[jpreller]

Hi everyone - wondering if anyone else has had similar problems with their Alpha 100 DLSR.

I went to the snow with the family a week ago - beautiful fine, sunny day, 4 degrees C. First time I have used my Sony A100 in cold weather.

It was operating very eratically. The shutter release worked one time, then didn't work, then the shutter release button seemed to stick. When I pressed any of the buttons on the back - the operation either didn't work or was extremely slow (seconds to respond). The battery charge was showing full but the camera was not itself.

I didn't use it for a week and then took some photos at a friends birthday (inside their house). All the photos had a green bar (either vertical or horizontal) in the picture. These green lines where there when I downloaded the images onto the computer as well. Funny enough, my camera was in the boot of the car before I used it, so it was pretty cold (not below zero though).

Could the events at the snow and the party be related? Funny enough, there were no green lines in any of the photos at the snow.

I'd be very interested to know if anyone else has experienced these problems when using a Sony A100 in cold weather?

It's only 9 months old, so I am taking it back to the shop I bought it from tomorrow under warranty.

Oh by the way, I am using a Seagate 4Gb Compactflash micro hard drive for storage. Just wondering if the microdrive is something to do with the problem. Is it possible that the micro drive could somehow be causing either problem?

Yours Cold and Confused.
John

[Keith Alan]

Probably not the microdrive.
Cold can and does affect operation of many electronics, so your problem isn't surprising to me.
But I wouldn't put up with it either, so I hope you're able to exchange it for another.

Can you upload an example of the green lines?

[jpreller]

Thanks for the reply,

Yes, I will upload a few examples tonight when I get home.

In the rush to get the kids to school this morning I forgot to put the camera in the car.

[Rabid Penguin]

I use an A100, and I've used in in single-digit temperatures (celsius) a couple of times and never had any problems. I've had the problem of the camera responding sluggishly and being 'not itself' once before though. Turning it off and on did nothing, so I just removed the battery, replaced it, and it was fine.

[jpreller]

Thanks Rabid,

Good to hear that it wasn't me just going mad. Interesting that the camera specs say that the operating temperature is down to 0 degrees C (if my memory serves me correctly). My experience (only on 2 occasions over the last week) is that it appears that the camera starts going haywire at about 5 or 6 degrees C.

Out of interest Rabid, do you know what the temperature was when you A100 played up?

Regards
John

[Rabid Penguin]

Um, like 25°C.

[BeaglesToo]

I had a problem with my camera(canon xt) acting funny when I had it out in cold weather for an extended time.I tried it out after it warmed up and every-thing worked just fine again.I was worried for awhile that I had some how damaged it.

[jpreller]

Keith (and all),

Sorry for not getting these pictures up yesterday. Here is a photo that shows the 'green line' problem I had with my Sony A100. It has only happened once, when I left my camera bag in the boot of my car on a cold night in Canberra last week - probably about 5 degrees outside.

I have spoken to Domayne (where I bought the camera 9 months ago). They told me to take it back to Sony Professional Equipment, an authorised Sony agent for return. I am doing so tomorrow and hopefully Sony will look at it.

Any thoughts anyone?

Regards
John

[Rabid Penguin]

he looks like he touched the bottom. did he kiss the nearest girl?

[Keith Alan]

Since this is in portait orientation and I can't guess how you hold your camera, was the green line on the bottom or top of the frame if held normally?
Did it move to other places, or was it always in the same spot?
Did it change sizes or get lighter/darker, and if so have you noted any correllation with exposure values or the amount of time it was in the warmer room?

If it was always on the same part of the frame, and maybe changed color or thickness a little over time, to my mind it's a bad sensor.
The cold brought out a flaw in construction, like it's thinner or thicker or has a contaminant in that area, and when it contracts due to cold this causes errors in how the electrons flow through the bad part.

[jpreller]

Keith,

Yes I was holding the camera in potrait mode, with the flash to the right hand side.

A good question you asked. When I just looked at some other shots (both vertical and horizontal), the line is always in the same position, however the width of the line does vary depending on the exposure of the shot. It happened with flash and it happened with no flash.

I just re-read the manual and it says the camera operates down to 0 Degress, however if you are using a Microdrive (which I am), it is only rated down to 5 degrees - interesting...............

On both occasions (at the snow and when left in the boot of my car immediately prior to taking the shot above) it would have been around 5 degrees, so this means that I was running pretty close to the spec limit - although the green line does worry me.

I haven't had a chance to take the camera back for repair yet with one thing and another. I am going to the Sydney boat show tomorrow, so I'll use it up there and take it back on Monday or Tuesday next week.

Regards
John

[jpreller]

Keith,

Sorry, in answer to your specific question, the green line always runs across the top of the frame if held in landscape mode.
The green line always stays in the same part of the frame, regardless of which way you hold the camera. However the green line does vary in colour and width from shot to shot (must have something to do with the exposure as you say).

Hope this helps.

Cheers
John

[Keith Alan]

That would have to rule out the storage media.
Definitely a sensor issue, and one would hope a free replacement-worthy one at that.

0c isn't really all that cold, what with people regularly visiting Antarctica and even (gasp!) Canada to take photos of penguins and polar bears and such.

When my sensor started dying (in the now-famous Sony bad sensor recall) I had pink lines in some photos, but not in others, and they were totally random as far as size and position.
Then nothing but distorted gloom and murk when the entire sensor failed.

But a localized defect will be more predictable like your green stripe, and I'm confident your retailer and Sony themselves will admit it.
Should you need to get it repaired I can vouch for the quality and speed of Sony's Laredo Texas repair facility.
Mine was as good as new (literally) after they replaced my sensor, and I have the word of many many others on various Sony forums that theirs were likewise fixed fast and fixed right.
Only one person said that they had a problem after the repair, but who really knows if their particular camera developed (ha-ha) a different problem unrelated to being sent to Sony?

Have you looked at Sony's e-support website to see if there is an advisory posted about this problem?
I didn't see anything at first glance but you may want to explore this site further:
http://esupport.sony.com/

[jpreller]

All,

I took my Sony Alpha 100 in for repair last week. The lady that took my camera said that she was aware of a number of errors of the 'green line' problem. She said that Sony were very good at either repairing or replacing the camera. She rang me a couple of hours I dropped off the camera and advised me that due to the particular fault (green lines) my camera was being sent to another repairer and it would take up to 4 weeks to repair.

I will publish the results of the repair when I get it back.

Cheers
John

[shuttertalk]

Good luck with the repairs, John... let us know how you go.

What is the policy with situations like this while you're stuck without a camera for 4 weeks? Do they give you a loan one or something?

[Donovan]

I live in Auckland, New Zealand where the temperature rarely if ever goes below zero.

My Alpha 100 is showing a green fuzzy band on every image so I took it to the local retailer who said it was a problem with the CCD. I asked him what CCD meant and he didn't know, However, having taken $NZ 100.00 off me before anything even starts, he has now sent the camera to Sony for repair. Here's hoping it gets fixed and that I get some change from my hundred bucks!

Don Donovan. don-donovan.blogspot.com