BOCS

I asked some questions in the other BOCS thread, but no one replied, so I thought I would start a new one. My questions are:

Where do you call to get your F505V serviced?

Can I bring it to my local Sony Service Center?

Do I HAVE to mail it in?

Is it a warrenty thing?

I bought my camera in late August, can I still do it?

Thanks!

faral

faral, I can only answer two of your questions.

You have 90 days warranty to get it fixed for free, so hurry.

I wish I had the exact phone number I called to give you, but it was on the inside of the Sony box top on a big sticker. Try 1-800-488-SONY or 1-800-222-SONY. I sent mine in yesterday, so I don't have the box. You should have gotten literature with your camera when you bought it. There is a white sheet of paper titled, "Limited Warranty." You will need to send in a copy of your sales receipt and a short letter. You also must obtain a number that you get when you call one of the 1-800 numbers I gave you above. Here is an example of the number: E09542741. I changed the last few digits because it is for my camera only, I think. I want to protect it.

Here is what I did. I called the 1-800 number and talked with a Sony woman. She asked me for the serial number of my camera. She was aware of the BOCS problem and gave me the address of Sony in Seattle. She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with that long number I gave you above. She said to write the long number on the outside of the box before shipping it. She said that the repair should take from 7 to 10 days. She said to write a brief letter about the problem and write the number on the letter also. I put the letter inside the box along with a copy of the sales receipt. (I took a picture of the sales receipt and printed it out.) I wrote the description of the problem and asked them to check out the focus while they had it in the shop because I heard someone had problems with the focus and it was better when they got it back. (Search the forums for the post)

I wrapped the box (The original colorful Sony box that the camera came in) with a brown paper bag from the super market. I took it to the post office and had it insured for $800. The insurance cost me $8.45 and the US Mail shipping from Oregon to Seattle was $3.26. It should get there in about 3 days.

Sony
835 S. Fidalgo St.
Seattle, WA 98108

-Dave Clark

faral said:

I asked some questions in the other BOCS thread, but no one
replied, so I thought I would start a new one. My questions are:

Where do you call to get your F505V serviced?

Can I bring it to my local Sony Service Center?

Do I HAVE to mail it in?

Is it a warrenty thing?

I bought my camera in late August, can I still do it?

Thanks!

faral

Click to expand...

Dave,

Do you know if it possible to drop off the camera at the Sony Service Center?

Turns out that I live in the suburbs of Seattle. Might be easier for me to just drop it off.

Thanks and regards,

Dan.

Dave Clark said:

You have 90 days warranty to get it fixed for free, so hurry.
I wish I had the exact phone number I called to give you, but it
was on the inside of the Sony box top on a big sticker. Try
1-800-488-SONY or 1-800-222-SONY. I sent mine in yesterday, so I
don't have the box. You should have gotten literature with your
camera when you bought it. There is a white sheet of paper titled,
"Limited Warranty." You will need to send in a copy of your sales
receipt and a short letter. You also must obtain a number that you
get when you call one of the 1-800 numbers I gave you above. Here
is an example of the number: E09542741. I changed the last few
digits because it is for my camera only, I think. I want to
protect it.

Here is what I did. I called the 1-800 number and talked with a
Sony woman. She asked me for the serial number of my camera. She
was aware of the BOCS problem and gave me the address of Sony in
Seattle. She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with
that long number I gave you above. She said to write the long
number on the outside of the box before shipping it. She said that
the repair should take from 7 to 10 days. She said to write a
brief letter about the problem and write the number on the letter
also. I put the letter inside the box along with a copy of the
sales receipt. (I took a picture of the sales receipt and printed
it out.) I wrote the description of the problem and asked them to
check out the focus while they had it in the shop because I heard
someone had problems with the focus and it was better when they got
it back. (Search the forums for the post)

I wrapped the box (The original colorful Sony box that the camera
came in) with a brown paper bag from the super market. I took it
to the post office and had it insured for $800. The insurance cost
me $8.45 and the US Mail shipping from Oregon to Seattle was $3.26.
It should get there in about 3 days.

Sony
835 S. Fidalgo St.
Seattle, WA 98108

-Dave Clark

faral said:

I asked some questions in the other BOCS thread, but no one
replied, so I thought I would start a new one. My questions are:

Where do you call to get your F505V serviced?

Can I bring it to my local Sony Service Center?

Do I HAVE to mail it in?

Is it a warrenty thing?

I bought my camera in late August, can I still do it?

Thanks!

faral

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Dan Clark said:

Dave,

Do you know if it possible to drop off the camera at the Sony
Service Center?

Turns out that I live in the suburbs of Seattle. Might be easier
for me to just drop it off.

Thanks and regards,

Dan.

Click to expand...

