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Major frustration

danlindberg

Well-known member
I am not going to talk about my unfortunes with focusing issues the whole year with no less than 3 times sending my stuff to Solms. However, it was in fact three times lucky and I have been a very very happy camper for almost 4 weeks with focusing absolutely spot-on with all lenses.

New problems.

Last Monday I was on an assignment in Zurich. I was to shoot a spectacular private garden and after half an hour, the camera locked up. Turning it off and on did not help, it was stonedead. Removing the battery resolved it and I could shoot 1 exposure before locking up again. I went through the whole shoot with 1 exposure and removing the battery to be able to shoot another single exposure.

I really hoped that it would be the SD card and the first thing I did coming back to Sweden was to buy a new card. I formatted the card incamera and everything worked normal again. YES, it was a simple card failure. Happy days!!!!

This Thursday I went to Spain for a combined holiday and 3 paid assignments in the next two weeks to come. Today me, my wife and kids were up walking in a lovely national park and obviously the M9 was on my shoulder.

Guess what? Sure, it went dead again. So in fact it was not the card. I can shoot most of the times 1 or 2 exposures before having to remove the battery. But sometimes it locks up and I remove the battery and it still will not work, remove the battery one more time and I can make a single exposure.

Lot's and lot's and lot's of fourletter words has been going through my mind this afternoon. I have a real estate shoot (7 million dollar villa) on Friday and the week after I have a small fashion shoot with two models and an art director.........on top I have four people that has booked a full day workshop up in the mountains....

As a last resort I can always rent, but it is sooooo frustrating.

Does anybody know what has happened? Can I do something myself?
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I'm presuming you're talking about an M9 ...

Take the battery out and let it sit for two-three days. That way the internal capacitor that maintains state will drain all the way down. Fully charge the battery. Then power it up, set it up the way you want it, and see if the problem expresses itself again.

if it does, it should go to Leica for repairs.
 

danlindberg

Well-known member
Yes, sorry, it is a M9! The battery right now is 50%. I'll try it! I'll try anything!

I'll put the battery on the table for three days and then fully charge it.....

Any more bids?
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Its your battery. When the battery is run down and you put a load on the system (like shooting a few images) ...you get an incomplete write to the card . This corrupts the card and stops you dead. Popping the battery resets the camera and if the card is Ok will give you a few shots until you get a bad write. But the problem starts with the battery but may show up in the card .

Completely drain your battery by setting the camera to never shut down . Then recharge the battery until you get 100% .

You can avoid this almost 100% by always starting every shoot with a fresh battery and reformatted card . Always change the card and the battery before you hit 300 images .

I use 2 cameras and never go out without 4 batteries at 100% . Haven t had this issue now for maybe 20K images .
 

danlindberg

Well-known member
So this could happen even if the battery says 50% left? The camera is just over 6 months old and my estimate is around 4 000 exposures. Surely a battery 'should' last longer than that. Could mine be at fault?

Is it enough to put it at 'auto power off' ?

Big thanks for your responses :)
 

jonoslack

Active member
So this could happen even if the battery says 50% left? The camera is just over 6 months old and my estimate is around 4 000 exposures. Surely a battery 'should' last longer than that. Could mine be at fault?

Is it enough to put it at 'auto power off' ?

Big thanks for your responses :)
Hi Dan
I've not had this problem. . . . but Roger certainly knows what he's talking about.

I don't ever go out without spare cards and at least two spare batteries, and they are very rarely allowed to go below 50% . . . not that they shouldn't, or that they usually don't, just playing it safe.

At least the solution is easy to try - use a different battery and see if it's cured.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
So this could happen even if the battery says 50% left? The camera is just over 6 months old and my estimate is around 4 000 exposures. Surely a battery 'should' last longer than that. Could mine be at fault?

Is it enough to put it at 'auto power off' ?

Big thanks for your responses :)
It could be a defective battery. Batteries these days are pretty complex devices. I'd call Leica and see if they'll warranty you a new one.

(With my cameras, I tend to shoot until the battery won't power the camera, then re-charge. I've eked a couple dozen additional shots out of the camera from when the camera first started shutting down too. But my cameras are not Leicas right now, and I would never do that on a paid shoot! ... there I always carry at least two/three spares more than the number I think I'll need, fully charged.)
 

D&A

Well-known member
Dan,

As so many have suggested it could be the battery. When it shows 50%, that's without a load, as Roger suggested.....but if the battery has become somehow defective, then with a load put on it, it fails. I had a battery for a certain device that read full charge but when I put a load on it, it quickly failed.

As an aside, with all these many high end shoots you have, I would think you would always go on a shoot with an appropriate back-up camera and other batteries. I realize financially it can be hard, but when it comes to clients, one cannot afford equipment failures if at all possible. Maybe some sort of back-up to get thru a pending job. In addition, try at least have extra batteries at your disposal, the cost are well with having and in the scheme of things, relatively reasonable. I do hope you find the source of your problem quickly.

Regards,

Dave (D&A)
 
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C

ClydeR

Guest
It could still be the SD card---what kind of cards are you using? Beware, it isn't enough to say "Sandisk Extreme" because that's a label used for the top Sandisk card of the day (which changes every six month to a year).

I had trouble with new Sandisk Extreme 30Mb/s class 10 cards---the camera would work for a half card or so, then start to hang very much as you describe (one or two shots, then battery reset required). These were not defective cards, they continue to work flawlessly in a Canon. I found some old stock 20Mb/s class 6 Sandisk Extreme cards and have had no issues with them in the M9 for thousands of shots.

The list of approved SD cards from Leica is not up to date. You can buy cards on the list that work for a while and then fail. I've heard that the recommended Lexar card still works, and some folks seem to be having good luck with the rather slow Sandisk Ultra, but I can't speak from experience for either of these cards.

Hope you find the problem, whatever it is!

Until later,

Clyde
 

danlindberg

Well-known member
Thank you all for your great input! It really helps and battery/card failure is so much better than some electrical failures in camera...

When it comes to backup, believe it or not, but I have never had backup systems and since 1992 when I turned professional I have not had a single failure on a set! I worked with Hasselblad for 8 years, then Fuji GX 680 III for another 8 years and before the Leica I had a Canon 1Ds2. Not a single hickup! Maybe I have been very lucky!

Anyhow, the M9 is actually going to be my backup camera since I am investigating medium format that will be used for architectual photography and workshops. So, in the end I am going to end up where most people are already with double of everything or backup of some sort....

The card I just bought is in fact the Sandisk Extreme 16Gb (30mb/s). What I'll do right now is to buy yet another, different, card and order a second battery for the M9.

Again, thank you for your support :)
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Be careful where you buy your cards. I only go to higher end stores like B&H type. Reason being there are many fake cards out there. Like stay away from e bay and cheap deals. I would also have a minimum of 3 batteries. Same here make sure your getting the real deal with batteries and not knockoffs. I use with my MF gear Sandisk extreme or Sandisk extreme pros.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Guy, Couldn't agree with you more but there is even more caution required for Sandisk cards. At the height of on-line sales of fake Sandisk cards (still of course happening) , it was found that some of the big box stores/and some smaller mom & pop establishments (unknown to them) were also were selling Sandisk cards from certain distributors which also turned out to be fake. That had me for the longest time switch from using Sandsik cards until Sandisk started implementing a better identification system where one could check their cards with them (Sandisk). So even with precaution and purchasing from honest retail venders, fake Sandisks were a problem. Hopefully in most of these cases (with these retail stores), it got sorted out.

Dave (D&A)
 
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