Case collection Freezes with Leica M11, M11-M, M11-P and Firmware V 2.0.2

[LUF Admin]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Sorry folks, I had to hide several posts.

This threads is only for reports related to freezes with the Leica M11 / M11-P / M11 Monochrom with firmware 2.0.2

Andreas

[Advertisement]

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

[Edax]

Yesterday another freeze directly after inserting another card, formatting it (in camera), and setting Sign Content to ON. Backside LED stayed on, and the turning wheel on the back kept spinning. During this , it remained possible to release the shutter. After a reasonable long time I popped the battery. After restart Sign Content was still OFF. Also, after this freeze the camera decided to create a 102LEICA subfolder, and somewhat later a 103LEICA subfolder and started putting the shots over there. A complete camera reset and things seem normal again.

I had a very stable camera for a week of so, with no freezes and corrupted DNG's, by making use of a card reader with write protection when transferring files to the Mac. This all with one and the same SD card. But just before the freeze, I made shots on multiple cards and did transfers from to the Mac without write protection using the built-in SD slot. 

 

So for the time being: card reader with write protection!

 

[Smogg]

I turned on the camera, focused on the subject, turned on live view to clarify the boundaries of the frame, found the frame uninteresting and did not shoot, turned off the camera. After a few seconds I couldn’t turn it on - it froze (as usual, it can be treated by removing the battery)

[R4p70r]

Haven't used my M11 for a long time because of the freezing issues and I am using instead my M10M or Q3 that I purchased after I got the M11. 

I totally lost the confidence in the M11 product and it is my first digital M!

Today I tried my luck and the camera created a corrupted image file and froze after switching the camera on, waiting till the camera was ready to take a photo. A battery pull out and re-insert was the only solution. 

First it shows the Lxxxxxxx screen on the display and after trying to get out of this the dreadful red screen with the moving circle appears. No chance to use the camera properly. 

Settings: 

- Lens detection is manually set to my Summicron-M 50mm Version 4. 

- Leica FOTOS: Connectivity OFF 

- Storage Management: SD Card Only 

 

Camera was operating normally weeks ago when I used it last time and after the recent freeze with the battery pull-out solution it also has no issues taking photos and writing to the SD Card. 

 

Suggestion to Leica: 

Please give us a function either in the camera or via Leica FOTOS App to export all camera settings to a XML file for a better analysis for the firmware developers! 

Also some kind of a hidden internal logging that is also exported with the above function so it is easier to see the last operations and settings that lead to the freezes! 

 

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!

Edited March 17, 2024 by R4p70r

[Ecar]

This is interesting. I don't keep tabs, but I also have the impression that startup freezes or image corruption are more frequent when the camera has been left idle for a few days.

[fotografr]

55 minutes ago, Ecar said:

This is interesting. I don't keep tabs, but I also have the impression that startup freezes or image corruption are more frequent when the camera has been left idle for a few days.

I'll be able to test that theory in two weeks when I return home. I left my M10-R home with the battery out while I was away for two months. 

[Ecar]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

3 minutes ago, fotografr said:

I'll be able to test that theory in two weeks when I return home. I left my M10-R home with the battery out while I was away for two months. 

Pretty sure your M10-R will be fine. There's only one Queen of Freezes and that's the M11.

Now Andreas will have to remove both our non-relevant posts. Sorry...

[fotografr]

2 minutes ago, Ecar said:

Pretty sure your M10-R will be fine. There's only one Queen of Freezes and that's the M11.

Now Andreas will have to remove both our non-relevant posts. Sorry...

That's the proverbial "good news, bad news," scenario. 

[shirokurome]

Experienced freezing twice on my brand new M11 Monochrome + 35M APO Summicron

In fact this was my 2nd M11 Monochrome in 10 days, as the first did not freeze in the short time I used it, but the LCD screen developed a fault where there were red smudges shown...I got a replacement M11 Monochrome and now the LCD is fine but it has froze on me twice over about 50 shots...

- Lens detection is auto.