Dan:

If you have the phone number for the service center, call it. They should give you the hours of operation & driving directions -- at least that's what I get when I call the Westwood MA center. If you don't have the service center's phone number, call the main 800 number -- you should be able to get there.

Luck!

Alan

I just called Sony (and after being on hold for 20 min) and they told me that I can just bring it to any Sony Service Center with my paperwork (recipt, limited warrenty, i don't know what else) and tell the them problem and go from there. I'll bring mine in later this week, near turkey day.

faral

Dan Clark said:

Do you know if it possible to drop off the camera at the Sony
Service Center?

Turns out that I live in the suburbs of Seattle. Might be easier
for me to just drop it off.

Thanks and regards,

Dan.

Dave Clark said:

You have 90 days warranty to get it fixed for free, so hurry.
I wish I had the exact phone number I called to give you, but it
was on the inside of the Sony box top on a big sticker. Try
1-800-488-SONY or 1-800-222-SONY. I sent mine in yesterday, so I
don't have the box. You should have gotten literature with your
camera when you bought it. There is a white sheet of paper titled,
"Limited Warranty." You will need to send in a copy of your sales
receipt and a short letter. You also must obtain a number that you
get when you call one of the 1-800 numbers I gave you above. Here
is an example of the number: E09542741. I changed the last few
digits because it is for my camera only, I think. I want to
protect it.

Here is what I did. I called the 1-800 number and talked with a
Sony woman. She asked me for the serial number of my camera. She
was aware of the BOCS problem and gave me the address of Sony in
Seattle. She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with
that long number I gave you above. She said to write the long
number on the outside of the box before shipping it. She said that
the repair should take from 7 to 10 days. She said to write a
brief letter about the problem and write the number on the letter
also. I put the letter inside the box along with a copy of the
sales receipt. (I took a picture of the sales receipt and printed
it out.) I wrote the description of the problem and asked them to
check out the focus while they had it in the shop because I heard
someone had problems with the focus and it was better when they got
it back. (Search the forums for the post)

I wrapped the box (The original colorful Sony box that the camera
came in) with a brown paper bag from the super market. I took it
to the post office and had it insured for $800. The insurance cost
me $8.45 and the US Mail shipping from Oregon to Seattle was $3.26.
It should get there in about 3 days.

Sony
835 S. Fidalgo St.
Seattle, WA 98108

-Dave Clark

faral said:

I asked some questions in the other BOCS thread, but no one
replied, so I thought I would start a new one. My questions are:

Where do you call to get your F505V serviced?

Can I bring it to my local Sony Service Center?

Do I HAVE to mail it in?

Is it a warrenty thing?

I bought my camera in late August, can I still do it?

Thanks!

faral

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Dan,

I don't know, but I'd agree with Alan's post to your question.

• Dave

Dan Clark said:

Do you know if it possible to drop off the camera at the Sony
Service Center?

Turns out that I live in the suburbs of Seattle. Might be easier
for me to just drop it off.

Thanks and regards,

Dan.

Dave Clark said:

You have 90 days warranty to get it fixed for free, so hurry.
I wish I had the exact phone number I called to give you, but it
was on the inside of the Sony box top on a big sticker. Try
1-800-488-SONY or 1-800-222-SONY. I sent mine in yesterday, so I
don't have the box. You should have gotten literature with your
camera when you bought it. There is a white sheet of paper titled,
"Limited Warranty." You will need to send in a copy of your sales
receipt and a short letter. You also must obtain a number that you
get when you call one of the 1-800 numbers I gave you above. Here
is an example of the number: E09542741. I changed the last few
digits because it is for my camera only, I think. I want to
protect it.

Here is what I did. I called the 1-800 number and talked with a
Sony woman. She asked me for the serial number of my camera. She
was aware of the BOCS problem and gave me the address of Sony in
Seattle. She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with
that long number I gave you above. She said to write the long
number on the outside of the box before shipping it. She said that
the repair should take from 7 to 10 days. She said to write a
brief letter about the problem and write the number on the letter
also. I put the letter inside the box along with a copy of the
sales receipt. (I took a picture of the sales receipt and printed
it out.) I wrote the description of the problem and asked them to
check out the focus while they had it in the shop because I heard
someone had problems with the focus and it was better when they got
it back. (Search the forums for the post)

I wrapped the box (The original colorful Sony box that the camera
came in) with a brown paper bag from the super market. I took it
to the post office and had it insured for $800. The insurance cost
me $8.45 and the US Mail shipping from Oregon to Seattle was $3.26.
It should get there in about 3 days.

Sony
835 S. Fidalgo St.
Seattle, WA 98108

-Dave Clark

faral said:

I asked some questions in the other BOCS thread, but no one
replied, so I thought I would start a new one. My questions are:

Where do you call to get your F505V serviced?

Can I bring it to my local Sony Service Center?

Do I HAVE to mail it in?

Is it a warrenty thing?

