Sony quality control problems

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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by bakubo »

Here's another update. I got back to Hawaii 2.5 weeks ago and since then my A700 control wheels haven't acted up at all. Got my fingers crossed. :) I am pretty sure it is just a coincidence since last year in Hawaii and since then in Japan, Egypt, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas the control wheels would intermittently go crazy. I know this is just a temporary respite, but very welcome none the less!
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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Spoke too soon. :( I suspected that just by mentioning that the control wheel problem had mysteriously disappeared since getting back to Hawaii I would just jinx things. Yesterday afternoon I met friends to watch the annual Pan-Pacific Festival Parade in Waikiki. It starts late in the afternoon so in the beginning I was using ISO 200, but by the end I was using ISO 1250. Anyway, I was taking a photo of someone hula dancing using ISO 800 and the shutter speed was a bit low so I wanted to bump it up to ISO 1000. One click of the control wheel and I immediately took 2 more photos. I then noticed that the one click had jumped the ISO to 3200. :( Later as I was reviewing a few photos in the LCD it would occasionally jump around. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
Last edited by bakubo on Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Henry what happens when you set the camera in Auto mode, can it self select a suitable ISO, shutter speed and f-stop? I know it's far from ideal but I'm just thinking if it's having one of those little fits and you can bypass it with Auto mode for the time when you're trying to do some photograph, then you might at least get some reasonably usable shots...just a thought..I'm beginning to wonder if they actually fixed your control dials at all, or just did a bit of a clean job.
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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Greg Beetham wrote:Henry what happens when you set the camera in Auto mode, can it self select a suitable ISO, shutter speed and f-stop? I know it's far from ideal but I'm just thinking if it's having one of those little fits and you can bypass it with Auto mode for the time when you're trying to do some photograph, then you might at least get some reasonably usable shots...just a thought..I'm beginning to wonder if they actually fixed your control dials at all, or just did a bit of a clean job.
Yeah, I use auto ISO sometimes. It works fairly well, but it can't read my mind so sometimes it chooses a higher ISO than I want (and give a faster shutter speed than I need because there is no movement and SSS will allow a slower ISO) or lower ISO than I want (and give a slower shutter speed that won't stop movement).

The control wheel problem can cause problems with just about anything that you use them for. ISO is just one example.
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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I was thinking, what if the camera decided to not 'do it' while they were looking at it, seeing as how it's so unpredictable, they might have decided that there wasn't much wrong with it and just did a vacuum job or such, and that apparently works too, from what Winston said, for quite some time, but maybe not a permanent fix. Did you get a report of what they actually did?
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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Greg Beetham wrote:I was thinking, what if the camera decided to not 'do it' while they were looking at it, seeing as how it's so unpredictable, they might have decided that there wasn't much wrong with it and just did a vacuum job or such, and that apparently works too, from what Winston said, for quite some time, but maybe not a permanent fix. Did you get a report of what they actually did?
They replaced a whole bunch of parts. You can see the list and the thread here:

