LEICA SL2 - showstopper of a battery problem

[nad]

Excuse my ignorance but...

Would the hand grip or a battery eliminator powered from something with more juice mitigate this problem? Obviously such an issue in the first place with a camera of this pedigree (and price) is extremely disappointing. But if this mirrorless gives close to the Alexa colour science as reported, then maybe it's worth the tribulation - if it can be worked round?

[Andrew Reid]

Yes the hand grip is something that is being looked into.

Leica are sending me one to test. With two batteries, they tell me the resistance is halved on the power current to the camera, which could help with the peak current demands of the system with the power hungrier lenses attached. Then there is the power management system itself, which could be fine-tuned in a firmware update. There is also the issue to explore of lens firmware, and to make sure the lens is communicating properly with the camera. The MC-21 for example, doesn't work at all whereas the Novoflex EF adapter is able to drive the fly by wire driven huge glass elements in the Canon 85mm F1.2L on a 25% battery charge during the most intensive 4K recording modes. Below 20% it still stops prematurely though.

[Leica50mm]

So glad I bought the 1dx mkiii instead. Canon just works .

[Andrew Reid]

Got any 5K raw files to upload for us to have a look at?

[Leica50mm]

Sure, just as soon as you show some GFX 100 footage . Just kidding. Yeah I shot a couple quick clips last week I would share .

They were more of a autofocus test of pushing in on a slider of a guy dribbling a basketball  . And it is kind of magic.

  Something you could never do without an AC .

The full frame 24fps with AF Raw footage is fantastic, but major gotcha is file size .  

 

The raw files are about 1.5 gb for 20 seconds . Do you have a server to upload to?  Looks like yours doesn't accept canon CRM . 

I will link them from my iCloud when done uploading.

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

1.5GB for 20 seconds is a major deal breaker! It may as well not shoot it. Are you converting the files to a different format?

I do like the AF on the 1D X III though. The SL2 and GFX 100 simply aren't capable of the effortless shot you did, unless you are going all out with a proper follow focus and even then it's difficult... especially on a gimbal!

Try Wetransfer

If you can upload some 4K 10bit as well even better!

[Video Hummus]

4 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

1.5GB for 20 seconds is a major deal breaker!

That’s only 600Mbps well shy of the stated 1,800Mbps Canon spec sheet says for 24p RAW.

1,800Mbps would be 225 MB/s, which for 20 seconds of video would be closer to 4.5 GB.

[Leica50mm]

OK, here's some 10 bit that I shot after opening the box and inserting the card : 

 

No grading  straight off the card. Hand held canon 85mm 1.4 IS  I think I was testing the stabilization .

 

[jgharding]

Looking back and forth between two tabs: your story about this flaw, and the street price of the Leica.

Unbelievable really. 

[mirekti]

BTW Why would one want to go with SL2 instead of S1H for video? 
I’ve also read moire is quite prominent with SL2.

[MrSMW]

Not that I could afford one and as above, I'd go some variant of S1 for video (almost certainly the base model) but that is pretty shocking customer service from Leica.

Or even pretty shocking customer non-service.

[pixelpreaching]

Just FYI on this Leica SL2 issue: (this is from Leica)

"The camera has some peak current requirements that can not be provided by the battery below a certain charging level. We did decide to go this way, because the majority of customer do use the camera as a still camera. This issue can only be solved by a bigger battery. This would mean for the majority of customers to carry a bigger and heavier camera body for a functionality, that they do not use. For serious video product we did implement the USB power supply option. From our point of view this is the best solution for such a versatile product."

[Andrew Reid]

On 5/30/2020 at 12:51 AM, pixelpreaching said:

Just FYI on this Leica SL2 issue: (this is from Leica)

"The camera has some peak current requirements that can not be provided by the battery below a certain charging level. We did decide to go this way, because the majority of customer do use the camera as a still camera. This issue can only be solved by a bigger battery. This would mean for the majority of customers to carry a bigger and heavier camera body for a functionality, that they do not use. For serious video product we did implement the USB power supply option. From our point of view this is the best solution for such a versatile product."

The question Leica must answer is why they feel it ok to advertise it as a professional 4K camera for £5300, but it doesn't behave like one.

[BTM_Pix]

16 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

The question Leica must answer is why they feel it ok to advertise it as a professional 4K camera for £5300, but it doesn't behave like one.

And why they make absolutely ZERO reference to having to power it from USB on their website, their brochure or even specification sheet.

https://uk.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-SL/Leica-SL2/Downloads

[BTM_Pix]

Not much visibility of a USB cable and power bank on the Cine section of their promotional material either.

[PannySVHS]

@MrSMW My S1 also has a battery problem. Second time directly after the first incident and after recharge it shut off at 20% remaining power. I am using the original battery. This is puzzling me. Do I buy another battery which will give me the same bug after a few months of moderate usage? Should I sell the camera? I bought it for image quality and portability. So it would be a pity to sell it. I was planning on using it on a rather challenging shoot. Now I would rather grab a GH5 instead. Afaik the SL2 is similar to the internals of the S1R. I would like to know if the S1 also has a problem with battery or if I just got a new model with a bad onion of a battery.

[Andrew Reid]

Impressive flamingo on his camera strap though. That lens looks perilously close to falling in. Won't matter as doesn't work with the camera in 4K anyway.

[pixelpreaching]

14 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

The question Leica must answer is why they feel it ok to advertise it as a professional 4K camera for £5300, but it doesn't behave like one.

Well, it's Leica. They probably won't feel like they need to answer anything.

I've not had good experiences with Leica over the years nor have a number of photogs that I know. Quality control has been... lacking to say the least with many of their lenses I've gotten, to the point that I just don't bother with them anymore. Zeiss has some of the best lenses for less money and some of the best QC of anyone. They also aren't arrogant when you tell them there's a problem. Leica does make some of the finest lenses out there (if you get a good one) - like the Summicron 50/2 ASPH and their Leica S lenses are some of the finest lenses ever made, but boy... the QC issues and just overall flaws in some of their stuff are unacceptable at these price points. And it's been that way for a long time (Leica M8/M9 sensor corrosion, bottom plates cracking off on M9's, the list goes on).

It's a shame because the SL2 is a DAMN nice looking camera and feels wonderful in the hand. Haven't used it more than an hour but it was a pleasure to use (didn't do any video).

[mirekti]

So is this a final statement from Leica? No plans on fixing this?

[Alfonso A]

There are also other major problems with the video functions. For example, if you try to shoot on HD at a higher frame rate than 60FPS, the gamma curve gets shut off. Color matching L-log shots and high speed shots is virtually impossible. The lens profiles stored only compile leica still lenses. So if you are using leitz or leica cine lenses, you have select a profile that might not be adequate for the lens mounted. For example if you are shooting with a 29mm Summicron-C, there is no profile that matches the focal length. Anyway, seems like they decided to look the other way and not address any of their F-ups with this camera.