M8 settings reset automatically?

[xihalife]

Hi all!

I am a fairly new owner of an M8 and still learning to use it properly. Today was a really beautiful day so I just did my first "shooting trip" with M8. Everything went smoothly and I was quite happy with the results, *except* I just realized that the M8 had reset its settings and thus was saving photos as JPG!

As most of you know, the JPG saving setting in M8 is very low, for some reason, so when you zoom in to look at the details it's kind of like looking at a TV or a low quality video still frame. It's just one photo shoot, but I am so angry that it hurts! I *never* use JPG for anything as the workflow with DNG works well and there's practically no need for anything except for it. I basically shoot in DNG, import to LightRoom, fix the white balance and tune colors, export to high quality JPG for publishing on the web...

Has anyone else noticed random changing of M8 settings? Am I just imagining? I can't believe I would have accidentally changed it as it requires quite many key presses...

I really really try to like this camera, but damn they don't make it easy...

 

[Keith]

You need to make sure you are using a specific saved user profile ... one two or three! If you use it in the zero setting even though having adjusted it to what you want, it will automatically reset to default (jpeg) settings when you turn the camera off and back on again. It sucked me in a few times and I also took about thirty pics assuming I was using raw and it was shooting jpegs!

 

[xihalife]

Ah, doh! Didn't realize that. I am the only person using the camera so I didn't think the user settings would be useful (especially given there's only a few settings to change, anyway). Thanks!

I guess it will "forget" which user profile I am using, then? Meaning that I will still need to set the user profile every time I restart it...

 

[Keith]

Ah, doh! Didn't realize that. I am the only person using the camera so I didn't think the user settings would be useful (especially given there's only a few settings to change, anyway). Thanks!

I guess it will "forget" which user profile I am using, then? Meaning that I will still need to set the user profile every time I restart it...

No ... once it's locked into a user profile it will remain in it even after turning the camera off and back on again. 🙂

... actually the user profiles are very handy ... I have profile one at 160 ... two at 320 and three at 640, all DNG. It pays to not alter profile settings while using the camera ... if you do make an alteration then turn the camera off and back on it loses the saved profile which is damned annoying!

 

[xihalife]

Great, thanks for the info. I feel a little better about M8 already. However I've found out that ISO modes beyond 320 are unusable, too much noise... but I guess it would still make sense to setup the three modes as you said, just in case.

My Mac doesn't like the M8 so I need to always turn off the camera and remove the back cover, to use external card reader to copy the images... so I guess whatever I do it will always reset the settings.

 

[bottley1]

I would agree with Keith, the user settings are very useful. I have one set to DNG, one to high ISO jpeg (for thar "arty" look!), and one set to monochrome for IR.

 

[dont45]

I think this is a bad user interface design. Profile 0 is not really a profile but rather the factory default settings. As such you can't modify anything so therefore it's not a user profile. I think a much better design would b e to have a menu selection with a confirmation to reset profile 0 to factory default. This bit me twice until I figured it out. I also don't understand why this camera would have jpeg as the factory default. But there goes the RAW JPEG debate.

 

[xihalife]

So, the shots ended up being ok... can we post links here? If not, apologies... here is an album with some shots from today. They were taken in JPG so there's very little color fixing or anything. As I said I'm new to M8, having used DSLR's before, but I'm quite happy with the way the camera behaves. It will take time to get used to the finder and the fact that you don't see what you get, but life's for learning anyway...

http://www.xihalife.com/photosets/936/

 

[kuzano]

The custom user profiles....

The custom user profiles....

Ah, doh! Didn't realize that. I am the only person using the camera so I didn't think the user settings would be useful (especially given there's only a few settings to change, anyway). Thanks!

I guess it will "forget" which user profile I am using, then? Meaning that I will still need to set the user profile every time I restart it...

These aren't necessarily provided for the benefit of multiple users, but rather so you can set up to three profiles for varied photo situations. Digital cameras often supply a variety of scene modes for varied situations, but in addition, the customized profiles add somewhat more flexibility.

