Fugi hi tech built in obsolescence.

[Ken S. Tucker]

Wife buys a Fuji S1500 camera 2.5 years ago, warranty 2 years.
It began suffering faults a few weeks ago, though it is lightly
used and well cared for. There is apparently no service available.
It cost her ~$250 => $100/year.

I did a minor examination of this camera and others and concluded,
a "Hi-tech self destruct" internal IC times out and causes the
fault(s) in succession.

Camera companies (Fugi is Jap but Chink made) can't make $ on film
now, so they can only make $ selling camera's. Naturally, a camera
is easily built to last 10-20 years, but the profit margin dives,
and there is NO LAW against self destruction circuitry, it's buyer
beware.

I haven't - as yet - determined the self destruct algorithm, or how
to reset the timer back to zero.

Has anyone else figured that out yet?
Ken

 

[Rich Webb]

Wife buys a Fuji S1500 camera 2.5 years ago, warranty 2 years.
It began suffering faults a few weeks ago, though it is lightly
used and well cared for. There is apparently no service available.
It cost her ~$250 => $100/year.

I did a minor examination of this camera and others and concluded,
a "Hi-tech self destruct" internal IC times out and causes the
fault(s) in succession.

Camera companies (Fugi is Jap but Chink made) can't make $ on film
now, so they can only make $ selling camera's. Naturally, a camera
is easily built to last 10-20 years, but the profit margin dives,
and there is NO LAW against self destruction circuitry, it's buyer
beware.

I haven't - as yet - determined the self destruct algorithm, or how
to reset the timer back to zero.

Has anyone else figured that out yet?
Ken

Might be that it's part of Agenda 21. George Soros might even be
involved, somehow.

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

People who believe in conspiracy theories overrate the ability of evil to
cooperate.

So what you're saying is that Fugi is incompetent, yet
having used their products for >30 years I 'would have'
recommended them until recently...things change.

Conspiracy? Where on Earth is mentioned any criminal activity?
Built in obsolescence is SOP.

It's more likely that the camera is just designed with connectors,
switches, and possibly displays, that don't last all that long.

USB port stopped working 1st, then we temperature cycled gently,
and other faults occurred during re-testing.

We've got a Canon that's well over four years old (I can't remember how
much longer than four years, but we bought it before the economic shit
hit the social fan).

So -- buy a camera with a decent name behind it, that's not the cheapest
one out there for its features, and cross your fingers.

How much did your "Canon" cost ya? May get them instead.
Ken

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

What faults?


How did you determine that?



My Fuji S5200 is a lot older that that (the 5200 was released about
2005) and works great. Used 5200's are available on Amazon and Ebay,
so they apparently keep working.

Fuji wouldn't dare sell a camera that would fail on purpose. Who would
buy another Fuji camera?

Not us, this is not just our experience, and it's not just Fugi,
Our survey indicates self destruct is common in many electronic
appliances.
Incidentally my company builds for maximum quality.

Check the removable flash chip. Many of them are cheap and flakey.

Doesn't have nor need one.
Regards
Ken

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

What faults?

1st was the USB port went dead, then LCD went dead after testing.

How did you determine that?

Balance of Probability, via elimination of other causes.
Regards
Ken

 

[notbob]

It's more likely that the camera is just designed with connectors,
switches, and possibly displays, that don't last all that long.

Entirely possible. I bought a Olympus film SLR that lasted a mere 12
mos, the metal shutters rusting two wks after the warrantee ran out.

nb

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

This is Ken S. Tucker

It is not Dr. Ken S. Tucker, it's Sloman puppet socking me.

- we probably need to remind him to try a new
battery, too.

Sloman wouldn't know it has 4 AA battery's.
The 4 were at 1.3V, replaced with 1.6V, the 2nd or 3rd
set.
Ken

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

LOL!!!

Built in obsolescence is worth $billions on the bottom line.
Of course some think the nice Japs and Chinks wouldn't want
to LEGALLY profit from selling junk to us good Westerners.
(((NOT))).
Ken

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

"Jap" and "Chink" are gross racist insults.

No they're not, anymore than calling me a canut whitey,
hang you're fig leaves on underage school girls.

Since you don't like those
people, buy a nice American made camera next time.

Yank stuff is usually the best.

We all know how much more reliable American cars are, compared to
Japanese ones.

Yanks got burned with built in obsolescence selling compact cars,
but our Chrysler (Dodge Grand Caravan) is excellent.
Ken

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

I don't own a camera. My wife ownss several, none of them Fuji - her
favourite is an Olympus, which wouldn't have room for an AA cell, let
alone four of them, and in fact runs off something rechargeable, which
hasn't needed replacement yet.


So you had to be reminded to test and replace them?

Have you ever trouble shot an advanced system?
Ken

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

It came with gigabytes of internal memory?

