Baby Gallery Put on Hold...

[HanneysCorns]

Wouldn't you know it...tried to update the Baby Gallery with some new pics today and was met with disappointment. I've been promising myself a new digital camera for almost a month now and have just been waiting for the trip south on the weekend of September 16th and the Ontario Reptile Show to make the purchase. My nearest 'camera store' is 4 hours away...darn boonies!!!

Well after taking some (what I thought) great pictures of not only the new clutches which are establishing, but also some shots of the new acquisitions from Red Deer, I uploaded the pics only to find some rather out of focus, squiggly lined pics of hard to recognize hatchlings. I think repair is out of the question...at least that's only a one hour drive... ...but I really think my camera is toast.

I've uploaded a couple shots just to show what I'm faced with. If anyone has any suggestions on a quick fix, PLEASE offer your suggestions. I'm willing to try anything at this point to tide me over for 2 weeks when I can get back to civilization.

Ruth

P.S....the little critters you are trying to focus in on are from Annette; the female albino gopher, the striped super corn female, and the male striped jungle corn.

[Sozz]

Originally Posted by HanneysCorns

...but I really think my camera is toast.

I think I'm going to have to agree, it looks like the camera's pretty much bit the big one. I haven't seen one die in quite that way before, myself, but I'd wager it has something to do with the CCD. Still, on the off-chance that it's something else you should try a few things to see if you can squeeze a few more photos out.

First, try formatting the memory card (or internal memory if it uses that). There should be a way to do that in the camera menu - don't just delete photos, do a full format to 'clean' the memory. Bad memory could cause those artifacts, I used to get them on one of my old cameras.

The next thing to try if that doesn't work is a hard reset, of sorts. Remove all batteries from the camera (you'll have to dig deep to see if there's a watch battery in there, some cameras use them to retain date/time settings). Leave the camera free of all power sources for a good while, five-ten minutes at least.

If that doesn't work, check the manufacturer's website to see if there's a firmware upgrade available for the camera. Some companies offer firmware upgrades, which is kinda like a Windows upgrade for a camera.

After all that is done, if it's still not working... then it's probably dead and not worth fixing. So then you get to think about what you want in a new camera!

If it gets to that point and you have any questions feel free to toss me an email, I used to sell digital cameras and I've got more than a few of my own (and more than a few opinions, as well, and I'm very glad to share those!). Good luck!

[galenwbritt]

Nice post Sozz...........does that offer to pick your "Digital Camera Guru Brain" apply to everybody? LOL

G

[Piper]

If formatting the memory card does not work, try to swap it out with a different one. Most people buy a larger memory card than originally came with the camera. If you did... do you still have the small one it came with? Memory card may be going bad.

Could also be a bad data transfer from the camera to your PC. Try taking a few more photos & download to same PC. Try downloading to a different PC and / or try a different transfer cable / card reader.

Do you have a playback mode in the camera? If you do & the images look ok there, that would probably rule out bad CCD. May or may not rule out bad memory card. (May or may not - depends on how the camera writes the preview on the memory card... too early to think about that before morning coffee =)

Let us know if anything helps!!

[Sozz]

Originally Posted by galenwbritt

Nice post Sozz...........does that offer to pick your "Digital Camera Guru Brain" apply to everybody? LOL

G

Heh, sure thing. I like talking about tech-geeky stuff, especially cameras. Although I won't claim to be a guru, by any means. I just worked in sales for far too long, it's become a habit!

[HanneysCorns]

Well, I just got the good news! Yes, I think this camera is toast...thanks everyone for your great suggestions...so I was able to find a new one on line, order it and have a friend from my old home town "Guelph" pick it up and he will be bringing it to me tomorrow evening. No, he's not making a special trip... ...one of Jeff's fishing buddies has decided to spend a few days enjoying Mother Nature before it snows...

Guess I have my work cut out for me testing the new camera. Shouldn't be too difficult...I hope...but me and tecky things do on occasion have our moments... . This is just an upgrade, same manufacturer just higher zoom power and apparently 'freeze framing' for lack of a better word. I did have a laugh tho! When Jeff's friend purchased the camera of course he got the regular question...what kind of pictures do you mainly take? Hmmm, he thought, how do I answer this? I guess when he told the salesman it was for taking close up pics of 'snakes', he said the guy said, "Really" and backed up a few steps. He rang the sale thru and then said, 'Happy hunting!'

If he only knew!

Ruth

[vanderkm]

Great news Ruth - will be nice to see more pics of your guys. What camera did you decide on?


mary v.