stoopid camera
so once i got a new battery for the thing, i switched it on and it asked me for the time and date and whatnot. i thought this was odd as the thing had been partially tested and was being sold as spares, but i set it up and it seemed to work fine
then at one point i decided to see if i could max out the memory cards capacity for making movies on one charge. even though the movie quality is terrible, the apparent maximum length for a movie on a 2 gig memory card is about 88 mins, so i charged the battery full, stuck it on movie mode and just left it
after about the 70 mark, the battery looked although it was about to give in, fair enough. i had the LCD display on, i'm not sure if it can be switched off or not. eventually, the camera switched itself off. when i checked, i was surprised to find the movie clocked in at about 99:45, and their was still plenty of space left
then today, with the file still undeleted, the camera started playing up. i wanted to use it in Gloucester. it seems to have been working at first, but then when i switched it on, there was no picture on the screen. hitting the shutter just coursed the camera to crash completely an do couldn't even switch off, without removing and replacing the battery. hitting nearly any other button had the same effect, although i could switch off provided the camera hadn't crashed, and i think the same for switching functions
oddly, the one thing that did seem to work was the voice recorder. in fact, it seemed to be the autofous that crashed the camera. you could hear that working, then i guess it got confused as to the lack of things to focus on, or something. but the voice recorder worked differently for some reason. normally, you hit the shutter button to start and again to stop. here, i had to keep my finger on the shutter, and relieving it stopped the recording, though the onscreen instructions remained the same
so i hoped one of three things; either the movie file is corrupt and coursing problems, the cheep third party battery is in limbo or there's dirt inside the camera owing to some holes in the casing where bits have broken off
checking the memory card on the computer, i was surprised to find that the movie file was maybe 300 meg. media player started playing the clip, but then regrettably, partly through not thinking and partly through worry, i reformatted the card without saving the movie first. so more i cannot tell you, though i may risk making another movie like that. but, put the memory card back into the camera with no joy
so i charged the battery. this time, joy. the camera once again asked me for the time and date and so forth, and now it works just fine
i really like the camera for stills as, even though its an old ultra compact, it sports allot of really groovy features such as full manual control, using the curser keys, and a 5x optical. its also perfect for animation, which is what i bought it for, more on that later. so what i might do is track down another of this model, in more cosmetic condition, for taking out and keep this one for my animation
then at one point i decided to see if i could max out the memory cards capacity for making movies on one charge. even though the movie quality is terrible, the apparent maximum length for a movie on a 2 gig memory card is about 88 mins, so i charged the battery full, stuck it on movie mode and just left it
after about the 70 mark, the battery looked although it was about to give in, fair enough. i had the LCD display on, i'm not sure if it can be switched off or not. eventually, the camera switched itself off. when i checked, i was surprised to find the movie clocked in at about 99:45, and their was still plenty of space left
then today, with the file still undeleted, the camera started playing up. i wanted to use it in Gloucester. it seems to have been working at first, but then when i switched it on, there was no picture on the screen. hitting the shutter just coursed the camera to crash completely an do couldn't even switch off, without removing and replacing the battery. hitting nearly any other button had the same effect, although i could switch off provided the camera hadn't crashed, and i think the same for switching functions
oddly, the one thing that did seem to work was the voice recorder. in fact, it seemed to be the autofous that crashed the camera. you could hear that working, then i guess it got confused as to the lack of things to focus on, or something. but the voice recorder worked differently for some reason. normally, you hit the shutter button to start and again to stop. here, i had to keep my finger on the shutter, and relieving it stopped the recording, though the onscreen instructions remained the same
so i hoped one of three things; either the movie file is corrupt and coursing problems, the cheep third party battery is in limbo or there's dirt inside the camera owing to some holes in the casing where bits have broken off
checking the memory card on the computer, i was surprised to find that the movie file was maybe 300 meg. media player started playing the clip, but then regrettably, partly through not thinking and partly through worry, i reformatted the card without saving the movie first. so more i cannot tell you, though i may risk making another movie like that. but, put the memory card back into the camera with no joy
so i charged the battery. this time, joy. the camera once again asked me for the time and date and so forth, and now it works just fine
i really like the camera for stills as, even though its an old ultra compact, it sports allot of really groovy features such as full manual control, using the curser keys, and a 5x optical. its also perfect for animation, which is what i bought it for, more on that later. so what i might do is track down another of this model, in more cosmetic condition, for taking out and keep this one for my animation