Puzzling problem with LX10 manual focus

[thielges]

I fixed the worst problem with my LX10 though there remains another less critical issue: manual focus won't work. Neither setting the camera in MF mode nor DMF focus after autofocus work anymore. My workaround is to use spot focus in place of MF though that is awkward and doesn't work in some situations.

What puzzles me is that I cannot figure out what component in the camera has failed. Certainly the mechanism that moves the focusing lens around is working just fine, otherwise autofocus would not be working. So I initially thought that the "focus by wire" control activated by the lens outer ring had failed. It could be something as simple as a faulty electrical connection between the ring and the controller electronics.

But then I noticed that the camera does indeed respond to turning the ring. In both MF and DMF modes the camera turns on the focus assist magnifier in the viewfinder. But twisting the ring doesn't change the focus at all.

In my experience these focus by wire controls have a very simple interface, they just send a series of pulses down a wire, the number of pulses are proportional to how far you twist the ring. So the ring is at least sending one pulse, otherwise the focus assist magnifier wouldn't appear. I cannot however figure out how that focus control would fail in a way that it sends just one pulse instead of several.

If you have any ideas please let me know.

 

[Dick Dastardly]

I fixed the worst problem with my LX10

You keep mentioning this but never disclose the nature of said problem. If it's a secret, no need to repeat this info, we get it.

What puzzles me is that I cannot figure out what component in the camera has failed

It could be the software. It could be a sensor. It could be a ribbon. It's not important, really. Manual focus on a modern day pocket camera, what for?

Let me tell you a secret, since you won't share yours with us. The LX10 was a pretty bad camera since the day it was launched, i would be surprised if the few people that did buy it back when it was released didn't have any issues with it at any point in time. It's flimsy, a far cry from the days of the early LX cameras, the LX2 and the LX3. And when you have a product of questionable quality, you should expect something to fail at some point in time, especially on these point and shoot cameras, who are not designed for any kind of extended usage in mind. They are disposable by design.

I have more confidence in the build quality of an old FS3 for example (midrange model from around 2008) than in a brand new LX10, which is a "premium" compact camera. Back then Panasonic made really well built compact cameras and many of them survived to this day, they only need fresh batteries.

By contrast, the TZ100 and LX10 feel hollow and poorly built, back when i was using an TZ100 i could just feel that sooner or later i'm going to have issues with it, so i sold mine.

 

[thielges]

The first issue is no secret, I just didn't think anyone cared other than fixing it has ended my search for a replacement. The problem was the automatic lens cover failed to open all of the way when the lens extends, causing vignetting if you don't fiddle with it and manually force the cover blades open. The cause was a tiny little dent in the upper left of the aluminum cowling around the objective end of the lens. The fix was to very carefully bend the cowling back. I didn't eliminate the dent, but a fraction of a millimeter was all it took to allow the blades to freely move.

As for manual focus, I tend to use it for macro shots or when shooting through a foreground that screens the background. And MF is more or less mandatory for time lapse, otherwise the camera will pointlessly autofocus hundreds of times during the TL recording and sometimes you get an out of focus frame. The extra AF time also limits the minimum TL interval when shooting with a slow shutter.

The reason I'm looking for insight into which component has failed and broke the MF function is isolating the cause is usually the first step towards fixing the problem. It is definitely not the sensor or software. A ribbon cable might be the cause though if my assumption that the focus-by-wire controller is position-pulse based is correct, a failed cable would also prevent the focus assist magnifier from appearing too.