SL2S FW6.0

[LBJ2]

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1 hour ago, insomnia said:

Thanks - haven't tried this before.

It doesn't really have a "press and hold" functionality. If you press the Joystick, in the lower left a lock with "AE" appears. If you press it again, it disappears. It also disappears if you press any other button (including zooming in), rendering the function useless for me.

This might be it, Press and Hold has to be enabled in the menus. Once set to Press and Hold then we can press and hold AE-L ON via the joystick and then fire. E.g., Customize Control/Joystick/Button Lock/ select Press and Hold 

" Press and hold

Depending on the setting, AF-L, AE-L, or AF-L + AE-L will be locked as long as the joystick is pressed and held.

When the joystick is released, the relevant metering type will be unlocked."

*I confirmed the above with both SL and M lenses. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by LBJ2

[Simone_DF]

4 hours ago, insomnia said:

I think the overall approach of the SL (non-labelled buttons, "everything" to be configured on your own) is amazing. The GUI and ease of use is also amazing, makes you never want to touch cameras of another brand.

All mirrorless cameras allow you to assign a button to your favorite function. It’s not unique to Leica.

[insomnia]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb LBJ2:

This might be it, Press and Hold has to be enabled in the menus. Once set to Press and Hold then we can press and hold AE-L ON via the joystick and then fire. E.g., Customize Control/Joystick/Button Lock/ select Press and Hold 

" Press and hold

Depending on the setting, AF-L, AE-L, or AF-L + AE-L will be locked as long as the joystick is pressed and held.

When the joystick is released, the relevant metering type will be unlocked."

*I confirmed the above with both SL and M lenses. 

what did you confirm?

This is also not working when you zoom in, even if you can pull it off without braking your hand. If you push to hold AE-L and then go into magnification, you'll either loose the exposure lock or it won't even trigger the zoom.

 

vor 2 Stunden schrieb Simone_DF:

All mirrorless cameras allow you to assign a button to your favorite function. It’s not unique to Leica.

Yes, where did I say that?

[Slender]

The disapearance of BB mag when using official Leica M-L adapter is such a dumb move I contacted someone quite well placed within the brand in a plea to bring it back. I am extremely glad I had the intuition to check the forum before updating...

Just passed the 100K shutter mark with one of my cameras and I did some practice to be sure before seeing if I could live without BB focus mag when using M lenses, the answer is no I do not want to let go for the following reasons: - its part of my email plea -

 

- No more back button focus magnification possible using M lenses with Leica M -L adapter but it remains possible using third party adapter! Doesn’t make any sense as it makes my Leica adapter less useful than any Chinese knock-off now…
- Switching user’s thumb from back button to thumbwheel and back (to move the loupe around or the focus patch) is slower, less intuitive and lessen the grip on camera. Thumbwheel doesn’t allow to navigate focus point before and during magnification.
- Having the option to have back button magnification allows to free up front of camera buttons (near lens mount) for other functions. I use these to activate peaking or switch measuring or drive modes…etc.
- BB is much easier and faster to reach for smaller handed people. Keeping thumb further away from other fingers strengthen the grip.
- Even when lending my SL2+M lenses to neophyte people, they all commented how great the joystick + mag integration was almost instantly without me cueing them to use it. That joystick was one of the best part of the camera experience….
- To give a bit of context I recently passed the 100 000 shutter mark on these cameras since Aug 2020. I just shot 10 000 pictures with one of my SL2 from 28.11 to 01.12 shooting for a prestigious jewellery brand. My grievance  is really from a dedicated, professional user experience.

 

[insomnia]

I've just done the same asking for three things:

1. Have Zoom function on Joystick as an option

2. Fix AE-L not being saved when entering Zoom-Mode

3. Ask for the possibility to have AE-L on another function button (to use Joystick for Zoom again)

[LBJ2]

1 hour ago, insomnia said:

what did you confirm?

This is also not working when you zoom in, even if you can pull it off without braking your hand. If you push to hold AE-L and then go into magnification, you'll either loose the exposure lock or it won't even trigger the zoom.

