f0 Problem: The XT1 failed me and FUJIFILM North America is making it worse

pavi1 · Sep 13, 2014

Peter Bendheim said:
I'm not sure if you noticed but this is a camera forum not a motor car forum. They are two very different things. Many posters on this and other forums would agree that a replacement is the right way to go for a nearly new camera. If you want to talk cars, find an automotive forum.

They would obviously be wrong if the camera is out of the return period. After the return period, your options are to send it in for repair, even if it takes more than once, or sell it. To my knowledge, the Nikon D600 replacement with a D610 is the only manufacture to offer a new camera for an un repairable camera.

More important, it does not matter if this is a car forum or not. It is a manufactured product sold to the general public.

steves94 · Sep 13, 2014

What is so confusing to me is why people think a repair center owes them a new camera. You bought the camera from a store, not the repair center.

A repair center is there to repair, not give someone a new camera just because its only a few months old or they feel they should get a new camera.

A trip of a lifetime....man I would take 3 cameras with me, cause you never know what could happen and with a trip like that, I would want to be prepared for anything.Never take anything for granted, always think ahead and go prepared

When I photographed weddings for 30 years I had 3 bodies, 3 flashes, 3 battery packs, and extra cords.

Thats just me...

Steve

Tom Schum · Sep 13, 2014

Jim King said:
Adamant said:

That is a dispiriting story and I'm very sorry you didn't return home with any pictures. However, it highlights the need to carry a second body or camera on once-in-a-lifetime trips. Even an advanced compact like a Canon S120 would have saved a lot of heartache. My photographer friends laugh at the little $199 Olympus XZ-10 that sits on the bottom of my bag, but she'll do in a pinch. A second body would be even better.

Click to expand...

+1 on this. I never take a photo-centric trip without taking a second camera along. A corollary to Murphy's Law tells us that our cameras will always fail at the worst possible time.

Sorry about your bad experience; hope Fuji eventually gets it right.

My wife and I went on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to South Africa about 8 months ago. I took my choice of camera, and my wife took her camera. Fortunately my camera did not fail and I ended up processing a lot of photos after getting home (not sure that was a good thing).

My wife took a bunch of great pictures too, and they would have been good enough for me if necessary.

Considering the complexity and delicacy of today's digital cameras I realize that I've been having great luck with all of them.

EDIT: By the way, the tour administrator brought a nice Nikon with her, but the zoom lens got loose (very loose) and she still managed to use it with difficulty, holding the lens against the body by hand. You never know.

--
Tom Schum
Celebrate mediocrity (in moderation)

Russian Consortium · Sep 13, 2014

Peter Bendheim said:
I'm not sure if you noticed but this is a camera forum not a motor car forum. They are two very different things. Many posters on this and other forums would agree that a replacement is the right way to go for a nearly new camera. If you want to talk cars, find an automotive forum.

They are both consumer items. The car comparison is valid. People are more forgiving to car manufacturers than camera manufacturers for some reason.

About a year after buying my truck, it was recalled for a potential front brake problem. Under the logic here, it should have been replaced rather than repaired. That isn't how the world works.

felixjlai · Sep 13, 2014

Hi

Very sorry to hear about this happening... To be honest, a camera failing in a trip of lifetime could happen to any brand but it seems like after care service failed you here.

My original Canon 5d mirror fell off while I was on the Inca trail (funnily after years of use without problems). I have some appreciation of how you must have felt although I did eventually managed to fix during the trek by sticking it back with a band aid.

A silver lining out of this is the fact you didn't spend all of your trip looking at animals out of an EVF. Sometimes being a photographer mean you lose out of "real experience " of being there. Not much of a consolation but better than nothing.

ryan2007 · Sep 13, 2014

Public Health Paul said:
ryan2007 said:

Where did you buy the camera? i.e. name of business who sold you the camera.

Click to expand...

The camera body and 2 of the lenses are from Adorama. The other lens is from my local shop in Seattle.

Wow,

I wonder as a wild guess if the camera body was part of the old batch with the light leak issues? their may be a way to find out the serial numbers affected.

Past, that anything can be defective. I typically do not believe in extended warrantees but will buy them either from B&H Photo or direct from SquareTrade. They have a full replacement warrantee option.

The criteria is if the product is hard for me to go out on day 2 and have to replace it out of pocket. In short, I don't have $1k to re-spend on a lens so easily so I will buy that for a lens. If the Square Trade warrantee is not used and you cancel the coverage before the warrantee period ends you get a check back for the pro-rated amount. This can happen if you upgrade camera bodies for example.

They cover lots of things.

Peter Bendheim · Sep 13, 2014

This post was also done over at the Fuji forum and the responses are somewhat different. Interesting how opinions vary. As do consumer rights by country I guess. We have recent consumer protection laws that provided there is no abuse, afford good protection to customers and that, to my mind is an excellent thing.

