A1 Overheating Error

[acidbyte]

Situation:Recently i am sure most people will know the scorching heat everywhere. I was taking photo for a school sports event. I took my A1 to the field/running track and started snapping away under the hot sun. After shooting for less than 30 shots, the camera status panel showed "ERR". I took out my battery, put it back,then tried again. After pressing the shutter halfway, it displayed the same problem. I took out the CF card and the batteries from the camera, the batteries wasn't hot but i noticed both my CF card and the grip side of the camera is hot.

Temporary solution:So i stopped for about 10-15mins and continued taking photo under shade and it never occurred again.

Question to all : I am just wondering if any A1/A2 users have this problem.

:sweat:

 

[ZhiJie]

This is a known problem and it's documented. Refer to Instructions Manual, Troubleshooting section. I quote :

Symptom : "Err" displayed on the data Panel
Cause : The camera is hot or it has been left in a very hot environment
Solution : Turn off the camera and allow it to cool. If "Err" is still dispalyed on the camera after it cools, remove and replace the battery or power cord.

 

[-7-]

This is a known problem and it's documented. Refer to Instructions Manual, Troubleshooting section. I quote :

Symptom : "Err" displayed on the data Panel
Cause : The camera is hot or it has been left in a very hot environment
Solution : Turn off the camera and allow it to cool. If "Err" is still dispalyed on the camera after it cools, remove and replace the battery or power cord.

Oh my god... is A2 suffering from the same problem as well?

 

[synapseman]

Man, this is rather disappointing. I own a 7Hi, and this overheating problem was the one thing that irritated me the most. I thought they'd have addressed the issue in the A2.

My solution is to bring along one of those small computer CPU heatsinks. And when it gets too hot, at least I can rapidly cool the CF card down...

 

[sulhan]

Hiee....

I was made to understand by my fellow engineer is that the CF cards.....brand to brand uses different IC's. They may vary due to feature like faster write speeds, failure management, and other techcy features. Hence there may be an instant where you may be running a CF card which in some read/write case may be consuming a higher than normal power.

This is also experienced in using CF in PCMCIA's slots in laptops......devices like PCMCIA modems too....for some cases may overheat and through time damage the modem and dies.

It is not possible for manufacturers to test their product to all available CF cards in the markets. Therefore, there may be some which may be operating at its recommended or marginally along its designed boundaries.

Heat dissipation in electronics is influenced by many factors like.....ambient, surfac area, junction temp....your hand(body temp), out of spec components etc.

Looking things at the good side, is that with the system's ability to sense and overheating and returns you and ERROR is better than ignoring it and damaging hardware (your CF or the camera it self) or even making you loss your data in the CF card.

Well....its where we are now in the electronics industry that sometimes users may get carried away in wanting everything 100% perfect(and made believe its possible)......but too bad its not true......

well.....just my thoughts...

BTW...i have not had ERR problems before.



rgds,
me

 

[AReality]

Well....its where we are now in the electronics industry that sometimes users may get carried away in wanting everything 100% perfect(and made believe its possible)......but too bad its not true......

Well, it a product is 100% perfect, the company will go bust soon... Products are designed in a way that they will fail after a certain amount of time.

Anyway, also no need for warranty when buying a new product. The risks are all calculated.

 

[synapseman]

Anyway, also no need for warranty when buying a new product. The risks are all calculated.

You are TOO correct w.r.t. this, man! I have been using my 7Hi all along. Very well looked after, no hint of trouble. The one fine day, I switched on the camera, and the CCD wasn't recording an image! I could see nothing. The LCD/EVF displays were there, but it seemed as if I left the cap on. Conclusion: CCD fried. The next thing I realised, dang: Warranty expired just 2 months ago!!!

I really think they've buried some self-destruct mechanism in there man...

 

[chriszzz]

Man, this is rather disappointing. I own a 7Hi, and this overheating problem was the one thing that irritated me the most. I thought they'd have addressed the issue in the A2.

My solution is to bring along one of those small computer CPU heatsinks. And when it gets too hot, at least I can rapidly cool the CF card down...

Very interesting solution to a problem. Heheheh...bringing your own heatsink...very creative.

I had the same problem with my A1 too. I was in India, and the temperature in afternoon was 41 degrees Celcius ! After using my 512MB Transcend x45 card in my A1 for just a few minutes, the card started to fail. I wasn't able to access the card at all. The A1's red CF LED remained lit, but it was not able to read the card. The handgrip area was very hot. Taking the battery out and replacing it didn't help. Turning it off and going into the shade (whereit is cooler) fixed this.

Strange thing is, I didn't get this problem with my Microdrive, which I suppose generates even more heat ! Weird.

 

[TME]

Very interesting solution to a problem. Heheheh...bringing your own heatsink...very creative.

