SEND MY E-10 FOR REPAIR or PUT UP WITH IT

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a general weakness of this camera.

I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8, only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000. item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever that is worth.
Matt--Matt in Fl

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--

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Member said:

Matt in Fl

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Hi Matt

For what it's worth, I say, put up with it. I'm not sure it's a problem they can "fix," anyway.

As with any camera, there are things the E-10 does well, and a few things it doesn't do as well. It's a great camera overall, and you seem to know its limitations. I still have a C-2020 that I use for simple P&S and low light situations, such as church. It could not compete with the E-10 in any very many other areas.

Just my opinion

Dave

I have to disagree with the last post because I had the same problem and finally sent it in after putting up with the problem since last November. Let me tell you that I am thrilled with it now because it was gone completely through and problems were found that I didn't even know about. I had stuck pixels, low light problems, low saturation and all these were fixed plus a new on/off switch was also replaced. Now I'm really enjoying this camera. My advice to you is get it in there immediately. They will go through the whole camera because they certainly don't want it back again in a month for something that they over looked. After it is repaired it is than sent to a department that rechecks the work that was done also. If in doubt of the pic's that I get now just check out this link. I also had a nine day turnaround from the time that I sent it by UPS. Of course in my case they received it the following morning. Even though I do a little tweaking in PS the information still has to be there to be able to get these results.
http://www.revelationcollies.com/e-10_photo 's.htm

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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So are you saying Olympus can fix the focus issues? I am very upset with the focus abilities of my E10 - an otherwise fabulous camera. If I put my month-old baby on the couch the camera cannot focus on her - the couch is always in focus even if the baby is 75% of the frame!

If this can be remedied It's worth the couple of weeks without it.

-LevelHead-

Richard LaMag said:

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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They will go through the complete camera.

LevelHead said:

If this can be remedied It's worth the couple of weeks without it.

-LevelHead-

Richard LaMag said:

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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Send it in. I have a new one and it is fabulous in low light situations. I had a CP990 before and what a difference. I almost never miss in low light. It focuses in almost complete darkness and does it correctly and much better than I could do manually, and faster too. So let them fix it.

Julius

Richard LaMag said:

LevelHead said:

If this can be remedied It's worth the couple of weeks without it.

-LevelHead-

Richard LaMag said:

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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Richard LaMag said:

I have to disagree with the last post because I had the same
problem and finally sent it in after putting up with the problem
since last November. Let me tell you that I am thrilled with it now
because it was gone completely through and problems were found that
I didn't even know about. I had stuck pixels, low light problems,
low saturation and all these were fixed plus a new on/off switch
was also replaced. Now I'm really enjoying this camera. My advice
to you is get it in there immediately. They will go through the
whole camera because they certainly don't want it back again in a
month for something that they over looked. After it is repaired it
is than sent to a department that rechecks the work that was done
also. If in doubt of the pic's that I get now just check out this
link. I also had a nine day turnaround from the time that I sent it
by UPS. Of course in my case they received it the following
morning. Even though I do a little tweaking in PS the information
still has to be there to be able to get these results.
http://www.revelationcollies.com/e-10_photo 's.htm

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Great pictures, Richard. But I don't see any I would consider low light situations, such as inside a church.

Dave

rjl2gal3 said:

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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Well let me ask a question then, wouldn't one of the reasons fro choosing the E-10 be the option of manual focus? I am currently using an Epson 3000z which has plenty of resolution and produces decent images, but having to depend on auto-focus is drving me crazy. I end up with far more soft shots than I want and it always seems to be when I am on a trip and cannot repeat an imag. I am about to move up to the E-10. Won't the manual focus solve soft images?

GraphicGreg

LevelHead said:

If this can be remedied It's worth the couple of weeks without it.

-LevelHead-

Richard LaMag said:

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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GraphicGreg said:

GraphicGreg

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Sure it should, but if it is really low light, most of us cant see the target well enough to see if its in focus or not. at f2.,2.2,2.4, the focal plane is distinct to pin sharp, just a little off and its ruined. The old split image would sure help here......

matt

Graphicgreg said:

LevelHead said:

If this can be remedied It's worth the couple of weeks without it.

-LevelHead-

Richard LaMag said:

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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Richard, the obvious solution here is stay out of church!
(God probably owns a Hasselblad and zaps all others)

DD

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

Click to expand...