- Storage Management: SD Card Only 

- SD Card: Sony Tough G 64G UHSII

Edited March 22, 2024 by shirokurome

[JuanLeon]

One month old M11M here, firmware 2.02, three times freezed (once a week) requiring battery removal, with different lenses:

Lexar Pro 633x. 95 Mb/s 64 Gb
Memory SD=Internal, single image mode, connected to Leica Fotos 

35 Summicron Asph. After pressing the shutter a couple times catching waves at the beach. Some images lost.

With Visoflex 2:

75 Apo-Summicron, while shooting two or three images in succesion to capture a gesture, only recorded one and freezed.

21/3.4 Super Elmar, (Memory set to Internal), lost five or so pictures made before freezing

 

Regards,

Juan

 

 

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!

[fil-m]

Two changes that I did that seem to have dramatically reduced the freezes and lockups which I often experienced. I moved from "DNG+JPG" to "DNG" while also changing from Wifi Performance to Wifi Eco. I don't know which of the two changes improved overall reliability, I will try to make additional tests to isolate and see if it is the Wifi setting of the DNG/JPG one.

In any case, since I modified these two settings, I made hundreds of shots with different lenses (coded and uncoded), and even some sequences with the high speed shutter mode that most often lead to a lock up, forcing the battery removal. Some shots with live view, other with the Visoflex 2, etc. 

I know that this might not be helpful to everyone as the problem is neither easy to reproduce nor predictable, bu I am sharing it, in case... Maybe I will eventually get the da***d freeze but I am quite certain that those two configuration changes have at least dramatically reduced the occurence.

[fil-m]

As a continuation to my observation (previous post) and with IN=SD, Lexar SD XC II v90 64GB, with high speed continuous shooting and DNG + JPEG, I went like crazy for a "M11 torture test" by shooting a series of hundreds of pictures while also switching between play mode and shooting mode disregarding the orange blinking dot and the state of the camera buffer; I was able to generate two freezes one of them giving me a "SD card error" message that I've never seen before.

In DNG mode (no JPEG) I could not reproduce the issue... 10 min of crazy shooting almost filling the 64 GB, no locks. 

Wifi/Performance mode did not seem to affect stability

I don't want to break my camera shutter  but for now I will stick to DNG mode (ie no in camera JPEG) and see how things go from here. It makes my M11 way more stable. Does it solve the problem? So far I can't tell but it is 100% clear that the occurrence of freezes is (at least) reduced, hopefully eliminated in my case. 

Knowing that I don't really care about the in camera JPG

NB: assuming this helps Leica, there was also an "elegant" way to force a freeze. In continuous mode and DNG+JPG, I fill the camera buffer and immediately go to the menu and try to format the SD card. What happens from there is quite weird: when I ask to format the card, the operation takes less than a second which means no formatting really took place, I try the operation a second time, same thing, it is as if my request is ignored, third time the formatting takes places but... does not end (it keeps formatting) until a remove and replug the battery

 

 

[lct]

3 hours ago, fil-m said:

[...] I don't want to break my camera shutter [...] In continuous mode and DNG+JPG, I fill the camera buffer and immediately go to the menu and try to format the SD card [...]

Not sure it will break your camera shutter but it won't cause shutter inertia in burst mode hopefully. Another colleague here was complaining about that calling it an M11 bug if memory serves me well. Makes me feel old with my M4-2 which broke when using a mere Leica winder. Was in the eighties though admittedly...

[fotografr]

31 minutes ago, lct said:

 Makes me feel old with my M4-2 which broke when using a mere Leica winder. Was in the eighties though admittedly...

A rare occurrence, I think. Those were the days when we could use our M bodies to hammer nails, with no I'll effects. 

[lct]

1 minute ago, fotografr said:

A rare occurrence, I think. Those were the days when we could use our M bodies to hammer nails, with no I'll effects. 

Good old times. Seventies i would say. Issues began with the M5 debacle but it is another story.

[fotografr]

Just now, lct said:

Good old times. Seventies i would say. Issues began with the M5 debacle but it is another story.

Indeed. That was the one M I skipped, fortunately. 

[douglas fry]

Anyone else noticed this?

I have been using Angelbird cards successfully on my SL2-S and as I had a few I now use them on my M11-P's

Everything is fine, until there is a lock up. OK battery whipped out put back in, teeth grind but I'm getting used to it.