I had the same problem with my A1 too. I was in India, and the temperature in afternoon was 41 degrees Celcius ! After using my 512MB Transcend x45 card in my A1 for just a few minutes, the card started to fail. I wasn't able to access the card at all. The A1's red CF LED remained lit, but it was not able to read the card. The handgrip area was very hot. Taking the battery out and replacing it didn't help. Turning it off and going into the shade (whereit is cooler) fixed this.

Strange thing is, I didn't get this problem with my Microdrive, which I suppose generates even more heat ! Weird.

As Sulhan indicated, it's dependent on the IC design of the CF card. The Microdrive being more expensive might be made to higher tolerances.... and perhaps knowing the problem with spinning parts, the heat dissipation technology employed might be better.....

 

[TME]

Situation:Recently i am sure most people will know the scorching heat everywhere. I was taking photo for a school sports event. I took my A1 to the field/running track and started snapping away under the hot sun. After shooting for less than 30 shots, the camera status panel showed "ERR". I took out my battery, put it back,then tried again. After pressing the shutter halfway, it displayed the same problem. I took out the CF card and the batteries from the camera, the batteries wasn't hot but i noticed both my CF card and the grip side of the camera is hot.

Temporary solution:So i stopped for about 10-15mins and continued taking photo under shade and it never occurred again.

Question to all : I am just wondering if any A1/A2 users have this problem.

:sweat:

U were probably firing non-stop using the burst mode.... so a hot afternoon with a overheating photographer holding onto a furiously writing/caching/reading CF card under the blazing hot sun, no wonder it overheated lar..... :bsmilie:

 

[deslim27]

Just curious, are you guys using 3rd party battery? Thought I saw some thread regarding the availablity of 3rd party battery.

Won't you worry that the battery will explode like Nokia handphone (in the news) :sweat:

 

[Inimatad]

Hiee....

I was made to understand by my fellow engineer is that the CF cards.....brand to brand uses different IC's. They may vary due to feature like faster write speeds, failure management, and other techcy features. Hence there may be an instant where you may be running a CF card which in some read/write case may be consuming a higher than normal power.

Ok...here's my 2 cents worth of comment...Had this problem too with the CF. Hagiwara not very friendly with my A1.
So I now use this camera as my back up for events and like some of you said earlier give the cam a 10 tp 15 minutes break then it will be OK!

 

[modenaslim]

I think it's time for manufacturer to integrate a mini
Cooling Fan next to CF slot
:blah: :blah:

like what u have in your CPU.. hee hee. when the detected temp reaches certain level the fan will turn on... high tech ler..:blah:

All heat problem will gone.. hee hee.. :sweatsm:

 

[raychan]

Apparently, the Minolta 7XX/AXX series are prone to this kinda problems.

Used the same CF card on my Nikon D100 and it doesn't get that hot as compared to the Minolta. On my 7Hi, it gets really HOT until it is too hot to touch. Place the CF card on your face and you may get scalded. Did anyone try to measure the temperature of the CF card ? Should be in the region of about 50 degrees......

With the D100, I tend to get some random 'hot' pixels. It disappears when the camera has time to cool off. But at least the CF Card doesn't get that hot.

Did anyone try uploading the latest Minolta firmware to see if it addresses these kinda issues ?

 

[TME]

Apparently, the Minolta 7XX/AXX series are prone to this kinda problems.

Used the same CF card on my Nikon D100 and it doesn't get that hot as compared to the Minolta. On my 7Hi, it gets really HOT until it is too hot to touch. Place the CF card on your face and you may get scalded. Did anyone try to measure the temperature of the CF card ? Should be in the region of about 50 degrees......

With the D100, I tend to get some random 'hot' pixels. It disappears when the camera has time to cool off. But at least the CF Card doesn't get that hot.

Did anyone try uploading the latest Minolta firmware to see if it addresses these kinda issues ?

50 degrees won't scald u lar... if u park a car in the open under the hot sun, the interior temperature is about 55-60 degrees.... but u dun get burnt...

For the Minolta 7 and A series, I guess it's got to do with the cooling technology.... and maybe write/read technolgy....

 

[TME]

I think it's time for manufacturer to integrate a mini
Cooling Fan next to CF slot
:blah: :blah:

like what u have in your CPU.. hee hee. when the detected temp reaches certain level the fan will turn on... high tech ler..:blah:

All heat problem will gone.. hee hee.. :sweatsm:

First how do u propose to stick a CF card PLUS cooler fan into a camera?? :blah:

Second, the heat problems are not gone, the heat has to be dissipated from the card to the exterior of the camera body. Have a cooling fan without a vent to the outside of the interior of the camera body is not going to help but make things worse cos the surroundings get heated up much faster and the electronics and CCD/CMOS can easily go haywire.... i.e. hot pixels emerge.....

 

[raychan]

Spread thermal paste onto the CF card :bsmilie: :kiss: