Digital Camera Failures 316
An anonymous reader writes "In the past week, four
major
camera
makers
have quietly published service advisories admitting their digital cameras are
dying. In each case, the flaw appears to involve Sony CCD sensors using epoxy
packaging that eventually lets in moisture. Sony's own cameras are among those
affected, and the company also has dozens of affected camcorder models. Sony is
believed to be picking
up the tab for the repairs for the other camera makers as well, regardless
of warranty status. (If true, a laudable approach.) Given the large numbers of
cameras that are potentially involved, this can't be good news for Sony, who apparently
already is expecting
losses, and who has also recently announced major
layoffs."
Dammit!! (Score:4, Insightful)
The Canon announcement is only for Asia and it only offers to fix the camera if and when it starts showing symptoms of the problems. As far as I'm concerned, that's bogus. They should offer a general recall and repair/replacement of all models affected so people don't lose the once-in-a-lifetime events they bought these cameras to capture.
- Greg
Re:Dammit!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Dammit!! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dammit!! (Score:5, Informative)
found here: http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=Pg ComSmModDisplayAct&keycode=2112&fcategoryid=221&mo delid=9828act=PgComSmModDisplayAct&keycode=2112&fc ategoryid=221&modelid=9828 [canon.com]
Use film or buy a real camera. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you lose that once in a lifetime shot because you trusted it to a cheap snapshot camera, that's as much your fault as the vendors.
Re:Use film or buy a real camera. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Use film or buy a real camera. (Score:2, Insightful)
That's true with digital and film (Score:2)
Re:Use film or buy a real camera. (Score:2)
Look, there are legitimate statements that can be made regarding advantages of high end digital cameras over low end, but I am exceedingly dubious that reliability (of a device that is almost entirely solid-state digital electronics) is at severe risk.
Re:Use film or buy a real camera. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Use film or buy a real camera. (Score:3, Insightful)
Would you say the same thing today about $600 computers as being toys and unfit for serious use?
There are places, even in a professional's repertoire, where a point&shoot make sense; where expensive cameras are too bulky, complicated, and intimidating to use. Things like a Yashica T4/T5 or a Olympus Stylus, for example.
Digital cameras in the $250 range can fill a similar role, with additional benefits and additional drawbacks. They don't take pictures as fast as film cameras, but they
Re:Dammit!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Is it that big a deal to you? Then why don't you buy a second camera?
Is that too expensive? Gee, do you suppose that not offering perfection made the single digital camera affordable in the first place?
Face it: you are not willing to pay for what you want. You bought a camera with a warranty that is being honored. You bought no guarant
Re:Dammit!! (Score:4, Informative)
I have the same problem. I can and I am taking steps to prevent a failure.
When I was stationed in the tropics, rusty tools was an issue. Contact corrosion was an issue on test equipment. While I was there I keept most of my tools, envelopes, postage stamps, and test equipment in ammo boxes with large packages of silica gel and a humidity indicator. I would nuke the silica gel when the humidity started to creep up. Now that I know the camera can be affected, it is now stored in an ammo box. Corrosion creep should not be an issue when it's stored at 20% or less humidity.
Re:Dammit!! (Score:2)
Chances are there is a recall notice for your juridstiction - its just that the link posted was from the canon-asia.com site.
Re:Dammit!! (Score:2)
Previous experience with Sony digital camera woes (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Dammit!! (Score:5, Informative)
Broken Dimage X20 (Score:2, Interesting)
Highly exposed areas (like highlights on metallic objects) of the pictures had highly distorted colors (fluorescent green or pink). Moreover, if you would point the camera to a bright light source (for example a tube light), the cameras LCD would start displaying all kinds of weirdly
Re:Broken Dimage X20 (Score:3, Informative)
The problem was exaggerated by the fact that most cameras had black & white viewfinders, so you didn't know you had a problem until you watched the final tape. Whoops!
Also, most cameras back then used pickup tubes, NOT CCDs; they had all kinds of odd artifacts whose absence
Re:Dammit!! (Score:2)
Re:Dammit!! (Score:2)
HA! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:HA! (Score:2)
Re:HA! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:HA! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:HA! (Score:2)
Re:HA! (Score:2)
kudos to Sony (Score:2)
For all the Sony-bashing I've done, I have to salute Sony for stepping up to this one, no matter their motivation, though it looks mostly to be customer service and satisfaction. There are probably many of these defectives far out of warranty. Good for Sony!
