Confessions of an idiot

akptc

akptc

Shoot first, think later
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That be me. I sent my R-D1 to Steve Camera with a seized shutter. It came back today, the shutter still seized. I called Steve, he was puzzled but said “send it back”. I changed batteries, re-charged the batteries, still nothing. Very disappointed, I finally played with the menu (to reset). Saw some pics were on the card. Pulled the card to save pics to the PC. Noticed the card was full. Hm…

Yup, I’ve never had an SD card fill up on the R-D1. When it does, apparently the shutter won’t fire and the red light on the camera blinks, i.e. “seized shutter” symptom as I saw it.

I just paid Steve Camera over $300 to fix something that was not there. Plus shipping cost. The only benefit is, Steve fixed the front focusing problem and cleaned the sensor.

I fell like such a moron but, a happy one – the R-D1 works. There is not a smiley face for this, is there?
 
akptc said:
That be me. I sent my R-D1 to Steve Camera with a seized shutter. It came back today, the shutter still seized. I called Steve, he was puzzled but said “send it back”. I changed batteries, re-charged the batteries, still nothing. Very disappointed, I finally played with the menu (to reset). Saw some pics were on the card. Pulled the card to save pics to the PC. Noticed the card was full. Hm…

Yup, I’ve never had an SD card fill up on the R-D1. When it does, apparently the shutter won’t fire and the red light on the camera blinks, i.e. “seized shutter” symptom as I saw it.

I just paid Steve Camera over $300 to fix something that was not there. Plus shipping cost. The only benefit is, Steve fixed the front focusing problem and cleaned the sensor.

I fell like such a moron but, a happy one – the R-D1 works. There is not a smiley face for this, is there?
Click to expand...

Oh Andy...that really hurts man. 😱
I won't call you names though 'cause it sounds too much like something I'd do.
 
Andy,

Look on the bright side. You have your front focusing fixed, a clean sensor and no shutter problem. How good is that?
 
If Steve is such a hotshot repairman, why didn't he realize there was nothing wrong with the shutter before "fixing" it?

What did he claim to fix?
 
What's happened to honesty these days? If he is so good which i'm sure he probably is, he should have recoginized their was no problem with the camera. and contacted you, or does he charge $300 for a cla.
 
Don't be too hard on yourself, professionally adjusted focusing is worth a lot.
That way it won't drift 🙂

Plus the guy should have checked and let you know.

Roland.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
You paid for the repair technicians time. He took the camera apart, and CLA'd it. He probably ran diagnostics on the shutter as there was a reported problem. That takes time. Camera repairs often go flat rate, with additional cost for expensive parts. Out of 30 or so camera repairs i've had done, only once did the company ask for extra to cover parts. Otherwise, it's the time involved. And more time is required to determine that something works reliably when it is reported to have failed.
Click to expand...

Thats a good reasonable answer that Mr. Brian gave, So look at it like this, At least the camera has had a good going over and is now good to go.🙂
 
galavanter said:
Is this the Steve in Culver City?
http://www.stevecamera.com/

I've seen his name mentioned a few times and want to make sure. It would be nice to have an R-D1 repairman nearby if or when mine has a problem, or even if I think it has a problem but it really doesn't . 🙂
Click to expand...
Yup, same one. Steve was extremely nice and accommodating to my requests, as were his assistants with whom I spoke on the phone. The whole experience was a pleasure and I would not hesitate to have Steve repair my cameras in the future, even if I had to make up a reason to do so 😀
 
In fairness to the technician, a shutter seizing could have been an intermittent issue. It might work fine 99% of the time but still need CLA'ing. He probably fired it a few times, it worked OK, but gave it a CLA anyways, because he figured if he fired it repeatedly it would eventually seize.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
You paid for the repair technicians time. He took the camera apart, and CLA'd it. He probably ran diagnostics on the shutter as there was a reported problem. That takes time. Camera repairs often go flat rate, with additional cost for expensive parts. Out of 30 or so camera repairs i've had done, only once did the company ask for extra to cover parts. Otherwise, it's the time involved. And more time is required to determine that something works reliably when it is reported to have failed.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. I have NO complaints whatsoever about the service I received from Steve Camera. I told Steve there was a problem and I can be very convincing. So he had to try hard to find it, a difficult task if it looks like the problem is intermittent. I am certain he implemented whatever fix he normally does for the seized shutter problem and that, I expect, will make it so much less likely that the real issue will ever occur in the future. And yes, he did the CLA on the camera so I am very happy with what got in the end. The main reason I posted this was to alert folks who may be as distracted as I was, that a full card can make the camera appear non-functional, a big discovery to me; and, of course, to make folks aware that I am not as smart as I look 😉
 
FWIW, Steve also apparently makes some other fix while he's in there. Unfortunately I don't know specific details, but Steve called me the other day to ask for my camera back (mine was the first RD1 guinea pig that he serviced... it's the one whose guts are displayed on Rich Cutler's RD1 site). He said that having seen several RD1's since then he's found some potential weak point, and also that he has a preventitive fix for it.

So he took my camera back to fix that.... again I didn't actually ask for details, though I could find out I suppose.

j
 
Well, you can rationalize by saying you got a CLA/alignment, and so on and so forth if it makes you feel better.

In my book, the correct scenario would have been the repairman calling you and saying:

"Well, my initial inspection doesn't show anything wrong with the shutter. However, I can disassemble the camera and clean the shutter anyway or return it to you as-is for a small handling fee. What do you prefer?"



How about if you brought a car in with a "blown engine" that actually just had a minor problem? Would you want to pay for a $4,500.00 engine overhaul just to get the car back with a clean windshield and the tires rotated? Or would you want to know what the real problem was first?
 
Edward Felcher said:
... In my book, the correct scenario would have been the repairman calling you and saying: "Well, my initial inspection doesn't show anything wrong with the shutter. However, I can disassemble the camera and clean the shutter anyway or return it to you as-is for a small handling fee. What do you prefer?"...
Click to expand...
Right, that would be the ideal world. But I do feel that it was my fault. And I know the camera got disassembled and the typical shutter repairs were done - Steve had to assume the problem was intermittent. What makes this experience less painful though is that Steve gave me a year-long warranty instead of the standard 3 month warranty.
 
When I got my RD-1 from the Epson site, I didn't have a SD card at all. It took my until the following weekend to hit Calumet for a card, and a used Leica lens to really take my first shot.

And every three or four frames, the damn thing would clam up. It totally freaked me out. All the worries of a 'refurb' model went through my head. Then I noticed that the card was a 16mb loaner and just got full. Ugh. Man, it was a doozy.

I just think that the interface design for the camera was just really poor in this one area.

g
 
georgeaye said:
... And every three or four frames, the damn thing would clam up. It totally freaked me out. All the worries of a 'refurb' model went through my head. Then I noticed that the card was a 16mb loaner and just got full. Ugh. Man, it was a doozy.

I just think that the interface design for the camera was just really poor in this one area.

g
Click to expand...
Thanks g, that makes me feel a bit better 🙂 and I agree, there should be something more obvious than a dead shutter to tell the user that the card is full. But after all is said and done, I look at the pics this little monster gives me and forgive all...
 
...then there is the problem I keep having. Turn the camera on, focus and get no metering. Damn! Check everything, on/off switch, set to AE etc. Finally, it dawns on me.... I still have the lens cap on.

Coming from the DSLR world, can you understand my problem?

LouisB
 
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