Hi Matt,

I can only tell you what I experience with my camera. My low light level focus is superb. In levels far below that in which I could find focus, it is consistently on the money. Interesting that you mention your church shots. I shoot in churches a great deal and I know the light level (and WB) difficulty you face. I must ask, are you using a tripod, monopod? It is a must have accessory in these conditions. Even tho I have rested my cameras on the back of the various pews, if someone is shifting position, coughing, etc. it will of course, cause you problems that you were not even aware of. The result, in long shutter times, will be what appear to be oof shots. In reality, it is camera and/or subject movement, not a focus issue. This past Sunday my son was installed as the pastor of his first church and I was there with the E10. I had to shoot at 160 ISO to even have a prayer (play on words!) at a shot. He also shoots an E10 and promised me that the sanctuary lighting will be on his agenda for early improvement! Anyway, it resulted in 1/10 to 1/4 sec. @ F/2.4 shooting. Aaaargh.... I used only the monopod and did my best, but the E10 did better than I did. Never missed focus. Many blurred shots because of subject movement, etc., but good focus. (shoes sharp, hands or face blurred, etc.) This shot is @ 1/13 @ F/2.4 (160ISO) of he and his wife kneeling at the altar surrounded by his church board. Good sharpness given the light and shutter speed.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=166846&a=11804615&p=47805304
Regards, Jim N AZ.

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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Matt (MATT?)

My only advice would be to get it sorted now - one of two things will happen:
1)Olympus will realign your existing EARLY model - solving the prob
OR

2)They will replace it with a new model - which do not seem to suffer from those early focus problems - esp. in manual mode.

Now, if there WERE one or two bad/dead pixels in the replacement model, that would be vastly more acceptable on a day-to-day basis than your current E-10. However - once again, Q Control at Oly seems to have improved hugely recently (from what I can gather on this forum) so that seems less likely to be the case.
So, all in all, I reckon you should send it in.

Just my 2 farthings worth....

Regards

Simon
http://www.e-10.org

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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All,

FWIW, I just had a rotten experience with Oly repair this week. Sent in my E-10 (also bought in Novemeber) because of manual focus problems. I wrote a cover note laying out clearly what the mode of failure was, and included a set of prints of a series of test pics I took to demonstrate said problem.

Two weeks later I got the camera back with an invoice from repair that said --"repaired auto focus".

Needless to say, when I tested it again, manual focus was still not working. And this after I'd called and talked to an Oly repair tech who assured me the camera was fixable and they'd just had a seminar on this particular problem.

I had to send it back to them the very next day, and all customer service would do is pay a whopping $10 towards shipping the unit a second time. So far it's cost me $50 to ship this thhig twice for a problem that never should have been allowed out the door on a $2K piece of equipment to being with.

Of course, worse than the outlay of cash for shipping is the time and frustration involved with losing shots due to poor focus, tracking the problem down from scratch, and being without what was supposed to be my workhorse camera for my growing digital workload.

So I'd say dealing with Oly is still very much luck-of-the-draw. But if the camera does not work as advertised, I'd say send it in and call them while it's there and get a warm body to find the work order and tell you what's being done to it, just in case the same illiterate moron who "fixed" mine gets yours on the bench.

So from where I sit, Oly customer service has not improved one iota in the two-plus years I have dealt with them (first a C2500, then the E-10)--they still haven't got a clue how to deal with products that spawn user groups, and have the complexities of a digital camera.

So here's hoping everyone else's experiences are far more satisfying than mine, but unless Oly pulls a rabbit outta the hat real soon, I for one am switching to Canon or Nikon with their next rev of SLR's.

--Levi Thomas

Where are people sending their E-10's for service? Tomorrow I'm going to Olympus America Inc. - Consumer Products Group, in Woodbury, NY to personally take my E-10 for service. It's a few minute's drive from where I live, so there's no shipping fee or shipping wait. Hope they are nice and inteligeable techs, capable of servicing my baby Oh yeah, my E-10 just developed a "tumor" in the ccd sensor... the dead pixel was never there before. Everything else is okay with the camera except the ccd, but I'll ask for a "tune up" if there's any available for the E-10, hehehe...

Woodbury is where I sent mine. So good luck to you!

--LT

MATT said:

i have had my e-10, ser#1008642 since last Nov. the camera has no
bad spots on the sensor and performs well in all
respects,,,,EXCEPT, the darn low light focus. Know this to be a
general weakness of this camera.
I know about the plane of the camera, the auto lock and switch to
man and flip trick, the turn ir on and off trick,,,, Took some pics
in church last night with very low light on purpose... out of 8,
only two were good focus. usually run the camera on soft and edit
it up...Granted this is a once in a while situation.....but a
necessary part of photography in my life. Should I sent it in and
risk a worse on, (what a question to have to ask about a 2000.
item), or put up with it. If send it in, any particular way to go
about it??? I did buy a service agreement from best buy whatever
that is worth.
Matt
--
Matt in Fl

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Thank all that took the time to respond. I believe that for 2000.00 I will send it back to Olympus.