Q3/Q3 43: Firmware update v.3.0.0 improves black out times and much more

[Olaf_ZG]

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10 hours ago, jplaurel said:

Thanks to the Q firmware team for implementing the AF-L feature. I just got back from shooting a wedding, and this feature improves the usability of the Q dramatically! Well done, Leica.

I agree. Great for pre-focus and then wait for that moment. Used it on my latest event as well. 

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[John351]

On 12/12/2024 at 1:51 PM, win-win said:

Viewfinder sill became darker when shutter button half pressed.

So, before the update I think it was doing this to me when in iAF.  Now after the update, it's doing it to me when I'm in AFs mode.  It doesn't do it in iAF or AFC mode.  I'm in Aperture Priority mode.  I can tighten the aperture down from 1.7 to f8 and then press the shutter half way and it will get darker and darker.  When you take the picture, the end result of the picture is where the histogram was right before pressing the shutter half way down.  So it's not like an "exposure preview" based on f stop.  If it's not a bug, why does it do this?

 

Edited December 24, 2024 by John351

[Rolandus]

vor 17 Stunden schrieb John351:

So, before the update I think it was doing this to me when in iAF.  Now after the update, it's doing it to me when I'm in AFs mode.  It doesn't do it in iAF or AFC mode.  I'm in Aperture Priority mode.  I can tighten the aperture down from 1.7 to f8 and then press the shutter half way and it will get darker and darker.  When you take the picture, the end result of the picture is where the histogram was right before pressing the shutter half way down.  So it's not like an "exposure preview" based on f stop.  If it's not a bug, why does it do this?

 

With the old FW 2.05 my screen never gets darker. If there is not enough light, i have to test the result after taking the photo. 

[win-win]

7 hours ago, Rolandus said:

With the old FW 2.05 my screen never gets darker. If there is not enough light, i have to test the result after taking the photo. 

As far as I can tell, the camera behaves with the new firmware the same as with the old one.

[bsmith]

Which in my experience and opinion is outstanding ! Especially in AFC and AFS as long as you use spot and square focus pints 😊🎄🎅🏻

[student]

The Update narrative

• Well I started out by connecting my Macbook to Q3, and the camera did not seem to connect; the usual icon did not appear on the Macbook desktop.
• I turned the camera off, turned it on, took a photo, shut it and then started it. And again reconnected it to the restarted Macbook. No luck again.
• I then tried the FOTOS app, and that required updating, upfront. Updated FOTOS. 
• Opened the FOTOS app. Connected to Q3. FOTOS asked whether I wanted to update Firmware to 3.0. I tapped the affirmative answer.
• There followed downloading of 3.0 to FOTOS, and then another question whether I wanted to update the Camera. I answered in the affirmative. 
• Follow the instructions on the Camera? asked FOTOS. Of course I would- there was no option
• The only "instruction" that came up on the Camera was whether I wished to save profiles. To answer that one uses the centre button I discovered. I saved the one profile
• After a very brief while the Camera restarted by itself.
• I then took a photograph and that went ok. I then checked Firmware information on the Camera and it said 3.0

Now that sounds a pretty routine and all hunky dory kind of story, but I can tell you that I did experience the continuing Fear of God until the process was successfully over.

[wlaidlaw]

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I prefer the copying FW file onto the SD card (check the .lfu file has copied to the root directory of the card) and then reinserting that into the camera. Less opportunities for something to go wrong. 

Wilson

[velo1901]

I'm using my Q for a few months now, but when I use AF-L it's not showing any info on the screen that I use this function or is there an option for it?

 

[yren]

On 12/22/2024 at 3:35 PM, Michal76 said:

Hi,
It happens like this... I take a photo and suddenly the camera freezes. It won't turn off, won't take pictures, it doesn't respond. The only thing that works is pulling out the battery, and then everything works fine. After a while, the same scenario happens again. This has repeated 3 times after the update to fw 3.0.

Thanks,
Michal

I'd like to report a similar issue here. 

While in the middle of continuous shooting (not high-speed), my Q343 suddenly froze and became unresponsive. Although the LCD screen remained on and backlit, it displayed a completely black screen. The On/Off switch didn't respond at all — I couldn't turn off the screen or restart the camera.

My final workaround was the same as yours: removing the battery, waiting for about half a minute, and then reinserting it. After doing this, everything returned to normal.

This is the first time I've encountered this issue, and it was occurring after upgrading to firmware version 3.0.0. I didn't experience any such problems with the previous 2.x.x firmware versions.

P.S. I was using a brand new SanDisk 64GB V90 (300MB/s) SD card, which was formatted in the camera. Therefore, I don't believe the SD card caused this issue.

[Cogito]

16 minutes ago, yren said:

 

I'd like to report a similar issue here. 

While in the middle of continuous shooting (not high-speed), my Q343 suddenly froze and became unresponsive. Although the LCD screen remained on and backlit, it displayed a completely black screen. The On/Off switch didn't respond at all — I couldn't turn off the screen or restart the camera.

My final workaround was the same as yours: removing the battery, waiting for about half a minute, and then reinserting it. After doing this, everything returned to normal.

This is the first time I've encountered this issue, and it was occurring after upgrading to firmware version 3.0.0. I didn't experience any such problems with the previous 2.x.x firmware versions.

