Dead E-1

My new E-1 arrived Monday. I charged tha battery over night and took a few pictures around the house. Everything seemed fine. Today, I took it for a little outing. It was fine for about 30 minutes. Then, it totally died. I removed the battery and put it back in. Still no luck. The temperature was just a little below freezing. I took the camera home and it has started working again. The battery indicator shows a full charge.

Any ideas?
Dwight

Dwight58 said:

My new E-1 arrived Monday. I charged tha battery over night and
took a few pictures around the house. Everything seemed fine.
Today, I took it for a little outing. It was fine for about 30
minutes. Then, it totally died. I removed the battery and put it
back in. Still no luck. The temperature was just a little below
freezing. I took the camera home and it has started working again.
The battery indicator shows a full charge.

Any ideas?
Dwight

Click to expand...

You may have a battery problem.

Batteries do have much reduced performance when cold......but still I would have expected better unless the camera and battery are cold soaked and actually operating at freezing. Usually the solution to the operating of cameras in a cold environment is to carry a spare battery in an inside pocket and rotate the batteries. The cold battery will revive in your pocket as the battery in the camera cools and eventually stops working.

Clear as mud?............LM
--



Your're not going to take my picture with that Nikon are you?

I just posted the question on Olympus's customer service site. Now we will get to see what their support is like.

Dwight

Dwight58 said:

I just posted the question on Olympus's customer service site. Now
we will get to see what their support is like.

Dwight

Click to expand...

One way to sort this out.....whether it's the battery that's weak or whether it was just the cold......

You should get several hundred shots from the battery in use indoors while it's warm.

I bought my E-1 on the 2nd of January. While I'm not a prolific photo taker I've spent quite a bit of time with the camera on and working with the menus and test shots and I'm still working with the original battery on it's original charge.

YMMV........LM

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Your're not going to take my picture with that Nikon are you?

Just came back from sking at 11000ft and minus 14c .Took several hundred piccies and battery was fine no problems.Even went 120 ft in to under ground caves ,where it was very cold.Maybe the battery needs a couple of charges to get it up too full capacity ,possible dirty contacts.An old trick is to rub contacts with a copper coin.

LM1 said:

Dwight58 said:

I just posted the question on Olympus's customer service site. Now
we will get to see what their support is like.

Dwight

Click to expand...

One way to sort this out.....whether it's the battery that's weak
or whether it was just the cold......
You should get several hundred shots from the battery in use
indoors while it's warm.
I bought my E-1 on the 2nd of January. While I'm not a prolific
photo taker I've spent quite a bit of time with the camera on and
working with the menus and test shots and I'm still working with
the original battery on it's original charge.

YMMV........LM

--



Your're not going to take my picture with that Nikon are you?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the idea. I just shot 200 frames indoors. This is in addition to the pictures I already took. The camera seems fine indoors, but I'm quite disapointed with outdoor performace.

Vinny's camera did well in conditions much colder than I had, so I think there still is hope. I'll post the reply from Oly when it comes. I'll repeat the test tomorrow morning if we get another cold night. I'll probably leave the camera in my unheated shed tonight and see if it works in the morning.

Dwight

Dwight58 said:

Thanks for the idea. I just shot 200 frames indoors. This is in
addition to the pictures I already took. The camera seems fine
indoors, but I'm quite disapointed with outdoor performace.

Vinny's camera did well in conditions much colder than I had, so I
think there still is hope. I'll post the reply from Oly when it
comes. I'll repeat the test tomorrow morning if we get another
cold night. I'll probably leave the camera in my unheated shed
tonight and see if it works in the morning.

Dwight

Click to expand...

Having the camera cold is a good idea, but you should try it first with a warm battery to rule out a camera problem. Then just toss the battery into the fridge for an hour or so and then try again. But remember a battery is a chemical reaction and that reaction is significantly slowed at lower temps.

Vinny, How did you handle the camera? Ie, were you keeping it warm under a coat or did you just let it get good and cold?

But honestly, I think that the battery is the problem.

