D-Lux 8 Blue Flashing Light?

[starcolony]

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I am a new Leica D-Lux 8 owner in the process of navigating the camera and its settings.

While in MENU mode, a little LED light just below the MENU button will randomly start slow flashing in blue.

I cannot create this on-demand, but it seems to happen more often when accessing menus #4 and #5. I do not know what this LED is for, or why it is flashing blue.

A half press of the shutter puts the camera into PHOTO mode, and the blue light turns off.

There is no mention of a blue light in the PDF User Manual.

I just updated firmware to v1.4, but the blue light continues.

I searched the PDF User Manual and Quick Start Guide and I cannot even find a reference to this little LED below the MENU button.

In the D-Lux 7 manual it references a blue light near the EVF that turns on when bluetooth is on, and flashes when sending image data via bluetooth.

On my camera, in Leica Fotos, connectivity is OFF, so there is no bluetooth connectivity to cause a blue flashing light.

Playing around with my camera:

I found this LED provides a single red flash during power-off.

When I put the camera into video mode, and start recording, the LED fast flashes red.

During charging, it flashes green. Then solid green when charging is complete.

The LED below the MENU button appears to be a multi-purpose indicator light, with no mention in the PDF user manual.

Anyone have a clue what the slow blue flashing light means while in MENU mode?

Edited April 25 by starcolony

[Josef2]

If I turn the connectivity with Leica Photos on, I get the blue light. 

[starcolony]

That makes sense, just like the D-Lux 7.

Now why a flashing blue light, when in the menu system, with connectivity turned off?

[starcolony]

I just got off the phone with a Leica Customer Service Manager.

The flashing blue light is an indicator of camera communications.

He was able to duplicate the blue flashing light, by going into the menus with communications turned off.

We speculated together that there is some bad code in the firmware that is trying to establish comms, despite the comms being turned off, and no need for any comms.

It doesn't seem to have any negative affects on the use of the camera.

He opened a ticket to further pursue the issue.

This was my first interaction with anyone from Leica. I was very impressed. Very polite and helpful.

I will report back on any resolution.

Edited April 29 by starcolony

[Moles]

I've been experiencing an issue with a blinking blue indicator light on my Leica D-Lux 8 for the past few weeks. Despite trying various troubleshooting methods, the issue has persisted. For example, I deleted and reinstalled the Leica FOTOS app on my iPhone and reconnected it, but the symptom remained the same. I also disabled the VPN on my phone and tried again, but that didn’t work either.

One strange behavior I noticed was that the D-Lux 8 would repeatedly disappear and reappear in the Bluetooth device list, which makes me suspect that there might be a problem with the Bluetooth connectivity in the recently updated FOTOS app version 5.2.0.

Today, I installed the new firmware version 1.5, but the blinking light issue is exactly the same as before, so it doesn't seem to be a firmware-related problem. I have reported the issue to customer support and received a support ticket for further assistance.

[starcolony]

I don't have the Fotos app installed, and connectivity is off. I still have the intermittent flashing blue light.

I believe this is a FW problem that has yet to be addressed. I also have a support ticket open, with no updates or response.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem to cause any issues that negatively affect my photography. Since I have the camera pretty well dialed in, I don't spend a lot of time in the MENU, so it's not a big issue for me. I'm mostly just curious.

Cheers

[Moles]

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In my case, when I turn off connectivity on the camera, the blue light blinking issue disappears. However, the downside is that the photo location data is not recorded. If this is not a software issue—meaning it's not related to the camera firmware or the iPhone Leica FOTOS app—then it could be a hardware problem, though I think that's unlikely. If the camera isn’t left on constantly and there’s no significant battery drain, it’s not really a problem. But if the blinking light is bothersome, then as a temporary workaround until the root issue is resolved, we can simply turn off connectivity and only enable it when needed. This way, we can continue using the camera without issue.

Edited May 9 by Moles

[Moles]

FYI,

Yesterday, I added my SL2-S to the same FOTOS app. With the SL2-S, the blue LED only blinks when the camera is actively connected and remotely controlled via the app—otherwise, it stays off. However, with the D-Lux 8, the blue light keeps blinking continuously as long as the connection is established, even when the camera is not being used. It seems like the app and the D-Lux 8 remain unintentionally connected for remote control at all times. I hope Leica fix this bug in the app and/or firmware.

Unfortunately, the latest firmware (Ver. 1.5) doesn’t fix this bug.

Thanks!

.

[starcolony]

I have the connection turned off, and do not have the FOTOS app, so there's more to it.

In my case it may be that despite having connection off, and no app to talk to, something in the camera is causing it to try to poll blue-tooth connections for access, causing the blue light to illuminate.

It may also be that the D-Lux 8 has multiple blue-tooth issues, that are related.

