Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/07/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]All of my M8 batteries are over 3 years old, which includes the original supplied with the camera and they all work perfectly. Gene ----- Original Message ----- From: "Geoff Hopkinson" <hopsternew at gmail.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 1:55:15 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: Re: [Leica] Firmware v. 1.196 for M9 now available To be fair Nathan, the new firmware does not in any way reduce the performance or life span of the (Li Ion) batteries. What it does is stop the camera operating when an older battery has irregular voltage. That means when there is increased risk of faulty writes including banding. SD cards issues like that have arisen for I guess a few users and they are discussed on the forums. Well maybe not this one!. I've never seen them myself. They all die and the caution arises becauses the earliest M8 batteries may now be five or more years old and failing. It may impact non-original batteries should they not be performing properly too. An M9 has greater power requirments than the M8 so you'd expect that the batteries do work harder. I have three (originals) which get rotated only by chance in my bag. One is about four/five years old, one three and one two. So far so good on all of them for me with about 9,000 frames or so on my M9 (one was in my M8 for a few thousand or so frames too). With say a Nikon dSLR each new model might have a new battery design and hence people wouldn't be carrying over old batteries from one camea to another maybe? There's also ben some re-sequencing of process steps in the camera too, I think. I understand that trying to improve the speed has been on their agenda for while. The new APO Summicron 50 is in there too. Buy me one and I'll test that for you ;-) Cheers, Geoff http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman On 25 July 2012 14:39, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote: > What a lovely way to sell more batteries at 100 Euro a pop! > > Cheers, > Nathan > > On 25 Jul 2012, at 05:53, Jay Burleson wrote: > > > M9 Firmware Version 1.196 > > Performance improvements: > > Further improvements of SD-Card compatibility. > > Implementation of the Lens detection of the new APO-Summicron-M 1:2/50mm > ASPH. > > Improved power management. > > The camera is now measuring battery stability internally. In case of > weak battery stability, the > > camera switches off automatically. > > > > Using old batteries could have lead to camera crashes and banding > stripes under certain > > conditions with the previous firmware versions. Especially the usage of > nearly 6 years old M8 > > batteries proved to be critical. > > It is the nature of Li-ion batteries that the capacity weakens after a > certain time. > > We recommend replacing the batteries for the M8 and the M9 after 3 years > at the latest. Heavy usage > > can even accelerate the aging process, and then batteries should be > replaced earlier. > > In case that the total amount of pictures, that can be taken with a > certain battery, is significantly lower > > than before with Firmware 1.196, we recommend replacing this battery. > > New batteries can be ordered at all Leica Dealers (Order Number 14464) > > > > Please be aware that your settings and your user profiles can be deleted > after the firmware update. > > Please make a note of your settings and user profiles before you run the > firmware update. > > > > Download here: > > > http://us.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_6178.zip > > Instructions: > > > http://us.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_6840.pdf > > > > -- > > Jay, > > Dripping on the shutter button here in Seattle > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Leica Users Group. > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > Nathan Wajsman > Alicante, Spain > http://www.frozenlight.eu > http://www.greatpix.eu > http://www.nathanfoto.com > > Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 > PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws > Image licensing: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman > Blog: > http://www.nathansmusings.eu/ > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information