M8 Reboot needed?

[dspeltz]

I shot about 150 m8 photos today in a two hour period. It was intense shooting at a library dedication. Three times the camera froze up and I had to remove the battery to restart it. This is the first experience I have had with this problem (I have probably taken 4000 photos so far since November. I have version 1.06 firmware.

Has anyone else had this problem. Do you think the firmware upgrade addresses this issue?

 

[jaapv]

It happens... To digital camera's in general. At least we are not getting meaningless Error 99 messages🙄

 

[iml]

A camera freezing three times in 150 shots is not normal, digital or not. IMO.

Ian

 

[georgl]

The M8 is a quite exotic camera, therefore, it is very sensible to different SD-cards.
Use a different card (see the list on the Leica page) and the problem is solved.
With new firmware, they will "adapt" the camera to more and more card-types.
I've taken thousands of shots and not a single reboot was necessary - with the right SD-card while my PC crashes about 3-5times a day...

 

[jaapv]

If I read his post correctly it was three times in one go in 4150 shots...It can just as well have been a dirty battery contact, the SD card or the SD card contact.

 

[reginald]

Hi all, just to ad to the thread, I shot about 150 pics with my M8 before returning it to Solms (firmware 1.06) I used a 1Gb SD card suggested in Leica's list, and it happened to me 2 times, battery contacts were clean, I hope this problem is solved whenever my camera is returned with the fix and firmware upgrade.

Reginald

 

[jaapv]

I put mine back into the case without switching off. That aparrently pressed all buttons in some sequences, switched the review on permanently and all but drained the battery. The camera came out of this totally confused. I had to do a full reset by leaving the battery out for three days. User error...🙁

 

[ywenz]

A random sequence of button pushes confused the camera? Don't be so hard on yourself japp, this is most likely not a user error.

 

[Ben Z]

I can push as many buttons simultaneously on my 20D or RD1 as I have fingers for and it doesn't require a reboot.

 

[Toby]

I can push as many buttons simultaneously on my 20D or RD1 as I have fingers for and it doesn't require a reboot.

I've got a 20d and I have managed to crash it this way, so maybe you're just lucky

 

[Ben Z]

In that case, I won't try it again 😱

 

[rsl]

I can push as many buttons simultaneously on my 20D or RD1 as I have fingers for and it doesn't require a reboot.

I can tell you as a software guy that if pushing buttons at random can confuse the software enough to require a complete reboot then there's something wrong with the software. It's true that there's probably not a single program out there that doesn't have bugs somewhere in it, but the final test of any software should be to see if you can make it blow up by doing stupid things. If you can, it's time to go back to the drafting board.

 

[RML]

Intensive shooting can temporarily put a heavy toll on a battery. So much so that it doesn't have enough power to keep working properly. I know, unlikely but still it's possible. I experience the same with the generic NP-80 batteries for my R-D1, though never with the more powerful (and perhaps better) Epson battery. It's not the first time there have been reports about the M8's battery. Perhaps Leica can look into it. A less than perfect batch of base batteries?

 

[jaapv]

Intensive shooting can temporarily put a heavy toll on a battery. So much so that it doesn't have enough power to keep working properly. I know, unlikely but still it's possible. I experience the same with the generic NP-80 batteries for my R-D1, though never with the more powerful (and perhaps better) Epson battery. It's not the first time there have been reports about the M8's battery. Perhaps Leica can look into it. A less than perfect batch of base batteries?

I did more than that. It had been doing about everything it could do and then some for a couple of hours (it was in the bag-alive- when I was skiing) It seemed, indeed, that it was the battery that went haywire and influenced the camera software.. I will hear the final verdict from Solms. I dumped the problem in their lap, as they were picking up the camera anyway. It worked fine after the reset though, but the battery refused to charge to 100% after the occurence.

 

[dspeltz]

who knows what it is. In a two hour period of shooting a reboot needed 3 times is not good. I hoping to hear that someone else had the same experience and after having the camera upgraded all was solved.

 

[pvdhaar]

I shot about 150 m8 photos today in a two hour period. It was intense shooting at a library dedication. Three times the camera froze up and I had to remove the battery to restart it...

150 in a two hour period, that's about one every 50 seconds or so on average. Shouldn't be too hard on the batteries, unless the contacts are bad or gunked up.. Have you cleaned them?