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Anonymous Posted on Sep 08, 2005

Power-up problem with *istD

I have had a recurring problem with my *istD that I hope is easily corrected (not likely), or at least confined to my camera alone. I have had the camera since late September, and the following problem has only occurred on the three days where I was taking pictures in the field. Indoor and documentation photography have never caused the problem. I have shot thousands of photos. Two weeks ago I shot over 200 pages of a rare book in about an hour. Symptoms: The camera will not complete power-up. When it is switched on, a double-click, repeating about every two seconds can be heard (sounds like a wind-up clock), and the LCD remains blank. On a few occasions on these days, the camera completes start-up after a few seconds of clicking. More commonly, it will continue to refuse to start. On each occasion, the camera starts after being left off for a while. I have gone through several such cycles in the last two days, and previously on a field trip in mid-March. Sometimes, this also happens when the camera is on. I think it is still a power-up problem after the camera is in sleep mode. In two particular instances, the camera was on and the mirror remained locked up when the shutter release was pressed. At those times, I had to remove the batteries to get the shutter to close and the camera would not start. In each case, I was carrying the camera, and had been shooting before the lockup occurred. I've tried changing batteries, CF card, and the watch battery to no avail. In each case, the ambient temperature was 80-90 degrees. My present impression is that this is a heat problem (not from the batteries). If this is a general design flaw in the *istD, some of us are in for a lot of trouble later in the year. I have just reloaded the latest firmware to see if that helps (desperation time). Unfortunately, I just went on vacation to do some photography across Southern California and Nevada. Not a good time to find this problem with the camera. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. I may not reply until I get back next Sunday. If the problem cannot be resolved, I guess I send the camera in for repair. I hope it is not a general design flaw.

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  • Posted on Sep 08, 2005
Anonymous
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Chances are that this is real problem of electronics... not unusual with these devices...However, what is missing from your story is what preceded the appearnace of the problem. Was the camera exposed to high humidity? was it dropped on the floor from 20 feet? anything?

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