Re:kudos to Sony (Score:2)
(that were in the product at the time of buying... in other words, for design failures, using crap material - if the camera dies from this faster than would be expected of a camera to die then it's a defect and they're responsible for it - of course there's a quite bit of gray area with this)
Re:kudos to Sony (Score:5, Informative)
Not so. These defects are such as to make the products unmerchantable, which gives the buyer (in this case the manufacturers) a bunch of rights that would cost Sony a lot more if they were exercised. Doing the repairs free will cost Sony a lot less than paying the value of replacement products or repairs by a third party, which is what they would be up for (plus costs) if they were sued.
There is nothing remotely attributable to honourable conduct here (and if you have dealt with Sony recently you would be aware of how thoroughly dishonourable that behemoth has become). It is self preservation, pure and simple, that has led them down this path.
Re:kudos to Sony (Score:3, Informative)
Not so. These defects are such as to make the products unmerchantable*, which gives the buyer (in this case the manufacturers) a bunch of rights that would cost Sony a lot more if they were exercised.
Which was my exact first thought. Here under UK law, they would still have to fix them for you even if the camera was up to 5 or 6 years old. It's all about how long you would "reasonably" expect something to last. The whole "manufacturers one year warranty"
Re:kudos to Sony (Score:5, Informative)
From UK Trading Standards [tradingstandards.gov.uk]
The above is UK law, and there are several other laws covering this area. See here [tradingstandards.gov.uk]. Trading Standards are a good bunch of people, I've had some great advice from them over the years, very helpful. They will take up the case for you and contact the shop/manufacturer on behalf of you (no charge). This is really useful as they have way more clout than any consumer would have. However, saying terms like "Sale of Goods Act" or "Fit for Purpose" will normally make the sales droid stop trying to fob you off.
sony and lack of QC (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:sony and lack of QC (Score:2)
These days I consider the reliability and quality of their products to be worse than many of the noname OEM Chinese manufacturers.
Time was when buying Sony meant a guarantee of quality and performance. These days it's just the same as taping a "kick me" sign to your backside.
Re:sony and lack of QC (Score:3, Insightful)
AFAIK, the only electronics manufacturer still producing in japan is Panasonic (Matsushita), and i have had very good luck with the panasonic gear that i've bought.
Education Hit (Score:3, Informative)
Sony DCS-F828 not affected - kinda puzzling (Score:2)
Re:Sony DCS-F828 not affected - kinda puzzling (Score:2)
So, the F828's CCD is most likely built on a completely different assembly line
Nintendo Fanboy Inside Us All (Score:4, Funny)
Ehh. Who am I kidding. Apathy is too much damned work.
Good timing! (Score:3, Interesting)
My Canon Powershot A70 just started to exhibit this problem 3 days ago!
I have found out that Canon USA and Canon Canada will both fix the camera, regardless of the warranty status.
This is the 2nd time that I've had to send my camera back for service. The first time was soon after I bought the camera because of a different CCD problem. Despite all of these problems, I still really like the camera and think it was a good purchase. I probably wouldn't think this if they didn't fix this problem for free.
It has to be said... (Score:5, Funny)
Has Netcraft confirmed this?
Thank you Amazon (Score:3, Informative)
Consumer Reports: Repair History of 186,900 users (Score:4, Informative)
Consumer Reports rocks (Score:2)
Pentax!=tampon (Score:4, Informative)
However, the real point I'd like to make is this. By their nature, consumer satisfaction reports tend to be way out of date. This is because the records relate to models that have been around for a while, which in a rapidly moving industry means they may not relate to what is on the shelves at all. A case in point from another industry was Volvo, which at one time enjoyed a totally unwarranted reputation for reliability based on the longevity and reliability of one of its post-war models which shared very few parts with later models. (I know this is true because the girlfriend of a friend had one of the reliable Volvos, and side by side you could easily see it was built to a totally different standard from the later ones. It was wrecked by collision with a truck at 132000 miles, at which point the seats were just getting slightly tatty.)