--



Your're not going to take my picture with that Nikon are you?

I put both of my batteries in the freezer for one hour. The camera worked with both of them.

Then, I put the camera in the freezer. It did not work when I took it out. I replaced the battery with a warm one and it still doesn't work.

In the meen time, I got this message from Oly tech support:

Hello Dwight,

The optimum operating temperature of the E-1 is 32-104 degrees Fahrenheit.
Unfortunately we cannot guarantee optimal performance beyond these
parameters.

Regards,
E-1 Digital Technical Support
Olympus America Inc.

Whawhawhat...soooo if it's cold outside shoot indoors, Ive had mine out in single digi's Fahreheit with no problem...not for e x t e n d e d periods but for a while. I was also on the North Shore shooting in low double digi's for about an hour and no problem.

I do remember Rick had a problem on his ski trip but a quick warm up and all was fine. Perhaps he'll chime in here.

Bill

Dwight58 said:

I put both of my batteries in the freezer for one hour. The camera
worked with both of them.

Then, I put the camera in the freezer. It did not work when I took
it out. I replaced the battery with a warm one and it still
doesn't work.

In the meen time, I got this message from Oly tech support:

Hello Dwight,

The optimum operating temperature of the E-1 is 32-104 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Unfortunately we cannot guarantee optimal performance beyond these
parameters.

Regards,
E-1 Digital Technical Support
Olympus America Inc.

Click to expand...

--
Bill Wallace
dpreview & pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/papa51

Dwight58 said:

I put both of my batteries in the freezer for one hour. The camera
worked with both of them.

Then, I put the camera in the freezer. It did not work when I took
it out. I replaced the battery with a warm one and it still
doesn't work.

In the meen time, I got this message from Oly tech support:

Hello Dwight,

The optimum operating temperature of the E-1 is 32-104 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Unfortunately we cannot guarantee optimal performance beyond these
parameters.

Regards,
E-1 Digital Technical Support
Olympus America Inc.

Click to expand...

That's what the Manual says.....still......that's not very good for what is supposed to be a professional camera that is reasonably weather proof.

It seems odd as there isn't anything intrinsic to digital that prevents it from working at lower temps. I wonder if there is a temp sensor inside that is turning the camera off........and why.

--



Your're not going to take my picture with that Nikon are you?

Dwight58 said:

I put both of my batteries in the freezer for one hour. The camera
worked with both of them.

Then, I put the camera in the freezer. It did not work when I took
it out. I replaced the battery with a warm one and it still
doesn't work.

Click to expand...

Camera is only a few days old? I'd ask for a replacement. Batteries too. I don't think u should tell Olympus u put the camera in the freezer.

I repeated the test with a CF card instead of a microdrive. The results were the same.

This may not be a problem for some people, but I bought the camera primarily for outdoor photography. Vinny's camera seems to work in the cold, but mine doesn't. I'll call the dealer tomorrow and see if I can make an exchange.

I needed to eat a quantity of ice cream in order to fit the camera in my freezer. It's a thankless job, but someone's got to do it.

Dwight

Bill Wallace said:

Whawhawhat...soooo if it's cold outside shoot indoors, Ive had mine
out in single digi's Fahreheit with no problem...not for e x t e n
d e d periods but for a while. I was also on the North Shore
shooting in low double digi's for about an hour and no problem.

I do remember Rick had a problem on his ski trip but a quick warm
up and all was fine. Perhaps he'll chime in here.

Bill

Click to expand...

Hi Dwight;

As Bill mention I had a problem with my camera shutting down on our xmas ski holiday. I had no problem the first two days using the camera sparingly but on xmas eve I wanted to shoot a torch light parade and fireworks that was going on that evening. So after using the camera during the day I went to the village and was roaming around with the camera out (not under my coat or in my backback) for about two hours taking a few shots waiting for the fireworks it was about -15C maybe -20C with the wind chill anyway after setting up my tripod and getting everything ready the camera just went dead. I fiddled with it for a while not knowing what was wrong gave up and went back to the condo. I should mention this was the BLL1 battery ( the big one that goes with the grip). After about half hour in the warmth of the condo it started to work again, I didn't take the battery out of the grip just the camera and battery together sitting around at room temp.

