AT&S supplies high-tech components for new Leica M11

[raydm6]

The complexity of the M11 - I didn't know the camera contained this many boards:

AT&S (Austria) supplies Leica with 12 different circuit boards for the M11.

From the supplier who supplies the circuit boards:

A total of twelve different AT&S circuit boards are included in the new M11, including the solutions for integrating the image sensor and image processing. “The trust that a premium manufacturer like Leica places in AT&S products and solutions once again confirms our company’s solution expertise and technological capabilities,” says AT&S CEO Andreas Gerstenmayer.

They seem to be a very reputable/dependable supplier. Now, that's 12 circuit boards from AT&S. Not sure if there are other boards from other suppliers in there. A lot packed into that body; and lot of things that can go wrong. Where do you start troubleshooting electronics failures? Now I know why YYE stopped M repairs at the M5/M6 🙂 (well, he does some M6 work).

Interesting snippet of information I came across in this little exploded view video of the M11 boasting:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/leica...er_desktop_web

Completely reinvented for perfect image quality:
The conductor paths on the image processing board of the Leica M11 are more than 13 meters long.

What is interesting is the Leica Camera career page is not operational and it directs you to look for positions on LinkedIn. I was interested at looking at technical position profiles (especially for repair/troubleshooting technicians) to get an idea of current engineering/technical focus.

Here's an open technician position with a mechatronics background:
https://www.yourfirm.de/job/leica-ca...ion_hash=35578

English translation:

Leica Camera AG stands for the best German engineering art - and for a special culture of vision: for more than 100 years, we have been developing precision optical instruments that enable a unique viewing experience and constantly set new technological standards. We are looking for highly motivated employees for our innovative development projects and due to the strong demand for our current products. We offer you challenging, creative tasks and development opportunities.

For our headquarters in Wetzlar we are looking for you as:


Service Technician M-Camera (m/f/d)


Your tasks:

Receiving repair orders and independent maintenance and repair of customer devices
Analysis of faults and malfunctions with the help of test equipment and special tools
Determine and carry out the type and scope of damage repair according to economic aspects
If necessary, develop suggestions for troubleshooting in consultation with the manager
Creation of test images and their evaluation to ensure the quality of repairs
Check repaired devices according to test and acceptance conditions (PAB)
Cleaning equipment and issuing a service certificate
Production of spare parts and assemblies according to drawings and/or work instructions
If necessary, use in the Leica Show workshop and take on special tasks in customer care

Your profile:

Completed subject-specific vocational training, e.g. in the field of mechatronics
Several years of relevant professional experience in the service or assembly of high-quality, sophisticated products
A good knowledge of English is a great advantage
High accuracy, care and service orientation
Independent way of working, sense of responsibility and entrepreneurial thinking
Ability to work in a team and friendly appearance as a Leica brand ambassador

 

[willie_901]

I don't think this level of complexity is unique or in any way troubling.

General aviation pilots bet their lives on complex electronic circuits "packed into" avionics and auto-pilots every minute of every day. Plane crashes caused by human error are many orders of magnitude more common than those due electronic circuit board failures.

There are many similar examples.

Trouble shooting electronic failures on complex circuit boards typically relies on proprietary diagnostic software. I will speculate AT&S provides low-level software tools for Leica. Problems would be identified at the circuit board level and a board swap is the fix.

Complex circuit boards do fail for no apparent reason. If you think about how many total hours each year all vehicles over a decade old with complex circuit boards operate without requiring board swaps, it is clear failures are rare.

 

[cameraworks-uk]

I'm just writing a blog post about this and thought I'd add my own thoughts. So far, in order to keep Leica rangefinder cameras alive, we figured out how to restore rangefinder prisms, utilising physical vapour deposition to do so. When I got back into the business, I didn't think vacuum chambers and magnetrons would be on my tool list! In order to solve the brightline mask issue, we had to find a way of reverse engineer these things and we did just that. The M6 is concerning. Let me explain. The circuit comprises of three main parts. The flex which is the stuff you see everywhere in computers, other cameras, flexes that break in compact camera zoom lenses etc. There is a section of conventional PCB material that houses the shutter speed contacts and components and the piggy tail (meter switch). Then you have a hybrid circuit board. I'm old school. You were not allowed to swap parts unless really necessary, you had to fault find down to component level. Everywhere else, normal soldered SMD components are used. The hybrid board is ceramic with screen printed tracks and contacts, along with what look like screen printed resistors directly onto the hybrid board. This means work is very precarious and SMD components aren't soldered, they are attached using conductive epoxy. Sometimes we can fix them, sometimes we can't. My approach is this, re-design the whole thing and remanufacture them. I might also think about the TTL version too and include adjustment pots like the M6, avoiding the need to hook the camera up to a Leica computer just for adjustment.

 

[cameraworks-uk]

Sorry! I managed to post this in the wrong place. I can fix an M3 RF prism but can't figure out how to move the post!

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Sorry! I managed to post this in the wrong place. I can fix an M3 RF prism but can't figure out how to move the post!

Forums engines not allowing regular users to move their posts. Delete text here, replace it with "edit, wrong thread comment" and past text where you want.