Peter Bendheim
www.peterbendheim.com

Peter Bendheim · Sep 13, 2014

Likewise under your logic if you bought a nice shirt and the stitching came undone in the first few weeks or a leather briefcase etc etc, you wouldn't ask the store to replace the defective goods? Most people would take defective clothing or shoes back. Of course you wouldn't do that with a car. Using extremes to win an argument defies logic and creates ridiculous scenarios. In South Africa if items are defective and not abused, the customer gets to choose if the item is repaired, replaced or refunded in the first 6 months. After that standard warranties apply. A progressive law that protects consumers.
--
Peter Bendheim
www.peterbendheim.com

dleibow · Sep 13, 2014

Ignoring all the discussions about cars, cameras, replacement etc, Fuji repair is doing a terrible job with customer service. I have sent various X-series interchangeable lens cameras back 2-3 times. Only once for a repair, the other times to fix factory defects. They do not seem to read letters included with the camera, and never make an attempt to contact the sender for anything that is unclear. Rating them for customer service, that is of course a bigger and bigger deal in today's world, they are not doing well. It is enough to make me consider not continuing with their equipment, and I already have quite a large investment in it.

You may reply that they will not care about losing one customer. Unfortunately for every one person who writes in here, you can be sure that there are a much larger number who have had a similar problem.

Marco Cinnirella · Sep 13, 2014

dleibow said:
Ignoring all the discussions about cars, cameras, replacement etc, Fuji repair is doing a terrible job with customer service. I have sent various X-series interchangeable lens cameras back 2-3 times. Only once for a repair, the other times to fix factory defects. They do not seem to read letters included with the camera, and never make an attempt to contact the sender for anything that is unclear. Rating them for customer service, that is of course a bigger and bigger deal in today's world, they are not doing well. It is enough to make me consider not continuing with their equipment, and I already have quite a large investment in it.

You may reply that they will not care about losing one customer. Unfortunately for every one person who writes in here, you can be sure that there are a much larger number who have had a similar problem.

Maybe a problem specific to Fuji in the US, since Fuji service in the UK seems to have a good rep

britcam · Sep 13, 2014

miniTO said:
Adamant said:

That is a dispiriting story and I'm very sorry you didn't return home with any pictures. However, it highlights the need to carry a second body or camera on once-in-a-lifetime trips. Even an advanced compact like a Canon S120 would have saved a lot of heartache. My photographer friends laugh at the little $199 Olympus XZ-10 that sits on the bottom of my bag, but she'll do in a pinch. A second body would be even better.

Click to expand...

f0 issue aside as it doesn't appear to have been handled well. Issues do occur with cameras and I think carrying a spare is vitally important on once in a life time trips or anywhere you have to have the shot when you get home.

Though I prefer to carry cameras that share the same lens mount. The X-A1 is an amazing backup in the Fuji line that can be found fairly cheap if you look around and takes up next to no space. I have been watching out for a lighty used one for just this purpose.

I agree about the little X-A1. I recently picked a hardly used one up with the 16-50 kit lens, and will be selling that soon as I already have the 18-55. Net cost for a superb little back-up camera to my X-E2 & X-E1 is 135€. Nothing.

To have the tilting screen is a bonus, & offers a good alternative without having to move to an X-T1. I used it last night as a friend's BBQ and here's a quick example shot from the lap ...

--
Regards
Rich S (britcam)

bowportes · Sep 13, 2014

I back muy X-T1 up with an X-M1. ... Prefer to stick with Xtrans... It makes an excellent small backup camera.

rwbaron · Sep 13, 2014

A few things come to mind after reading your post.

First the sympathy,

1 - I feel sorry for you as being on an expensive photographic trip and having an equipment failure sucks. It's even worse when the equipment is new.

2 - Fuji appears to have handled this poorly and it sounds like you have a valid complaint.

Now the other aspect,

1 - How long did you use the XT1 and vet it's performance and proper function before going on the trip?

2 - What was going through your mind to take a trip like this with no backup body?

I've traveled extensively and photography is an important part of any trip I take. For that reason if I buy a new camera I will have at least a few thousands frames through it to confirm it works properly and I'm fully comfortable with it's operation, controls and IQ. Even then I always take a second body with me just in case.

I hope you get your situation resolved to your satisfaction but from your OP it appears you may not have been thinking clearly with a proper contingency plan. Anything mechanical or electronic is subject to failure (as well as damage and theft) and this has to be accounted for if it's vital to your trip.

Bob

dan007 · Sep 13, 2014

Hey.,
Can someone elaborate on The f0 problem. I experience it intermittently on my newish xf 35mm attached to a (year old) x-e1 body. Interestingly thought I have never seen it happen with my (also year old) 18-55 mounted... It is hard to pinpoint when it is actually going to occur. I usually just pull the battery out and it comes good again. This issue intrigues me as I have sometimes missed a photo opportunity due to f0 appearing when I go to take a picture.

