Sony quality control problems

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alphaomega
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by alphaomega »

If David Kilpatrick refers to my woes with two A550s as listed above with this comment
Heavy use is the most likely factor.
then I am afraid it does not refer to my experience of two cameras both having a problem with a non functioning Eye Start. The first was definitely new and the second one did not function on being taken out of the box. On looking at the box and the missiong orange labels this one was a returned item. I simply have an idea that the previous owner discovered the problem and returned the item within seven days for a refund and did not disclose the problem. I guess that Simply Electronics got part of a faulty batch. I have been promised a refund now and I pointed out to the supplier that they were in default of the Sale of Goods Act here in UK for not having supplied a completely new camera second time round.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Good luck with Simply Electronics - I hope they make your refund rather faster than the four months it took me to get mine. My faulty A700, as it happens, was from a similar Hong Kong import operation, DigitalRev.

Of course, I would not detect a faulty Eye Start function as the first thing I do is turn it off when setting initial prefs. But I would detect a faulty rear screen on/off function caused by non-op sensors. Just checked my A550 and the eye start does work.

David
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roysmith
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by roysmith »

I had sporadic problems with both wheels of my A700. A few months ago I cleaned them with a blower, rotating rapidly while blowing air inside each wheel cavity, and since then both wheels work just perfect. Didn't take much time neither, only a couple of minutes. No need for vacuum cleaner sometimes I guess...
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by bakubo »

David Kilpatrick wrote:Of course, I would not detect a faulty Eye Start function as the first thing I do is turn it off when setting initial prefs.
Yes, I always turn it off first thing also. I was so relieved when I got the Minolta 707si because it had a switch (external, at the bottom on the back, I seem to recall) because with the 7xi and 9xi it couldn't be turned off. I hated that often while the camera was hanging from my neck or shoulder the lens would sort of randomly start focusing and racking back and forth.
Last edited by bakubo on Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by bakubo »

roysmith wrote:I had sporadic problems with both wheels of my A700. A few months ago I cleaned them with a blower, rotating rapidly while blowing air inside each wheel cavity, and since then both wheels work just perfect. Didn't take much time neither, only a couple of minutes. No need for vacuum cleaner sometimes I guess...
Yes, that is a well known thing to try. You can see many things discussed in this long thread and even more in the thread I started on dpreview in January 2008 (linked to from this thread). Glad it worked for you. Using a blower, using contact cleaner, or using a vacuum cleaner has never really worked for mine. I might get some temporary relief but the problem always returns -- sometimes a few days later, sometimes a few hours later.

Anyway, in the last month or so it has been intermittent. Yesterday it didn't happen at all. I plan to go out and take some photos this morning so we will see. This is all rather recent though because from late August until early June it was happening a lot.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by alphaomega »

David Kilpatrick wrote:
Good luck with Simply Electronics - I hope they make your refund rather faster than the four months it took me to get mine. My faulty A700, as it happens, was from a similar Hong Kong import operation, DigitalRev.
I must admit that it has only belatedly dawned on me that Simply Electronics may be selling "gray imports". They have confirmed that I will get a refund and I have given them until 12 July to provide this. By then they will have had my money for two months without providing a product "fit for purpose". If they fail to do so I shall send them a final warning by recorded mail that I intend to proceed to claim through the Small Court here in Scotland. I would think this would accelerate the process. I use the eye start all the time. I am in the habit of switching off my cameras when waiting and then back on with eye start before taking a picture. The photographic objective will then snap into focus before I hit the shutter. Just my way of working.
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by bakubo »

There is a poll on dyxum.com about the A700 control wheel defect. Almost 400 people have voted and the breakdown is 47% have had the problem and 53% have not. The problem with the poll though is that it started in 2010 and after you have voted saying you have not had the problem you can't go back and change your vote if it starts. I suspect that if you could the percentages would change a bit.

I think it is pretty shameful that out of a pretty large sample half of the owners have had this defect. Clearly bad QC, bad parts, or just plain old defective design. Sony should be ashamed, but still not a peep from them.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by Wes Gibbon »

bakubo wrote:There is a poll on dyxum.com about the A700 control wheel defect. Almost 400 people have voted and the breakdown is 47% have had the problem and 53% have not. The problem with the poll though is that it started in 2010 and after you have voted saying you have not had the problem you can't go back and change your vote if it starts. I suspect that if you could the percentages would change a bit.

