Samsung EX1 aperture priority problems

Hi. This is my first post so please be gentle. I've looked through the forum and haven't found this particular issue but I am wondering if anyone else is quietly putting up with it!

I am getting an occasional fault which is that every once in a while, no matter what aperture I try and set, as soon as I press the shutter either half way or take the photo the camera reverts to f2.0. Also the aperture dial works the wrong way around when this is happening ie I need to turn the dial in the opposite direction from usual to set a higher aperture which the camera then ignores as it reverts to F2.0 again! So its like the camera is fixed at f2 (without exposure lock!). When this has happened I have tried shutter priority and the same problem occurs there too. The result is often very overexposed photos, especially on a sunny day. Switching the camera off and on solves the problem and I am able to dial in my preferred aperture again.

I have updated the firmware but the error occurs on the 16 May 2011 upgrade as well. Samsung have advised me to reset the camera which I have done twice and the problem has not been cured.

Am I the only one and in which case do I have a faulty unit?

Just as an aside I have also had the situation where the camera locks up in backlit mode and shows the processing screen for several minutes.

I love the camera but these issues are a bit annoying.

Hope somebody can help.

Best regards
Mike

I haven't seen any threads here discussing the aperture problem, but there has been someone posting here who had the backlit locking up problem. My guess is that the aperture problem may be a hardware fault, but the lockup could be related to the memory card, have you tried it without a card just using the internal memory.

Brian

That was me that identified the backlit problem. Unlike other modes, where jpeg is mandatory, such as bracket and continuous shooting and smart range backlit, going direct into these scene modes, the camera does not auto switch into jpeg if you're shooting raw. That was my hope that it would, actually, to make a quick switch into backlit jpeg, but it's not possible to do it in under several steps with a pause in between due to my primary shooting mode as RAW. Backlit is not compatible with RAW and will result in that cycling and lockup.

This has been a hole I addressed, with a bit of ridicule.

brianj said:

I haven't seen any threads here discussing the aperture problem, but there has been someone posting here who had the backlit locking up problem. My guess is that the aperture problem may be a hardware fault, but the lockup could be related to the memory card, have you tried it without a card just using the internal memory.

Brian

Click to expand...

snake_b said:

That was me that identified the backlit problem. Unlike other modes, where jpeg is mandatory, such as bracket and continuous shooting and smart range backlit, going direct into these scene modes, the camera does not auto switch into jpeg if you're shooting raw. That was my hope that it would, actually, to make a quick switch into backlit jpeg, but it's not possible to do it in under several steps with a pause in between due to my primary shooting mode as RAW. Backlit is not compatible with RAW and will result in that cycling and lockup.

Click to expand...

If you switch to "burst mode" (which forces JPEG if the camera is currently set for RAW) along with backlight scene mode does that work to not lock up the camera? Should save a few button presses on the menu (if it works).

Seems like a firmware bug otherwise.

"not support in this mode"

nor does it auto switch to jpeg.

Thanks for explaining the backlit scene mode being incompatible with raw. I was about to bring the camera back for repair!
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Steven de Boer

No problem. It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility to think there was a problem, since backlit from Smartmode automatically selects jpeg, but getting backlit directly, it doesn't? That's a firmware hole.

steshaster said:

Thanks for explaining the backlit scene mode being incompatible with raw. I was about to bring the camera back for repair!
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Steven de Boer

Click to expand...