THEN when I put the card in my MacBookPro to ingest the images via Photomechanic, it is REALLY slow, one image every 2 seconds or so, there is nothing wrong with the images at all, just the read is really slow. Format the card in SD Formatter and its really quick again on downloads till the next freeze. Its not the end of the world but frustrating when you are in a hurry for a press image

I might try plugging the camera into the laptop and pulling the images off the internal drive

[Edax]

11 minutes ago, douglas fry said:

Anyone else noticed this?

I have been using Angelbird cards successfully on my SL2-S and as I had a few I now use them on my M11-P's

Everything is fine, until there is a lock up. OK battery whipped out put back in, teeth grind but I'm getting used to it.

THEN when I put the card in my MacBookPro to ingest the images via Photomechanic, it is REALLY slow, one image every 2 seconds or so, there is nothing wrong with the images at all, just the read is really slow. Format the card in SD Formatter and its really quick again on downloads till the next freeze. Its not the end of the world but frustrating when you are in a hurry for a press image

I might try plugging the camera into the laptop and pulling the images off the internal drive

I suggest you take this to another thread on this forum, so we can answer you without the risk that it is being deleted due to the rules imposed on this thread

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[jeri]

Unfortunately my camera started to develop freezing symptoms. It's happened to me at least four times in the last three weeks. The phenomenon occurs when viewing photos that have just been taken. Of course removing the camera battery from its place solves the problem. By the way, my default camera setting is screen completely off. Also, the bluetooth and wi-fi are also turned off.

In the meantime, and after I had no complaints during the year and a half that I had the camera in my possession - except for two times when the camera froze, and the information that was stored on the memory card went Kaput (although luckily I was able to recover the lost photos again) - I reformatted the memory card as usual, and in addition I also formatted the camera .

By the way, the memory card is the 'Kingston Canvas React Plus SDXC UHS-II U3 V60 HD/4K' and it resides in the camera, from the first day it was received.

I might add and hope that 17 years from now, my Leica M11 will be as faultless as my legendary mother Leica M8 is today.

[Bohns]

Hello all.

I received a brand new M11-P on March 8th, with firmware v2.0.2. I just "tested" it so far, and did not shoot a lot.

But...

Until this morning, I used coded M lenses with no issue (Lux 50 ASPH, Summaron 28, Tri-Elmar 28-35-50, Macro-Elmar 90, Lux 28 ASPH, SEM 21), with or without LV / Visoflex 2. About 400 shots max (only).

This morning, I wanted to test macro shots using a Macro-Elmarit-R 60 with Novoflex LEM/LER coded adapter (I did not select manually the appropriate R lens in the menu, but the adapter was properly detected by the AUTO lens detection mode)

I had 1 freeze after about 10 shots. I may have tried to check the last shoot (play button) too fast after taking it. Led light remained red (not blinking anymore) and spinning circle was on the screen. I removed the battery and reinserted it, then camera restarted correctly. But last shoot was not stored.

(as a side note : in such circumstance, it is indeed useful to allow battery removal without being obliged to remove first the bottom plate 😉)

Configuration :

1. Live-view with Visoflex 2
2. single shot (hybrid mode)
3. "Light zones priority" metering
4. Auto WB
5. DNG only, L-DNG
6. Energy saving WIFI
7. Dust protection ON
8. IN+SD, but no SD card in the slot (hence only internal memory is used)
9. Content credential OFF
10. Lens detection mode = AUTO

I've been able to continue macro testing, then to test "long" shoot with an APO-Telyt-R 180 (about 20 more shoots) with no new freezing occurence.

I know the number of total captures is yet very low comparatively to others, but I assume my experience may be of interest. Especially, I've been careful not to look my last capture while the LED was still blinking. My understanding is that activating the "PLAY" button although photo saving is not completed may induce the issue, as calling for something not yet existing in the memory. This would also explain why continuous shooting seems prone to freezing, especially if "PLAY" button is activated before completing the sequence storing.

I will make sure to respect this basic principle (not to look last capture while the LED is still blinking) and keep LUF informed.

Regards,

Stef.