1bwana1 wrote:
This freezing issue seems so random in the M11 cameras. Some have been stable since release, others have it bad. I wish that Leica would do the responsible thing regarding the freezes. They have been issuing firmware updates to deal with this that appear to be largely successful. This indicates that they must have a pretty good idea of the cause at this point. If Leica would issue a statement explaining the issue customers would have much more confidence in the product. If it is in fact a hardware issue then Leica should know by serial number in which cameras the offending part, or batch , was used. A recall would be in order then.
This just seems like the low bar in customer care. Why a premium brand like Leica doesn't do this is beyond understanding....Show more →
It is especially bad in comparison to recent recall issues, such as the Nikon Z8/Z9 issues, where Nikon immediately identified the affected serial numbers, set up a website to check if your serial was affected, and then offered the free repair in (generally) a one to two week turnaround, maximum.
BPsmith511 wrote:
It is especially bad in comparison to recent recall issues, such as the Nikon Z8/Z9 issues, where Nikon immediately identified the affected serial numbers, set up a website to check if your serial was affected, and then offered the free repair in (generally) a one to two week turnaround, maximum.
This is the part that I don't understand from Leica. Why hide behind the walls instead of coming out and admitting a software / hardware issue. I'm in manufacturing and I get it, things can get away from you fast, a bad batch etc... but you always have to give face. Protect your brand by being proactive and work with customers that continue to support this premium product.
In the end, things always get worked out but at what expense?
I'm one of the lucky ones that thus far have been problem free. However I thought about it long and hard before committing. I do feel for those who are now on pause after placing a premium order.
highdesertmesa wrote:
I did give it a baking soda and water wash to ensure the toxic chemicals used to blacken the brass were removed. IDS says the chemicals are washed off with water, which I don't think is enough to neutralize them. The baking soda wash does make the brass slightly less black.
Interesting, I wonder if yours missed the wash or something. I have the black one for my M11 and there was no gritty feel or black rubbing off on my fingers from the very first day. I'll still probably play it safe and do a baking soda wash though.
keisi wrote:
Interesting, I wonder if yours missed the wash or something. I have the black one for my M11 and there was no gritty feel or black rubbing off on my fingers from the very first day. I'll still probably play it safe and do a baking soda wash though.
They're handmade, so could be some variability. Or they may have changed the wash procedure after I discussed the finish with them at length by email.
highdesertmesa wrote:
They're handmade, so could be some variability. Or they may have changed the wash procedure after I discussed the finish with them at length by email.
I am still wishing they you produce one in brass painted black (glossy)
Fred Miranda wrote:
I am still wishing they you produce one in brass painted black (glossy)
Yessss!!! That would make so much sense.
I'm not sure if it was this grip or the Visoflex 2 I had, but after using both, the Leica brand thumb grip became slightly loose and the original plastic hotshoe cover was too loose to use. The metal hotshoe cover, which is still sold by Leica Miami, still fit fine as it's a tighter fit. Point being, this grip may have compressed the hotshoe springs a bit. In hindsight, I would have scraped off the black coating from the rail part of the grip that goes into the hotshoe, which is pretty thick and gets scraped with the first use anyway.
highdesertmesa wrote:
Yessss!!! That would make so much sense.
I'm not sure if it was this grip or the Visoflex 2 I had, but after using both, the Leica brand thumb grip became slightly loose and the original plastic hotshoe cover was too loose to use. The metal hotshoe cover, which is still sold by Leica Miami, still fit fine as it's a tighter fit. Point being, this grip may have compressed the hotshoe springs a bit. In hindsight, I would have scraped off the black coating from the rail part of the grip that goes into the hotshoe, which is pretty thick and gets scraped with the first use anyway....Show more →
I waited as much as I could before picking up an M11-D today. Pictures don't do justice to its design simplicity. The new flat top, combined with the thin frame and matte black paint, looks and feels even better in hand than in photos. I do appreciate the feel of my M10-R's brass top, but at 535g with battery, the M11-D is a very welcome change. Love the ISO dial, it rotates so smoothly with firm clicks, like a lens aperture ring, and feels solid, like brass. In fact, all the dials seem to be brass. Leica even fixed the annoying tint WB issue and now lets me tweak it directly in the camera.
