elaine_roberts1

Why would i turn it off..well, just carelessness, I guess. Automatic habit to turn it off as i'm walking around, probably shouldn'tan y how.

Yes - I always reformat my cards in-camera after I download them. I did run into another thread suggesting that files could get corrupted if you turn off the power switch before the camera finishes writing to the CF card - could that be it?

I got my XT in January to replace a 300D w/a broken LCD. It's worked fine, so

far, though I haven't used it a lot yet. Last weekend I shot quite a bit, and

most turned out fine, but two frames came back looking very odd indeed - see

posted pics. The distortion occurs in both the RAW and embedded JPEGs. I suspect

that its either:

 

1. A random glitch with the sensor caused by some combination of

head/humidity/flying electrons.

 

or

 

2. I've got a bad sensor and it just hasn't fritzed on me yet b/c I haven't used it.

 

So - my question is - have you seen this before, and is it a sensor problem or a

memory card problem or neither, and what's your advice? Should I contact Canon

and demand a replacement?

 

Many thanks!<div></div>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<div></div>

CDs are pretty stable, I've checked them home from overseas, with no problems. Flash drives and especially microdrives though can be vulnerable to magnets (and sometimes the conveyer belts in airports have those).

A couple of weeks ago I posted a question about a jamming shutter on a Rebel 2000. I'm still in Russia, but in Moscow now where diagnosis alone costs $30 plus whatever whatizs need replacement.

 

The thing is, if its gonna cost half the cost of the camera (Rebel bodys go for about $200 nowadays), I'll keep the money and make an upgrade. But I don't want to spend the money only to find out at home that the problem was just a $20 easy fix.

 

Also, please let me know if others have experienced similar problems, esp w/Canons, what the problem was with them, and how much it cost to fix. My camera is almost 2 yrs old. I've been neither particularly gentle nor particularly rough w/it. These symptoms have NEVER showed up before.

 

 

- When I press the shutter release, the mirror flips up right away. The shutter, after a lag time of about 5 seconds, then jerks down, and the empty battery canister symbol starts flashing on the LCD (even w/fresh batteries).

 

- The camera stays in this state, with mirror up and shutter down, until I EITHER a) tap the shutter release or b) open and close the battery compartment door. Then the mirror flips down and the shutter flips up to normal position, and the LCD goes back to normal.

 

- The built-in flash works, but after firing the flash, the camera makes a whining/stressed electronic (and definately unhealthy) sound until I tap the shutter release a few times.

 

- Autofocus and metering appear to work normally. Since these are both run through the lens on Canon cameras, this would lead me to believe that something is wrong with the electronics connecting the shutter release to the shutter. I don't think its the battery contacts, considering that the flash fires pretty much normally (except for the whine, and that could be something with the shutter-sync electronics) and this requires a lot more energy than triggering the shutter. Also, I cleaned the battery contacts with a damp q-tip - they look clean enough.

 

How much does this sort of thing cost to fix? I have a gut feeling that this is one of those repairs that results in the dissection of one's camera for educational purposes...What causes electronics failures - just unluck to get a bad circuit, or did I do something? and what can be done to prevent it?

 

If I get a replacement, it would probably be the Canon Elan 7. Or, since I"m in Russia, a EOS 30 or 33. What are the diffs b/w the 30 and 33? Any appreciable diffs between the Elan 7 and the EOS 30? Would acessories purchased in the US be compatabble w/the European version body?

 

Then, too, there's the dilemma that I want a D60. Badly. And the Elan 7 is about a quarter of the cost anyhow....so, why don't I just make the plunge and invest in a D60? What would you do in my case?

 

Finally, I'm thinking of just getting a miniscrewdriver, opening the casing, and taking a look inside for that giant hunk of fuzz that's bound to be blocking the cpu! Any thoughts on this?

 

Thank you VERY much! This is such a frustrating situation to be in abroad. My Russian is good, but customer service in Russia is more an idea than a reality....

