My X100 overexposed for no good reason?!

[Adanac]

Call them -- check the bottom of this page for an 800 number

http://www.fujifilmusa.com/support/ServiceSupportRepairContent.do?dbid=674543

 

[jasonhupe]

Sending it in

Sending it in

Just got off the phone with Fuji and just told to send it in.
Bad news is it might be considered out of warranty since I purchased the camera used. Was told the cost is around $600. Going to see what happens but the gentleman on the phone did not give me much hope that they would let it slide. Of course, he added, he has not had one problem with his :bang:

 

[Adanac]

Just got off the phone with Fuji and just told to send it in.
Bad news is it might be considered out of warranty since I purchased the camera used. Was told the cost is around $600. Going to see what happens but the gentleman on the phone did not give me much hope that they would let it slide. Of course, he added, he has not had one problem with his :bang:

I would not let this slide Jason... you should try to raise the profile of this issue. See if you can reach the responsible VP for Fujifilm USA, or a product manager. If all else fails maybe contact the "fujiguys" (they produce videos) - they might be more clued in to how quickly a bad vibe like this could kill future sales.

To be honest, no matter what the merits of the camera, if Fujifilm is going to take that as a corporate attitude to this problem I will - every time I write about the camera - advise against anyone buying one. I suspect I wouldn't be alone in that.

Your camera has a MANUFACTURING DEFECT, one which Fujifilm is well aware of. They promise "professional level" service and care for these (their words) "professional" level cameras. Given your camera, used or not, can't possibly be older than a handful of months, the two-year warranty should apply, particularly so because the issue is, I'll state it again, a well-known manufacturing defect.

Were this a simple CLA servicing request after 1.95 years of heavy use, I might sympathize with Fujifilm but not when the problem is of their own making.

I'll never again buy a Fujifilm product if this is the attitude they take to users of their products.

 

[v_roma]

This is good advice, in my opinion. I would be as vocal as possible (contact fujiguys, contact brandon remler, post in forums, etc.). It is a defect and warranty shouldn't come into play at all.

I would not let this slide Jason... maybe contact the "fujiguys" (they produce videos).

To be honest, no matter what the merits of the camera, if Fujifilm is going to take that as a corporate attitude to this problem I will - every time I write about the camera - advise against anyone buying one. I suspect I wouldn't be alone in that.

Your camera has a MANUFACTURING DEFECT, one which Fujifilm is well aware of. They promise "professional level" service and care for these (their words) "professional" level cameras. Given your camera, used or not, can't possibly be older than a handful of months, the two-year warranty should apply, particularly so because the issue is, I'll state it again, a well-known manufacturing defect.

Were this a simple CLA servicing request after 1.95 years of heavy use, I might sympathize with Fujifilm but not when the problem is of their own making.

I'll never again buy a Fujifilm product if this is the attitude they take to users of their products.

 

[jasonhupe]

Good Advice Guys

Good Advice Guys

Im going to send it in and see what happens. I am hoping he was just stating their policy because he is allowed to make the actual call.
The Fuji rep told me the issues is know, very "small" numbers are coming back with this problem, and it only affected the first batches.
When I inquired about it being a known defect in a bunch of the cameras he said it is not a defect until much high numbers come back with that problem.
I guess I was thinking since they tried so hard to replicate the "leica" feel that they would also try to replicate the leica repair standard.
We shall see. Ill keep this post updated when I send it in. Just tried it again, shots above 5.6 have extreme varied histograms.
I guess I could always just always shoot at F/2 and call it a day.

 

[Adanac]

I'm hoping your contact was just echoing the standard warranty pitch verbatim. Maybe for a 100 or 200 dollar point and shoot I could see them not honouring the full warranty period for owners other than the original, but even then, for a new camera that hasn't even been shipping a year that seems penny wise and otherwise foolish to me.

If you don't get a satisfactory pronouncement perhaps a gentle escalation first would help.

As for whether it is "small" numbers, who knows for certain but even a casual glance at the various forums people with such cameras gravitate to, there are dozens of units all over the world failing.

PS: My batch number starts with 12A05.... what's yours?

 

[Keith]

Fuji are on the edge of being recognised as a serious player in the digital market and I don't believe for a minute that the attitude of one dealer who states standard waranty policy really counts at this stage!

The internet is viral, Fuji know this and used it cleverly to build the hype for the X100 ... they will be well aware it can bring them undone just as easily!

 

[Adanac]

Jason, are you speaking directly to Fujifilm or to one of their authorized repair centres? If the latter, for your own peace of mind you mind want to speak to Fujifilm directly. There is an 800 number on their web site.

