Leica M Typ 240 Lens Coding Failures
I’ve added a brief discussion of what happens when a (brand new) Leica M Typ 240 fails to read the lens coding. This was a regular problem with a brand-new M240 with a variety of lenses on my last trip (in June). I am aware of it now, and can take appropriate measures.
There is no warning of any kind if a lens is mounted and the camera fails to detect a coded lens. Since many if not most Leica M digital users shoot only coded Leica lenses, one wonders why Leica does not at least offer a setting that defaults to “warn me on power on if a coded lens is not detected”. Or similar.
In the same vein , why there is no option to apply the coding later, because the color shading gets ugly when some wide angle lenses are not compensated. In other words, this type of camera failure damages images and Leica provides no fix for such images. After three years (can happen with M-E and M9 too), this is not acceptable. At the least just allow a duplicate DNG in the camera derived as the original + a manually selected lens profile. Better yet, a software tool.
Bottom line is that both the M240 and the 50/2 APO ASPH have to go to Solms in late August, once I return from my pending trip (lens skew, this lens coding problem, tight lens mount, rangefinder adjustment). I am told 3-4 week turnaround (and no loaners). Now I know that Leica has supply problems with these two items in particular, but one can fairly and reasonably ask whether any professional can afford a system of any brand (ignoring the dollar cost) that goes missing for a month when repair is needed. And why premium gear should have such problems (both lens and camera) right out of the box. That’s a general question that applies to Leica or any vendor: a product is the physical item and its service and support network. For me, it might kill all Leica M shooting on a late September trip.