 

Elaine Robbins

I definately agree that the new system is (and already has) inflated the ratings. Why not go the extra step, and simply require EVERYONE to comment? We all like to get feedback. Couldn't you arrange the photocritique generator so that you have to have a comment, or it simply doesn't compute?

While I agree that the distinction between Aesthetics and Originality is probably a bit too blurry for most Photonet raters, I urge you to retain the rating system, in a numeric sense. A year and a half ago, I was a beginner, and my photos were often rated poorly, or average. Sure, it hurt sometimes, but as a result of this feedback, I challenged myself to be more discerning in my work. I looked at higher rated photos, and photos that I liked, and asked "what is it about these that catch one's eye?" In this way I taught myself many of the basic principles of photographic aesthetics and composition. I've had no classes in photography (other than a pj course this last semester which was very basic on the photg side). While I'm no professional now, I feel I have progressed a long way in two years, thanks in no small part to the feedback I received on Photo.net, both in the form of ratings and in the form of comments. There are irresponsible raters of course - on both ends of the spectrum - but one learns to ignore them, and focus on the "average". Five of fifty low ratings are probably just personal quirks or spammers, but forty-five of fifty low ratings means I need to take a closer look at the pic, maybe crop it differently, or re-shoot it.

 

So, anyhow, there's my two cents.

Okay, I read through ALMOST all of this post....

 

A few comments. I like the ratings system. When I first came here a few months ago, it frustrated me to no end; gradually as I came to understand how people here generally rate photos, I appreciated it. I REALLY like the new feature that lets you see the average rating a person gives to the photos they critique. If someone rates me 7/7 I'm usually elated but if I go and see that they're average rating is 7/7 then I take it with a grain of salt that they think the photos average (normally I'd think a 5 is average). I've rated over 1000 photos and it still averages pretty close to 5/5.

 

Some thoughts on the above:

 

"Not allowing membership creation with hotmail-type accounts would be another good step."

 

Some of us only HAVE those type of accounts. It's often more convenient/cheaper to have a Web-based account (if I'm traveling in Russia I can still access my Yahoo accout pretty easily).

 

"Do not allow 1/1s and 10/10s, as they clearly are wrong (ever seen a perfect photo? or a perfectly bad one?). "

 

Yes, and yes. But regardless that would be pointless because 2/2 and 9/9 would just become the new 1/1 and 10/10.

 

"such as entering a valid credit card number and checking the name"

 

Enter a CREDIT CARD number to verify???? To a Net site you maybe know nothing about? I hope not...Not to mention there really are still a few folks out there to don't have credit cards and are actually thus free of debt...

 

I definately vote to keep the ratings. As someone pointed out, sometimes you just can't put into words. Also, if someone says "It's really good" you have no way of knowing whether there's a "for an amatuer/novice" tagged on the end. Numbers help quantify this (the difference between a 5 good and a 8 good).

 

Frankly, the ratings system is one of the reasons I'm still involved here. It gives me relatively fast feedback from numerous sources, all of whom have an interest in photog. Which is good because I'm not able at this point to actually enroll in a seminar/course/workshop to get "real life" feedback.

 

Having a limit on the number of photos people can post into their own gallery would be highly obnoxious. I sometimes have a chunk of time to scan and upload a bunch of photos, but I don't have time to do one or two every day/week. Also, as people upload more and more photos, it gives you more of a feel for what they're style is.

 

I see no reason why people have to post photos to critique others. Some folks (highly qualified photogs.) simply don't like mucking about with scanners and PS.

 

As for group interaction - when I'm out to critique some photos I usually will go to the galleries of people who have critiqued and/or rated my photos. I also like to go to the "Top Member-Rated" and randomly chose names from the list, one from every hundred (one from the 200s, one from the 500s, etc). This seems to work best for me.

 

So, anyhow, there's my vote. Take it as you will!;)

 

Elaine