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M11 freeze issues [Merged]


mrmalo

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7 hours ago, MrFriendly said:

The freezing-up issue is a common problem with the M cameras, not just M11; if you search the forum, you will find many posts about it.  I had a M246 Monochrom that would constantly freeze up.  Then I got two brand new M10M that also had the same issue, and then again the same problem with my M10-P.  I'm a software engineer who works on embedded OS for a living, and I spent a lot of time investigating the freezing-up issue of my M cameras.  I have a hard time believing that the issue is anything but a firmware bug, potentially some kind of race condition, that occurs during read/write stage. Unfortunately, Leica has tried to convince its customers that the issue is with their SD cards, which I don't buy.  If it really is the SD cards, then Leica should publish a list of supported SD cards that work without issue, but so far they have refused or unable to publish such a list.  I even asked the Leica Technical support, and they told me that Leica factory headquarters in Germany is inclined to think the modern Lexar card used may be the cause, they unfortunately don’t get specific with regard to make and model of recommended cards.

There are couple of things you can do to reduce the probability of the camera freezing up:

  1. use slower SD cards.  I use 90MB/sec ones, and that greatly reduces the problem.  If I use something like a 250MB/sec card, then I can get the M to freeze up in a few minutes.
  2. hard reset the camera by removing the battery before use.  I'm not sure how effective this is, but I have a feeling that there is some kind of potential memory leak that builds up overtime that contributes to the issue.

Leica is not a software company, and they certainly do not develop their own realt-time operating system, so this issues is probably never going to get fixed.  And I bet all the M cameras mentioned here use the same OS.

Interesting enough, I have never had my SL2-S freeze up, and I always use the Lexar 250MB/sec cards with that camera.  My guess is that the SL cameras use a different OS than the M, which doesn't suffer from this bug(s).

I hope that helps.

P.S.

I don't own a M11 (waiting for M11-P and M11M 🙂)

Agreed, it seems to be a common problem across M cameras and don't think it will ever be resolved.

I originally posted this thread back in January 2022. Since then, I've been updating my camera when new firmware is released, and haven't experienced a crash in a very long time. I also shoot in full manual mode.

I'm not sure if it's SD card speed related, as mine is 300mb/s! 

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Yeah i remember back in the day some freezes up were unfortunately directed at particular SDcard but on the slower speed though so while i hope there’s at least a workaround i found the temporary solution seems inconsistent 

best bet probably use the old sdcard which never leads to a freeze problem before

and hope while the problem builds over time, it wont lead to the death of its host

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19 hours ago, mrmalo said:

Agreed, it seems to be a common problem across M cameras and don't think it will ever be resolved.

I originally posted this thread back in January 2022. Since then, I've been updating my camera when new firmware is released, and haven't experienced a crash in a very long time. I also shoot in full manual mode.

I'm not sure if it's SD card speed related, as mine is 300mb/s! 

Has anybody investigated whether this is temperature related?  M cameras are known to have heat management problems occasionally, due to the vintage body design. 

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I am not an engineer or have any insides.

I think Leica is using a new database on the M11. If you use a card from another camera it need formatting before you can use it in the M11

no more moving cards from SL or other M cameras.

I had freezing issue with faster cards, Sony and ProGrade but they have been resolved with FW updates.

I don't think overheating is a big issue on the M11, the sensor does not get as hot. The M10R use to get read hot.

If you have problem email Leica with your card model and they may fix it.

I am a fun of the internal memory as late, it is much faster clearing up buffer. I just copy images to SD card when I get home. 

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My first "real world" shooting with my M11 yesterday. About 6 hours. Froze thrice, had to take out battery each time to fix it. Basically, waking up from auto power off, but nothing worked, no response to any button press. I could see the red leds in the rangefinder window, so the camera definitely woke up.  Temp wasn't high and SD card formatted in camera. Was using the Viso, so not sure if it is related to that. 

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27 minutes ago, ravinj said:

My first "real world" shooting with my M11 yesterday. About 6 hours. Froze thrice, had to take out battery each time to fix it. Basically, waking up from auto power off, but nothing worked, no response to any button press. I could see the red leds in the rangefinder window, so the camera definitely woke up.  Temp wasn't high and SD card formatted in camera. Was using the Viso, so not sure if it is related to that. 

Which card were you using?

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8 hours ago, ravinj said:

My first "real world" shooting with my M11 yesterday. About 6 hours. Froze thrice, had to take out battery each time to fix it. Basically, waking up from auto power off, but nothing worked, no response to any button press. I could see the red leds in the rangefinder window, so the camera definitely woke up.  Temp wasn't high and SD card formatted in camera. Was using the Viso, so not sure if it is related to that. 

@Santos told me probably turning off standby mode might cure it but i havent tried it myself since been shooting with my m10r as of late

i might be curious now, really want to get the m11 work as intended without hiccups 

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@ravinj As @jakontil Mentioned, Based From My Usage, Having The Standby Mode Off And Just Leaving The Camera On While In Use Seem To Help. Of Course, This Is But A Temporary Measure. I Have Been Facing The Same Issue, But Using The Grip Made It Harder To Get To The Battery. From My Side, I Have Raised The Issue Through Leica ME. Seems The Issue For Some Reason Is More Pronounced In Alloy Bodies (But My Sample Size Is Two). Hope This Helps Until A Firmware Is Pushed Out.

