Dead G1

[Bob Williams]

I was just out hiking around in the new snow shooting with
the G1/420ex, and suddenly the screen just went black. It
is still sealed in the plastic bag warming up, so I haven't had
the chance to mess with it yet. Can this happen if the battery
got cold and it did not have enough power, or am I another
person with one that just quit in the middle of using it?

 

[Bob Williams]

Once the camera warmed back up, it started working fine
again. I don't know if it was the cold, the battery in the
cold.

I was just out hiking around in the new snow shooting with
the G1/420ex, and suddenly the screen just went black. It
is still sealed in the plastic bag warming up, so I haven't had
the chance to mess with it yet. Can this happen if the battery
got cold and it did not have enough power, or am I another
person with one that just quit in the middle of using it?

 

[Tin78557]

Bob,

As with any electronic, when it's a cold, the internal circuit of the battery is having a hard time making contact, so as it warm up, the current flow much easier. For example when you start your car in the cold. It doesnt start as good as it compare in the summer time.

Tin

I was just out hiking around in the new snow shooting with
the G1/420ex, and suddenly the screen just went black. It
is still sealed in the plastic bag warming up, so I haven't had
the chance to mess with it yet. Can this happen if the battery
got cold and it did not have enough power, or am I another
person with one that just quit in the middle of using it?

 

[Chris ™]

Hi,

to prevent this I wear the G1 with the neck strap under my jacket and put it back under the jacket directly after shooting ... so far this worked fine.
And I don't get in trouble with condensation.

Greetings from Germany

Chris

As with any electronic, when it's a cold, the internal circuit of
the battery is having a hard time making contact, so as it warm up,
the current flow much easier. For example when you start your car
in the cold. It doesnt start as good as it compare in the summer
time.

Tin

Once the camera warmed back up, it started working fine
again. I don't know if it was the cold, the battery in the
cold.

 

[Bob Williams]

Chris, I was using the tripod and the 420. I put it outside to
cool in a sealed bag a while before using it. All was well for 36
shots, but then while setting up the 37th, it just quit. The lens
did not retract all the way, but it did retract part way. It acted
like they do when they go into sleep mode, only it wasn't
responding to being turned on and off, or to the display mode
either. It worked again when it warmed back up, but the file
transfers were very very slow. I don't know if this is a microdrive
issue or not. I changed the bios setting from allow DMA for USB
yesterday because of a setup conflict, and that may explain the
slow transfer rates. Anyway, it is working fine again, and it is
under factory warranty until June, and under replacement or
repair till next Febuary thru the store. If it is a problem, I have
time to get it fixed.
Snow pics are hard to get right! I got the exposures right
today, but I still haven't got it quite right. They look like black
and white images. Now, that is most of the color out there,
but even the greens of the cedars and pines did not come
thru very well. Even using the flash helped very little. The only
image with good color in it is one with the flag backed by the
tops of snow covered trees. The image looks black and white,
and looks like the flag was painted on. It may have been the
light, as the clouds never moved off today, and the sky was
almost as white as the snow. Anyway, I am going to take it out
again tomorrow, and I will try the under the jacket idea, and
shoot hand held.

to prevent this I wear the G1 with the neck strap under my jacket
and put it back under the jacket directly after shooting ... so far
this worked fine.
And I don't get in trouble with condensation.

Greetings from Germany

Chris

As with any electronic, when it's a cold, the internal circuit of
the battery is having a hard time making contact, so as it warm up,
the current flow much easier. For example when you start your car
in the cold. It doesnt start as good as it compare in the summer
time.

Tin

Once the camera warmed back up, it started working fine
again. I don't know if it was the cold, the battery in the
cold.

 

[mcveed]

Bob,
Did you post these pics? You are discussing them as if we could see them.>
--Happy SnappingDon McVee

 

[Bob Williams]

Will do Don. I will upload a couple of them to fototime and
post them in a few minutes. Warning tho, like all images
I post to discuss the camera or other equipment, they will
be straight out of the camera.

Bob,
Did you post these pics? You are discussing them as if we could see
them.>

--
Happy Snapping
Don McVee

 

[Chris ™]

Rehi Bob,

I never heard of this color problem in snow pics ... strange. O.k., it's well known, that underexposure and a blue cast (especially in the shadows) might occure, but nearly B&W with very flat colors ... no.

Maybe it was a temperature problem too or maybe an optical one. Did you use any filters? At 12/31/2001 I was shooting in a park ... IR in the snow with a tripod ... I held the cam under my jacket and only put it out to shoot after adjusting the tripod. Directly after shooting I first put the G1 back under my jacket, before I fetched my tripod.

But I also made a few freehand shots only with UV filter and even without exposure compensation they came out nice ... RAW images.

