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645DF+ Firmware 2.31 with Leaf Aptus II-7

steve_cor

Member
The following is my experience with my Leaf Aptus II-7. It does not apply to Leaf Credo or IQ series digital backs.


Originally, my camera body had firmware version 2.20. I sometimes use Auto Exposure Bracketing for high dynamic range scenes. The camera sometimes had an issue while shooting with AEB. Especially with a long exposure such as 15 seconds, plus the dark frame, plus the processing afterwards, the camera would indicate there was no digital back. It seems while the back was busy, the camera no longer detected that it was still there. Sometimes the camera would recover once the back started responding again, but not always.

Last year, the new firmware 2.27 came out. Mamiya release notes said "Firmware version 2.2.7 is highly recommended for all 645DF+ cameras. This firmware corrects or improves a number of issues with digital back communication, settings, timing and general stability." That sounded good, so I had it installed.

Well, then the AEB mode didn't work at all. First I tried it in continuous motor drive mode. The back would always lock up after the second frame. Then I tried it with singe motor drive mode. But after pressing the shutter release button for the second frame, the back would still lock up. I couldn't deal with that firmwre, so I then installed firmware 2.24, which was much better. Occasionally the back would get locked up during AEB mode, and I would have to reboot the back. But most bracketing sequences went through without issue.

Now another new firmware 2.31 came out. On singe shots, the camera seemed to be able to shoot faster between shots. It just felt like after shooting a frame, I could shoot another one sooner than before. Of course the next thing I wanted to try is the AEB mode. Well, it failed again after the second frame in continuous motor drive mode. But with this firmware, the back continued working in singe motor drive mode.

After a few minutes, I had an idea that the main difference is, the back had more time to catch up between shots with singe motor drive mode. I enabled continuous motor drive mode again, with one big difference. I set the self timer to 2 seconds. This seems to have solved the problem! I wonder if the camera shooting faster relates to this. But with the additional 2 second pause between frames, the back has a chance to finish processing before the body starts another frame too soon.

So far, I have just tested the 2 second delay between shots in the living room. While processing each frame, the camera body displays Busy DB in the viewfinder. This is good, because it means the body knows the back is busy. Hopefully, it will turn out well for real scenes.


--Steve.
 

yaya

Active member
Steve I suggest that you contact Support and give them this information and also the firmware version on your back as they might want to investigate it further.

Thanks!

Yair
 

Chris Valites

New member
The following is my experience with my Leaf Aptus II-7. It does not apply to Leaf Credo or IQ series digital backs.


Originally, my camera body had firmware version 2.20. I sometimes use Auto Exposure Bracketing for high dynamic range scenes. The camera sometimes had an issue while shooting with AEB. Especially with a long exposure such as 15 seconds, plus the dark frame, plus the processing afterwards, the camera would indicate there was no digital back. It seems while the back was busy, the camera no longer detected that it was still there. Sometimes the camera would recover once the back started responding again, but not always.

Last year, the new firmware 2.27 came out. Mamiya release notes said "Firmware version 2.2.7 is highly recommended for all 645DF+ cameras. This firmware corrects or improves a number of issues with digital back communication, settings, timing and general stability." That sounded good, so I had it installed.

Well, then the AEB mode didn't work at all. First I tried it in continuous motor drive mode. The back would always lock up after the second frame. Then I tried it with singe motor drive mode. But after pressing the shutter release button for the second frame, the back would still lock up. I couldn't deal with that firmwre, so I then installed firmware 2.24, which was much better. Occasionally the back would get locked up during AEB mode, and I would have to reboot the back. But most bracketing sequences went through without issue.

Now another new firmware 2.31 came out. On singe shots, the camera seemed to be able to shoot faster between shots. It just felt like after shooting a frame, I could shoot another one sooner than before. Of course the next thing I wanted to try is the AEB mode. Well, it failed again after the second frame in continuous motor drive mode. But with this firmware, the back continued working in singe motor drive mode.

After a few minutes, I had an idea that the main difference is, the back had more time to catch up between shots with singe motor drive mode. I enabled continuous motor drive mode again, with one big difference. I set the self timer to 2 seconds. This seems to have solved the problem! I wonder if the camera shooting faster relates to this. But with the additional 2 second pause between frames, the back has a chance to finish processing before the body starts another frame too soon.

So far, I have just tested the 2 second delay between shots in the living room. While processing each frame, the camera body displays Busy DB in the viewfinder. This is good, because it means the body knows the back is busy. Hopefully, it will turn out well for real scenes.


--Steve.
Hi Steve,

Can you give me an e-mail? We'd love to be able to help you with your back and camera, as we pride ourselves on our customer support. You can email me at the link in my signature. I'd love to know the firmware on your back, for starters.

Thanks!
 
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