I bought my camera in late August, can I still do it?

Thanks!

faral

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

why everybody is so worried about this BOCS? Why nobody talks about that in the reviews? is it so important? i don't want to buy something that I have to send back in right after I bought it... It would be a shame wouldn't?

we are not "worried" about it, but we would just like to have it fixed. it is just a good thing to have when we take indoor shots at full automode.

Francesco said:

why everybody is so worried about this BOCS? Why nobody talks about
that in the reviews? is it so important? i don't want to buy
something that I have to send back in right after I bought it... It
would be a shame wouldn't?

Click to expand...

By the way, what else should I have them take a look at while it is in the Service Center? Can they really help the focus? How about the sharpness of my pictures? Some of my landscape shots are extremely soft...

faral

Francesco -

BOCS is not really such a huge deal. There are several ways to work around it, so it is not the end of the world.

The reviews did in fact catch it, but it was not identified as a serious problem, and so it was not reported upon with anything near the detail that we have covered here. This is frequently the case with reviews because while excellent tools in themselves, the reviewers do not have the time to spend on one single camera the way that we do. We have the luxury of picking apart every mode of our cameras. We found in extensive testing that the BOCS occurs only under specific circumstances. But somehow, as with many things in life, once you notice the problem, it seems that you are bound to reproduce the problem over and over and over again just because you now know it is there.

It is still not a loss even if you choose not to have this fixed because the work-arounds are easy. Just use any other Program AE mode when using the flash indoors.

Francesco said:

why everybody is so worried about this BOCS? Why nobody talks about
that in the reviews? is it so important? i don't want to buy
something that I have to send back in right after I bought it... It
would be a shame wouldn't?

Click to expand...

Dear Ulysses,

You said Program AE mode, is that means using shutter priority and 1/60 or 1/30 sec? I can use this method to solve the problem. However, when the enviorment is dark, it is difficult to organize picture. Do you have a better method to solve this problem using another program AE mode?

Dennis

Ulysses said:

BOCS is not really such a huge deal. There are several ways to work
around it, so it is not the end of the world.

The reviews did in fact catch it, but it was not identified as a
serious problem, and so it was not reported upon with anything near
the detail that we have covered here. This is frequently the case
with reviews because while excellent tools in themselves, the
reviewers do not have the time to spend on one single camera the
way that we do. We have the luxury of picking apart every mode of
our cameras. We found in extensive testing that the BOCS occurs
only under specific circumstances. But somehow, as with many things
in life, once you notice the problem, it seems that you are bound
to reproduce the problem over and over and over again just because
you now know it is there.

It is still not a loss even if you choose not to have this fixed
because the work-arounds are easy. Just use any other Program AE
mode when using the flash indoors.

Francesco said:

why everybody is so worried about this BOCS? Why nobody talks about
that in the reviews? is it so important? i don't want to buy
something that I have to send back in right after I bought it... It
would be a shame wouldn't?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi there, Dennis.

Nope, I don't have any other recommendation.

The problem you mentioned is exactly why some of us are so glad that the BOCS thing was addressed by Sony. We'll now be able to much more easily frame our images when in dim conditions. But many photographers never shoot in dim conditions anyway. So they won't be as affected and can easily just use another Program AE mode, at least until they feel comfortable with sending their cameras off to 'firmware school'.

Dennis said:

You said Program AE mode, is that means using shutter priority and
1/60 or 1/30 sec? I can use this method to solve the problem.
However, when the enviorment is dark, it is difficult to organize
picture. Do you have a better method to solve this problem using
another program AE mode?

Dennis

Ulysses said:

BOCS is not really such a huge deal. There are several ways to work
around it, so it is not the end of the world.

The reviews did in fact catch it, but it was not identified as a
serious problem, and so it was not reported upon with anything near
the detail that we have covered here. This is frequently the case
with reviews because while excellent tools in themselves, the
reviewers do not have the time to spend on one single camera the
way that we do. We have the luxury of picking apart every mode of
our cameras. We found in extensive testing that the BOCS occurs
only under specific circumstances. But somehow, as with many things
in life, once you notice the problem, it seems that you are bound
to reproduce the problem over and over and over again just because
you now know it is there.

It is still not a loss even if you choose not to have this fixed
because the work-arounds are easy. Just use any other Program AE
mode when using the flash indoors.

Francesco said:

why everybody is so worried about this BOCS? Why nobody talks about
that in the reviews? is it so important? i don't want to buy
something that I have to send back in right after I bought it... It
would be a shame wouldn't?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ulysses, your name means nobody in greek language, but you are really something in this thread. I see your name everywhere in these threads so I wonder if you work here or not. Whatever you are I guess you are one of the most prepared guys around here, so I am asking you: when BOCS happens? you said using a different AE I can solve the problem. Tell me more in detail then, please. Because I swear I am not going to buy something that has to be repaired before I can enjoy it. I would never do such a stupi thing, even though I think that is my favourite camera right now. Tell me as much as you can man, please!
F.

