My Oly has died

[Mel.B]

Hi,

My 5050 appers to have died The lens is stuck out and won't retract. I took it into a camera place today and they said it appears to be a major lens malfunction and is going to be expensive to fix. Looks like I'll be shopping around on ebay for a new camera

Mel

 

[discrepancy]

My 5050 appears to have died The lens is stuck out and won't retract. I took it into a camera place today and they said it appears to be a major lens malfunction and is going to be expensive to fix. Looks like I'll be shopping around on ebay for a new camera

Mel,

Our heartfelt sympathies go out to you in your hour of bereavement.

But, don't bury the corpse too soon. I had a camera miraculously come back to life after being flooded. (Having said that, it died again today, and I'm afraid that this time it looks absolutely, positively terminal. At least it died doing what it loved doing - diving with me!).

Also, before you get too depressed, it may be worth taking your old buddy in for a second opinion from another repairer. Stranger things have happened.

 

[Dee]

Bummer! Did you do a hard reset? Or take the batteries out for 24 hours? Don't assume it's totally dead until you have Olympus check it out. Mine did that but taking the batteries out fix it.

 

[justleesa]

Really sorry to hear it....but don't give up hope. Try the little fixes that have been suggested and also as the others say, see what Oly can do for you. They might give you the repair flat rate of 179,- (they either repair or swap camera out)...cheaper than a "new" one off ebay.

 

[Kim]

That's bad news!

Leesa - just out of curiosity, does Oly give a further guarantee when they fix it like that - i.e. flat rate?

 

[justleesa]

Kim,

I think I got an extra 6 months....but it was so long ago, things might have changed.

 

[Mel.B]

Hi,

Thanks for the words of commiseration and suggestions. I've got the camera sitting now with the batteries out. How do I do a hard reset? While the camera will still turn out it makes a horrible noise then beeps a couple of times and then turns off...I can't access any menu buttons.

I'm in Australia the Oly service centre does not have a flat rate for fixing them. They have four different charges based on the complexity of the problem plus parts. I've been told anywhere b/w $40 - $80 dollars just to send it off to tell me what's wrong with it and then I could be looking at $500 - $800 to replace the lens assembly. Hopefully leaving the batteries out for 24 hours will do the trick.

Thanks,
Mel

 

[Kim]

Kim,

I think I got an extra 6 months....but it was so long ago, things might have changed.

That would sound like a much better deal than ebay then!

 

[discrepancy]

Mel,

If your camera died because of flooding it is sometimes a good idea to take the batteries out and put the camera in a tub of fresh water right away. That will stop the saltwater eating further into the electronics. Let it dry thoroughly afterwards, install known good batteries, and see what happens.

If you dropped it on its nose or did other mechanical damage, then obviously the freshwater bath is not the way to go. You need a camera mechanic.

A 'hard reset' will restore all the default factory settings, and will sometimes clear an electronic hiccup if that's all that's occurred. The hard reset button is usually a small recessed rubber button you need a biro or some other pointy object to get at. Don't know where it is on your camera, but it will be there somewhere.

 

[Mel.B]

Hi Discrepency,

To the best of my knowledge the camera hasn't been flooded. I posted a couple of weeks ago that it didn't last very long with a fresh (recharged) set of batteries. The generally concenus was that the batteries were the issue, but I wonder now if that wasn't a precursor to what has happened as the camera was turning on and then turning off. I couldn't hear the beeping noise it is making. I don't really play with the camera much above water so I don't know if the problem was actually there or not. However last weekend I did a dive that was very surgy and lots of sand was blowing around, so it's possible that it was bumped and a little bit of water got it. i didn't end up taking any photos on that dive so I don't know if it was working after that or not.

Fingers crossed leaving the batteries out will do the trick.
Mel