M11 freeze issues [Merged]

[ianforber]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

16 minutes ago, Derbyshire Man said:

Do you write all of your files to the external SD card only Ian?

Yes. DNG and jpeg both recorded straight to SD card. Then imported onto my (MacBook) and the SD card reinserted and formatted in camera. I’ve only ever needed to use the one SD card - a Sandisk 64GB Pro 300 MB/s. I once needed to save to the internal memory because the SD card was full. Worked fine. I briefly tested it with a Sandisk 64GB 170 MB/s card and it worked fine but I was only taking a few test shots rather than giving it a proper workout. I don’t really want to have a lower spec SD card as, although I have the camera set to low continuous drive and almost always just take one shot at a time, there’s a chance that I might take 4-5 in a row and I don’t want any issues with buffer speed and SD card write speed. 

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Derbyshire Man]

15 minutes ago, ianforber said:

Yes. DNG and jpeg both recorded straight to SD card. Then imported onto my (MacBook) and the SD card reinserted and formatted in camera. I’ve only ever needed to use the one SD card - a Sandisk 64GB Pro 300 MB/s. I once needed to save to the internal memory because the SD card was full. Worked fine. I briefly tested it with a Sandisk 64GB 170 MB/s card and it worked fine but I was only taking a few test shots rather than giving it a proper workout. I don’t really want to have a lower spec SD card as, although I have the camera set to low continuous drive and almost always just take one shot at a time, there’s a chance that I might take 4-5 in a row and I don’t want any issues with buffer speed and SD card write speed. 

I'll try a Sandisk V60 then and see how it goes. Are you sure that the write speed of the M11 can actually benefit from faster than that?

[hmzimelka]

8 hours ago, Derbyshire Man said:

I'll try a Sandisk V60 then and see how it goes. Are you sure that the write speed of the M11 can actually benefit from faster than that?

- Writing speeds to internal memory: About 124.4 MB/sec

- Writing speeds to Sandisk Extreme Pro 95 MB/S 64GB UHS-I card: About 69 MB/sec

- Writing speeds to Sandisk Extreme Pro 300 MB/S 128GB UHS-II card: About 99 MB/sec

- Writing speeds to Lexar Professional 32GB 2000x UHS-II card: About 99 MB/sec

- Writing speeds to Lexar Professional 32GB 1667x UHS-II card: About 99 MB/sec

- Writing speeds to ProGrade 128GB V60 (Gold) UHS-II card: About 99 MB/sec

 

- Transfer speeds from camera SD storage via USB-C cable: About 69 MB/sec

- Transfer speeds from camera INTERNAL storage via USB-C cable: About 83 MB/sec

[colint544]

12 hours ago, Al Brown said:

How did you get them to do that after you dropped the camera (not a warranty issue)? I have sent my M to Leica in 2016 and several times after, but they have NEVER paid postage for the way there, only for retour. 

I have no idea, Al. I dealt with, I think she was called Andrea, who I had previously dealt with over a repair to a 28 Summicron. She was unbelievably helpful both times. I recall only having to print off a label, package the camera, drop it off at a local convenience store, and pick it up from there around a month later. I was deeply impressed. The camera came back with a note detailing all the work done, and included in the comments box, a terse note saying "Strong traces of using", referencing the overall condition of the camera. That struck me as wonderfully Germanic.

It's not all beer and skittles. I had to pay them a hefty sum to have my 35 Summilux FLE repaired out of warranty after it gradually disassembled itself, through no fault of mine. 

Edited February 7, 2024 by colint544

[ianforber]

20 hours ago, Derbyshire Man said:

I'll try a Sandisk V60 then and see how it goes. Are you sure that the write speed of the M11 can actually benefit from faster than that?

Probably not. Write speeds are vastly overstated. It’s more for my peace of mind than anything else. 

[lct]

22 hours ago, Al Brown said:

[...] As you said, it must be a harware issue. A video above in post #1816 suggets an issue with 6-bit reader, a very interesting observation and a repeatable process to recall the problem

Old video or old firmware i suspect. The video suggests to «disable auto lens detection and allow the lens to be detected manually». It is not possible with coded lenses under firmware 2.0.2 AFAIK.

[Al Brown]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

4 minutes ago, lct said:

Old video or old firmware i suspect. The video suggests to «disable auto lens detection and allow the lens to be detected manually». It is not possible with coded lenses under firmware 2.0.2 AFAIK.

Video is not even 2 weeks old.

[lct]

Just now, Al Brown said:

Video is not even 2 weeks old.

Old firmware then

[Stevejack]

Argh... I've successfully shot a few portrait sessions with the M11M over the last couple of months without the only issue being the occasional corrupt DNG. Tonight I was using the M11M in a portrait session, it made it through about a dozen shots and it froze on me. I turned it off but the screen stayed on with the spinning wheel, I had to pull the battery to reset it. It also froze on me a couple of days ago just around the house. 

Strange that I hadn't had a single freeze until two days ago. I really hope there's a new firmware in the works..... I few days back I started using IN=SD to try to salvage the odd corrupt DNG that I get when writing to the SD card only. I didn't have any freezes when writing to the SD card only, I've only started getting those since setting the camera to write to both the internal drive and the SD card. Not sure if it's related, but that's what I've experienced. I think I'll start using the internal drive only and see how I go with the freezing issues.... 

