Dark photos with Fujifilm MX1200 digital camera

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Imaging Resource Discussion : One Thread

My Fujifim Digital camera worked wonderfully for about a month. All of a sudden every photo I take, whether it's automatic or manual, inside or outside, flash or not comes out way too dark, almost illegible. I don't want to send the camera in for repair just yet. I've only used the original Smart Media card. Does this "wear out" after many uses? The batteries are fine and everything else functions normally. Thank you for any light you may shed on my problem....

-- Jeanne Lovrencic (jeanne75@prodigy.net), April 26, 2000

Answers

Please don't be offended by this, but I have no idea of your experience level and you mention that you've only had the camera for a month. Are you only looking at the images on the camera's LCD display? If so, is it possible that you or someone else has inadvertently adjusted the LCD's brightness? I don't have an MX1200, but I do have a Toshiba PDR-M1 which was based on an earlier Fuji design, the MX-500. It can be adjusted so that the images look very dark, especially if you look at the LCD at very much of an angle.

If the images are dark on both the camera and the computer, and were taken under lighting that was previously sufficient without flash, I'd suspect a camera problem. But, you might first check that any sensors on the front of the camera near the lens are clean and unblocked when you hold the camera. The Toshibas I have use a flash sensor near the lens on the front of the camera. I kind of doubt that's causing dark photos. One would think blocking the sensor would tend to produce overexposed images, but it's worth a look.

If it's not a dirty sensor, misadjusted LCD display brightness, or some other setting that I can't conceive of, you likely have a camera problem.

Flash memory like that used in a smartmedia card does have a finite life cycle. It's currently projected that 10,000 - 100,000 write cycles are possible, depending on the type of flash memory. I honestly don't remember which is the closer number for smartmedia, but doubt you've reached either limit in a month of use... :-) 10,000 isn't bad if you consider that it'd allow you to fill and empty the card nearly 3 times a day for 10 years straight. It may be that 100,000 is the more correct number as it's the rating for the flash memory in some microcontrollers I've been working with recently. I'd tend to guess the larger number is correct. Anybody else remember?

Wish I could think of something else to check, but that's it for me.

Good luck.

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francomm.com), April 26, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