I just got the highly acclaimed Olympus E-10 and it seems to work fine. However, the Camedia Master software tells me that I need to change the port settings, lower the communications speed or set the mode dial to outer connection mode. Yikes!
But, 5 seconds after plugging in the USB cable into the camera and turning it on, "Removable Disk E:" mysteriously appears in the Win ME (Malevolant Edition) explorer so I can download the JPGs and TIFs. It looks like no RAWs for a while!
The fact that windoze sees the camera tells me that the Camedia software is faulty. There is an upgrade on the Olympus site to version 2.1, but the CD which came with the camera is version 2.5. Any word on which version actually works on win-ME?
The 1GB IBM Microdrive screws up the booting process, usually ending in failure. I often see the status screen on the camera flash every icon 3 times and then the whole thing goes blank. Occasionally, the "reading memory" red light flashes interminably, even after turning the camera off and requires a battery removal to stop it.
Sometimes, it does boot and will take a few pictures, but it often dies unexpectedly and often will not recover from sleep mode. Removing the hard drive while leaving the 128 MB Olympus SmartMedia card in restores normal operation.
I use the 1700 mAh Powerex AA cells on full charge. Even using an AC adapter will not fix the boot problem. However, leaving in FRESH batteries and connecting the Powerex, 7.2 V MH-DPB140LI, Lithium battery pack gives me a boot about every other time. Once it boots, I can quickly switch to AC power and it seems to work. I suspect that the 6.4 V AC transformer provides less current than the 2 sets of batteries.
I hope that I can take 128 MB worth of pictures on the SmartMedia card, put in fresh batteries, jump start it with the Li battery boost, quickly switch to AC and have enough juice left to transfer the images to the mdrive. My hopes in buying the oversized mdrive were to be able to shoot an entre day/event before going home to download (no laptop). More later after extensive testing...
The guy at Thomas Distributing recommended the 1700 mAh Powerex batteries over the 1800 mAh Mahas. Should I try the 1800's? Do NiMH batteries really need 3-4 recharge cycles to be fully powered?
Dave Weikel (of davidweikel.com fame) says that he has successfully kludged (creatively engineered) 5, 1.2 V D cell NiMH batteries together to give a whoping 8000 mAh and 6.65 volts. The unrechargable Li batteries from Nikon measure 3.2 volts (* 2 = 6.4 V). It sounds like this should work. 5 big, D cell batteries should have much more "cold cranking amperage" than 4 wimpy AA cells to wind up the hard drive. The added voltage should boost the output wattage by at least 20%. Will this work? Will his (my!) camera (hard drive) melt down? Any electrical engineers out there?
One of the surveys of many E-10 owners with 1 GB mdrives on some Olympus club web site said that 87% had no trouble and that only 6% had serious trouble. It looks as if I am one of the unlucky 6%!.
Oh well, the pictures are great!--BrianP
But, 5 seconds after plugging in the USB cable into the camera and turning it on, "Removable Disk E:" mysteriously appears in the Win ME (Malevolant Edition) explorer so I can download the JPGs and TIFs. It looks like no RAWs for a while!
The fact that windoze sees the camera tells me that the Camedia software is faulty. There is an upgrade on the Olympus site to version 2.1, but the CD which came with the camera is version 2.5. Any word on which version actually works on win-ME?
The 1GB IBM Microdrive screws up the booting process, usually ending in failure. I often see the status screen on the camera flash every icon 3 times and then the whole thing goes blank. Occasionally, the "reading memory" red light flashes interminably, even after turning the camera off and requires a battery removal to stop it.
Sometimes, it does boot and will take a few pictures, but it often dies unexpectedly and often will not recover from sleep mode. Removing the hard drive while leaving the 128 MB Olympus SmartMedia card in restores normal operation.
I use the 1700 mAh Powerex AA cells on full charge. Even using an AC adapter will not fix the boot problem. However, leaving in FRESH batteries and connecting the Powerex, 7.2 V MH-DPB140LI, Lithium battery pack gives me a boot about every other time. Once it boots, I can quickly switch to AC power and it seems to work. I suspect that the 6.4 V AC transformer provides less current than the 2 sets of batteries.
I hope that I can take 128 MB worth of pictures on the SmartMedia card, put in fresh batteries, jump start it with the Li battery boost, quickly switch to AC and have enough juice left to transfer the images to the mdrive. My hopes in buying the oversized mdrive were to be able to shoot an entre day/event before going home to download (no laptop). More later after extensive testing...
The guy at Thomas Distributing recommended the 1700 mAh Powerex batteries over the 1800 mAh Mahas. Should I try the 1800's? Do NiMH batteries really need 3-4 recharge cycles to be fully powered?
Dave Weikel (of davidweikel.com fame) says that he has successfully kludged (creatively engineered) 5, 1.2 V D cell NiMH batteries together to give a whoping 8000 mAh and 6.65 volts. The unrechargable Li batteries from Nikon measure 3.2 volts (* 2 = 6.4 V). It sounds like this should work. 5 big, D cell batteries should have much more "cold cranking amperage" than 4 wimpy AA cells to wind up the hard drive. The added voltage should boost the output wattage by at least 20%. Will this work? Will his (my!) camera (hard drive) melt down? Any electrical engineers out there?
One of the surveys of many E-10 owners with 1 GB mdrives on some Olympus club web site said that 87% had no trouble and that only 6% had serious trouble. It looks as if I am one of the unlucky 6%!.
Oh well, the pictures are great!--BrianP
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