I posted one example in another thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=2053815

Greetings from Germany

Chris

Chris, I was using the tripod and the 420. I put it outside to
cool in a sealed bag a while before using it. All was well for 36
shots, but then while setting up the 37th, it just quit. The lens
did not retract all the way, but it did retract part way. It acted
like they do when they go into sleep mode, only it wasn't
responding to being turned on and off, or to the display mode
either. It worked again when it warmed back up, but the file
transfers were very very slow. I don't know if this is a microdrive
issue or not. I changed the bios setting from allow DMA for USB
yesterday because of a setup conflict, and that may explain the
slow transfer rates. Anyway, it is working fine again, and it is
under factory warranty until June, and under replacement or
repair till next Febuary thru the store. If it is a problem, I have
time to get it fixed.
Snow pics are hard to get right! I got the exposures right
today, but I still haven't got it quite right. They look like black
and white images. Now, that is most of the color out there,
but even the greens of the cedars and pines did not come
thru very well. Even using the flash helped very little. The only
image with good color in it is one with the flag backed by the
tops of snow covered trees. The image looks black and white,
and looks like the flag was painted on. It may have been the
light, as the clouds never moved off today, and the sky was
almost as white as the snow. Anyway, I am going to take it out
again tomorrow, and I will try the under the jacket idea, and
shoot hand held.

 

[Bob Williams]

Chris, I got to playing with them in PhotoPaint and in
Picture Window. I can bump the saturation a bit, and I
start to push the blue into the sky a bit, but it transfers
to the snow also, even with the WP custom set. Same
if I try to play with the greens. Before I get anywhere, I
have cast to the full image. The use full range option in
Picture window corrects the exposure pretty well to remove
the blue/grays in the images farther away from the camera
pretty well. There still is no color except in the cases where
there is a strong clean color showing, like the flag. In some
of the flash shots, I managed to pull some browns into the
tree trunks close to the camera, but the rest is white, gray,
and black. I have PhotoPaint set to simulate composite
printer colors, so I don't really trust to adjust in it and then
post on the web. I am going to post a couple of the
images this morning, but I am going to break habit and post
them edited in Picture Window. The use full range option
really does make them enough better that they are not that
bad. I think the white sky thing is the answer. I got better
color shooting the snow at night with the flash than these
have.

I never heard of this color problem in snow pics ... strange. O.k.,
it's well known, that underexposure and a blue cast (especially in
the shadows) might occure, but nearly B&W with very flat colors ...
no.

Maybe it was a temperature problem too or maybe an optical one. Did
you use any filters? At 12/31/2001 I was shooting in a park ... IR
in the snow with a tripod ... I held the cam under my jacket and
only put it out to shoot after adjusting the tripod. Directly after
shooting I first put the G1 back under my jacket, before I fetched
my tripod.

But I also made a few freehand shots only with UV filter and even
without exposure compensation they came out nice ... RAW images.

I posted one example in another thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=2053815

Greetings from Germany

Chris

Chris, I was using the tripod and the 420. I put it outside to
cool in a sealed bag a while before using it. All was well for 36
shots, but then while setting up the 37th, it just quit. The lens
did not retract all the way, but it did retract part way. It acted
like they do when they go into sleep mode, only it wasn't
responding to being turned on and off, or to the display mode
either. It worked again when it warmed back up, but the file
transfers were very very slow. I don't know if this is a microdrive
issue or not. I changed the bios setting from allow DMA for USB
yesterday because of a setup conflict, and that may explain the
slow transfer rates. Anyway, it is working fine again, and it is
under factory warranty until June, and under replacement or
repair till next Febuary thru the store. If it is a problem, I have
time to get it fixed.
Snow pics are hard to get right! I got the exposures right
today, but I still haven't got it quite right. They look like black
and white images. Now, that is most of the color out there,
but even the greens of the cedars and pines did not come
thru very well. Even using the flash helped very little. The only
image with good color in it is one with the flag backed by the
tops of snow covered trees. The image looks black and white,
and looks like the flag was painted on. It may have been the
light, as the clouds never moved off today, and the sky was
almost as white as the snow. Anyway, I am going to take it out
again tomorrow, and I will try the under the jacket idea, and
shoot hand held.

 

[robert rozee37725]

hi,

this wouldn't by any chance be the same g1 that you had problems with randomly underexposing shots?

regards,
robert rozee
christchurch, new zealand

I was just out hiking around in the new snow shooting with
the G1/420ex, and suddenly the screen just went black. It
is still sealed in the plastic bag warming up, so I haven't had
the chance to mess with it yet. Can this happen if the battery
got cold and it did not have enough power, or am I another
person with one that just quit in the middle of using it?