P.S. I was using a brand new SanDisk 64GB V90 (300MB/s) SD card, which was formatted in the camera. Therefore, I don't believe the SD card caused this issue.

sorry to hear this, but thank you for reporting. what SD card were you using while on previous firmware when this freeze situation did not occur? I only ask because the only media that has ever failed me on a professional job (which I had to pay thousands to retrieve) was Sandisk. prior to that I was a frequent purchaser of their storage media.

[yren]

4 hours ago, Cogito said:

sorry to hear this, but thank you for reporting. what SD card were you using while on previous firmware when this freeze situation did not occur? I only ask because the only media that has ever failed me on a professional job (which I had to pay thousands to retrieve) was Sandisk. prior to that I was a frequent purchaser of their storage media.

Previously on FW 2.x.x I was using another SanDisk card (128GB, V30 200MB/S). I used to find that the photo loading time when reviewing on camera was a bit longer than I could accept, so I replaced it with this new V90 card (which does have a decent improvement that I could observe). 

Edited January 2 by yren

[Rich1]

I upgraded no problem using the SD card method, for me at least the app was as much use as a chocolate teapot, unless ofcourse you prefer hot chocolate over Yorkshire tea

[Simone_DF]

On 12/26/2024 at 12:21 PM, student said:

The Update narrative

• Well I started out by connecting my Macbook to Q3, and the camera did not seem to connect; the usual icon did not appear on the Macbook desktop.

To see your Q3 in Finder, make sure the Q3 is set to Mass Storage:

Go to page 5 of the Q3 menu --> Camera Settings --> USB-Mode --> Mass Storage

[Pelu2010]

On 12/12/2024 at 8:36 PM, Smogg said:

By the way, I wonder why this happens? How do engineers manage to avoid Blackout during continuous shooting and why can't they avoid it during single shooting?

that happens if they get distracted by looking at the Leica forum .... 

[Pelu2010]

On 1/8/2025 at 11:28 AM, Pelu2010 said:

that happens if they get distracted by looking at the Leica forum .... 

strike 

[Smogg]

Thanks to Leica for the wonderful gift with the focus lock👏 There are literally a couple of steps left for the camera to turn from good to great. At the same time, these steps do not require serious efforts from programmers:

1. Provide the ability to turn off exposure simulation and turn it on only when half-pressing the shutter button (like M11). In this scenario, no crutches in the form of iDR are needed and we will see shadows normally without taking into account the exposure compensation correction, which prevents the highlights from being blown out. This is very critical for the composition of the frame.

2. Considering some lag behind other manufacturers in terms of AF-L reliability and recognition of people/faces, we would like to be able to quickly (possibly holding down the function button) change the profile to a simpler one with focus on the central point in cases where recognition is ineffective.

Edited February 17 by Smogg

[SnapshotGR]

On 2/17/2025 at 11:06 AM, Smogg said:

Thanks to Leica for the wonderful gift with the focus lock👏 There are literally a couple of steps left for the camera to turn from good to great. At the same time, these steps do not require serious efforts from programmers:

1. Provide the ability to turn off exposure simulation and turn it on only when half-pressing the shutter button (like M11). In this scenario, no crutches in the form of iDR are needed and we will see shadows normally without taking into account the exposure compensation correction, which prevents the highlights from being blown out. This is very critical for the composition of the frame.

2. Considering some lag behind other manufacturers in terms of AF-L reliability and recognition of people/faces, we would like to be able to quickly (possibly holding down the function button) change the profile to a simpler one with focus on the central point in cases where recognition is ineffective.

I think number 2 is a really good idea. This would help on busy streets/events where the face detect is very busy

[Gianluca.Boselli]

On 2/17/2025 at 12:06 PM, Smogg said:

Thanks to Leica for the wonderful gift with the focus lock👏 There are literally a couple of steps left for the camera to turn from good to great. At the same time, these steps do not require serious efforts from programmers:

1. Provide the ability to turn off exposure simulation and turn it on only when half-pressing the shutter button (like M11). In this scenario, no crutches in the form of iDR are needed and we will see shadows normally without taking into account the exposure compensation correction, which prevents the highlights from being blown out. This is very critical for the composition of the frame.

2. Considering some lag behind other manufacturers in terms of AF-L reliability and recognition of people/faces, we would like to be able to quickly (possibly holding down the function button) change the profile to a simpler one with focus on the central point in cases where recognition is ineffective.

Since we are here asking stuff... 😉
Let's make the focus lock button work as a real back button focus! It will be great in af-c (that is the modality that I use the most)

PS:
I know this will conflict with the fact that long press will reassign the function of the button

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[Rolandus]

My Leica Q343 also frozen twice since I've updated to FW 3.0. But I don't have to remove the battery, just waiting a few minute(s). Seems to be a temporary issue while writing on SSD-Card. Never had this problem before updating to FW 3.0

[Tarekith]

4 hours ago, Rolandus said:

My Leica Q343 also frozen twice since I've updated to FW 3.0. But I don't have to remove the battery, just waiting a few minute(s). Seems to be a temporary issue while writing on SSD-Card. Never had this problem before updating to FW 3.0

Yeah, this has happened to me 3 times now.  Waiting a few minutes didn't do anything here though, only popping the battery out and back in.