Nowadays it is indeed possible to predict how long a car will last because so much effort has been put into reliability engineering, and it is relatively easy to see what is under the hood and make an evaluation. But for things like digital cameras this is virtually impossible because the technology is changing fast.It's possible to evaluate things like the robustness of doors, the protection of the lens, scratch resistance of LCD covers etc., but you know nothing about the internal mechanisms or the reliability of the electronics. I suspect that it is not even necessarily true that you get what you pay for because in electronics cost is so volume sensitive.
My conclusion? Don't worry. Choose on the basis of your preferred mix of features, compatibility, optical quality and weight, and be sure you get a reasonable warranty. But my own preference would always be to buy from a manufacturer who really understands small cameras and short focus lenses. That means Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Leitz (acquired Minox), Pentax and Minolta. Fuji's camera superiority is in medium format. Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba are electronics manufacturers and dependent on the optical people for lenses and expertise in areas like ergonomics.
Just my Luck.. (Score:3, Interesting)
And I had the CCD problem, it started about 6 months ago...first the backgrounds went slightly pink on bright shots, then it went a little fuzzy, then it went totally mangled and I couldn't see anything at all.
So I paid to get it fixed, it wasn't cheap...now they are saying they will pick the tab?
I wonder if I can get a refund...
read the links. (Score:4, Informative)
Sony says that if you've already paid, to contact one of the listed service centers.
Re:Just my Luck.. (Score:2)
I wish Canon would admit the e18 error (Score:3, Interesting)
Pretty cool effect, actually (Score:2)
Sometimes ya win.
SORNY? (Score:4, Funny)
Carnivale (Score:3, Funny)
But people should buy the Carnivale - unlike Sony's products it has a durable outer casing to prevent fallapart. Also featuring two pronged wall plug and pre-molded hand-grip well.
My DV cam is on the list ... how to test? (Score:2)
Incidently, living in a hot humid environment here too (North Eastern Australia)
My camera doesn't seem to have a problem (Score:3, Funny)
Re:My camera doesn't seem to have a problem (Score:2)
it does (Score:2)
Ruined picture (Score:3, Funny)
I have one of the cameras affected (Score:2)
Other symptoms also related to this defect? (Score:3, Interesting)
However, lately the camera has developed strange circles in some of its images, especially in certain lighting conditions, or certain atmospheric conditions that we have not been able to really pin down. Most of the time, the images are clear.
The circles or rings seem similar to what you might get with dust somewhere in the lens system near the focal plane; the each circle covers perhaps up to 1/10th of the image area, but many of them are smaller, and some dimmer than others. The next time we use the camera, they don't appear at all!
Could thse perhaps be explained by condensation on the inside of the CCD's window, which only appears in certain temperature or atmospheric pressure situations?
Full list of affected cameras (Score:5, Informative)
Digital still cameras
Digital video cameras
Professional camcorders
Other products
Re:Full list of affected cameras (Score:2)
Re:Full list of affected cameras (Score:2)
a friend has a Canon A40 that exhibits the exact same symptoms described, but Canon says it is not on the list, so they won't do anything about it. Anybody else out there? If so, start bugging Canon and maybe they'll realize there is a problem.
That may be the best course of action--I'm actually not sure whether to be relieved that my own Sony DCR-TRV70K isn't listed, because I bought it in late 2003, right around the time they were putting out these bad CCDs. On the other hand, if it does go bad, I gues
Sweet! And just as I thought my camera was useless (Score:3, Informative)
Here is a demonstration [paintedover.com]
Happened to me (with pictures!) (Score:5, Interesting)
To quote from the Flickr page: "my only digital camera has finally degraded into a first-class piece of alien surveillance equipment. instant live show, one-button entertainment, subjective electronics."
Re:Happened to me (with pictures!) (Score:3, Interesting)
Are these lists exhaustive? (Score:2)
Friends of mine have Canon cameras, A75 and A310 I think. We are not in Asia; should we be worried anyway?
Those who don't learn from history... (Score:2)
Sony believer (Score:2, Interesting)
It's been exposed to very cold conditions (Colorado Springs) and very hot and humid conditions (South Africa).
The only minor flaw I found is that the battery clip broke off after the 3rd year of use. I carry two batteries and changing batteries all the time must have worn out the clip. I'm still able to close the battery cover so the clip was n
Re:They're complex. (Score:5, Insightful)
Try telling that to a bride on her wedding day. It's obvious you've never taken pictures for hire.