Internal memory = 23 Mb, we video rocket firings at 640x480 for
~28secs, worked ok on those occasions.
Ken

 

[Ken S. Tucker]

Is there any oxygen in your universe?

Good point Mike, thanks for the heads up.
Regards
Ken

 

[[email protected]]

No they're not, anymore than calling me a canut whitey,
hang you're fig leaves on underage school girls.


Yank stuff is usually the best.


Yanks got burned with built in obsolescence selling compact cars,
but our Chrysler (Dodge Grand Caravan) is excellent.

I had two of them ('85 and '90). Both sucked. Neither made it to 100Kmi.

 

[Tim Williams]

No they're not, anymore than calling me a canut whitey,
hang you're fig leaves on underage school girls.

*Your

 

[Tim Williams]

Internal memory = 23 Mb, we video rocket firings at 640x480 for
~28secs, worked ok on those occasions.
Ken

LOL, 23 megabits?! My old Canon S1 IS originally came with a whopping 128MB
CF card -- can't buy those things anymore, heck, can hardly even find CF
anymore!

Tim

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

LOL, 23 megabits?! My old Canon S1 IS originally came with a whopping 128MB
CF card -- can't buy those things anymore, heck, can hardly even find CF
anymore!

Tim

My Chinon/Kodak DC280 came with an 8MB CF card.

There is a lot of equipment out there that requires a 128 or 256M CF
maximum card- they're difficult to buy, but still available. For
example, some Tek scopes and Yokogawa process instruments.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Martin Brown]

"Jap" and "Chink" are gross racist insults. Since you don't like those
people, buy a nice American made camera next time.

Penniless racist trailer trash like Tucker couldn't afford it.

My first digital camera was a Kodak DC-120 "1Mpixel" - well made but
looked more like a StarTrek tricorder than a camera. Ate AA batteries
four at a time with a current draw of 1A for being on and 2A if the
flash was charging. Even so it was a big advantage to going round the
film/develop/scan or faster but more costly Polariod/scan loop. Still
works 14 years later as does the original Canon Ixus that replaced it.

Nothing wrong with Fuji's film or electronics either - they took the
world market off Kodak & Polaroid in both fields one after the other.
Kodak actually had the lead in pro digital imaging at one point but to
protect film sales they deliberately underplayed their hand

The Bayer digital camera sensor mask was a Kodak patented invention.
Kodak PhotoCD was a brilliant image scanning product but they muddied
the waters with manky PictureCD with the same initials. Most pros got
caught out by it once and never came back. Nikon scanner sales soared.

If you really want super service buy Swiss kit. They are obliged for
electromechanical kit to keep spares for ISTR 25 years. Prices to match.

Most dead digicams today are beyond economic repair. Lens servo or card
contacts tend to be the first things to fail. Sometimes cleaning them
will be enough. Tiny black thrips in the works is one mode of failure.

We all know how much more reliable American cars are, compared to
Japanese ones.

I thought these days that they had largely solved that problem. US cars
are just too heavy, with sloppy suspension, gross understeer and slow to
be interesting. That is until you put >6L engines in them.

 

[Martin Brown]

My Chinon/Kodak DC280 came with an 8MB CF card.

Generous given the price of early CF cards. The DC-120 had 4MB internal
memory that allowed it to be shop demoed without having to insert an
expensive small memory card. Digital cameras were very new and
expensive. Only early adopters with rapid turnaround requirements even
considered them at the outset since resolution was barely adequate.

The hairlike male connectors for CF cards meant that the hamfisted could
totally wreck an expensive unit by careless card insertion.

There is a lot of equipment out there that requires a 128 or 256M CF
maximum card- they're difficult to buy, but still available. For
example, some Tek scopes and Yokogawa process instruments.

Most stuff can handle up to the limit of FAT16 file systems, there is a
handful of older devices that croak on anything above FAT12.

Some firmware as recent as the early Pentax istD would baulk at memory
cards larger than 1GB (actually it worked but only for the first GB).
2GB bugs are a more normal gotcha on the signed/unsigned int boundary.

 

[Uwe Hercksen]

Entirely possible. I bought a Olympus film SLR that lasted a mere 12
mos, the metal shutters rusting two wks after the warrantee ran out.

Hello,

it is not possible to time the start of rusting with such precision.

Bye

 

[notbob]

it is not possible to time the start of rusting with such precision.

I doubt very seriously if it was uniformally progressive from day one.
I went out and took some pictures on two occassions about a month
before the shutter rusted and I sent it in for repair. Both days were
wettish, one foggy the other sprinkly, but the camera never came in
direct contact with water. I know the metal blade shutter rusted
because the factory repair station told me. Olympus wanted $10 more
to repair it than I could buy new one. Nevermind. I never bought a
camera with a metal blade shutter again. So, I'm sure it was not
planned obsolescence as much as planned cheapness.

nb