POLL - SL2 / SL2-S "System Error" fault

[Photoworks]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

2 hours ago, hellobrandonscott said:

Didn't realize they're doing these repairs in the USA! That's great, where did you find this out? Just wanting to keep up to date, haha not challenging your intel.

And just joined LHSA, thanks!

I don't know if they are ready to do SL's, until now they were doing only M cameras, but they were setting up the equipment for SL in the future, this was a few months ago, but leica is slow moving, so may be just a bit longer

[CptSlevin]

Had one system error recently, no reason at all, camera behaved perfectly all day and then bam - error.

I have like 18k shots in mechanical mode and more than 200k in electronic.

Got my camera to repairs and they were shocked, they fought shutter died, but died IBIS.
They had to reassemble it.

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!

CAMERA MODEL and Serial - SL2S (5644642)

DATE of PURCHASE - 2021/11/05

DATE OF FAILURE (if known) - 2024/11

[brenton]

We just had a similar SYSTEM ERROR issue today. We have 2 x SL2-S bodies. When we put in a new SD card and took a test photo, the camera bricked. Nothing will reset it. Screen and EVF are black. The LCD on top turns on, but that's about it. 

We tried everything, swapping batteries, lens, SD cards, Off/On, Press and Hold Various button combos, etc, repeat. 

Finally noticed that the shutter is stuck over the sensor. Sounds like a Shutter Unit. 

I guess we have to send it into Leica? 

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!

[hellobrandonscott]

Ugh, OK so update again. When this issue happened a few days ago I was in Portugal for a shoot, took the battery and cards out of the camera, put it away in my luggage and just forgot about it until today when I was unpacking back home, loaded up a new battery and gave it a test and now of course it's been working just fine all day long.

Did sitting without a battery in it for a few days really do the trick? 

I'm waffling back and forth now whether to send in for repair or not. For one, if the technician gets it and tries to replicate the problem, there might not be a problem to replicate and now this is just time wasted.

Advice? Should I just keep it until it dies again? 

[Olaf_ZG]

2 hours ago, hellobrandonscott said:

Ugh, OK so update again. When this issue happened a few days ago I was in Portugal for a shoot, took the battery and cards out of the camera, put it away in my luggage and just forgot about it until today when I was unpacking back home, loaded up a new battery and gave it a test and now of course it's been working just fine all day long.

Did sitting without a battery in it for a few days really do the trick? 

I'm waffling back and forth now whether to send in for repair or not. For one, if the technician gets it and tries to replicate the problem, there might not be a problem to replicate and now this is just time wasted.

Advice? Should I just keep it until it dies again? 

Problem is that it is not reliable anymore, so forget doing weddings with it. Having done 400k clicks, with me it would have been written off. 
And with current low prices, I would simply buy a like new one as well.

 

[VespertineD2K]

7 hours ago, hellobrandonscott said:Advice? Should I just keep it until it dies again? 

That’s great that yours is working again, but if you see this error usually it’s a bad sign, certainly bad enough not to use this camera for anything critical without carrying a backup body with you. 

[hellobrandonscott]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Alrighty, so it crapped out again. Officially off to Germany, will keep you all posted on how much this costs. 

 

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!

[hellobrandonscott]

Following up - I sent the camera to repair and this is what they've quoted me for a full shutter replacement.

 

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!

[Olaf_ZG]

I would say a fair quote for a camera with 400k clicks.

[hellobrandonscott]

Following up, got the camera back and it's good as new! All in, it was about 7 weeks. They replaced the entire shutter assembly and gave it a clean. Taking it to it's first wedding of the season today!

 

 

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!

[andybarton]

That was a very quick turn around.

I left my M240 with my Leica dealer at the beginning of December, and haven't even had an acknowledgement that Wetzlar have even seen the camera yet, let alone received a quote.

[hellobrandonscott]

10 minutes ago, andybarton said:

That was a very quick turn around.

I left my M240 with my Leica dealer at the beginning of December, and haven't even had an acknowledgement that Wetzlar have even seen the camera yet, let alone received a quote.

Interesting. In a separate repair stream, like, not bundled with this one, I sent my APO 35 SL to get repaired too and that also came back a few days later. Wonder if the SL techs are just more plentiful right now than M folks?

[andybarton]

In 2016, some folks in the UK voted to leave the EU.

It has been an absolute nightmare since we finally left 5 years ago.

 

[hellobrandonscott]

Another one of my SL2-S' just experienced the same issue as the one I posted about before. To be fair, I'd estimate the shutter count to be somewhere in the 200K range, pretty high up there. Thankfully it has 6 months of warranty period remaining, so should be covered.

With how systemic it is, I really wonder what the failure mode is. Seems to be almost a guarantee at a certain shutter count. Obviously Leica knows it's an issue. I wonder if they fixed it in later runs? This was a 11/2022 build. I have one other that's newer, with a 10/2023 build. Curious to see how it fares over the years. And one of the two 10/2021 builds had this happen, but the other hasn't yet. 

10/2021 - No issue

10/2021 - Issue

11/2022 - Issue

10/2023 - No issue

 

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!

[Stuart Richardson]

Aren't most shutters rated for 150k to 300k actuations? Seems like 200k is a pretty understandable count for a failure. Obviously one would love it to last longer, but the shutter is a wear and tear item and as it wears out, it will eventually need to be repaired or replaced. 

[jaapv]

That number is an average anyway, so some shutters will fail earlier and others later.  

[hellobrandonscott]

On 9/6/2025 at 9:49 AM, Stuart Richardson said:

Aren't most shutters rated for 150k to 300k actuations? Seems like 200k is a pretty understandable count for a failure. Obviously one would love it to last longer, but the shutter is a wear and tear item and as it wears out, it will eventually need to be repaired or replaced. 

Totally. I’m not upset about it btw, I fully expect this and as a working professional just consider it a tool that needs service. Thankful this one happened to die under the warranty period, but would totally pay for the repair like the other one if it hadn’t.