I think it is pretty shameful that out of a pretty large sample half of the owners have had this defect. Clearly bad QC, bad parts, or just plain old defective design. Sony should be ashamed, but still not a peep from them.
It is also possible that this result may be a bit skewed because people who suffer the problem are more likely to vote because they have strong feelings whereas people who haven't experienced it probably will not have any sense of outrage and may not bother to vote. Still, 47% is worryingly high!
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

And it's possible also that those who haven't had the control wheel problem will want to vote to 'defend' the A700 and Sony. I'd be wondering also how many voted pro or con that don't own the A700.
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WaltKnapp
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by WaltKnapp »

Greg Beetham wrote:And it's possible also that those who haven't had the control wheel problem will want to vote to 'defend' the A700 and Sony. I'd be wondering also how many voted pro or con that don't own the A700.
Greg
Well, I own 4 a700s, all of which are in frequent use (saves lens changing) and none of them have had the control wheel problem in any form. And I did not participate in the vote referred to.

I did have one of the a700s, when just over a year old, fail the SSS mechanism. That was fixed by full replacement of the SSS unit under extended warranty. That is the only problem I've had on any of my a700s. And the majority of my photography is out in the field in natural areas, dust, dirt, water and all the rest.

All 4 of my a700s are under extended warranty.

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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Hi Walt, long time no see, I was just pointing out that that type of poll is open to missuse, but even so it appears that there were a lot of problems with the A700 control weels; also in the service manual (late edition) for the A700 there is an updated control wheel listed so Sony recognized there was a problem of some sort, at least to themselves if no one else.
With 4 A700's the useage might be spread thin enough to avoid the problem for some time perhaps, but it does also increase the potential percentage wise that one of them could contract the problem at some point as well.
Thing is now I hear that someone had difficulty with parts for the A700, not sure of the circumstances exactly, it could be that the repairs were worth more than the current value of the camera and judged to be not economical by the warrantors.
Greg
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by bakubo »

Here is someone with two LA-EA1 adapters and both are defective:

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... 012#p57012

More poor Sony QC.
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by Lonnie Utah »

bakubo wrote:Here is someone with two LA-EA1 adapters and both are defective:.
I'd be willing to bet that it's a camera issue and not an adapter issue. Acoms razor...
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bakubo
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by bakubo »

Lonnie Utah wrote: I'd be willing to bet that it's a camera issue and not an adapter issue. Acoms razor...
Yes, it could be a defective body. Maybe the body thickness is not within spec. I think that would affect all lenses though, E-mount and others, not just lenses used with the adapter.
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WaltKnapp
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Re: Sony quality control problems

Unread post by WaltKnapp »

Greg Beetham wrote:Hi Walt, long time no see, I was just pointing out that that type of poll is open to missuse, but even so it appears that there were a lot of problems with the A700 control weels; also in the service manual (late edition) for the A700 there is an updated control wheel listed so Sony recognized there was a problem of some sort, at least to themselves if no one else.
With 4 A700's the useage might be spread thin enough to avoid the problem for some time perhaps, but it does also increase the potential percentage wise that one of them could contract the problem at some point as well.
Thing is now I hear that someone had difficulty with parts for the A700, not sure of the circumstances exactly, it could be that the repairs were worth more than the current value of the camera and judged to be not economical by the warrantors.
Greg
Sony's parts system is supposed to support a model with parts for 7 years after the last manufacture of that model. That's in the information you get back from Sony repair in the fine print, or at least is what I got back from the Sony/CZ 16-80 repair information. All long term warranties won't be honored after that. All my a700s are still on long term repair/warranties, btw. It's not been near 7 years on the a700s since they were last manufactured.

Of course with Sony's anti DSLR attitude they could be trying to kill the DSLRs and force folks into buying SLT. Kind of like their poor supplying of a580s.

At the moment, to me, with no proper 700 level DSLR replacement coming ever from Sony the value of the a700s I have has gone up considerable. Their replacement would be a comparable Nikon DSLR (plus the rest of the lenses and system), which is a very expensive alternative.

As far as the control wheels, I've considered getting the boards from Sony parts if I can for future use. I expect that a good part of my luck with that is in protecting the cameras from debris as much as I can. They all have extensive use, more than that of the earliest reports of this problem.

I do agree that such polls are not very reliable. My post showed someone who did not fit your categories ;-)

Walt
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