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... =32&t=2610

Note, there are several very useful posts in that thread from Sonolta that have been removed.
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Henry, what type of shirt do you wear mostly? some fabrics in low humidity can easily generate a very large static charge and this could possibly interfere with and even damage electronics.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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Greg Beetham wrote:Henry, what type of shirt do you wear mostly? some fabrics in low humidity can easily generate a very large static charge and this could possibly interfere with and even damage electronics.
100% cotton, always.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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I posted previously about my Sony DSLR problems and to update on my A550 purchase, I placed the order on 11 May with Simply Electronics and discovered on first use that the Eye Start function did not work. After some time they sent me what appeared to be a returned camera. Not only did the Eye Start not work on this one either but the On/Off "switch" in the Menu was blanked out. Back it went. I think that Simply Electronics have got a bit tired of me and have now offered a refund. I wonder why I should receive two cameras with the same problem??? I am "off" the A550 now and will be content with my A350/700 combo for the time being. I will wait and see what Sony are going to do next in terms of DSLR and NEX releases. I am slowly warming to the idea of a NEX to replace my Pana LX2/3 if just Sony would release an EVF and more lenses. Maybe Tamron and/or Sigma will get hit with the NEX virus and produce compatible lenses instead of antibodies.
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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alphaomega wrote:I posted previously about my Sony DSLR problems and to update on my A550 purchase, I placed the order on 11 May with Simply Electronics and discovered on first use that the Eye Start function did not work. After some time they sent me what appeared to be a returned camera. Not only did the Eye Start not work on this one either but the On/Off "switch" in the Menu was blanked out. Back it went. I think that Simply Electronics have got a bit tired of me and have now offered a refund. I wonder why I should receive two cameras with the same problem??? I am "off" the A550 now and will be content with my A350/700 combo for the time being. I will wait and see what Sony are going to do next in terms of DSLR and NEX releases. I am slowly warming to the idea of a NEX to replace my Pana LX2/3 if just Sony would release an EVF and more lenses. Maybe Tamron and/or Sigma will get hit with the NEX virus and produce compatible lenses instead of antibodies.
That sure doesn't sound good. It might be good to wait awhile to see if NEX gear has QC problems too. The problem with that plan though is that I waited 6 months before getting the KM 7D and waited 6 months before getting the A700 and thought all was okay, but I still got burned both times by quality problems.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by Neonsquare »

Hm...
I don't want to disregard your experiences. I'm just curious because I never had ANY quality problems with all the Sony products I bought so far. My Alpha 550 works like a charm, so did the Alpha 350 before. I can't stop thinking that there might be some factors besides Sony that may justify such a culmination of bad luck.

ciao,
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Heavy use is the most likely factor. I have had no problems with any of the cameras - except 'on delivery' issues like a bad sensor in our first Alpha 700 (faulty line of pixels) and very poor 16-80mms before finding a good one. Nothing has ever developed over time with our camera, but we only shoot pictures selectively. My Alpha 900 just passed the 10,000 shot count after 20 months of use.

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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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David Kilpatrick wrote:Heavy use is the most likely factor.
My first 7D had a problem from the very first photo and the first day. My second 7D (it replaced first defective 7D) had a different problem from the first day also and then after 5,197 photos it also developed the infamous FFB problem. The 7D bodies were sent in 5 times to be fixed and finally Sony gave up and gave me a refund. My A700 developed the control wheel problem after 3,794 photos.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

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I haven't had any problems either with any of the KM or Sony gear I have...until now, I noticed that my A700 had intermittant flash connection issues, the flash would sometimes register with the camera as being there while fitted too the camera and turned on...and occasionally would vanish as if there were no flash fitted at all. I decided too investigate a little and see if I could uncover what the problem might be. The only thing I could find was that if you moved the flash (mounted on the camera) a little, while turned on, and watching the rear screen on the camera the flash exposure control (below the normal exposure control on the rear screen) would appear and disappear rather erratically. There isn't much movement between the F56 flash and the camera so the i-shoe mount on my A700 has a reasonably good 'fit' but the contacts themselves on the camera were not very well manufactured, as it turned out, after closer inspection with a 8X loupe.
In the closeup photo of the i-shoe contacts on my A700 one can readily see that all is not well with at least two of the contacts, not a very impressive attention to detail in quality control for such an important connection.
I actually missed a couple of shots at an engagement party because of this, at the time I didn't know there was a problem, all I knew was the flash did not fire for some reason, it was later while attempting a bird photo that I investigated further after the same thing happened again.
I thought the A700 was supposed to be one of Sony's top class cameras where everything was done to a high degree of exactitude, I just hope the rest of it is not built too a similar standard.
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by bakubo »

By the way, my A700 has had the most use of any camera I have ever owned. It is 27 months old and has taken 13,228 photos.
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