time looking for flaws the camera could have. Ah yes I wash my hands after peeing but I don't think it counts .

[Qlan]

2 hours ago, lct said:

The firmware must hate CV and ZM shooters i guess... Just kidding but i am one of them and i had the feeling the M11 prefers coded lenses until i spent a couple hours with an uncoded Hexanon 50/2 with a screw head in the way of the 6-bit sensor. I expected some problems and almost hoped them to happen, to no avail. The lens behaves exactly like a Summicron 50. So what am i doing right i don't know. I just use UHS-I memory cards that i format with SD Card Formatter, but i may well format them with the camera too, i don't give contradictory orders to the camera, like a 35mm profile for a 28mm lens, and i use randomly the continuous mode, besides this nothing special. I just don't spend my time looking for flaws the camera could have. Ah yes I wash my hands after peeing but I don't think it counts .

Right, so my proposal to Leica is to not automatically switch Lens Detection from Off or Manual M/R to Auto whenever it *thinks* there is a coded lens. Just completely disable the Lens Detection hardware (and software routine) when it is set to Off and manual M/R. I think a lot of freezes I'm experiencing is because of buggy lens detection software. But I don't see it happening, as the M10 also works like this.

[lct]

35 minutes ago, Qlan said:

[...] my proposal to Leica is to not automatically switch Lens Detection from Off or Manual M/R to Auto whenever it *thinks* there is a coded lens. [...]

Won't happen i fear for you and hopefully for me. You know what Leica's aiming at. Priority to Leica lenses hence to coded ones. So each time a coded lens is mounted, lens detection is switched to auto in order for the camera to read the code on the lens. Then what to do when we use an uncoded lens? Best way is to code it obviously. Not a technical problem on recent lenses. Leica ones can be coded by Leica or good workshops and modern CV and ZM lenses have a groove on the flange for hand coding. Remain ancient lenses and other ones like Minolta or Konica. The flange of some of them can be modified for 6-bit coding like my Rokkor 28/2.8 by example. For others a special user profile can be built up but this is not obligatory.

[Chimichurri]

9 hours ago, hdmesa said:

I sold my M11 and won't be back until the P or Safari version if this gets worked out.

That’s fair. I bought my 10R just as the 11 was going to be out. I completely ignored it. A year later I couldn’t be happier. No nonsense. Works every time. Like my Civic. 

[jakontil]

10 hours ago, hdmesa said:

In the video with Hugh, Leica says it was an issue with early M11s, but we know for a fact that people are still getting new ones with the same issue.

I sold my M11 and won't be back until the P or Safari version if this gets worked out.

Woott, thought i was the only one, miss it though surprisingly.. 

[lct]

Ce n'est qu'un au-revoir, it's only a goodbye hopefully .

[hdmesa]

18 hours ago, jakontil said:

Woott, thought i was the only one, miss it though surprisingly.. 

Same here. I went back to the GFX 100S. Looking forward to adding the M11-P to my kit instead of try to replace my GFX with the M11.

[silverimage]

Well, well?

My M11 bricked and has been at Leica Service since October 11th.
The official status is: "Service Order in Progress"
That's it, that's all.

I have been in contact with Leica personal and they are courteous, not that they wouldn't be?

To have a camera of this caliber not function smoothly is unacceptable.
Whether I have a fully charged battery, charge in camera, use a certain SD card, swing it around my like a dead cat?
For goodness sakes the M11 should function properly and faithfully; we paid their asking price.
I never thought I would regret this purchase, really feel let down.

I've owned many, many cameras and can't remember ever having troubles like my current M11.

I don't recommend owning the camera until the issues of operation have been fixed and Leica assures us the problem is resolved.

Edited November 12, 2022 by silverimage

[lct]

4 minutes ago, silverimage said:

My M11 bricked and has been at Leica Service since October 11th.
The official status is: "Service Order in Progress"
That's it, that's all

It should not take that long.You are entitled to ask for a replacement or a refund as you did not pay to get a repaired body. Even Leica acknowledged this it a recent interview (12:20):

https://youtu.be/HOJ9ppLK3_4?t=738

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[Chimichurri]

7 hours ago, silverimage said:

Well, well?

My M11 bricked and has been at Leica Service since October 11th.
The official status is: "Service Order in Progress"
That's it, that's all.

I have been in contact with Leica personal and they are courteous, not that they wouldn't be?

To have a camera of this caliber not function smoothly is unacceptable.
Whether I have a fully charged battery, charge in camera, use a certain SD card, swing it around my like a dead cat?
For goodness sakes the M11 should function properly and faithfully; we paid their asking price.
I never thought I would regret this purchase, really feel let down.

I've owned many, many cameras and can't remember ever having troubles like my current M11.

I don't recommend owning the camera until the issues of operation have been fixed and Leica assures us the problem is resolved.

Agreed. 

Honestly. Ask them to keep it and send you a brand new M10R. And happy shooting! 

Love mine every day more and more … 1 year on… flawless..

I’ve never loved a camera more. Hope this nightmare didn’t discourage you from the M altogether. It’s the best shooting experience of any camera. 

at this point I just have to assume that there is something pretty wrong with the M11. More than meets the eye. We have been hearing about these “teething issues” since January. It’s now November and it is pretty worrying that we are still hearing about problems like these. Not only has it been written about on the internet but also videos on YouTube, not only Hugh, of M11 nightmares. Same problems as described in this thread. Again and again  for nearly a year now. 
 

Before I came to Leica I had a Fuji XPro3. Mine never had a problem, and I got it almost as soon as it came out, but it had an issue with the EVF/OVF automatic window not closing so that you couldn’t see anything. 
 
Actually, famously this guy was making an XPro3 video and he was flipping from EVF to OVF back and forth and half way through the video 

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😂

 

Started popping up all over the internet and I would say within 2 months you never heard anyone ever say anything about this. Fuji acknowledged there was an issue with a batch of XPro3’s (sound familiar?), replaced the faulty units and you never heard of it again. 

I don’t believe this is M11 “teething issues” or a “bad batch” at this point. There’s something up and I just don’t trust the camera… 

You just need an ole faithful… M10R FTW! 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Chimichurri