I confirmed the Press & Hold feature does work ( you stated earlier press & hold was not working for you) but it does have to be engaged in the menus and then can be used for AE-L 

E.g.:

SL lens in MF mode:

Press & Hold AE via the joystick, use the lens focus ring to zoom in and MF, half press the shutter to zoom out, fire the shutter. All while pressing and holding the joystick to maintain AE. You will see the AE symbol remains engaged during this process

M lens in MF mode:

1. Press & Hold AE, use the focus ring to MF, fire the shutter. You can also press or dial other buttons and the AE symbol will remain engaged as long as you press & hold the joystick or,

2. Use the thumbwheel to zoom in, adjust focus, half press the shutter to zoom out, then press & hold joystick for AE, fire the shutter.

Menu settings required for above:

A. Customize Control/Joystick/Button Lock/ select Press and hold 

B. Customize Control/Joystick/MF Mode/ select AE-L 

* For Press & hold feature for AE-L using SL lens in AF mode AF set Customize Control/Joystick/AF Mode/ select AE-L or for even more Press & Hold AF convenience Customize Control/Joystick/AF Mode/ select AF-L + AE-L. With this setting press & hold the Joystick and it will both lock AE and Auto Focus. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by LBJ2

[insomnia]

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Aaah, thank you for your patience! Indeed, from the wheel-zoom it's possible with Press & Hold. I just had zoom on the rear-wheel, thus I needed two hands to try 😄 

It's just not possible if you select magnification from another FN-button.

Also thank you for the idea to use the front-wheel for zoom, that's even more convenient now that we lost the Joystick.

Edited December 10, 2023 by insomnia

[LBJ2]

Just now, insomnia said:

Aaah, thank you for your patience! Indeed, from the wheel-zoom it's possible. I just had zoom on the rear-wheel, thus I needed two hands to try 😄 

It's just not possible if you select magnification from another FN-button.

Also thank you for the idea to use the front-wheel for zoom, that's even more convenient now that we lost the Joystick.

You're welcome. I thank you back for motivating me to scrutinize further. As I mentioned before, I almost always learn something in these discovery scenarios. These are some pretty cool features IMO, takes some getting used to, but maybe could have been documented better in the firmware update notes to begin with. 

 

[Chris Nebard]

All things considered, weighing up the scrutiny and advice of the forum (seemingly without clear Leica guidance) and my own SL needs, I think I will skip this update. I want the option to use the joystick for focus magnification, it’s as simple as that, and the other benefits of the update and work-arounds don’t overcome that need - for me. Hopefully, Leica will address this and restore the function in the next one. I’m glad I held off and great credit to the users on here who tested and shared their thoughts.
Cheers all 👍👍

[jjesp]

Good thread, and thankfully I haven't updated to firmware 6.0. And I won't, since I use the joystick press for magnification with M lenses. Works so fine. I use the thumb wheel for exposure compensation. Would really miss that if I had to use the magnify function on that wheel instead. So my SL2-S firmware upgrades stopped here... A strange decision to just remove things from a workflow that many users have and have used for a long time. Why not just keep it as an option in the menu? That seems to be a very drastic unprofessional move from Leica.... Can't remember any other camera brand that removed functionality from an existing camera just like that...

[Stuart Richardson]

Yes, I am also glad I did not update. Frankly, updating anything other than the last possible moment seems to be a disastrous move in our times. Every update (at least from Mac) seems to completely disrupt things in some way or another. I still resent the fact that I have to maintain an entire Mojave computer just to use my scanner because Hasselblad never bothered to update their software to 64bit and Apple just unceremoniously made it stop working. I am still on Monterey with my laptop, which is only because it came with Monterey...I wish I could put Mojave on it and just keep getting critical security updates.

As for Leica, it has often seemed to me like they play it very close to the vest in terms of testing firmware updates, presumably doing it only in house or what I might imagine is giving it to a few amateurs they know and maybe a German pro photog or two. But really they don't seem to be tested very well. This is not the first time their updates have fallen flat. Similarly, I still cannot believe how the M8 got out the door...it was a total fiasco. I remember literally picking it up at a booth at Photo Plus in NYC immediately after it was released. I turned to my side and took a single photo of a man in a black winter jacket, which came out bright purple and I showed the picture to the Leica rep at the counter and he was like "oh, it is probably just a firmware issue, the raw file will be fine". Riiiight. It took me 10 seconds to figure out something was deeply wrong, and I think any competent photographer who photographed any kind of synthetic fabrics or other IR reflective items would have also have noticed immediately. That they had it in house for years of development and never picked up on it is a huge disaster. To their credit they eventually owned up to it and sent people filters, and fixed it in the M9, but how it happened in the first place....

