Rest in peace Fuji F700…
This morning I was taking Willie the dog for her (yes Willie is a girl) daily morning stroll around the rice fields across the road. We rounded the corner to see snow-capped Mount Iwaki outlined against a clear blue sky. So I got out my camera (the Fuji mentioned in the title) and steadied myself and prepared to shoot. I selected Landscape mode and ensured the flash was set to off. And I aimed using the nice viewfinder and with clownlike precision dropped it into a puddle. This was some feat as the snow was still melting and 6 inches right it would have landed in crisp melting snow, 6 inches to the left and it would have splatted into the mud. But as the law (said to be named for Captain Edward A. Murphy, a feckless (US) Air Force engineer who seemed to have an uncanny ability to seek out even the most unlikely of setbacks) deems, it found the puddle with unerring accuracy.
Of course I was slightly concerned, but not overly as this kind of thing has happened before with my camera and the worry and concern usually seemed to be unwarranted as the camera fired up and continued to function as normal. So I picked it up and the screen was blank, so I switched it off and dried it as best I could and brought it home. Once home I proceeded to thoroughly dry it before switching it on, as any good electronics engineer would. Once suitably dry I switched in on. The screen lit up, there was no sign of water in the lens or viewfinder, all was going well.
For some reason the camera was now in manual mode and so I reached up to the selector dial to switch it to Auto, a more useful mode all round for the amateur photographer, to find the switch already at the Auto mode. Some twiddling of the dial and switching on and off later and I was successfully able to diagnose the problem. The switch is broken. My once all singing, all dancing fully automatic digital camera has become a fully manual device.
Now technically this isn’t a problem in that it is pretty easy to take manual pictures with it, but in practice it takes an elephant’s age to set everything up for a decent pic (like I said, all singing, all dancing). So the upshot of this is I have a relatively useless digital camera…bah…
March 24th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
bah indeed!! what a story hey… wow!! ive dropped my little digi cam before but it just landed on wood floorboards. however i did think it was a goner.. but yet its still going strong
it is rather bizzare irony how the thing would land in the puddle when i could have landed safely just nearby. it seems to often happen in alot of situations.
March 24th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Sorry to hear about your loss, lad. Can it not be fixed in Japan?
March 24th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
It probably can, being a Japanese company and all that…
However, further to earlier events, I was introduced to an interesting concept by one Mr J. McBride of Queens University Electrical Engineering Final year Masters Degree course via MSN this evening. The concept arises from having opted to get my own comprehensive insurance rather than be on Japan’s national health insurance in order that I would be covered for lost baggage and missed flights and what not as the price was very reasonable for a year (at least I thought so). However, after following Mr McBride’s advice I went and checked the policy and the accidental camera damage may well fall within the bounds of my insurance coverage. I might be able to claim for repairs/replacement/reimbursment from the insurance!
Let’s see the national health insurance do that! (I realise I haven’t filed a claim yet and that statement may be slightly preemptive, but what the hey, lets live a little, what?)
March 25th, 2006 at 4:09 am
John, as the closest you may have to legal counsel at the time, I can tell you with all heartfelt sincerity to milk the system for all it’s worth! Milk it! Milk it I say!! A ha ha ha ha ha haa!!!
Not that i’m in ANY way cynical about the state or function of the law. Ahem.
Well, a broken digital camera in the hands of a first class engineer might as well be a crime! Come on, people!!
March 25th, 2006 at 5:19 am
Frankly I’m upset that you didn’t get the shot! You’ve got some cracker pics on the site and another would’ve went down a treat. Hope you get the camera fixed soon.
March 25th, 2006 at 9:29 am
Bummer…I guess a rubberband won’t do the temporary patch-up trick like on my camera ^_^! Luke and I had a discussion last wkend about the Japanese cameras. They all seem to be lighter than US cameras of the same brand. Luke thought it might be psychological marketing…as US people tend to think heavier or thicker is better even in something the size of your credit card. I was wondering if the Japanese made their cameras like their cellphones, meant to last the likes of a year or so and then traded in for the newest model. What do you think as you contemplate your camera woes?
March 25th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Yeah I’ve heard of it before. From what I heard though it’s not a reflection on build quality, they simply weight the gadgets heading for western markets. They do it with a lot of stuff, for example, UK drivers like their car steering to feel heavier than continental drivers generally, and so the manufacturers will adjust the power steering to feel a bit heavier. Of course these changes are only really apparent in the “stylish” models, if you make a high end camera with metal casing and a 6-inch long set of glass lenses on the front its going to be pretty much as heavy as anyone would like it to be and if you are making a cheap jobs for the budget market you aren’t going to waste cash on materials and shipping costs by weighting the things.
I don’t think cameras are the same as cell phones. Thats a result of contract usage. Most companies give you an “upgrade” after a year of using your phone and so they build them to last a year as any longer is seen as a waste of money from the manufacturers POV.
The one-year expected lifespan is a little exaggerated though, most phones will last much longer if you give them the chance (ie look after them and don’t drop them in the sink or stick them loose in your handbag with your car keys rattling around in there…but most people don’t take that much care…), but you will find that in the west the same thing is going on, it’s just that Japanese consumers don’t mind it going on and so it isn’t really hidden. In the west if you told someone it was only built to last a year of heavy usage (think of teenagers using their phones) they wouldn’t pay for it even though they know they are going to stick it in a drawer when they get their upgrade from the phone company next year and the next time they see the old phone will be during spring cleaning.
But yeah, almost all technology is built with an expected lifespan, that will obviously depend on the weight of usage, but its done nonetheless.
Digital cameras are probably looking at 3 or 4 years tops before the maintenance effort outstrips the depreciated worth of the camera, so manufacturers will build them to last about that long. Again, a high end SLR is going to be made to last much, much longer possibly even upgradable), and a budget model maybe a year, but thats down to the old rule of getting what you pay for.