[Leica] My M9 is back. Firmware 1.204

[Frank Filippone]

Go back in the story line.... the widely known problem is corrosion of the
sensor glass cover plate, the item that came loose on my camera.  The sensor
is fine, it is the cover glass ( actually the seal) that went bad on my
camera.  The cheapest way to fix it ( Leica perspective) was not to replace
the entire sensor, but just re-glue the cover glass back on.... which, in my
case, made more sense to replace the old corrosion possible to the new,
non-corrosion glass plate.  That fixes 2 problems.. the loose glass plate
and the possible corrosion of the old glass cover plate in my camera, which
if they had used and it went south, would have forced them to do the work
over, again for free.... 

The new cover glass is using the 1.204 ( new, not available the general
public on the Leica support sites) firmware.

I have V1.204 FW, so the new glass plate was used.  This is pretty assured.

Does that mean definitely that the entire sensor assembly was not replaced?
No.  There was no need to replace the sensor, it was working fine.  If there
is no mention of the replacement, I am assuming the entire sensor was not
replaced.
Could I be wrong?  Yes.  Proof?  Have no idea how to tell.... And I am not
so sure it makes any difference to me anyway.....

BTW, the camera seems to work really well.. I was worried about RF accuracy,
but preliminary tests say it is accurate, more testing to follow.

Am I happy?  With the repair, YES!!!  With the time it took to do it (or
ship it after repair was complete)?  NO.

What am I going to do about my displeasure?  Use Leica for when it is
necessary, use DAG or Sherry when not.  ( Limit my exposure to bad customer
service.)

Besides, with the exception of a used M240 or similar in a few years when
the prices drop, hopefully like a lead balloon, it is doubtful I will ever
own another Digi-M. I can not afford them.

Note: My son's M9 is still available to me, should I want it.... so I still
have an additional M9 in my back pocket.  Plus an A7 that I am working with
to see if it offers a better and higher resolution solution.... for me....
24MP is an improvement.... 42MP would be a bigger improvement....

Frank Filippone
Red735i at verizon.net


-----Original Message-----
From: LUG [mailto:lug-bounces+red735i=verizon.net at leica-users.org] On Behalf
Of Scott Gregory
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 10:24 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] My M9 is back. Firmware 1.204

Frank I believed I read other people saying that if the sensor is replaced
the camera has updated firmware to the number you mentioned. 
Why do you believe the sensor was not replaced? 
I would wonder why Leica would not replace it, I guess??

Scott

> On Oct 12, 2016, at 1:11 AM, Philippe Amard
<photo.philippe.amard at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Sounds like good news
> 
> Happy shooting Frank :-)
> 
> Amities
> Philippe
> 
> 
> 2016-10-12 7:03 GMT+02:00 Frank Filippone <red735i at verizon.net>:
> 
>> To recap, the M9 died on me in May, on day 8 of a 6 week trip. The 
>> sensor glass cover plate came loose. It was returned to Leica USA to be
fixed
>> (free), received by Leica roughly July 12.   It was returned to me.
Today.
>> 
>> The paperwork included with the camera states that there was a 1.5 x1 
>> seal as part of the repair. There is no mention of sensor replacement 
>> nor glass cover plate.
>> 
>> The camera has firmware version 1.204.
>> 
>> What I think is that the new corrosion resistant cover glass was 
>> installed, not a complete sensor replacement. (OK with me).
>> 
>>  We do know that the current firmware for original M9 sensors is 
>> 1.202, and that those cameras that had "replaced sensors" have the 
>> current version 1.204. I think that the 1.204 has some tweaks for the 
>> different sensor glass characteristics, probably color transforms.
>> 
>> Since my camera needed a re-install of the cover glass plate, Leica 
>> used a new seal for the cover plate, and the camera has 1.204 
>> firmware, I believe the complete. sensor was not replaced, only the 
>> cover plate, with the new non-corroding glass plate.
>> 
>> For those concerned about corroded sensor replacement, it is apparent 
>> Leica can repair the camera by a less extensive replacement of the 
>> offending cover glass plate rather than the entire sensor.
>> 
>> Frank Filippone
>>  Red735i at verizon.net
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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

_______________________________________________
Leica Users Group.
See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information