 

Not Completely Unrelated But Just A Ramble:

Not Derailing Here, But Camera Manufacturers Started This Real Life Testing At The Expense Of Early Adopters Of Their Cameras (Oh God The H2S Is A Useless Brick When Compared To XT4). I Know, We Always Expect The Perfect Product From Our Favorite Brand, But We Are Participating In A Public Test Realm (Gamer Here Lol). Yeah We Want Tighter Quality Control And Testing, And As A Person Privileged To Have Different Bodies To Switch To, I Have No Right Defending Them (Where Is My 28 Lux Leica -.- Its Been 2 Months And I Have A 90 To Send!) But I Think Shortages And Current Economic Issues Are Effecting The Quality Control Team Which I Understand (Heck Its Been Effecting My Team In The Space Industry, And I Start Seeing Functional And Some Tests Like Rad Completely Omitted In The Favor Of Heritage Of Components). 

I Just Hope Things Get Back On Track, Way Before They Spend Resources On The Release Of The M11P. Because By Then I Expect My M11 To Be In Top Notch Condition, As I Only Purchase Monochrome And D Versions After The "Vanilla" Versions Release (Unless There Is A Blue Body! Oh That Frankfurt.... My Moby-Dick... I Shall Find You One Day... And My Cats And I Shall Go Hungry.... Be It Months We Are Patient... My Savings Spear Shall Pierce You My Friend...).

Edited by Santos
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Thanks Santos. As you noted, the workaround is not a solution,  but perhaps not as annoying as having to take the battery out to bring the camera back to life. Though on the other hand, leaving it always on while shooting means battery running out sooner or depleting at the exact moment when you need to take a shot. 

 

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On 9/3/2022 at 6:13 PM, ravinj said:

My first "real world" shooting with my M11 yesterday. About 6 hours. Froze thrice, had to take out battery each time to fix it. Basically, waking up from auto power off, but nothing worked, no response to any button press. I could see the red leds in the rangefinder window, so the camera definitely woke up.  Temp wasn't high and SD card formatted in camera. Was using the Viso, so not sure if it is related to that. 

Lately using the live view, 'iphone' style. And yes, few crashes here and there. Somehow the camera does not like to switch off and toggle live view too often. I do not have the Viso but suspect it may be a similar issue with the Viso being a live view on and off. And crash. Fix is battery in/out but the whole feels a little sluggish. 

Finger crossed can be fixed with some update/

G.

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I was just out for 30-40 mins casual shooting and the freezing / crashing seems to get worse. Have nothing changed but it froze twice (needed to remove the battery) and in the other ~10 cases, the display for the preview remained black after the shot was taken (even though it should show the preview of the image for 3 secs). 

sorry but for such an expensive camera, this is beyond ridiculous. This totally ruins the shooting experience and I resist to go out with the camera… thinking of selling the whole setup at the moment. Havent had this with the m10p and even a couple of month back it was also not that often! Idk whether the latest FW made it worse but this is nothing to accept from such a company. 

Edited by Jewl
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50 minutes ago, Jewl said:

I was just out for 30-40 mins casual shooting and the freezing / crashing seems to get worse. Have nothing changed but it froze twice (needed to remove the battery) and in the other ~10 cases, the display for the preview remained black after the shot was taken (even though it should show the preview of the image for 3 secs). 

sorry but for such an expensive camera, this is beyond ridiculous. This totally ruins the shooting experience and I resist to go out with the camera… thinking of selling the whole setup at the moment. Havent had this with the m10p and even a couple of month back it was also not that often! Idk whether the latest FW made it worse but this is nothing to accept from such a company. 

May i ask if you were using a UHS-I or UHS-II card? Just curious as i have never got those problems with any of my Sandisk UHS-I cards.

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1 hour ago, Jewl said:

I was just out for 30-40 mins casual shooting and the freezing / crashing seems to get worse. Have nothing changed but it froze twice (needed to remove the battery) and in the other ~10 cases, the display for the preview remained black after the shot was taken (even though it should show the preview of the image for 3 secs). 

sorry but for such an expensive camera, this is beyond ridiculous. This totally ruins the shooting experience and I resist to go out with the camera… thinking of selling the whole setup at the moment. Havent had this with the m10p and even a couple of month back it was also not that often! Idk whether the latest FW made it worse but this is nothing to accept from such a company. 

Sorry to hear about your issues. That is not a typical M11 experience. I have two and both behave flawlessly.

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vor einer Stunde schrieb lct:

May i ask if you were using a UHS-I or UHS-II card? Just curious as i have never got those problems with any of my Sandisk UHS-I cards.

I have a Sony SF-G64T 64GB UHS-II SD Tough G Series

maybe I will try another one. But replace the one I initially had from my m10 to get rid of the above mentioned issue. Hasnt helped. Then a firmware update removed the issue or at least I thought it disappeared but now it is here again

Edited by Jewl
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15 minutes ago, Jewl said:

I have a Sony SF-G64T 64GB UHS-II SD Tough G Series

maybe I will try another one. But replace the one I initially had from my m10 to get rid of the above mentioned issue. Hasnt helped. Then a firmware update removed the issue or at least I thought it disappeared but now it is here again

Sony Tough is the one i got problems with. You may wish to try an UHS-I (not  UHS-II) card. They are not expensive it can do little harm to try.

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  • jaapv changed the title to M11 freeze issues
  • andybarton changed the title to M11 freeze issues [Merged]

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