Well, we both have tickets open so all we can do is wait.

Cheers

[mdrips]

I see the flashing blue light, but only during communication with the camera. I also think it flashes when doing some internal processing, but this is just my theory. Anyway once I disconnect from the Leica Lux or Leica Fotos app, it eventually stops. I am using a D-Lux 8 with firmware 1.5.

[rsolomon]

Since these camera are basically computers with a lens and sensor perhaps try a reboot/ reset of the camera will clear this. 

If you do reset you will loose your profiles, I don’t know of a way to back them up (my M240 has this functionality).  

This may be worthwhile because if the camera is continuously searching for a connection ot consuming battery power. 
 

BTW: I carry 2 spares with me since they are small and lightweight. 

[starcolony]

2 hours ago, rsolomon said:

Since these camera are basically computers with a lens and sensor perhaps try a reboot/ reset of the camera will clear this. 

If you do reset you will loose your profiles, I don’t know of a way to back them up (my M240 has this functionality).  

This may be worthwhile because if the camera is continuously searching for a connection ot consuming battery power. 
 

BTW: I carry 2 spares with me since they are small and lightweight. 

Only happens when accessing the menu. Not a real concern. I'll wait to see what Leica support says about the issue.

[Moles]

After updating to Leica FOTOS version 5.3.0 today, I reset the camera and also rebooted my iPhone 16 Pro Max. The iOS version is 18.5, and the camera firmware is 1.5 — everything is up to date. The blue light begins blinking around 7 to 10 seconds after powering on the camera, when the Bluetooth icon appears, and it continues blinking until the camera is turned off. It seems that this latest update still hasn’t resolved the issue.

[Siggy]

Any resolution to the blinking blue light mystery? If Leica Fotos is installed and the phone tries to "wake up" camera (even if camera is off) dos it  drain battery? Any update to 1.5 firmware? My D-Lux has the same issue.

[goldgranada]

Purely a guess on my behalf but..I believe I may have read that the D Lux 8 camera establishes it's GPS tracking via the Foto application (or perhaps simply the iPhone GPS) running on the iPhone so it could be attempting to communicate with the iPhone to do this? Not sure, I may not have this correct stated but any communication attempts made using Bluetooth communications would definitely labor the battery and therefor reduce the usable time per battery. At least that's a proven case with regard to the Q Series I own. That drains the battery faster when communications are turned on and the camera is turned off, definitely the case for my Q series of cameras.

Point being, perhaps turning off this option for use of Bluetooth communications on the iPhone could eliminate the issue. Turning this setting off on the iPhone can be done via Settings > Privacy & Security > Bluetooth. Then perhaps when (starting) running the FOTO program it would ask you for permissions and at that time you use "opt in" or accept the communication and the camera can perform it's GPS functionality. Purely speculation at this juncture on my behalf. Best of luck to you!

Edited July 11 by goldgranada
Comment on point of my speculation...to complete the suggestion for resolve.

[starcolony]

Blue light update-

I finally upgraded to an iPhone 16, so I was able to finally load the Leica Fotos App.

Upon my first few attempts to pair camera to phone it failed, despite the phone and cam seeing each other via bluetooth. Being fed up with buggy, fussy software. I dumped the app. 

I unfortunately forgot to turn off the Bluetooth connectivity in the camera. 

Weeks later, I picked up the cam and pressed the power button. No joy, dead battery.

I put a fresh battery in the cam and it fired right up. The little blue flashing light also fired up. I went into settings and confirmed I had left Bluetooth connectivity ON.

I haven't tested conclusively, but it appears that even though the camera is off, the bluetooth may be continuing to drain the battery. If that is the case, that is an unacceptable firmware bug. 

I played around with the settings and discovered if I have connectivity ON, that the cam is continuously trying to ping my camera, with blue light flashing, even though I have deleted the app in my phone, and bluetooth is OFF on my phone.

I went back into the cam settings, and deleted my phone from the device list. This finally stopped the blue light, in picture mode, and without a device listed in the phone, it does not even allow me to turn connectivity ON. Hopefully no more dead batteries.

The blue light still flashes when I go into MENU mode, but thankfully stops in picture mode.

Edited August 19 by starcolony

[DenverSteve]

Everyone's firmware is the same. So your issue, if there is an issue, shouldn't have anything to do with firmware.  Since is has no adverse effect why spend 4 months trying to investigate a non-issue?  Just asking.  Leica opened a ticket on it, was there any response from their end?  I'll have to look at my d'lux 8 light to see if the light blinks periodically when communication is turned off. ......... but I don't know why. 

[starcolony]

Why bother to make a derogatory post on a topic you don't care about???

It's a forum discussing our Leica cameras. We are discussing a peculiar function on our Leica D-Lux .

Your thinly veiled ridicule is neither needed or appreciated.