I decided to give the battery a charge after the camera started to work again, just to be on the safe side, the camera didn't show the battery as needing one but what the heck. The next three days with temp in the --15 to 20C range I used the camera and the big battery with out any problems. I did keep it in my backpack if I wasn't shooting and the longest I had it out for was maybe 30 mniutes at a time but never any problems.

Thats a liitle unsettling what Oly support had to say....my experince other then that one time has been ok and Vinny also has had no problems on his ski trip.

So go figure.....

Regards: Rick
--
Having fun with my E1 !!!!
Rick W.
http://photos-by-rick.smugmug.com

Just pulled my very frosty E-1 out of a 2 hour stint in my freezer and mine operates just fine... now I just need to leave it out to defog/defrost...

I live in the mountains here in CO.. had to know for sure.

IMHO you got a bad unit.

David

Thank you David,

You and Vinny have convinced me to try another camera. It appears that some of them do work in cold temperatures and I will try another one.

Dwight

Dwight58 said:

Thank you David,
You and Vinny have convinced me to try another camera. It appears
that some of them do work in cold temperatures and I will try
another one.

Dwight

Click to expand...

So far I've been very happy with my E-1 and it has performed flawlessly. Offhand I'd say most of them work in very cold temps but you happened to get one of the few that don't.

One detail I didn't mention.. I am using a SandDisc Ultra 2 CF card - no microdrive. A microdrive might not agree with extreme cold temps considering it has to spin up platters and actuate drive heads to read-write the data.

Now, if your camera develops heat issues.. well, I draw the line at throwing mine into my oven...

Good luck to you.

Hey Dwight,

As some one prior to me pointed out batteries are active cells which tend to slow down when cold. I've used little packets called "Hot Shots", may be called something else in different markets, it's a square pack which you usually place in your gloves or boots to keep warm. You simply activate the "Hot Shot" packet, by squeezing it, and tape it over the battery compartment and lickety split your battery is kept warm for a couple of hours.

Regards,
Tony

SnydersWeb said:

Dwight58 said:

Thank you David,
You and Vinny have convinced me to try another camera. It appears
that some of them do work in cold temperatures and I will try
another one.

Dwight

Click to expand...

So far I've been very happy with my E-1 and it has performed
flawlessly. Offhand I'd say most of them work in very cold temps
but you happened to get one of the few that don't.

One detail I didn't mention.. I am using a SandDisc Ultra 2 CF card

• no microdrive. A microdrive might not agree with extreme cold

temps considering it has to spin up platters and actuate drive
heads to read-write the data.

Now, if your camera develops heat issues.. well, I draw the line at
throwing mine into my oven...

Good luck to you.

Click to expand...

I left the camera outside this evening and monitored the temperature until it was 33F. The camera doesn't work at this mild temperature. Now I feel totally justified in returning it. The camera is guaranteed to work down to freezing. I bought the camera to be used outdoors.

I know its not a battery problem, both my batties worked after being in the freezer. The camera it's self doesn't work at 33F. Totally unacceptable.

We had temps in the mid 20's a couple weeks ago and my camera was absolutely fine. I had a full charge when I started but it didn't die after being used a couple of hours outside.

I'll be taking it skiing next Wednesday and it should be in the low 20's, high teens so we'll see but it sure sounds like yours has a problem.

Yes, exchange your E-1, my E-1 works without any problems down to -10 C so far and I have used my E-10 down to -33 C without a problem.

Sven

Dwight58 said:

I left the camera outside this evening and monitored the
temperature until it was 33F. The camera doesn't work at this mild
temperature. Now I feel totally justified in returning it. The
camera is guaranteed to work down to freezing. I bought the camera
to be used outdoors.

I know its not a battery problem, both my batties worked after
being in the freezer. The camera it's self doesn't work at 33F.
Totally unacceptable.

Click to expand...