 

[jasonhupe]

PS: My batch number starts with 12A05.... what's yours?

My x100 is number 12A00.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Mine's 11A00... No problems with it.

 

[Vincent.G]

Mine is 12M.....

Everything works perfectly.

 

[Adanac]

I've started a poll to try to understand the scope of the problem - the poll is located on the X100Forum.com

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

Mine has it too. Number strat with 12L.
Foruntate I live very close the Fuji head office and the repair centre.
Curious how fast they can get it repaired.

Cheers,

Michiel

 

[Vincent.G]

Please also remember to refer to page 27 of user manual on the availability of shutter speeds during aperture priority mode.

1/4000s only available from F8 and above.
1/2000s only available from F4 and above.
1/1000s or slower available at all apertures.

For wide open shots at extremely bright conditions where the faster shutter speeds are not available, please remember to use the built-in ND filter. If not, your shots will be overexposed. The camera will warn you about the shutter speed limitation by a red shutter speed reading instead of white in the VF.

I know this may not be relevant to all the problems reported here but I just want to post this info just in case everyone goes frantically testing your exposures without remembering the limitations of the shutter speeds.

:angel:

 

[kermaier]

My serial number starts with 12A0.
::Ari

 

[kermaier]

I called Fuji repair in NJ and was told to send the camera in. The tech I spoke to said he's seen about 15 cameras in the past 3 weeks come in with sticky apertures. He said that bunch of cameras in the middle of the initial production run seem to be having this issue, but later cameras don't. He said that before the recent hurricane they were able to turn around the repair in 2 days, but the storm has messed up their parts supply chain, so it's more like 4 days now.

::Ari

 

[Adanac]

I know this may not be relevant to all the problems reported here but I just want to post this info just in case everyone goes frantically testing your exposures without remembering the limitations of the shutter speeds.

That's a good reminder.

The absolute easiest manner of testing for the sticky aperture blade issue is to cycle the camera off and then back on again, face the lens, and half-press the shutter to test the blade movement. Try it a few times at each aperture setting. Start at F2 and work your way to F16. There should be no hesitation or detectable variation in blade positioning.

I've observed one or more of the following while testing:

- random but seemingly correct movement of blades, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't
- incomplete movement, i.e. F16 setting results in blades moving to approx F8 or 5.6 - random in nature how this turns out
- "pulsing" movement (this in a statically lit environment) where camera appears to try to set correct aperture but blades move in and out a little while making the attempt, failing in the end
- barely perceptible movement
- and, finally, no movement at all

When the problem first surfaced on my camera it was intermittent in nature, growing to more and more persistent as the number of exposures crept higher. When I returned from a recent trip I had 4000 exposures on the unit and it wasn't long before the blades simply would not close at all.

I can tell from reviewing my Lightroom catalogues that the problem started showing up intermittently before I'd reached even 500 exposures and became more and more obvious as time went on. Sadly for me I was in the middle of a three week trip, but I was willing to live with the issue while travelling rather than carry my SLR - brought and intended primarily as a backup all along - around all day.

I was able to - sometimes - get the blades to close by activating the Depth of Field preview function which I assigned to the Fn button. This ability disappeared when the blades stopped moving altogether.

 

[_goodtimez]

Sorry to hear all that trouble. Hope you guys are going to get it fixed.
I got almost half-interested in advising someone to look at the X10, now I won't.
I will advise on a Nikon Ftn instead 🙂

 

[Adanac]

I'm about 95% certain that had I run into this thread *before* buying the camera, I would still have bought the X100. The only thing that might have changed my mind is the uncertainty introduced by a poster above (but not confirmed as yet) regarding servicing a camera that should be still under warranty but is owned by a second (or third...) owner. While I tend to keep my cameras a long time and rarely buy a dud I want to pass on to others, it is comforting to know that selling a camera won't be hobbled by warranty concerns.

Fujifilm clearly intends to be in this market genre, so they have much more to lose by not addressing head on such problems. Indeed their pre-sales but more importantly their post-sales literature stresses service. Every user story regarding this issue has so far resulted in a positive outcome and happy camera owners -- so why would they screw that up?

Looking at currently shipping products from all makers, near this price point there really is nothing else I would want to buy.

Stuff happens in manufacturing; at this point it looks like a one-off problem, one which Fujifilm no doubt has already learned from and corrected. If one is comfortable with that assumption (I am) then there is little risk in buying the product(s).

 

[Kevin]

Wow! Not only did Fuji copy the Leica Minilux, they implemented its infamous E02 Shutter Error as well!!

Good going, Fuji !! :bang: