Photoclubalpha

Minolta DiMage A1 anti-shake-button blinks and the sensor seems off center as if the anti shake isn't working, and images have a shadow along the edge. I "reboot" as many times as it takes to get the dang blinking light to stay on steady, then it's usually fine for a while - maybe all day. Time for a service, or is there a way to refresh the programming in hopes that it's a software glitch? I've tried 4 different batteries, with and without a CF card, and using the AC adapter, and regardless, I have to power off and on many times before the anti shake jumps to life and the anti-shake-button light STAYS on. Has anyone seen this before? The service manual is bereft of any info, with no problems or troubleshooting hints, only suggesting to calibrate everything using the test software (does anyone have the test software disk from the service manual - Minolta sold me the manual with no disk - dang!).

Sony already replaced the chip, and maybe the anti-shake "rails" are dusty and stick now, or where they rest is sticky or too close to something else? I tried shaking and jarring the camera, but it only came back to normal behavior after many reboots and not after a jolt, so I'm treating it nice and gentle now!

Thanks,
Peter Blaise
Minolta Rokkor Alpha DiMage Photographer

Well, the problem "went away" after a few days. I'll let you know if it gets "stuck" during turn on in non-anti-shake, with the continuously flashing yellow light again, but for now, it seems to blink only once or twice at turn on, and then stay "normal" all day. Was there dust on the internal anti-shake mechanism that has now fallen free? I'll never know. Everything seems to be happy for now.

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Note: I love this camera and I'm very happy with the print output qualities. Recently, I've had access to printing directly from RAW through Google's Picasa (or program of my choice) to an incredible HP Color LJ 9500 (~$6,000us) to 17x11" (~13x10 uncropped) CMYK 600 dpi with variable dot size down to 4,800 dpi equivalent) 8-bit sRGB, 12 pages per minute, and onto thick glossy stock paper, the output is impressive enough for sale to many of my customer/collectors, and for my own use, having 13x10" FAST prints offers overwhelmingly lovely "draft" references! I load an entire day's shoot into Picasa and print 'em all at 13x10" for review! The printer has registration calibration on demand to align the CMYK, by the way.

So, I'm keeping this camera ... now to get DxO and a calibration scheme for this lens ... then someday, add a Minolta DiMage A2 to my collection for it's superlative EVF Electronic View Finder (and compatibility with my A1 lenses (22mm equivalent wide, 300mm equivalent tele, and closeup to 36x24mm) and my VC/BG Vertical Control / Battery Grip.

...and the reason to return to full-weight SLR is...?!?

;-)

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