User profiles management

[ckern]

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The current process for reviewing profiles or verifying that they have accurately captured all the parameters the user wants to set is excessively fiddly—involving multiple passes through the menus—and therefore error-prone.  While I think the process of creating profiles could indeed be facilitated by a well-designed program (online, FOTOS-based, or a standalone application), a simpler, perhaps interim enhancement would be to provide a method of documenting all the parameters the user has set for each profile in a human-readable form.  Since the SETTINGS.LCS file already contains the required information, a simple parser that decoded (i.e., labeled) the values in the file and formatted them in a straightforward manner would do the trick.  This shouldn't be difficult or require much effort by even a minimally-competent programmer who has access to the semantics of the file.

Apropos of which, as a new Leica user and a newcomer to this forum, does anyone working for Leitz monitor what is posted here?  If not, is there a vector for submitting enhancement requests to the company other than the occasional surveys it sends to registered customers?

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[Le Chef]

I really don’t see It as complicated. You create the profile around the settings you want to use for a particular style of photography, and that’s it. If you want to change any setting after that, it’s easy to do and save.

I’m no fan of Fotos and see it as an unnecessary step in the process of taking photographs, whether new firmware or saving profiles. The shortest distance from problem to solution is the one to take.

[jaapv]

2 hours ago, ckern said:

The current process for reviewing profiles or verifying that they have accurately captured all the parameters the user wants to set is excessively fiddly—involving multiple passes through the menus—and therefore error-prone.  While I think the process of creating profiles could indeed be facilitated by a well-designed program (online, FOTOS-based, or a standalone application), a simpler, perhaps interim enhancement would be to provide a method of documenting all the parameters the user has set for each profile in a human-readable form.  Since the SETTINGS.LCS file already contains the required information, a simple parser that decoded (i.e., labeled) the values in the file and formatted them in a straightforward manner would do the trick.  This shouldn't be difficult or require much effort by even a minimally-competent programmer who has access to the semantics of the file.

Apropos of which, as a new Leica user and a newcomer to this forum, does anyone working for Leitz monitor what is posted here?  If not, is there a vector for submitting enhancement requests to the company other than the occasional surveys it sends to registered customers?

Profiles are not created - they are just a storage of the settings that the user has preferred. So - use the camera, adjust to your liking and save - that is all. No earhtly need to go through a computer rigmarole that most users won't understand anyway.

[Steve19958]

2 hours ago, ckern said:

The current process for reviewing profiles or verifying that they have accurately captured all the parameters the user wants to set is excessively fiddly—involving multiple passes through the menus—and therefore error-prone.  While I think the process of creating profiles could indeed be facilitated by a well-designed program (online, FOTOS-based, or a standalone application), a simpler, perhaps interim enhancement would be to provide a method of documenting all the parameters the user has set for each profile in a human-readable form.  Since the SETTINGS.LCS file already contains the required information, a simple parser that decoded (i.e., labeled) the values in the file and formatted them in a straightforward manner would do the trick.  This shouldn't be difficult or require much effort by even a minimally-competent programmer who has access to the semantics of the file.

Apropos of which, as a new Leica user and a newcomer to this forum, does anyone working for Leitz monitor what is posted here?  If not, is there a vector for submitting enhancement requests to the company other than the occasional surveys it sends to registered customers?

I agree. Good opportunity for someone to create this and profit.

[Iso220]

I see a lot of confusion in the context of user profiles.
User profiles allow the user to change a set of settings in one go. For example, you could select a number of settings for street photography, but a completely different set for landscape photography. This is possible with the Leica Q3. It is important, if you want to use user profiles, to think carefully about which ones you need, to create and name them carefully and, if necessary, to export them as a backup to the SD card.

However, I find the use of user profiles very inconvenient and confusing.
You have created various profiles and receive a corresponding icon with a modified description. You select one of these profiles. All the settings as included in the profile are adopted. In the menu you can now see which profile has been selected. If you do not change anything, shut down the camera and restart it, you will return to the same profile and see the icon that corresponds to it. However, if you change a setting and shut down the camera, you will get a different icon (with the x symbol) after restarting the camera. This represents the profile that was selected but changed during use. You can no longer see which profile was active and have to select the profile again in the menu.
This way of working is very confusing and it took me a lot of time and research to understand it. As far as I know, it is not described as such in the manual.
I do not understand why the camera saves a profile that has been used but temporarily changed due to circumstances as a new but unknown profile and uses it again when starting up the camera.
Wouldn't it be better if you always return to the (unchanged) profile that was selected the last time when starting up?

By the way, I wonder if anyone from Leica follows this forum. The item "user profile" has already appeared on this forum several times. The confusion seems general. Yet Leica has little or no response. For a camera brand with this reputation and price point, I think this is quite substandard.

[SLamb]

26 minutes ago, Iso220 said:

I see a lot of confusion in the context of user profiles.
User profiles allow the user to change a set of settings in one go. For example, you could select a number of settings for street photography, but a completely different set for landscape photography. This is possible with the Leica Q3. It is important, if you want to use user profiles, to think carefully about which ones you need, to create and name them carefully and, if necessary, to export them as a backup to the SD card.

However, I find the use of user profiles very inconvenient and confusing.
You have created various profiles and receive a corresponding icon with a modified description. You select one of these profiles. All the settings as included in the profile are adopted. In the menu you can now see which profile has been selected. If you do not change anything, shut down the camera and restart it, you will return to the same profile and see the icon that corresponds to it. However, if you change a setting and shut down the camera, you will get a different icon (with the x symbol) after restarting the camera. This represents the profile that was selected but changed during use. You can no longer see which profile was active and have to select the profile again in the menu.
This way of working is very confusing and it took me a lot of time and research to understand it. As far as I know, it is not described as such in the manual.
I do not understand why the camera saves a profile that has been used but temporarily changed due to circumstances as a new but unknown profile and uses it again when starting up the camera.
Wouldn't it be better if you always return to the (unchanged) profile that was selected the last time when starting up?