I would be interested in hearing the outcomes of this experience with fuji repair/replacement.

Regards
Dan

Digital Shutterbug · Sep 13, 2014

Peter Bendheim said:
Likewise under your logic if you bought a nice shirt and the stitching came undone in the first few weeks or a leather briefcase etc etc, you wouldn't ask the store to replace the defective goods? Most people would take defective clothing or shoes back. Of course you wouldn't do that with a car. Using extremes to win an argument defies logic and creates ridiculous scenarios. In South Africa if items are defective and not abused, the customer gets to choose if the item is repaired, replaced or refunded in the first 6 months. After that standard warranties apply. A progressive law that protects consumers.
--
Peter Bendheim
www.peterbendheim.com

And who eats the added cost of that law? The manufacturers certainly won't. It will be passed on to the consumers in the price of all goods.

Steve

Digital Shutterbug · Sep 13, 2014

Public Health Paul said:
Peter Bendheim said:

I really feel your pain. I also used Nikon for 25 years and did a major swap out and invested in the XT1 and lenses. I also had the f0 error and it was very stressful. I will be in a position to give you some feedback next week when my problem is hopefully finally resolved.

In the meantime, I do believe that the f0 error is being reported more frequently and that it is something to watch and monitor. i would be interested to hear your serial no and approx date of purchase and no of shots. I am hoping that with good reporting we may discern a pattern here. Mine was bought early July and had less than 1700 shots when I first noticed it.

Click to expand...

mr moonlight · Sep 13, 2014

All cameras will fail. That's just the way things are. Sometimes problems are mis-diagnosed. The most important thing is that Fuji is set on repairing your camera. If you have a situation where being able to take photos is essential. Make sure you have a backup. Your situation is unfortunate, but most camera failures result in very unfortunate situations for those that don't carry a backup.

Over the years I've had my fair share of camera failures. Only the first one felt like a big deal because I didn't have a backup. That wasn't a pleasant situation. Ever since then, I've never been without a backup and I've gone through every camera failure since then without missing a step.

Fuji's turnaround time is pretty fast for a consumer camera. A week or so isn't bad at all. Try getting a Sigma product repaired. It will likely take a couple months.

Digital Shutterbug · Sep 13, 2014

dan007 said:
Hey.,
Can someone elaborate on The f0 problem. I experience it intermittently on my newish xf 35mm attached to a (year old) x-e1 body. Interestingly thought I have never seen it happen with my (also year old) 18-55 mounted... It is hard to pinpoint when it is actually going to occur. I usually just pull the battery out and it comes good again. This issue intrigues me as I have sometimes missed a photo opportunity due to f0 appearing when I go to take a picture.

I would be interested in hearing the outcomes of this experience with fuji repair/replacement.

Regards
Dan

The problem can show up if the lens is not attached properly. i.e. it is not fully locked, or if there is slop in the interface, the lens is actually rotated past its normal locked position. Or, you can have dirty contacts on the body or lens. Do not confuse this with the problem as reported by the OP in this thread. His issue is much worse (complete failure).

There have been a fairly significant number of users that have reported this problem recently. It appears to be happening in newer released X-T1's without too many exposures. I have not heard of anyone with a camera that is several months old suddenly developing the problem.

The scenario typically goes like this. The camera will be working fine, then suddenly shows f0. It will not focus, you cannot change the aperture or focal length and no exposure can be taken. The camera is in effect locked up with no apparent communication with the lens. Turning it off and back on may or may not cure the problem. Sometimes it has to be off for several minutes before turning it back on and getting it to work. Changing lenses does not fix the problem. Its a problem with the body, not the lens.

Another thing that several people have reported is that when they go to review mode and back to regular mode, the camera immediately fails with f0. Something happens when switching back to image taking mode that causes the failure.

This problem usually starts out as a fairly intermittent problem. Over a period of a few days, it progresses to a much more frequently occurring issue. It eventually fails completely and no amount of fiddling with it will bring it back to life.

Obviously, not everyone with the problem has EXACTLY the same scenario, but it does appear pretty consistent among many of those reporting the problem. I'm puzzled by the fact that this seems to only be happening with recently purchased cameras. It's as though some batch of components is at the root of the problem. Fuji will probably never publicly acknowledge what the problem is. Hopefully they get a handle on it soon and resolve the issue on the assembly line.

Steve

Peter Bendheim · Sep 13, 2014

Very good and accurate summary, Steve.
--
Peter Bendheim
www.peterbendheim.com

pavi1 · Sep 14, 2014

Peter Bendheim said:
Likewise under your logic if you bought a nice shirt and the stitching came undone in the first few weeks or a leather briefcase etc etc, you wouldn't ask the store to replace the defective goods?

You are not even close. Shirts have no warranty but most stores would replace in a few weeks. Probably not six months.

f0 Problem: The XT1 failed me and FUJIFILM North America is making it worse

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