New camera

Posted by William M. Connolley on February 23, 2009
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This isn’t going to turn into a photo-blog. But since my S10 started playing up (“lens error”) I got a D80 off ebay (so its not really a new camera at all, but nikon owners other than me seem to look after them well). And then took the S10 to bits, on the off chance of fixing it. But it is really very intricately constructed, as I knew it would be. Just taking it to bits to this stage was hard, getting it back together just about possible, but actually finding out what is wrong, let alone fixing it, so far eludes me. And this is what the lens barrel assembly looks like, or rather what the circuit layer on top of it looks like.

The D80 is nice. It’s good to have a proper SLR again (the F-801 was good too, but as an analogue object has been obsolete for years).

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Comments

  1. #1 Rod
    2009/02/24

    The frustrating difficulty with much modern equipment is that something like an error code saying ‘lens error’ does not necessarily mean that there is an error with the lens.Its a bit like what I believe the medical profession call referral pain. Sciatica etc.

  2. #2 P. Lewis
    2009/02/24

    I presume your first step was to RTFM and then do a Web search? ;-)

    Wikipedia says:

    Many people have experienced ‘Lens Error.’ This error found is in the documentation of the coolpix cameras. The error message is an alert indicating fault with the lens has occurred. It can occur from the camera being turned on in a purse or pocket, dropping the camera, other physical damage such as pressure and other forms of impact. Sand and other foreign object debris stuck in the lens is quite common to also cause the error. In rare cases the error is a result of a manufacturing defect. Trying to ‘re-align’ the camera lens yourself can further damage the camera.

    There are a number of dodges on the Web for trying to get it working again (providing you can put it back together!). Some even seem to work.

    I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve inadvertently hit the “on” button of my wife’s camera whilst trying to extricate it from my pocket and been poked in the ribs by the lens extending from the camera body. I feel sure, reading the above, that if my wife’s camera had been a Nikon S10 then it, too, would now have a “Lens Error”. I smell the hint of a design problem perhaps.

    Of course, you’re not devious enough to engineer a lens fault to wangle a “new” Nikon SLR, are you? ;-)

  3. #3 Moopheus
    2009/02/24

    “but as an analogue object has been obsolete for years”

    Hmm. My vintage Nikons (an F and an F2), my Koni-Omega Rapid M, and 1954 Pacemaker Speed Graphic are amused at being referred to as “obsolete” by a guy whose digicam has been turned into a doorstop by a “lens error.” They’ll probably still be in service when the D80 is a doorstop too, and whatever follows it.

    [A fair point. I'm inclined to think that the build of the S10 wasn't really up to Nikon's usual high standards; but it did get carried around carelessly in pocket and bag and get dropped and generally survived treatment an SLR might have died on. So I'm not sure -W]

  4. #4 Eli Rabett
    2009/02/24

    OK, Eli understands why on a real SLR, the image in the viewfinder went black when you snapped the picture as the mirror moved out of the way so the film could be exposed. In the new cameras tho, the image in the back plate LCD comes from the same CCD sensor as is used to capture the image, so why does it go away when you snappppppp

  5. #5 Hank Roberts
    2009/02/25

    Eli, I think it’s because they don’t split the output from the sensor and it of course quits _updating_ the viewscreen. Some cameras just freeze the viewscreen, some black it out. I think the blackout is to remind you you’re no longer seeing what’s out in front of the lens during the time the camera is sucking the image data off the sensor and packing it away.

    I’d bet that to put a moving image on the viewscreen, they are using only some fraction of the pixels on the sensor, since they can do that in almost realtime — the viewscreens are so low-res anyhow. But they’d have to poll every pixel to save the actual image to memory, and that takes, oh, about five cute or nifty pictures’ worth of time, each time.

    I’m fond of my alread antique Panasonic TTL digital, but if I want to catch rapid action I pull out the Leica IIIf with the rapid winder. There’s a feature for rapid shooting on the digital, but not rapid shooting _exactly_when_ I want the shots.

  6. #6 Sathish
    2009/10/28

    This lens error is mainly on account of Higher Optical Zoom with Vibration Reduction. Whenever camera is shaked Lens get dislodged and you will be getting “Lens Error”

    Once u get the error u will not even able to switch off the camera. Best way to Turn off is to remove battery.

    Now to switch On and take photgraphs instead of Pressing “POWER ON/OFF” button directly press & hold “PLAY” button for 10 secs, u will get Play Menu Turned ON. Now again press Play button camera will switch over to shoot mode. But problem in this case is since lens is dislocated any one corner of the photo frame would hv got blurred