 

[Bob Williams]

Same beast. I have pretty much figured it out these days,
and with the 420ex mounted, it gets almost perfect exposures
most of the time in p-mode. Much of my early problems with
this camera has to do with the mode dial, as it gets stuck kind
of between modes, if that makes sense. If it starts to act
funny now, all I have to do is turn the mode dial a few notches
and turn it back. All will be well again. When the flash is not
on the camera, I use spot metering almost all of the time any
more. I actually like the darned thing when the roses are not
blooming. This time I think the problem was just the cold, and
a battery that was just low enough to get cold and quit on me.
It was outside in mid 20's weather for about an hour on a tripod.
The images were caused by the white sky I am guessing.

regards,
robert rozee
christchurch, new zealand

I was just out hiking around in the new snow shooting with
the G1/420ex, and suddenly the screen just went black. It
is still sealed in the plastic bag warming up, so I haven't had
the chance to mess with it yet. Can this happen if the battery
got cold and it did not have enough power, or am I another
person with one that just quit in the middle of using it?

 

[Chris ™]

Rehi Bob,

sorry, but it sounds as if your G1 is a case for the support.

Greetings from Germany

Chris

regards,
robert rozee
christchurch, new zealand

I was just out hiking around in the new snow shooting with
the G1/420ex, and suddenly the screen just went black. It
is still sealed in the plastic bag warming up, so I haven't had
the chance to mess with it yet. Can this happen if the battery
got cold and it did not have enough power, or am I another
person with one that just quit in the middle of using it?

 

[Diane B]

Chris, I was using the tripod and the 420. I put it outside to
cool in a sealed bag a while before using it. All was well for 36
shots, but then while setting up the 37th, it just quit

It does sound like low battery in the cold. People have mentioned this in several forums--that the batteries discharge (I may have that wrong--but anyhow, they lose power much faster in cold--guess that's 'discharging') quite fast in cold. I haven't been using the G1 enough recently to remember how it acts when the battery goes low, but normally it doesn't just quit--however, in the cold, it might just happen. Glad it responded. Setting up on a tripod, it would be totally exposed. I've tried Chris tip with the G1 and use only the viewfinder, but my other cam is too large to easily put in jacket. I've used it with plastic bag over it though to keep it dry and shield the lens in heavy snow LOL.

I read further down in the thread--I suspect the sky played a large part in the snow exposure as you mentioned.

Cheers, Diane--Diane B http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleriesB/W lover, but color is seducing me

 

[Chris ™]

Hi Diane, rehi Bob,

if it would be a batterie discharging issue, the G1 would indicate the low batterie some minutes before shutting off.

Greetings from Germany

Chris

Chris, I was using the tripod and the 420. I put it outside to
cool in a sealed bag a while before using it. All was well for 36
shots, but then while setting up the 37th, it just quit

It does sound like low battery in the cold. People have mentioned
this in several forums--that the batteries discharge (I may have
that wrong--but anyhow, they lose power much faster in cold--guess
that's 'discharging') quite fast in cold. I haven't been using the
G1 enough recently to remember how it acts when the battery goes
low, but normally it doesn't just quit--however, in the cold, it
might just happen. Glad it responded. Setting up on a tripod, it
would be totally exposed. I've tried Chris tip with the G1 and use
only the viewfinder, but my other cam is too large to easily put in
jacket. I've used it with plastic bag over it though to keep it
dry and shield the lens in heavy snow LOL.

I read further down in the thread--I suspect the sky played a large
part in the snow exposure as you mentioned.

Cheers, Diane
--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries
B/W lover, but color is seducing me

 

[Bob Williams]

I am pretty sure of that also Chris. Then it will work all day
and produce great shots for the most part, with the only
limit being me. I just hate the idea of no camera for a couple
of weeks.

sorry, but it sounds as if your G1 is a case for the support.

Greetings from Germany

Chris

regards,
robert rozee
christchurch, new zealand

I was just out hiking around in the new snow shooting with
the G1/420ex, and suddenly the screen just went black. It
is still sealed in the plastic bag warming up, so I haven't had
the chance to mess with it yet. Can this happen if the battery
got cold and it did not have enough power, or am I another
person with one that just quit in the middle of using it?

 

[Chris ™]

Rehi Bob!

I just hate the idea of no camera for a couple of weeks.

Understandable, but better without a cam for some weeks, than "playing" with a faulty cam "for ever".

Good Luck

Chris

 

[Dennis Unverferth]

Bob,

Why did you put the camera outside in a bag before using it. Taking a warm camera outside (as long as it is not raining or snowing) will not harm the camera. You should put it in the bag when you take it inside to keep the condensation off the camera. One thing I have purchased for my G1 is a wrist stap. To keep the camera warm I will simply put it inside of my coat. I like the wrist stap better because I am only limitied my the length of my arm as opposed to the length of the neck stap. By the way I am bumming. You got to at least get out for a bit to attempt to do some shots in the snow I was busy or ill all weekend and did not manage to do any photography. Whatever happened to those good ole St. Louis snow filled winters!

Dennis U.