Re:They're complex. (Score:5, Interesting)
How many wedding photographers turn up with a single camera body? You can't stop a wedding to wait for the photographer. The Pros I know take three - a digital SLR, a standard SLR loaded with colour film and a standard SLR with black and white print film.
Re:They're complex. (Score:5, Interesting)
Any professional photographer will bring a backup camera to a shoot. A wedding, s/he should probably have multiple backup cameras.
I was shooting a wedding a few weeks ago and the lens mount on my D2X just broke while I was shooting the bride getting ready. No warning or anything. Lens falls to the floor (lens didn't break, thank goodness, but the plastic hood just shattered- very dramatic). Bride goes "Oh shit!", convinced her wedding pictures were ruined. I just reached into my bag and pulled out my spare, swapped the CF card, and kept shooting. If that camera had failed for whatever reason, I've got a Hasselblad and film in the van.
Re:They're complex. (Score:2)
Re:They're complex. (Score:5, Interesting)
While photography isn't usually a life or death industry, it is 'mission critical' to tons of photographers, magazines, ad agencies, etc. etc. So I would say that your statement is incorrect.
I know I haven't touched a film camera in years, and neither have any of the other photographers at my place of work. In fact, we just made a big deal out of putting our last remaining film camera in a little glass case for posterity.
Re:They're complex. (Score:5, Informative)
the ones affected are the powershot line, which are intended for the lower end, high quality consumer use cameras.
Re:They're complex. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:They're complex. (Score:3, Informative)
When we need something on a very quick turn-around, and then find that the shot we really want is on film...we're screwed.
Take film out of the equation, and we can ALWAYS manage a quick turn-around.
Re:They're complex. (Score:5, Funny)
Digital cameras are used for pr0n!!!!! You don't get more misson-critical than that!
Re:They're complex. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, I suppose here on slashdot it can be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity ro record that...
Re:They're complex. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:They're complex. (Score:2)
Re:They're complex. (Score:3, Funny)
I'm trying, but I just can't imagine where the moisture is going to come from.
Re:They're complex. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:They're complex. (Score:3, Funny)
Then think about all the other components of Hubble. What if someone had ground the lens incorrectly and.... oh. Nevermind
Re:They're complex. (Score:2, Informative)
Yes they're complex. Yes they'll run into problems. But Sony has had similar problems for ATLEAST 20 years, and don't try telling me that people haven't noticed and bitched about it either.
Consumer digital cameras may be new on the block, but Sony has been making both consumer and professional video cameras for ages now. They have pretty much given t
Re:They're complex. (Score:2)
Re:Grammar (Score:2, Informative)
Effect is a noun, affect is a verb. How do you put a noun in the past tense?
Re:Grammar (Score:2, Funny)
I'm sure some dolt will find a way.
Re:Grammar (Score:2)
Re:Grammar (Score:2)
Say it with an American accent...
Re:Grammar (Score:2)
Other that that you're right though, in this context, the word should have been "affected".
Re:Grammar (Score:5, Funny)
Grammar nazi correcting something that isn't wrong with something that is
Having that post moderated +1 Informative
let's dump both words (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm really happy now... (Score:2)
Re:I'm really happy now... (Score:2)
Still, the camera manufacturers' dependency on Sony for their CCD's is heavy. Currently only(?) Canon creates their own CMOS sensors and Nikon is experimenting with 'jfet lbcast' in their D2h cameras (new sensor design with similarities to current CMOS sensors).
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Re:Maybe this is because Sony is CRAP (Score:2)
Re:That's why I love film (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:That's why I love film (Score:2)
Re:That's why I love film (Score:2)
but, yea... i like digital photography because it's allowed me an improved learning curve. ive learned things with my digital that would've taken me years with film and probably saved me alot of time/money/effort in developing costs.
so... i like digital.
Re:That's why I love film (Score:3, Interesting)
Apart from the fact that film loses quality as it ages
Huh?
Properly processed film is good for a very long time. We can print negatives from the 19th century that have suffered no degradation at all. I've printed negatives myself from the 1950s. They look as good as new. Better, even, since my enlarger is of better optical quality than was common then, and printing materials are better too.
There are some aspects of digital that are indeed attractive (my Digital Rebel is fun, and takes decent pictures)