By the way, I wonder if anyone from Leica follows this forum. The item "user profile" has already appeared on this forum several times. The confusion seems general. Yet Leica has little or no response. For a camera brand with this reputation and price point, I think this is quite substandard.

I believe you have just added to the confusion.  If you touch the user profile icon in the quick menu you will see a horizontally scrollable list of all the profiles.  The first one has an 'x' next to the icon.  This does not denote the loaded profile has been changed, it is the one you select to cancel out of the profile list view.

You are made aware that a setting in a loaded user profile has been changed when the number next to the profile icon  in the quick menu {as shown in this picture) has disappeared.  I have never seen this icon with an 'x' next to it.

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[Iso220]

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45 minutes ago, SLamb said:

I believe you have just added to the confusion.  If you touch the user profile icon in the quick menu you will see a horizontally scrollable list of all the profiles.  The first one has an 'x' next to the icon.  This does not denote the loaded profile has been changed, it is the one you select to cancel out of the profile list view.

You are made aware that a setting in a loaded user profile has been changed when the number next to the profile icon  in the quick menu {as shown in this picture) has disappeared.  I have never seen this icon with an 'x' next to 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!

Indeed, you have a point here.
After I have changed a user profile, I get an icon without  number after switching it off and on again. If I now go into the list, I only end up on the (red) icon with an X and it does indeed say cancel. A wrong interpretation on my part, but it does not change the problem.
The icon without number represents the last used profile including the change.
If I want to know which profile is being used or if I want to go back to my original profile, I have to do this via the menu.

[SLamb]

49 minutes ago, Iso220 said:

Indeed, you have a point here.
After I have changed a user profile, I get an icon without  number after switching it off and on again. If I now go into the list, I only end up on the (red) icon with an X and it does indeed say cancel. A wrong interpretation on my part, but it does not change the problem.
The icon without number represents the last used profile including the change.
If I want to know which profile is being used or if I want to go back to my original profile, I have to do this via the menu.

I think a feasible approach would be to show the number next to the icon and if a setting has been changed then still show the number but it a different colour, such as red. That would enable easy visualisation that a change has been made to the loaded profile and still show which profile is loaded. 

[David Wien]

In my case, I only use one profile. If I need to set the Q3 for an unusual situation, this normally involves changing only one or two parameters, and dont find it worthwhile to create a new profile for the new setup. I do, however, welcome the opportunity to return to my set profile (No.1), since then I know exactly where I am.  For me, defining several profiles would be more trouble than it is worth.

David

[Iso220]

3 hours ago, SLamb said:

I think a feasible approach would be to show the number next to the icon and if a setting has been changed then still show the number but it a different colour, such as red. That would enable easy visualisation that a change has been made to the loaded profile and still show which profile is loaded. 

this would indeed be an improvement, but then we still don't know what was changed in the profile.
It would be better, in my opinion, to make the selected profile available again without modification.

[Le Chef]

2 hours ago, Iso220 said:

It would be better, in my opinion, to make the selected profile available again without modification.

It is. You just go along the strip of Profile icons at the bottom of the Menu screen and it's there. 

[SLamb]

The profile is available again as stated above. I'm happy with the way profiles work now. If I change something, such as setting a specific ISO rather than using Auto ISO that is stored in the loaded profile, I don't want it to switch back to what's in the original profile every time I switch off and on again. If I want to get back to the settings in the stored profile it takes 2-3 seconds to reload it. 

The fact remains that I can't see what the loaded profile number is if I make a change, but I usually remember as there are only six and again it takes a few seconds to reload. 

[Le Chef]

5 hours ago, SLamb said:

The fact remains that I can't see what the loaded profile number is if I make a change

Go to User Preferences and scroll down and it will show you which Profile is active

[SLamb]

8 hours ago, Le Chef said:

Go to User Preferences and scroll down and it will show you which Profile is active

 I know I could do that, but it would be nice to press the menu button and see it on the user profile icon rather than scrolling down menus.

[M11 for me]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb SLamb:

 I know I could do that, but it would be nice to press the menu button and see it on the user profile icon rather than scrolling down menus.

That makes somehow sense: E.g. in the overview menu it could show the "head ikon" with the respective number that could be crossed out when changes have been done after selecting the profile.

[David Wien]

2 hours ago, SLamb said:

 I know I could do that, but it would be nice to press the menu button and see it on the user profile icon rather than scrolling down menus.

I think there is room to show the currently selected torso icon either at the top or bottom of the live view screen. I would find that very useful.

David

Edited August 16, 2024 by David Wien

[jaapv]

The Panasonic solution is superior . An analog-type wheel to change profiles (amongst other things)  Can't be done with a firmware update, though 😜

[ianforber]

On 8/16/2024 at 3:50 PM, jaapv said:

The Panasonic solution is superior . An analog-type wheel to change profiles (amongst other things)  Can't be done with a firmware update, though 😜

I just set the right thumb wheel to scroll through my profiles so I can choose which one I want. 

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[jaapv]

So you have to go into a menu. On Panasonic you just turn the top wheel to C1, C2, C3. In C3 you automatically get a touchscreen choice of any number of subprofiles. 

[ianforber]

I confess I don’t know Panasonic at all. I’m happy with a short click of the wheel button followed by scrolling to choose the profile, all without needing to take my eye from the screen.