Mechanical shutter not working on Q3 43

[Maximus023]

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Has anyone had problems or issues with their mechanical shutter? Mine does not seem to be working. It doesn’t make a sound and photos are all over exposed even when metered perfectly. When I manually set the shutter dial to 2000 with a small aperture photos are still bright. 

I’m pretty upset since it’s only 2 weeks old and it has never worked I guess. So far I’m getting by with the electronic shutter, since I can’t just exchange it for a new one (43’s being hard to find) and I don’t want to send it out for service during the holidays. 

This is my first Leica too and I love the photos that come out of it. 

[Mute-on]

A 2 week old camera that was faulty out of the box should be returned for replacement, not repair. Take it back now. 

[jankap]

Can you see by looking into the lens, if the shutter does something? The shutter is inside the lens. A compur shutter does not make much noise.

Edited November 10, 2024 by jankap

[LocalHero1953]

The shutter type should be set out of the box to 'Hybrid'. Check that it isn't on 'Electronic'. The leaf/compur shutter is extremely quiet (much quieter than a focal plane shutter, but still audible.)

I've just looked through the front of my Q3 43, and I can't see the leaf shutter actually operating, even with a torch (though the aperture opens on the half press).

Even with electronic shutter the exposures should be correct, but this may be a separate camera, settings or user error. Are aperture, shutter speed and ISO all set to A or AutoISO?

Edit. If you have the 'Electronic Shutter Sound' set to On, the 'sound' of the electronic shutter is almost identical to the actual sound of the leaf shutter - so it would be easy to assume the leaf shutter is not working.

Edited November 10, 2024 by LocalHero1953

[Maximus023]

1 hour ago, jankap said:

Can you see by looking into the lens, if the shutter does something? The shutter is inside the lens. A compur shutter does not make much noise.

I don’t see any sort of movement unfortunately. 
 

1 hour ago, LocalHero1953 said:

The shutter type should be set out of the box to 'Hybrid'. Check that it isn't on 'Electronic'. The leaf/compur shutter is extremely quiet (much quieter than a focal plane shutter, but still audible.)

I've just looked through the front of my Q3 43, and I can't see the leaf shutter actually operating, even with a torch (though the aperture opens on the half press).

Even with electronic shutter the exposures should be correct, but this may be a separate camera, settings or user error. Are aperture, shutter speed and ISO all set to A or AutoISO?

Edit. If you have the 'Electronic Shutter Sound' set to On, the 'sound' of the electronic shutter is almost identical to the actual sound of the leaf shutter - so it would be easy to assume the leaf shutter is not working.

I tried all three shutter settings and mechanical always results in overexposed photos where the electronic shutter does fine with the same settings.

I have tried full auto and full manual and no combo seems to force the mechanical shutter to work. 
 

Sounds have been disabled so I don’t hear anything with all shutter types. 
 

What’s very interesting is I just removed the battery and memory card (SanDisk Extreme PRO 300 MB/s) for a few minutes and just installed the battery (no card) AND I heard the mechanical shutter! I turn it off, put in the card and it’s dead silent again. I repeated the process of removing everything again, but now I never hear the shutter and images are bad (sigh). I have some hope at least because I was able to hear the shutter work. Hoping a firmware update can fix this. 

[LocalHero1953]

Given your comments, and that you appear to understand the camera workings, I'm with those that say take it back for replacement or refund.

[jjroroek]

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you should hear something from the mechanicsal shutter. so if you don't hear anaything ist not good. try to reset the camera. try another sd card. try to opdate the firmware. it could be a glitch in the software . i had something like that myself. for me the reset worked

Edited November 10, 2024 by jjroroek

[jankap]

And format the card with the camera software.

[Maximus023]

7 hours ago, jjroroek said:

you should hear something from the mechanicsal shutter. so if you don't hear anaything ist not good. try to reset the camera. try another sd card. try to opdate the firmware. it could be a glitch in the software . i had something like that myself. for me the reset worked

Unfortunately resetting did not work for me. I tried multiple times with different memory cards that I formatted using the camera and no luck. Firmware is already on the latest 2.0.5 and it won’t let me install the same version. Glad you were able to fix yours. Thanks. 

[Alf Steg]

I pointed my new 43 at my face and fired the shutter.  I saw the aperture close and the shutter fire.  I am reminded that I am 76 and getting old.  Delete frame.