New firmware (1.2) for the DMR at Leica website

[Nemo]

Visit and install.

[Nemo]

This is the link:

http://www.leica-camera.com/digitalekameras/digitalmodul/downloads/index_e.html

[DMR Bob]

Is it possible that there is a bug in the new firmware?

Whenever one of my memory cards has filled I have got a message on the screen. However, today that did not happen. The DMR continued to show 2 shots left, even after I had taken another 15 pictures beyond the normal limit for the card. The screen even showed the picture just taken after each shot and the picture count continued to rise. I have got more than 80 shots on my 512mb card before so thought nothing of the fact that I was over that limit.

However, when I put the card in my computer the last dozen shots were not there ... I had 83 on the card.

This was the first time that I had taken pictures following the installation of the new 1.2 version of the firmware. So, is there a bug in the firmware?

[Brent Robinson]

This may be an issue with either the card corrupting with an external reader, non_Sandisk cards and/or the 1.2 firmware update. I have had card problems too with external reader formatting and non-Sandisk cards. In other Leica digital forums there seems to be problems of different nature in regards to SD cards. I just use Sandisk SD cards now (2GB are reeeeally cheap now on eBay and elsewhere) and only format in the camera. This seems to work but my reader in my Epson R300 printer no longer recognises the cards.

To add some fuel to the fire after having upgrade the firmware I went to try to check it all out and shoot some pics. However all my RAW (yes RAW) files were all 150x102 pixels only. I have sent a note to Leica USA but am still awaiting a reply.

[DMR Bob]

1. I own 3 SD cards ... they are all Scandisk
2. I have always formatted these cards in the camera.

Even after shutting the DMR down, transfering the photos to my computer and re-inserting the card it indicated that I still had 2 shots left! I am nearing the limit on my 1GB card, it will be interesting to see if the DMR does the same thing with it.

[Brent Robinson]

Well it seems we are both having different problems though they only arose after installing the firmware update. I still have not received a response from Tech Info at Leica USA. I also wrote Service yesterday just in case.

I have not tried to shoot the limit of a card yet to check for your problem. Have checked the image size of your RAW pics on the computer to see if you have the same problem as I?

Cheers,
B.

[Jorge Torralba]

I am still on 1.1 and will wait to see how the issues with 1.2 get resolved.

[DMR Bob]

I can confirm the problem. I have been using the Sandisk 1GB SD card.

1. When the card reached 5 exposure remaining it stopped counting down (as did the 512 card) ... how ever many more pictures I took the counter remained at 5.
2. All the new exposures could be reviewed on the screen ... but they did not record on the card.
3. There are 164 exposures on the card.
4. After taking several pictures beyond the maximum, the LED red light on the DMR continued to blink ... when I turned the DMR off the LED stayed on steady. It would not go out ... until I pulled the battery.

There definitely seems to be a bug in this new firmware ... I will be contacting Leica to see what they have to say. It may be best not to upgrade until Leica can confirm whether a problem exists.

[Jorge Torralba]

Bob, I believe what you are experiencing is not related with the firmware. I have owned 2 or 3 DMR's and one of them had that EXACT problem you describe. It was a corrupted card ruined by the card reader used to load the data to the pc. I use the cable to download the pictures and have never had the problem again. leica also confirmed this.

[DMR Bob]

Jorge,

Are you saying that I am going to have to replace all 3 of my Scandisk memory cards ... that they have been permanently corrupted? Why did this problem only occur after the firmware upgrade.

I have been downloading my card through my Sony Vaio cardreader (this is not a cheap clone computer ... it was Sony's top of the line desktop computer when I bought it) with no problems ever since I got my DMR.

I have ONLY downloaded the pictures with the reader ... I have NEVER formatted or deleted any files from the cards through the computer. Any deletions or formating has ALWAYS been done with the DMR. How can a read (ONLY) corrupt a card.

If this is a problem why have not the card companies like Scandisk issued a warning with their cards not to use them in a card reader? This makes me angry ... how is a consumer supposed to know these things. Learning the hard way is not an answer! These are all Extreme III cards ... they are not cheap (at least when I bought them).

Actually I can continue to use the cards as the pictures are correctly stored ... I just have to be aware that when they reach 5 remaining the card is full.

[Jorge Torralba]

Bob,

See if you can format the card in the pc. chance are you wont be able to format it in windows. if this is the case, its going to be the corrupted card.

[DMR Bob]

Bob,

See if you can format the card in the pc. chance are you wont be able to format it in windows. if this is the case, its going to be the corrupted card.

I successfully formatted one of my "problem" 1GB cards ... the format completed normally with no errors and with the message appearing that the format was complete.

As for formatting with the DMR .... I am not positive it is formatting properly. The timer comes briefly as it should ... then the display goes directly back to the menu. According to the instruction booklet "No Valid image to play" message should appear on the display after the timer and before going back to the menu ... I am not getting that.

[DMR Bob]

I have determined that the problem I have been encountering with the counter has nothing to do with a corrupt card!

On the weekend I used my new Scandisk 2GB SD card. It was the first use ... the card had been formatted in the camera. It had never been in my computers SD drive or even used with the firewire. At the start the counter indicated 326 shots using Jpeg Fine. However, as everyone knows that is only a rough figure. When taking Jpeg the actual number of pictures will be more.

At 457 pictures taken the counter indicated 18 shots remaining. Even though the camera would allow me to continue to take picture ... and would show on the screen, they were not being recorded on the card because it was full.

So, I can only conclude that THIS IS A FIRMWARE PROBLEM! The counter cannot seem to deal with Jpeg properly. As the card approaches full, the remaining picture counter becomes inaccurate and so will not indicate when the card is full. This becomes more of an issue with larger memory cards. With 256k it may be only half a dozen shots out, with 1GB about a dozen and with 2GB about 18.

[DMR Bob]

I finally got an answer to my problem with the counter on the DMR. It is a problem with version 1.2 of the firmware. Quoting from an e-mail I received from a Leica rep ...

"The make of the memory cards are changing continously their technologies. The change of the file format on the SD card to FAT32 changes as well the cluster size on the card. This means that the storage capacity of the card is full but the frame counter in the DMR shows additional images because of the internal storage buffer of the DMR. As bigger the storage capactiy of a memory card is as more frames are shown on the frame counter of the DMR but they will not be stored on the card.

This problem appears on the actual firmware 1.2 and Leica is working on an update but there is no information when the new firmware will be ready."