I'm shooting at 36MP for general photography and 60MP when I need extra detail. This is a camera that doesn't need any extra accessories. It's beautiful naked.
Fred Miranda wrote:
I waited as much as I could before picking up an M11-D today. Pictures don't do justice to its design simplicity. The new flat top, combined with the thin frame and matte black paint, looks and feels even better in hand than in photos. I do appreciate the feel of my M10-R's brass top, but at 535g with battery, the M11-D is a very welcome change. Love the ISO dial, it rotates so smoothly with firm clicks, like a lens aperture ring, and feels solid, like brass. In fact, all the dials seem to be brass. Leica even fixed the annoying tint WB issue and now lets me tweak it directly in the camera.
I'm shooting at 36MP for general photography and 60MP when I need extra detail. This is a camera that doesn't need any extra accessories. It's beautiful naked. ...Show more →
I think the D cameras are the most satisfying digital cameras Leica has ever made, and I've been considering getting another one. I made it difficult on myself with the M11-D by never fully embracing the analog experience to not "chimp". I just moved my chimping from the LCD over to the Leica Fotos app.
Congrats on your M11-D – I think you'll really enjoy shooting it. My favorite thing about the M11-D was being able to just lay it down anywhere on its back without having to worry about damaging the rear screen. Second favorite thing was I could just forget it was the M11-D and use the Visoflex 2 on it, which functionally is better than the EV-1 since it can tilt upward.
highdesertmesa wrote:
Some things that I've thought about that make me hesitate to buy an M11-D:
Internal memory: having to connect the camera to the computer to access the internal memory to delete images or format it. The alternative for stress-free/app-free use is to only use SD cards and never use the internal memory. Leica could fix this by allowing formatting directly from the camera.
Lens detection: even if lens detection is set to off, attaching a 6-bit coded lens sets it back to auto, which means the next uncoded lens attached gets assigned the last manually selected M lens profile. This means every time I change uncoded lenses or change from a 6-bit coded lens to an uncoded lens I have to connect to the phone and use the app. The alternative is to only have one uncoded lens or only use uncoded lenses in conjunction with lens detection being set to off. Leica could fix this in firmware so that lens detection would stay off even if a 6-bit coded lens is attached – just add a second off option called "off for all lenses".
Rangefinder display codes: way too many codes requiring I keep a cheat sheet on my person or phone.
The ultimate fix for me would be for Leica to allow full menu access via the Visoflex 2 so I never had to touch the app. ...Show more →
I was reading through your grievances and one has actually been fixed. You can now format both the internal memory and SD card directly from the app, no more having to delete internal images via computer. That one's solved.
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Lens detection is still not fixed though. On the M-D Typ 262, if I mount a coded lens, it switches to Auto. If it's uncoded, it stays Off. On the M11-D, I haven't found a way to get it to automatically go Off for uncoded lenses, maybe I'm just missing something obvious.
The core issue is that "Off" doesn't really mean off. If a lens code is detected, it goes automatically to Auto, but if it's not detected, it falls back to whatever was last manually picked from the list, instead of actually defaulting to Off!
I found a workaround though. My "off" for uncoded lenses is the "135/4 11851/11861" option. It's the correction profile for the 135mm f/4 Tele-Elmar, a lens famous for having pretty much no vignetting, so it does almost nothing to the image, very similar to actual "Off." Touché, Leica!!
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The rangefinder display codes don't bother me. They're easy enough to learn, though I do prefer how the M-D only shows two things: shot count and battery. It'd be great if Leica let you choose which readouts to show from the app, but I'm not holding my breath. Doesn't really bother me either way.
