Leica feedback on D-LUX 4 aperture holding issue

Today I received the feedback regarding that aperture holding issue of D-LUX 4 from Leica via its Australian representative at ADEAL in Melbourne.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Bellgrove
Date: 29 April 2010 14:35
Subject: Re: WG: Support Anfrage: Leica Support/Digital compact cameras/Technical support/D-LUX 4/Handling
To: Bing Bao

Good afternoon Bing,

Thank you for your email, Leica in Solms has forwarded your email to us as their Australian representative and asked us to provide the answer.

Unfortunately there is no current fix available for this problem. We understand that the Product Management team at Leica are investigating this issue and could have a fix for it soon. Any fix would be be included in future firmware upgrades which are available on the Leica web site. Perhaps we could advise you to check this site from time to time and also subscribe to Leica's email newsletter. This newsletter usually advises its subscribers of firmware changes.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards

Michael Bellgrove
CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT COORDINATOR

ADEAL PTY LTD
2 Baldwin Road
Altona North Vic 3025
Phone : +61 3 8369 XXXX / Fax : +61 3 8369 XXXX
Web: www.adeal.com.au Email: sales@adeal.com.au

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Luehring, Lothar wrote:
Ladies and Gentlemens,
please help this Customer.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / kind regards

i.A. Lothar Luehring / Leica Support Specialist

Leica Camera AG/Informationservice
Solmser Gewerbepark 8
35606 Solms
tel. : +496442208-XXX
Fax: +496442208-XXXXX
E-Mail: *

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Von: Deiss, Ulli
Gesendet: Samstag, 24. April 2010 23:55
An: Luehring, Lothar
Betreff: WG: Support Anfrage: Leica Support/Digital compact cameras/Technical support/D-LUX 4/Handling

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Von: Bing Bao
Gesendet: Samstag, 24. April 2010 23:54:39
An: Deiss, Ulli
Betreff: Support Anfrage: Leica Support/Digital compact cameras/Technical support/D-LUX 4/Handling
Diese Nachricht wurde automatisch von einer Regel weitergeleitet.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Dear Leica customer,
This is an automatically generated e-mail confirming the receipt of your inquiry.

Best regards
Leica Camera AG
Customer Service

Serial number	*
Purchase date	*
Details of inquiry	Hi Support I am a Leica D-LUX 4 user from Australia. I recently found an issue of Auto Review that, I think, should be a defect of D-LUX 4 firmware, which is inherent from the LUMIX firmware of Panasonic DMC-LX3. The issue is: while Auto Review is working on the "HOLD" option, the aperture is on hold, too. That means, the lens does not return to full open aperture after shutter fired until Auto Review stops showing the last shot. The issue also applies to the other options of Auto Review, of course, except the "OFF" one, though the duration is less than 2 seconds with other options ("1 SEC" / "2 SEC" / "ZOOM"). This is really not good for the lens, one of the most expensive parts of the camera. The aperture of this lens should be better at the wide open position while not at work. As you know, the aperture is fully opened when the camera is power off. As it is not necessary to keep the aperture working while reviewing a photograph because the shooting procedure has finished, I speculate it should be a defect of the firmware, and hopefully it can be fixed in the near future. At present, my fix is just to turn OFF the Auto Review, at all. Do you have any method to get rid of this issue? I am looking forward to hearing from you about Leica opinions on this. Thanks in advance. Kind regards, Bing Bao
Salutation	Mr
Title	-
First name	Bing
Last name	Bao
Country	AU
Street	-
House No.
Address line 1	-
Postal code	2000
City	Sydney
E-Mail	*
Phone no.	-
Telefax no.

Aperture holding issue of D-LUX 4 Auto Review

Like most digital cameras, Leica D-LUX 4 supports Auto Review after every shot. There are five options for Auto Review available in the SETUP menu: "OFF", "1 SEC", "2 SEC", "HOLD", and "ZOOM". By default, it is set to 2 Seconds.

The "HOLD" option allows you to continue viewing the new shot until you press the shutter release or other buttons to get ready for the next shot. This is good for serious photographers who may spend a bit more time to evaluate each shot and make changes accordingly. I had used this option for a while and found it was quite convenient.

But I recently found an issue of Auto Review which caused me to disable this feature at all.

The issue is: while Auto Review is working on HOLD, the aperture is on hold, too. That means, the lens does not return to full open aperture after shutter fired until Auto Review stops showing the last shot. The issue also applies to the other options of Auto Review, of course, except the "OFF" one, though the duration is less than 2 seconds with these options.

This is really not good for the lens, one of the most expensive parts of the camera. The aperture of this lens should be better at the wide open position while not at work. The aperture is fully opened when the camera is power off.

As it is not necessary to keep the aperture working while reviewing a photograph because the shooting procedure has finished, I speculate this is a defect of D-LUX 4 firmware, which is inherent from the LUMIX firmware of Panasonic DMC-LX3.

However, the conclusion is just to turn OFF the Auto Review, at all.

Simply pressing the "▼/Fn" button^* lets you review the last shot instantly, even for a long time with no worries about the aperture as it is no longer working in this stage. There is one more advantage after disabling the Auto Review, you may continue to shoot without any pause, if required, therefore you won't lose any chance to capture a decisive moment.

* The "▼/Fn" button can be customised for other purposes. Make sure the "Fn BUTTON SET" option in SETUP menu has been assigned to "REVIEW" (the default setting) before disabling the Auto Review.