Sony quality control problems

[bfitzgerald]

On control wheels, no problems so far.

No reason sony should have any issues there, surely they simply use the KM designed parts? Or maybe they changed them to save a few $$
I know the A100 seemed to have a rubber handgrip falling off problem, no idea myself..I didn't buy one.
Now if the A100 had "km colours" I might have..another "awesome" Sony decision.

The A200 LCD is soft as butter though, look at it and it gets scratched..bit of a joke really. Ist one that went back got scratched in the ist day. And all my photo stuff is minty..I look after it. You have no choice but to buy a screen protector for them. KM5d one is tough as nails, shame sony couldn't use that part..again.. I suspect saving a few $$ here and there.

[bakubo]

The bargain decent enough not too badly featured camera is now dead, that's not something to celebrate.

As Sony is removing features from their bottom of the line DSLRs, Canon is adding features to theirs (500D).

[bakubo]

I just got off the phone with someone at the Sony Repair Center in Laredo, Texas. He said my A700 has been fixed and it will be shipped to me today. I have my fingers crossed. I will let you know how things look when it gets here.

He at first said that the charge was $470! I reminded him the work was supposed to be done under warranty so he double-checked and then confirmed that I would not be charged. Whew! I first noticed the problem after I had less than 3,500 shutter actuations and it was still under warranty but I was not able to send it in until recently. I really feel sorry for people who have this camera design defect and then are stuck with a $470 charge (plus shipping and packaging costs). Is my 16 month old A700 even worth $500?

[bfitzgerald]

5d thumb pad came off mine, well not 100%..it's glued back on..so yeah that and FBF were the KM issues.
I hope the A200 AF module does not take a dump..not fun..
Least the colours on the A200 are pretty good..A100 never hit the spot for me..it was the "blues" in more ways than one..still some folks like it.

[bakubo]

Least the colours on the A200 are pretty good..A100 never hit the spot for me..it was the "blues" in more ways than one..still some folks like it.

The A100 LCD shows an image that is quite blue. After I download it is a lot better, but still a bit blue.

[bakubo]

On Sunday I was out shooting with a friend using a Nikon D300 and D90. I didn't notice the LCD of his D300, but the D90's LCD showed a beautiful image when he played it back. Much better than I have ever seen from my A700.

[David Kilpatrick]

It's exactly the same LCD unit in D300/D90/A700. It is likely that he may have been using both Active D-Lighting and a Scene (Picture Style) mode just as Landscape or Vivid. I don't use DRO+ normally, but when I do, the difference in the reviewed image is dramatic. Same goes for changing contrast and colour mode on the A900/A700, along with screen brightness.

The latest models (post-A700 and A900) have an entirely new screen illumination technology and like the D5000 will probably be usable in full daylight. The D5000 can be used with its live view in sunshine and you forget that you are using an unshielded screen. The Canon 500D has a light sensor which automatically matches the screen brightness to the viewing conditions.

However, the D90 does not, but it would be easy enough for the user to have set defaults which looked much better than a default review image of a raw (non-DRO) image on the A700. Unless you know exactly what settings are being used, you can not say one camera is better than another for colour accuracy, brightness or contrast.

David

[bakubo]

I know that he shoots raw, but I have no idea how he had his D90 set up. The comments about Active D-Lighting and a Scene (Picture Style) mode is interesting though. Those settings don't actually change the raw data, but they do change the jpeg used for the LCD display. I recall that you posted somewhere that with the A100 if you shoot raw it is better to turn off DRO because although the raw data does not reflect DRO the raw data has more noise than if DRO is turned off. How about the A700? I might try turning on DRO and making other adjustments to settings to get a better LCD display, but I don't want to do that if it has any negative affect on the cRAW file. What do you think?

[David Kilpatrick]

I think DRO+ does affect exposure and can affect noise on the A700, as it D-Lighting does on the Nikon (but they put a tiny little mention of this in the manual, Sony does not). I would say that at optimum ISO settings like ISO 160 or 320, DRO+ will not be damaging - it is automatically turned off over ISO 800 anyway. I guess it would show some noise level increase mainly at speeds like 400-800.

David

[bakubo]

Okay, in that case I will continue to leave DRO turned off on the A700 as I have always done.

[bakubo]

Don, I suspect you are right. His D90 LCD displayed images better than I have ever seen. Of course, I don't know how he has his camera set up, but knowing his level of knowledge I would be a bit surprised if he was sophisticated enough to have carefully tweaked a bunch of settings which are ignored for his raw files, but still affect the embedded jpeg used for the display. I will have to ask him next time. I doubt he even knows about the embedded jpeg used for LCD display purposes and the other stuff.

Of course, maybe in other conditions and photos the D90 display would not be so much better. Don't know. I just have this one experience of shooting beside him for a couple of hours to go on.

[bfitzgerald]

Very minor points on this one, but still QC related.

Camera strap..Km 5d, nice quality/material with embroidered KM logo and wording. A200 Sony one rather cheap feeling material, printed on Sony name..not in the same league at all. Ditto A200 body..it's ok build wise, but next to a 5d it does feel cheap, the textured plastic isn't helping much on that one.

Another point, and yes I spot stuff like this. Body caps..Sony one is ok...but not polished. KM/Minolta one nicer quality plastic..polished better overall. Even 3rd party ones I got off ebay, made in india..are way nicer quality wise.

http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/the-a330-ha ... page1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scroll down..see the plastic transparent "sauce" tray, is that the new Kit lens rear lens cap?? I sure hope not. I think there are some quality areas for sony to look at.

[bakubo]

Yeah, Barry, these are little ways in which a company can save 1 cent here and 1 cent there. If Sony wants to save a tiny bit on that stuff then I wouldn't mind if they then put the money into making a reliable camera. Not sure they do that though. If I ever convince myself to buy another one and it has problems due to bad quality then it will be my last. If you go back to my first post in this long thread you will see that KM and Sony are the *only* cameras I have ever had to have problems.

[bakubo]

Camera was delivered back from Sony a few minutes ago. First thing I noticed when I unpacked is that they removed my LCD protector and did not return it. As I said earlier in this thread, I removed everything from my A700 including the rubber eyepad, but intentionally left the LCD protector in place since I had read about someone getting their camera back from repair with a big scratch on the LCD. Pissed? Yeah.

[aster]

Hi Bakubo,

I sympathize wiwth you about the camera not being in the exact shape you sent to the Sony repair department even if for the LCD protector. So, does this mean you will delay trying the camera out? I guess I'm more curious than you are about the condition / functionality of the A700 now that you've got it back.

Good luck and I hope nothing goes loose or misses a beat when you finally operate it.

Yildiz