I fear I am being revisited by the CONSPIRACY!
Yes, I’m naming names. No beating around the bush, no pussyfooting around the issue. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. So let’s go.
It’s our nice, expensive digital camera. Last July we noticed it was putting a tiny red spot in every picture at the same place. After our long vacation trip[ in September we sent the thing off to Olympus Warranty Repair in California. We enclosed a complete description of the problem, including a CD with sample pictures showing the red dot.
What do you think happened?
No, you’re wrong. They DID fix it, and they didn’t charge us anything. We were happy campers!
They repaired the CCD unit (that’s the part that actually records the image when you click the shutter, and converts the light into digital ones and zeroes. The also upgraded the firmware! That sounds like a good thing, right?
Well, as per their explicit instructions, we did NOT send off the 2GB Compact Flash memory card in the camera. In fact, it (the card) still had in its memory over 200 wedding pictures we took of the “golf” wedding of our good friend Ruth.
When the camera was returned, all repaired and upgraded, we inserted the memory card and erased all the pictures (since they had been previously downloaded to a PC.)
Usually when we erase all the pictures in memory, the camera menu tells us we have 452 images available. Then it counts down each time we take a picture. When we erase each picture it counts back up again.
Well, THIS time when we erased the pictures the counter stayed at 187. We took another picture and it went to 186. We erased that picture and it STAYED at 186. Uh-oh!
We have done everything you can think of to do, including:
1. Re-formatting the memory card.
2. Re-flashing the camera’s firmware.
3. Putting our memory card in a different digital camera (works perfectly).
4. Putting a new memory card in our camera (shows the same count as before.) Then took a picture and the count went down by one. Erased that picture and the counter stayed the same.
(Both 3 and 4 above were done at our friendly local Best Buy store, so kudos to them for helping us troubleshoot the problem.)
5. Putting that CF memory card in a slot in our photo printer, and using Windows to access the card, erase it and reformat it to ensure it has no corrupt files on it from the camera.
All evidence points to a problem with our JUST-REPAIRED camera!
So, we’re boxing it up tonight to send it back to California for ANOTHER repair.
The counter is currently at 137, and I’m afraid that when it reaches zero the camera will “think” it’s out of memory space and refuse to take any more pictures.
I believe I hear macabre laughter coming from the walls around me.
5 comments:
I'm sorry to hear this, John. When you first mentioned red spots, I was going to tell you that your camera had measles. I fear it is more serious than that - hope it gets fixed and at no charge!
Best to send it back. Better luck this time.
Now you've gone and done what you SO self-righteously (and erroneously) blamed ME for doing, spelled out That Word.
I'll be waiting and watching.
Mwuhahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa.
Did you really think it necessary to start saying that word out loud? My kitchen is being remodeled, man! There are an unbelievable number of power tools going at once, and every one of them needs to work, and keep working, so that I'm not forced to try to make a side dish to bring to Thanksgiving dinner while standing on my back porch!
If I start hearing things from the other room like, "What the hell is wrong with this thing?" or "Damn! This stupid saw just destroyed the last piece of trim they had at Home Depot! We're ruined!" I'll blame you.
;)
I fear we have been too complacent. It waits for us to let our guard down. I don't dare say more lest it target me next...shhhh.
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