Camera Woes

[PeteC]

Need some advice from any pros out there. Have a good Canon digital and the battery and memory card are about 3 years old now.

Battery fully charged and no warning light.

When you look through the rear image window, you sometimes see what appears to be electrical flashes or impulses distorting what you are looking at.

If you should happen to take a shot during one of these events, you get a few horizontal lines through your photo, but not black lines, just lines of a different light intensity. You can see the image behind the lines in the photo, it's just not the same quality as the part of the photo that doesn't have them.

What do you think, bad battery, bad memory card or both? Thanks. Pete

[Randy Cornhole]

Hi Pete, I also have a Canon digital camera which uses large Canon Li-ion batteries and compact flash cards (about 1 1/2 inches square) If yours uses the same we can meet up and at least you can eliminate these two items.

[PeteC]

Hi Pete, I also have a Canon digital camera which uses large Canon Li-ion batteries and compact flash cards (about 1 1/2 inches square) If yours uses the same we can meet up and at least you can eliminate these two items.

Thanks Randy but I'm in Pattaya. Camera is a PowerShot S400 and battery is smaller, says Canon battery pack no. DGA, NB-1LH 3.7V, 840mAh. Pete

[buksida]

If you should happen to take a shot during one of these events, you get a few horizontal lines through your photo, but not black lines, just lines of a different light intensity. You can see the image behind the lines in the photo, it's just not the same quality as the part of the photo that doesn't have them.

I have exactly the same problem on my Fuji finepix S5000, the display looks as if its a TV with bad reception and horizontal lines. I presume its a loose connection in there or the LCD is on the way out. Have been meaning to take it into the shop for them to have a look for a while now.

[Guess]

Two things that are unlikey to be causing the problrm are the batteries and the flash card. Buksi's suggestion is much more feasible. The strange things is that the picture comes out distorted when the LCD viewfinder is playing up. The only common component the is the CPU which my guess is the problem.

If the camera is three years old then it's time to throw it away. One that cost 20,000 baht three years ago can now be got for about 6,000 baht.

Best first stop is the camera repair shop. It could be just a short or loose connection that could be fixed on site. They are good at struff like here so long as they can diagnose the problem correctly. You may get a nice surprise.

[PeteC]

I think you're right, Guess. I'll take it in for some checking. I googled myself silly for this model and all there is, is a memory card error that is a self fix. I'm not getting any memory card error code and the symptoms are not the same.

Unfotunate as today is my little P2's BD, #1. Only about half of the photos came out without lines.

FYI, P2 is her Thai nickname. Was tired of the run of the mill Thai nicknames. My name and her Mom's name both begin with P therefore P-2. Should make for interesting conversation for her throughout her life. Pete

[PeteC]

Finally, got around to putting a new battery and a new memory card into my camera as a test. Still have s fuzzy screen like a TV with bad reception as BK stated. I'm afraid it may indeed be a bad LCD,or loose connection as Guess stated. Have yet to check for the loose connection. Stay tuned. Pete

[Norseman]

I guess you have a problem with a capacitor in the cameras automatic exposure meter.
You can see stripes on both pictures and the backpanels LCD screen and this indicates bad output pulses to the screen/exposed photo.
The light controller is in turn controlled by the cpu so I think Guess is right.