E-330 horizontal banding and lackadaisical Oly support

[cjtune]

Well, I'll probably just address my first letter to a generic "Customer Service Manager" or something like that at Olympus Singapore Imaging.

Frankly the more I think of it, I'd rather just hold on to my faulty camera rather than to hand it in for 'service' that'll probably take a month or more and with the possibility something else might get broken in the process (judging from the horror camera repair stories I've read online) or to get another "it's normal"/"There's nothing wrong"/"It's all in your head" reply. I doubt they'll be as generous as to offer a new E-330 body for loan while they keep mine for repairs.

 

[drakon09]

of course not:bsmilie: that would be a serious communication breakdown if we have to resort to writing mails to each other for every communication....

anyway...whoever you are going to write or talk to, hope they can give you a satisfactory reply.

cheers

There ARE organizations that do just that!

Needless to say, communication breakdown happens far too often there. :bsmilie:

 

[cire07]

There ARE organizations that do just that!

Needless to say, communication breakdown happens far too often there. :bsmilie:

Yeah, u should know... haha...

 

[cjtune]

Dracon09, cire07, I wonder if we're from the same organisation....?

Anyhow, I got a courtesy call and email from Olympus Sg today. Basically telling me I've not been forgotten and they are still investigating my case.

Stay tuned for further updates...

 

[cire07]

Could be... Most prob...

It takes one to know one...

I wear blue though.

 

[MIA]

Dracon09, cire07, I wonder if we're from the same organisation....?

Anyhow, I got a courtesy call and email from Olympus Sg today. Basically telling me I've not been forgotten and they are still investigating my case.

Stay tuned for further updates...

Thats great !! at least they are listening.....

 

[artfakeme]

Try printing it out on photo paper, see if it shows when printed.

 

[drakon09]

Could be... Most prob...

It takes one to know one...

I wear blue though.

I wear green!

 

[cjtune]

Try printing it out on photo paper, see if it shows when printed.

Actually yes, I did print out the ceiling fan picture to present to the Oly tech support and it was reproduced ad verbatim on paper.

 

[Blu-By-U]

Anymore news?

Oh yes...cjtune, while you are at it with them oly, please request them to enable the Easter Eggs in the firmware.

 

[cjtune]

Anymore news?

Oh yes...cjtune, while you are at it with them oly, please request them to enable the Easter Eggs in the firmware.

Nope. That's why I'm treating the recent contact by Olympus as a courtesy call. I'll try to escalate this case further to Oly management (local and Japan) sometime next month if still no news. Two months is a pretty long time to get something done, at least to me and to my work in R&D. Should be faster if more priority gets placed on it and more people are alerted and assigned to help the local technician. It's either that isolated cases like ours isn't getting the attention it deserves (still deciding if customer is really having a problem or not??), or, the problem is actually so widespread that even finding good units to swap one-to-one is difficult, and that Olympus doesn't want these kinds of issues surfacing publicly to affect the coming near-Christmas sales...

I'll ask them if we can still go into the maintenance mode to find out shutter count and do neat tricks like going to ISO50 and ISO10000. These modes are usually there to help the service technician to find out info and enter specialised modes to troubleshoot issues and shouldn't be completely removed.

 

[cjtune]

Also, I've discovered something recently. If you wait long enough, the banding will die down to low, almost unnoticeable levels. I took a series of pictures in a span of 10 minutes from beginning to end: http://www.box.net/public/bd9661jrol (7.5MB zipped archive)

The shots were taken with Live View Mode B on, each picture about 1 minute+ apart, and now they appear as predominantly diagonal or even vertical bands. The bands did not show up any worser in subsequent pics after the last picture in the series, for another 20-30 minutes I was toying around with the camera for that test, but will still appear after I turn back on the camera after a period of power-off. I did not save down pictures taken when testing without Live View or with just Live View Mode A but I do remember it took significantly longer or never went away.

So, perhaps banding is related to some sort of transient even and probably is heat related (CCD must get properly warmed up first before using the high ISO 'Image Boost'??). A 10-minutes warming-up time is also unacceptable as I usually use high ISOs for fast candid shots with natural light in dimly lit places.

I'll try to do more testing when I'm freer.

 

[Blu-By-U]

Strange.. Blu did not experience anymore banding. This is shot with idot mode.
http://static.flickr.com/105/274398041_839c065f88_b.jpg

 

[cjtune]

Strange.. Blu did not experience anymore banding. This is shot with idot mode.
http://static.flickr.com/105/274398041_839c065f88_b.jpg

Was that a high-ISO underexposed shot? Couldn't tell. No EXIF info embedded.
Nice panorama by the way. :thumbsup:

Well, all the best and hopefully the patterned noise doesn't turn up again for you.

 

[Blu-By-U]

Pano joint shots where got EXIF details. :dunno: I set the cam to the scene mode D-Image Stabilization..so most likely it's ISO1600..but you mention underexposed...Looks ok on my desktop screen... but white/foggy on my laptop...:cry:

Guess what cjtune, Blu was looking thru some of them pictures taken during blu's vacation, some of them stage shots do have the banding. Strangely they do not appear in any of the RAW shots.

 

[cjtune]

I sent in my E-330 body a second time to Olympus support and this time they claim to be able to resolve the issue by doing some tweaks and calibration.

However, the loan unit they gave me (another E-330 supposedly already gone through the special calibration procedure) does still display noticeable horizontal banding. Here's a repeat of my ceiling fan shot but with the new body and new lens (14-54):

Full-size HQ JPEG here: http://www.box.net/public/kvxeetaz28

Much better than what my own E-330 was giving me at ISO1600 but it also mean I should not be expecting a full resolution of the issue. At least not within the 1-week timeframe they have promised to calibrate my E-330 and return it to me.

 

[cjtune]

Guess what cjtune, Blu was looking thru some of them pictures taken during blu's vacation, some of them stage shots do have the banding. Strangely they do not appear in any of the RAW shots.

I hate it when these kinds of problems keep you guessing as to when they'll appear.

For my case, even the ORF/RAW files are affected.

 

[microcosm]

I hate it when these kinds of problems keep you guessing as to when they'll appear.

For my case, even the ORF/RAW files are affected.

Have you sent in yours for re-calibration?

 

[cjtune]

Have you sent in yours for re-calibration?

As stated previously, I had just sent it in today. Will see how much effect the calibration has on it next week when I get it back.

 

[Blu-By-U]

Don't know if blu should send it in or not. The banding is not even as noticeable as you loan unit.