SL3-S Battery/No memory card information after charging externally in BC-SCL6 charger

[V23]

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I have observed following: inserting BP-SCL6 battery charged externally in Leica dual BC-SCL6 battery charger into SL3-S (FW 3.1.1.). Camera is switched off, battery inserted, camera switched on briefly (0.3 second) in red following screen appears: No memory card, Please insert memory card. Memory cards are in camera and have not been removed prior replacing battery. Camera functions perfectly, on subsequent switching the camera on and off under normal usage  ‘No memory card, Please insert memory card’ message does not show. Prior charging battery via USB C internally in camera this message did not show.

[LocalHero1953]

I have never seen this with the SL2-S, though I use the dual charger.

Does it happen every time i.e. is it a repeatable error?

Does it happen even if you don't charge the battery? e.g. take the battery out, leave it out for a couple of hours without charging, then put back in?

Edited June 13 by LocalHero1953

[jaapv]

Might it be a card error? I have not noticed this on either SL2S and 601 and a mixture of batteries and chargers. 

[V23]

1 hour ago, LocalHero1953 said:

I have never seen this with the SL2-S, though I use the dual charger.

Does it happen every time i.e. is it a repeatable error?

Does it happen even if you don't charge the battery? e.g. take the battery out, leave it out for a couple of hours without charging, then put back in?

Like you I have never seen this with the SL2-S (recently sold) but I have only use single battery charger supply with the SL2-S to charge the battery or charging by USB.  

Does it happen even if you don't charge the battery? e.g. take the battery out, leave it out for a couple of hours without charging, then put back in? Yes, it does happen each and every time that I take the battery out, 10 seconds or 2 Hours same effect.

[LocalHero1953]

That implies the issue is either the internal battery that keeps things going like the clock and other essential processes (e.g. managing/recognising memory?), or the hardware managing the memory - perhaps not working as quickly as it should.

Edit. Or, as Jaap says, a card error.

Edited June 13 by LocalHero1953

[jaapv]

If that were the case the camera would lose time,date and user profiles at each battery change. 

[V23]

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1 hour ago, jaapv said:

If that were the case the camera would lose time,date and user profiles at each battery change. 

The camera does not loose time, date or user profiles. Cards used as follow: OWC Atlas Pro CF express 4.0 Type B 512GB, SD Card is an Atlas Pro SDXC UHS-II V60. Or I have used a SD SanDisk Extreme Pro 300 MB/s. Both combinations of cards in the camera generates ‘No memory card, ‘Please insert memory card’ message momentarily. On subsequent on/off cycles (without removing/replacing battery) no ‘Please insert memory card’ message is generated. Both cards were in camera formatted prior being used. Camera works perfect.

[jaapv]

Maybe Leica knows the answer. Call them. 

[V23]

I will do that jaapv, it is a mystery right now.

[Elliot Harper]

This is exactly what I experienced with my 2 month old sl3-S. But I didn’t give too much thought of it because the camera functions perfectly fine otherwise. It’s just a blip second of delay after re-inserting the battery.

I suspect it might be due to some internal mechanism or firmware to initialize the memory card with a battery put in, and the memory card was too slow to respond.

anyhow I don’t think it’s a big deal anyway.

I’m curious though, do you have cf express B card in the camera? I don’t, I’m cheap out so I have SD card only. I think this might be another potential reason: camera complaining we are too cheap to buy a CF express B card😀

1 hour ago, V23 said:

 

The camera does not loose time, date or user profiles. Cards used as follow: OWC Atlas Pro CF express 4.0 Type B 512GB, SD Card is an Atlas Pro SDXC UHS-II V60. Or I have used a SD SanDisk Extreme Pro 300 MB/s. Both combinations of cards in the camera generates ‘No memory card, ‘Please insert memory card’ message momentarily. On subsequent on/off cycles (without removing/replacing battery) no ‘Please insert memory card’ message is generated. Both cards were in camera formatted prior being used. Camera works perfect.

 

Edited June 13 by Elliot Harper

[Elliot Harper]

4 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

I have never seen this with the SL2-S, though I use the dual charger.

Does it happen every time i.e. is it a repeatable error?

Does it happen even if you don't charge the battery? e.g. take the battery out, leave it out for a couple of hours without charging, then put back in?

I had a sl2-s before and it’s never happened.

And it’s kind of “new” feature to sl3-s I guess

and yes it happens no matter if the battery being charged, just taking out the battery and putting it back in, then turn on the camera and it shows this error for a split of second and then everything backs to normal 

[Photoworks]

Just remove the card and reinsert it and it should be fine.

