Leica Camera issued an update on the M9 / SD card compatibility issue:
A specially set up team at Leica Camera AG has been working in close collaboration with SD memory card manufacturers on an intensive investigation of possible causes for the phenomenon reported by Leica M9 users. As no clear pattern has so far emerged on the basis of the error reports at our disposal, this investigation is proving to be extremely laborious. In the meantime, we have been able to narrow down the number of possible causes of the error. Nevertheless, we must unfortunately call your attention to the possibility of errors still occurring with newer SD cards and that such errors are not limited to particular brands or types of card.
Leica Camera is now working towards earliest possible validation of remedial measures that will lead to an improvement of compatibility. We will report as soon as possible when reliable information on the schedule for the implementation of such measures is available.
We would like to thank the numerous customers who provided information about their camera systems and helped us in our search for a solution to the problem.
Related posts:
- New Leica M9 firmware update to fix SD card compatibility issues
- Official statement by Leica Camera AG on the M9 / SD Card compatibility
- More on the Leica M9 SD memory card issue
- Apple Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.4 now supports Leica M8.2
- Apple releases Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.2 with Leica S2 support
24 Comments
To save you time, read the first 9 words and the last 7 words. Everything in-between is summed up in that new sentence.
The subtext is, of course, that they want to convey that they care about their customers.
for 7000 US dollars this shit should never happen
Only with Leica LOL!
yea. Pro priced device with SD cards.
Hm. let that be lesson for you lame leica: use CF if you charge premium for subpar products. There are people depending on your product with their lives, or at least wealth
This is why Leica software department is decades behind other camera manufacturers. I work in the embedded world too, we have to deal with this compatibility issues as well.
Surely it is “laborious work” as they have stated, but isn’t this part of the QA of such products?
Leica can make incredible mechanical Quality guarantee, apparently the same can’t be said about their software
I’m slowly having doubts about their overall quality control, period. But I tend to have a bit more tolerance towards software/electronic glitches than I do with the purely mechanical ones. The leatherette (it’s no longer real vulcanite like in the past) started to peel away from my camera’s body after the 1st month I bought it. I recently bought a brand new 75mm ASPH Summicron that had to be sent back to Leica because of focusing calibration issues. If you look on L-Forum you’ll see plenty of complaints about niggling quality control issues. And then there’s the physical cracking of the sensor’s IR filter that is being reported more often now.
My M6 cameras and all my legacy lenses (non-6 bit coded) never had issues and are are all high quality. I feel like I can abuse them and they keep on working. The M9 is more like a fragile doll. My vendor claims that the backlog of product has put Leica into a position of reduced quality control just to get inventory out on the vendor’s shelves. There may be some truth to it.
And as far as the electronics are concerned, it seems all too familiar with German products. Mercedes, VW/Audi, and Porsche may have great engineering and design, but their electronics are what mainly cause the reliability issues. Japanese electronics rarely fail.
No doubt that Leica is having QC issues. First off, I bought a Noctilix Asph last year that had to be replaced because the aperture locked up between f/.95 and f/1.2 within the first 5 min of use. $10,000 for a lens that didnt work right out of the box! Secondly, I recently purchased an MP a la carte and had to send that for servicing, because the film advance crank is so loose and jiggly that it rubbed against the top plate when advancing the film. Also, there is something rattling inside the camera body. Lastly, I bought and returned a 75mm Summicron last year because it had large scratches in the coating of one of the internal glass elements. I certainly dont trust Leica QC anymore. I think the lenses and camera bodies made a few years ago had better QC tolerances.
> Japanese electronics rarely fail.
This may be overgeneralization. However I wonder why they don’t make an agreement with Panasonic for *all* their electronics, not simply P&S.
Pride!! – German think they are the best in the world remember?!
What can you expect from a cheap camera? …no wait…
How long has this product been on the market? How many had been sold? Perhaps leica software engineers had been assigned to coloring assignments for the next limited edition.
Same happend to my D700…
Check the blog http://diglloyd.com/ and you’ll see there’s others 7000$ camera with the same kind of compatibility issues… (D3X)
From a specific batch that was taken care of, wrapped up and sushied up in what, 2 month?
This has been going on for months and months and months and it will still be going on.
It seems that other manufacturers are having issues with the newer cards as well. Maybe the card industry should build to a spec and an outside agency confirm that the item is to spec. Seems like some card vendors may stray off the thin line and the camera makers who wrote software to a certain spec clash and the customer loses in the end.