It strikes me that when you are messing with the tools that some of your customers use for their living, you should not change anything at all without their consent. Give them more options, for sure, but do not change anything. Even the fact that we have to copy user profiles and reenter date and time, reset image numbering etc...it is all a bit strange. One would think that it was in their power to make it completely seamless...that seems to be how nearly every other bit of technology works.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Stuart Richardson

[Stef63]

@Stuart Richardson Soo true.  And if you want more of it, visit the M11 forum.  They had to rush firmware 2.0.2 because  a (complete useless) new feature broke things so badly in 2.0.1. The latter being the ambitious new 2.0 version succeeding 1.6. Despite my commitment to progress, I exercise caution with Leica, having learned the hard way too often. 

[hansvons]

Is it true that FW 6.0 kills IBIS for manual lenses when not using the Leica M mount adapter (I use the Novoflex, couldn’t be happier)? Thanks!

[WvE]

I'm new to the SL2-s and updated to 6.0. Help is needed on two issues:

1. I seem to have lost focus peaking with M lenses (I have activated focus peaking and I use the Leica adapter). I recall that this function was available with M lenses, but I might be mistaken.

2. Is AE-L not activated by default when half-pressing the shutter button? If not, how can I do that?

Thanks for your help.

 

[frame-it]

16 minutes ago, hansvons said:

Is it true that FW 6.0 kills IBIS for manual lenses when not using the Leica M mount adapter (I use the Novoflex, couldn’t be happier)? Thanks!

where did you heard/read that?

[LocalHero1953]

2 minutes ago, WvE said:

1. I seem to have lost focus peaking with M lenses (I have activated focus peaking and I use the Leica adapter). I recall that this function was available with M lenses, but I might be mistaken.

 

It still works on mine when zooming in - I was checking this yesterday. I can't remember if it worked at full frame (and I don't have a M lens mounted at the moment.

[insomnia]

vor einer Stunde schrieb hansvons:

Is it true that FW 6.0 kills IBIS for manual lenses when not using the Leica M mount adapter (I use the Novoflex, couldn’t be happier)? Thanks!

it's not, the user had forgotten to enter a focal length

[insomnia]

vor 51 Minuten schrieb WvE:

I'm new to the SL2-s and updated to 6.0. Help is needed on two issues:

1. I seem to have lost focus peaking with M lenses (I have activated focus peaking and I use the Leica adapter). I recall that this function was available with M lenses, but I might be mistaken.

2. Is AE-L not activated by default when half-pressing the shutter button? If not, how can I do that?

Thanks for your help.

 

to 1: please check how the focus peaking is set up - it can be more or less sensitive. My initial thought was also that it's hardly noticeable, but it looks like that setting was reset.

to 2: yes, AE-L is activated with half shutter press. The issue is, when you're doing series shots (e.g. with 5 frames/s speed), the camera will adapt the exposure for every shot. This way you cannot lock exposure and reframe with the shutter button half press. Another scenario is having inconsistent exposure in changing light conditions (even without reframing). This issue I have raised to Leica and they picked it up (after a year).

[MarkP]

So I very frequently use my M lenses on the SL-2 with Leica L-M adapter.  No joystick BB magnification, then no update to FW6.0 for me. 

What an incredibly stupid decision to remove such functionality. Or perhaps it just wasn’t considered. Just like who would notice if a filter caused vignetting on a steel rim 35 Summilux?  Remember that if it’s a choice of conspiracy or incompetence, 99% of the lime it’s the latter.

Hopefully it is corrected on the next update.

LEICA, ARE YOU LISTENING?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[Gavin G]

Sorry, too many message above.

One question for me if someone willing to answer me.. Is it the FW6.0, still able use or config the joystick to do magnification zoom while on M lenses (L-M adapter)?