[V23]

49 minutes ago, Elliot Harper said:

This is exactly what I experienced with my 2 month old sl3-S. But I didn’t give too much thought of it because the camera functions perfectly fine otherwise. It’s just a blip second of delay after re-inserting the battery.

I suspect it might be due to some internal mechanism or firmware to initialize the memory card with a battery put in, and the memory card was too slow to respond.

anyhow I don’t think it’s a big deal anyway.

I’m curious though, do you have cf express B card in the camera? I don’t, I’m cheap out so I have SD card only. I think this might be another potential reason: camera complaining we are too cheap to buy a CF express B card😀

 

Hi Eliot Harper, I am glad that someone else is seeing this issue as well. I do have an Express B card in camera as well as SD card. When I remove Express B card and use only a SD card same message momentarily appears on the screen, but camera functions perfectly. Hopefully Leica is aware of this and will correct it

[V23]

14 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

Just remove the card and reinsert it and it should be fine.

I’ve remove both cards and reinsert it, but it does not correct the issue.

[Elliot Harper]

4 minutes ago, V23 said:

Hi Eliot Harper, I am glad that someone else is seeing this issue as well. I do have an Express B card in camera as well as SD card. When I remove Express B card and use only a SD card same message momentarily appears on the screen, but camera functions perfectly. Hopefully Leica is aware of this and will correct it

I do think it’s a kind of bug in firmware. There are not many people out there using SL3-S. The people who commented on this post have never used SL3-S, except you and me.

I’m hoping to see more comments from someone who actually is using a SL3-S.

but I genuinely don’t bother with this nuance. I’m still using the old firmware though. I’m type of “do not fix it if it’s working” person. 😀

in any case it’s good you reported to Leica and they are aware of. Hopefully they will get it fixed.

 

[LocalHero1953]

5 hours ago, V23 said:

Does it happen even if you don't charge the battery? e.g. take the battery out, leave it out for a couple of hours without charging, then put back in? Yes, it does happen each and every time that I take the battery out, 10 seconds or 2 Hours same effect.

This would annoy me. A momentary error message that disappears of its own volition is one thing, but switching off and on again adds a good many seconds if you are making a quick battery change while shooting activities.

[Elliot Harper]

2 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

This would annoy me. A momentary error message that disappears of its own volition is one thing, but switching off and on again adds a good many seconds if you are making a quick battery change while shooting activities.

I did some unscientific and anecdotal testing. You have to replace the battery within 3-5 seconds if you want the camera to maintain its sanity

Popping out the battery and inserting back in within 1-2 seconds, everything is fine, like nothing happens. Camera still turns on without error message.

If replacing the battery takes more than 5 seconds and then switching on the camera, the error message appears for about less than 1 second.

 

Maybe that's also the reason why Leica doesn't provide an external charger anymore. They ask us to always charge the battery inside camera via USB-C.

🫠

 

Edited June 13 by Elliot Harper

[V23]

10 hours ago, Elliot Harper said:

I did some unscientific and anecdotal testing. You have to replace the battery within 3-5 seconds if you want the camera to maintain its sanity

Popping out the battery and inserting back in within 1-2 seconds, everything is fine, like nothing happens. Camera still turns on without error message.

If replacing the battery takes more than 5 seconds and then switching on the camera, the error message appears for about less than 1 second.

 

Maybe that's also the reason why Leica doesn't provide an external charger anymore. They ask us to always charge the battery inside camera via USB-C.

🫠

 

The mystery deepens, about 1 out of 10 after the battery is removed and pushed back in and I press the on/off switch when the round circle briefly glows red no error is generated. If it lights up white error is generated. 

[LD_50]

I have SL3-S and have not had any similar issues with two BP-SCL6 batteries or my older BP-SCL4 batteries. I do not use a dual charger, just a single battery charger. I’ve also charged through USB-C to the camera without issue. I’m currently only shooting with a Sandisk SD card. 

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[V23]

36 minutes ago, LD_50 said:

I have SL3-S and have not had any similar issues with two BP-SCL6 batteries or my older BP-SCL4 batteries. I do not use a dual charger, just a single battery charger. I’ve also charged through USB-C to the camera without issue. I’m currently only shooting with a Sandisk SD card. 

Could you please do me a favour, switch the camera off, while in off state remove the battery for a few moments, insert the battery, switch the camera on whilst watching LLD screen and let me know if you see a very briefly (about 0.5 second) message in red saying ‘Please insert memory card’. Thank you, your help would be greatly appreciated.