Drebel XT = Flakey POS!

[Greg Campbell]

Has anyone encountered this problem??

The top LCD and viewfinder LED display both go ape**** on occasion. The main display LCD is OK, for now...

I know these things are considered disposable, but I'd like to think the !#%$#@ camera will last a few years! $400 fracking dollars should buy some quality and durability, no?? This camera has never been dropped or abused, and has only a few thousand shutter cycles on it.

I've tried clearing all the settings, cleaning the battery terminals, swapping the lens, no lens, swapping the flash card, formatting flash, reloading the firmware, and more. Nothing helps. The problem seems mechanical, or (perhaps electrostatic?) sometimes coming and going we I touch or gently grab various parts of the body. Beyond that, I don't see a pattern. Even when I exactly (near as possible) duplicate conditions, the corrupted display comes and goes seemingly at random. (It's not like pressing on one area is causing the chassis to flex and, presumably, stress a cracked solder joint or intermittent connector.)

Ideas welcome. (Anyone got a BIG hammer?)

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Folks here http://photography-on-the.net/forum/ are pretty helpful, and more than likely have seen that problem before and will be able to help you out...

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Sounds like an internal connector issue... I imagine no warranty now?

 

[Greg Campbell]

Folks here http://photography-on-the.net/forum/ are pretty helpful, and more than likely have seen that problem before and will be able to help you out...

Thanks.

I think I'm gonna dig into the thing and hope to find a backed out ribbon connector. http://www.lifepixel.com/ir-tutoria...-digital-infrared-conversion-instructions.htm has good instructions for disassembling the lump.

Pictures, possibly bloody, pending....

Edit - Yep, Aaron. That's my best hope.
If it's a cracked solder joint, I'm probably hosed. I don't have a decent soldering iron or proper magnifier to allow me to freshen up the zillion+1 solder joints the thing must have. Doing so might well kill something anyway.

 

[Graham Butler]

Even if it is out of warranty you may want to call Canon on that. You never know when a common problem ( if it is common) is fixed even after warranty expires. Or maybe you catch them on a good day.

Just a thought. If not, enjoy playing Operation!!!

Graham

 

[Darren Addy]

This guy is supposed to be pretty good: http://www.cameradr.com/repairs.html
The bad part is having it out of your hands for who knows how long this time of the year (if it is your only DSLR).

 

[Greg Campbell]

This guy is supposed to be pretty good: http://www.cameradr.com/repairs.html
The bad part is having it out of your hands for who knows how long this time of the year (if it is your only DSLR).

Not to worry!
I've got plenty of 'obsolete,' yet strangely RELIABLE, film cameras!

Thanks for the link.

I got the back panel off last night and will have a proper go at finding something loose later today. I was kinda spooked by the ribbon connectors last night; I was tired, and they seemed somewhat different than expected. More light and a good night's sleep will no doubt help!

-Moo!