What a f*cking mess this whole debacle is. 

[dugby]

Sorry to see the freeze virus come to Perth, with the current string of 41C days already getting us hot under the collar.

I know that dreaded Leica failure feeling when my Digilux 2 sensor died in 2006, the round trip Perth - Germany - Perth was 5 months.

Hope you can work out a local resolution with CES.

[Stevejack]

14 hours ago, dugby said:

Sorry to see the freeze virus come to Perth, with the current string of 41C days already getting us hot under the collar.

I know that dreaded Leica failure feeling when my Digilux 2 sensor died in 2006, the round trip Perth - Germany - Perth was 5 months.

Hope you can work out a local resolution with CES.

My M11 is still on the original 1.2 firmware and I have no issues at all there. 

The M11M that I bought came with the 2.2 firmware and it has these problems. I purchased the M11M used, so I can't return it unfortunately.

It's hard to say whether it's a firmware issue or a hardware issue, but not everyone is having these problems -  and some are using the same SD cars with different results so it's hard to nail it down. It's frustrating but I'm holding out hope that firmware will fix it one day... it's sure taking them a long time though.

I could send it back to Leica but unless I they come out and state that they know the root cause, and have a fix for it, I don't see the point. It could be gone for months and come back with the same problems. I can't reproduce it reliably so someone testing the camera would likely not even encounter the issue. 

 

[Henners]

Picked up my M11 to grab 3 photos of my wife when she was doing something and got the RROD (red ring of death) on the back screen, ended up having to pull the battery and on re-inserting checked the photos but it hadn't saved any of them. Not ideal... those memories are lost forever, thanks Leica.

It's a shame I'm left with a constant fear that when I take a photo that I might not actually have it. I may be shooting a wedding in a months time and this has me quite concerned about using the M11 for it.

Could it be down to recording GPS location, connection with your phone etc. Possibly an Android or Apple thing where the camera is waiting on gps data to write to the exif or something like that. I'm just chucking ideas out.

I have a Pixel 7 with Android 14 and GPS turned on with the camera connectivity on performance mode.

Edited February 13, 2024 by Henners

[hdmesa]

16 hours ago, Stevejack said:

My M11 is still on the original 1.2 firmware and I have no issues at all there. 

The M11M that I bought came with the 2.2 firmware and it has these problems. I purchased the M11M used, so I can't return it unfortunately.

It's hard to say whether it's a firmware issue or a hardware issue, but not everyone is having these problems -  and some are using the same SD cars with different results so it's hard to nail it down. It's frustrating but I'm holding out hope that firmware will fix it one day... it's sure taking them a long time though.

I could send it back to Leica but unless I they come out and state that they know the root cause, and have a fix for it, I don't see the point. It could be gone for months and come back with the same problems. I can't reproduce it reliably so someone testing the camera would likely not even encounter the issue. 

 

2.02 not 2.2.

My M11M had no freezes or unreadable DNGs until 2.02, and it's now had both. This firmware was a major step backward for me. I'm surprised they have not released an update yet. Freezes are one thing, but loosing the shot forever is much, much worse. I can't think of anything worse short of the cameras literally catching on fire and burning to a crisp.

[Stevejack]

2 hours ago, hdmesa said:

2.02 not 2.2.

My M11M had no freezes or unreadable DNGs until 2.02, and it's now had both. This firmware was a major step backward for me. I'm surprised they have not released an update yet. Freezes are one thing, but loosing the shot forever is much, much worse. I can't think of anything worse short of the cameras literally catching on fire and burning to a crisp.

Sorry yes 2.02

I agree - losing photos is the number one thing that a camera absolutely cannot be responsible for. As you say it's far worse than a lockup, because you think you have the shot and don't realise it's not there until you've downloaded the file from the card after the session is over. No chance to recognise an issue and re-take it.

Edited February 13, 2024 by Stevejack

[bkphoto]

Nothing short of embarrassing for Leica. What is going on over there?

[Smogg]

I assume that now all the efforts of the only programmer😂 in the company are aimed at debugging the firmware of the upcoming Leica SL3. Therefore, fixing problems with M11 is not a top priority

[gotium]

On 2/13/2024 at 1:19 PM, hdmesa said:

My M11M had no freezes or unreadable DNGs until 2.02, and it's now had both...

Wow that's not good. Unreadable DNGs is a deal-killer, no-go. I'd hold off on this M11 platform until and unless this is fixed. 

[hdmesa]

46 minutes ago, gotium said:

Wow that's not good. Unreadable DNGs is a deal-killer, no-go. I'd hold off on this M11 platform until and unless this is fixed. 

I think it may be related to one of the new features like "dust protection" while using a non 6-bit coded lens. I've reset the camera and set it back up conservatively – reformatted SD card with SD Formatter on the computer; DNG only to IN+SD; no user profiles; and dust protection off. Will see if I have any further issues.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[lct]

For those interested i set dust protection to on for coded lenses and to off for uncoded ones through different user profiles with no problem whatsoever.

[bkphoto]

It has nothing to do with lens coding.