Digital cameras 101

[Charlotte Hall]

Can anyone help? I bought a brand new one the other day and it has a bug I'm wondering if I can do anything about without taking it for repairs.

A) Occasionally the camera freezes. This is usually when I am trying to go through the pictures on my camera, the icons that are supposed to appear on the screen don't, and I can't even turn the camera off (meaning I have to open the battery casing to turn the camera off). It doesnt lose my pictures, but it's getting frustrating as it has done this a lot and I only bought the camera around two days ago.

Any help you can offer me? I tried looking on the Vivitar website but they don't list this camera anywhere on there...

[Mike54]

Hi Charlotte and welcome to the Q&A Board. I did a quick Google and found sparse information on your camera but one thing that some users mentioned was that the batteries wore down quickly. Since using the LCD (of most cams) usually wears down the batteries quickly perhaps this is the issue. That said I should ask whether rebooting (removing the battery) corrects the problem and/or whether you have new batteries in the camera. If you're using the batteries that came with the camera they may not be the best quality or highest strength. First suggestion is to be sure you have fresh batteries and let us know how it goes.

[Charlotte Hall]

Just put new batteries in the camera. (powercell ones work for about three minutes before dying, DONT use them with this camera....)

It still freezes.

I don't know why there's so little information on the camera - its on sale in argos and stuff so its a genuine product.....

[Charlotte Hall]

I bought fresh batteries when i went and bought the camera. The turning off the camera doesnt fix the problem for very long.... about five minutes mayhap? and i dont want to have to keep doing that.

[Mike54]

Charlotte, if this is an easily repeatable problem I would most definitely take it back to the store where you purchased it and ask for replacement.
I would also let them know that if the problem were to reoccur with the replacement I would be back for my money.

[Charlotte Hall]

Aye, problem is I got it off EBay, through a friend lol....

Got any ideas where I could take it to see if it could get fixed?

[Mike54]

Well you could try Googling "camera repair" for your area but in all honesty the repair might very well be more than the cam cost you to start with.

You may have to write it off as a learning experience.

[Charlotte Hall]

Aye, and as a 17 yr-old student with very little money, it wasted me £50. Dammit.

That is, if I can't get it fixed. Grrr.

Thankyou anyway, you have been helpful

[Mike54]

it wasted me £50. Dammit.

Perhaps so...

Just remember, next time do a little research on the web.   It does expose some secrets that back in the day had to be found out the hard way.

[ShutterbugGail]

Got any ideas where I could take it to see if it could get fixed?

As Mike pointed out, a repair could cost more than you paid for the camera. Then you have shipping cost to boot.

If it's brand new, isn't it still on warranty? Then repair should be covered.

Does the camera have a reset button? I'd give that a try as a last resort. If it doesn't have method to reset it  (check the manual), take the batteries out for atleast 24 hours. Not sure this will reset your model camera, but it does work on some, so it's worth a try.

Another thought if none of the above are doable, you indicate that the camera freezes when looking at the images on the screen. Though not ideal, don't review them. Just transfer the images to your computer then format the memory card.

btw, have you formatted your card since you've been having the problem. Maybe that will help.