 

[Ben Z]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. I've had my M8 since July, have never set it a Personal Profile 1,2 or 3. The camera has always been on profile 0, I always shoot DNG, and have turned the camera off and on uncountable number of times and that and every other one of the settings are always as I left them. So either my camera is broken in a good way, or Leica made a change at some point. (BTW, I'm using firmware 1.107 and have no immediate plans to update).

 

[xihalife]

Actually I don't think it resets the settings *every* time you turn on / off. Perhaps when you charge the battery or remove the memory card... don't really know. I have been using the camera for a while and only noticed the problem couple days ago. But the problem was fixed by choosing profile 1, at least it didn't hapen again yet. I bought the camera less than a month ago as new and upgraded to firmware 1.110 so if mine behaves worse than yours, Ben Z, it's something that has happened recently.

 

[boilerdoc2]

It shouldn't reset to the defaults when you restart. But the user profiles are nice so set them up as you wish for whatever you might need. Makes switching back and forth easier. Of course, you have to remember what these profile settings are - which is where I have difficulty! LOL.
Steve

 

[Ben Z]

Actually I don't think it resets the settings *every* time you turn on / off. Perhaps when you charge the battery or remove the memory card... don't really know. I have been using the camera for a while and only noticed the problem couple days ago. But the problem was fixed by choosing profile 1, at least it didn't hapen again yet. I bought the camera less than a month ago as new and upgraded to firmware 1.110 so if mine behaves worse than yours, Ben Z, it's something that has happened recently.

Mine doesn't reset even if I r/r the battery and/or SD card. However, if I switch to any of the numbered profiles (which are still at defaults on mine) and then back to 0, my original settings are not retained.

 

[abumac]

@xihalife: 640 unusable? Look here:

http://mimpresion.blogspot.com/2008/01/mitten-drin-im-leben.html for 640 (the last two fotos)

and here http://mimpresion.blogspot.com/search?q=halloween for 1250.

 

[xihalife]

abumac, ok let me rephrase myself. The ISO 640 is unusable unless you really know how to take photos. In your examples there is a lot of noise, but the way the photos were taken (perfect exposure, good composition) makes the noise almost like a positive effect. The noise falls mostly on out of focus areas and looks good.

I must admit I have seen some excellent ISO 640 photos on this forum and I am starting to believe it is possible to take good high ISO photos with M8. It's just a lot more difficult than using some other cameras, which made me believe it cannot be done. I stand corrected.

 

[RWP]

Well a strange thing happened to me when I was in the middle of a trip. The camera went into jpeg mode without warning, and it was 100 shots before I noticed it had changed. I reset it, and it has remained as set (dng) ever since.

I have Luigi's half-case fitted, and I assumed that I had pressed some buttons when I went from landscape to portrait (the point that the change happened). But what a lot of buttons to accidentally push! Roger.

 

[Patman]

Have never had a problem with camera reseting itself. Set it originally for Raw and still on 0 setting and after many uses it still remains on raw. In fact i can honestly say i have never had any kind of a problem with this camera in any way and have even bought a couple of after market batteries that work absolutely perfect. I think half of you people go looking for problems and most of them are in your heads not the camera.

 

[xihalife]

Patman, just because you haven't had problems it doesn't mean everyone else is just imagining them... I don't like looking for problems, I would very much like the M8 to just work and have no problems at all. 😉

 

[Patman]

Not looking for arguments but it just doesn't seem possible that i have the only trouble free M8 evry made. I am not a person who babies a camera my cameras all take a beating, which is one of the reasons i love my Leica's, they hold up. Will i treat my M8 the same way, and never have a problem and if eventually i do it's probably from me banging it around. Yesterday i was out shooting in temperatures around 0 degrees and the camera worked flaulously. I guess it's just that one in a million, oh by the way bought it brand new on ebay for $3800.00 and warranteed by Leica.