Dear Ulysses,

Thank you very much for your answer. I think I will not send my camera for repair till now because I don't like the electrical equipment disassemble by someone. Unless I know that it is very easy to repair.

Dennis

Ulysses said:

Nope, I don't have any other recommendation.

The problem you mentioned is exactly why some of us are so glad
that the BOCS thing was addressed by Sony. We'll now be able to
much more easily frame our images when in dim conditions. But many
photographers never shoot in dim conditions anyway. So they won't
be as affected and can easily just use another Program AE mode, at
least until they feel comfortable with sending their cameras off to
'firmware school'.

Dennis said:

Dear Ulysses,

You said Program AE mode, is that means using shutter priority and
1/60 or 1/30 sec? I can use this method to solve the problem.
However, when the enviorment is dark, it is difficult to organize
picture. Do you have a better method to solve this problem using
another program AE mode?

Dennis

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Dennis

You're not limited to aperture priority mode. You can use any of the Program AE modes. Shutter priority will get away from that shutter speed limitation. Slow it down and the aperture will open up for low light shots.

Or use Twilight + mode.

Just don't use auto mode with the internal flash indoors. Thats it basically.

Richard

Dennis said:

Thank you very much for your answer. I think I will not send my
camera for repair till now because I don't like the electrical
equipment disassemble by someone. Unless I know that it is very
easy to repair.

Dennis

Ulysses said:

Nope, I don't have any other recommendation.

The problem you mentioned is exactly why some of us are so glad
that the BOCS thing was addressed by Sony. We'll now be able to
much more easily frame our images when in dim conditions. But many
photographers never shoot in dim conditions anyway. So they won't
be as affected and can easily just use another Program AE mode, at
least until they feel comfortable with sending their cameras off to
'firmware school'.

Dennis said:

Dear Ulysses,

You said Program AE mode, is that means using shutter priority and
1/60 or 1/30 sec? I can use this method to solve the problem.
However, when the enviorment is dark, it is difficult to organize
picture. Do you have a better method to solve this problem using
another program AE mode?

Dennis

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Francesco

The BOCS 'problem' is that if you use the internal flash indoors on the F505v when you have the camera in auto mode, the white balance goes a bit funny and the pictures get a blueish tint to them.

It not perfect, but check out the first two pictures I took in this thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=577310

The first one is indoors, with the internal flash on and in auto mode. The second is in aperture priority mode (press the AE button once) and is how the picture should be. You don't have to use aperture priority - you can use any of the program modes (shutter priority, twilight + etc)

So it is a simple workaround to get the proper results, but some people are more comfortable knowing that they can use auto mode without the problem being there - thats why they are sending their cameras in for the fix.

Francesco said:

Ulysses, your name means nobody in greek language, but you are
really something in this thread. I see your name everywhere in
these threads so I wonder if you work here or not. Whatever you are
I guess you are one of the most prepared guys around here, so I am
asking you: when BOCS happens? you said using a different AE I can
solve the problem. Tell me more in detail then, please. Because I
swear I am not going to buy something that has to be repaired
before I can enjoy it. I would never do such a stupi thing, even
though I think that is my favourite camera right now. Tell me as
much as you can man, please!
F.

Click to expand...

Francesco -

Actually, the name Ulysses translates from Greek as "hater, angry one". Some forms of the name come from the roots meaning "wounded in the thigh". Go figure. I'm nothing like either of those meanings either.

Richard gave you a very good answer. Also, try doing a search in this forum by looking up the words "BOCS Ulysses Pondria". You will receive many threads that have discussed the same question you are asking.

Most of the folks here using the F505V have been aware of the problem for quite some time, and they are still very satisfied whether or not they get their camera fixed. They can't all be stupid. ;-)

Francesco said:

Ulysses, your name means nobody in greek language, but you are
really something in this thread. I see your name everywhere in
these threads so I wonder if you work here or not. Whatever you are
I guess you are one of the most prepared guys around here, so I am
asking you: when BOCS happens? you said using a different AE I can
solve the problem. Tell me more in detail then, please. Because I
swear I am not going to buy something that has to be repaired
before I can enjoy it. I would never do such a stupi thing, even
though I think that is my favourite camera right now. Tell me as
much as you can man, please!
F.

Click to expand...

Dear Richard,

Thanks a lot.

Dennis

Richard Plumb said:

Dennis

You're not limited to aperture priority mode. You can use any of
the Program AE modes. Shutter priority will get away from that
shutter speed limitation. Slow it down and the aperture will open
up for low light shots.

Or use Twilight + mode.

Just don't use auto mode with the internal flash indoors. Thats it
basically.

Richard

Click to expand...