Just as an FYI for people looking for brand – I have four 32 GB SD cards from Transcend that have worked perfectly since day one. I’m probably temping fate by posting this but they are the SD HC cards. The Leica dealer where I bought my camera recommended them and although this in not a brand I normally used I purchased on the store’s advice and everything has been fine.
By the way I have had trouble with the D3X and Lexar cards as others have reported so this is not something specific to the M9.
It is quite obvious that no manufacture of any product can be perfect, and I believe these claims of poor craftsmanship are totally valid. However, if we are about to say that in general Leica has poor quality control, than we should be broad enough to say that the Japanese manufactures have no quality control at all…
Why do we suppose it is a possible multi-year wait for a 50mm 1.4 Leica lens, as opposed to a mere $400 to whoever you so choose from countless vendors? Why does it take and entire day to make one camera, as opposed to best buy having millions of a well liked SLR model?
I’m not saying Leica>All. Not in any way. For many shooters, a Leica would be the worst decision. I work with a fellow who shoots sports, often carrying a 300mm 2.8 lens, and he likes to give me a hard time asking when I’m going to shoot a modern system. I just say that if I thought a 300mm f/2.8 would help me as a street shooter who loves f/8, setting a zone of focus and discretely walking around areas filled with people then I would trade in my Leica gear for a 7D. It would be just as ridiculous for me to suggest that he take an M to shoot a football game. Besides, it is well known that an M’s rangefinder is only more accurate than an SLR’s focusing screen or auto focus system to about 120mm. 4 to about 8 times more accurate, the wider the lens the less accurate the SLR becomes.
The M, analog or digital, is in no way perfect and Leica is not Holy. Their quality control is unheard of, yet humans work for Leica so mistakes are made. The M is basically the same as it was half a century ago. For many it is the best camera available. For others, it is useless.
Horses for courses. That’s why we haven’t different tools to begin with. Simple as that.
Completely agree. It just seems so often that people will bash so hard on this camera or that camera, without thinking about how even with its short comings it is the best fit for many others. Different tools, and each with its own problems. The M9 definitely has issues and this one with the cards is huge. I hope it can be remedied soon. If not, slow 4gigs and not using review may be things digital Leica shooters will grow accustomed to.
This has nothing to do with the mode of production. The Japanese perfected the assembly line. In fact when Porsche was about to go bankrupt, they brought in Toyota to revamp their production and improve assembly. They automated production and reduced the manual labor.
Just because it takes a person a whole day to make a camera doesn’t mean that the QC of Leica hasn’t dropped recently. Leica is having production issues, there’s no denying it. I think it will get better when they move into the new facility. It’s not that they aren’t profitable nor is it that they aren’t capable. I think they are in a stage they are having real growing pains. Mercedes, known for high quality and impressive assembly, entered into a period of growth which affected their QC. They are just now getting out of it and returning back to their early quality.
If the production process is precise and QC is in place, it doesn’t matter if you build 5,000 units a day by machine or build 1 unit a day by hand. Leica once had a zero tolerance. That has changed. And they will eventually get things back in order with more robust QC and better modes of production. But right now there are some real issues.
for all the money you are spending just on the body not to mention the lenses this should never have happened
M9 = $7000 BRICK. Useless. Sticking with my NEX. 10% of the cost. 1000% more use.
10s of thousands of shots through my M9 and I’ve never had a single problem.
Sorry, the M9 is not a brick. So stick with your NEX, and I’ll stick with the M9.
BTW–this has happened to Canon and to Nikon too–just Google it and you’ll see. The truth is that between the counterfeit cards and the ones that are off-spec. it’s sometimes a very difficult situation to resolve, especially when you’re pushing 18mp RAW files through a data pipeline.
So far my two M9s have not had any SD card problems whatsoever, and also I have not had any QC issue with any Leica product that I have bought. (Includes Digilux 4, Digilux 5, 2 x M9 bodies, Elmarit 28, Summarit 75, Summicron 35, 50, 90, Summilux 75). I even dropped one M9 at a stone floor and had it inspected. Except for a few scratches, everything works perfectly.
I feel so sorry for most of all you people ranting about the M9 without first hand knowledge. Get one or get lost. Don’t get into copy-paste discussions or any discussion, Leica- wise, if you do not own one. It gets a little too pathetic reading criticism, or even pros, when it comes from a knownothing.