Digital camera fault.

[pwdrive]

Brian Rix was also an amature radio enthusiast I seem to recall.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

I too was surprised to see that Brian is still with us Big Al; laughter must make us live longer.

Thanks Lawrence; I bet David can enlighten us regarding Brian?

I've just been browsing eBay looking at digital cameras and how depressing this has been. I'm surprised my Canon has lasted so long given the large number of refurbished and faulty cameras on sale and one auction was for an empty camera box? I saw one underwater camera on auction and this might be useful?

One thing that I'm now concerned about is type of battery; I'm used to the throw away batteries but many cameras now have Lithium-Ion batteries installed which I believe are chargeable? How good are these Lithium batteries; how long a life span do they have and can they be replaced? As I've stated previously I'm a novice to camera technology.

Some makes of cameras appear very unreliable such as Fuji for example given the number of faulty ones I've just seen on eBay? I've been looking at cameras then browsing the web for reviews just to get a rough idea of what each camera is and how much it is liked by owners who have actually parted with cash?

I've also looked at used cameras up for sale on eBay with a buy it now price but with postage added I find brand new cameras can be bought for a little more? I'm now considering buying new knowing the camera will come with a warranty. I don't mind spending money but I don't want to throw money away.

I'm not in a hurry in fact I might play around with my very cheap Vivitar camera and have a go at editing using Gimp which I find interesting.

Kind regards, Col.

[Joe]

The one I use is a Kodak which cost £5 and I recently got a friend a Samsung for 99p. Both these take two AA batteries.

- Joe

[camallison]

One thing that I'm now concerned about is type of battery; I'm used to the throw away batteries but many cameras now have Lithium-Ion batteries installed which I believe are chargeable? How good are these Lithium batteries; how long a life span do they have and can they be replaced? As I've stated previously I'm a novice to camera technology.

Lithium-ion batteries are the same type as used in mobile phones. They eventually go, but replacements are usually a decent price if you keep off genuine and go for ones that are from Cameron Sino (who actually manufacture for most "brands"). I used to source Li-ion cells from them for a product and they marked them with our company name for us.

Colin

[Refugee]

With cameras I have found that Fuji ones are cheap and sell in great numbers and the Li iron batteries are very expensive however the Chinese replacements are half capacity and well under a quarter of the price regardless of any capacity claims made by the seller. Charge them in a fire proof location though as they need about a foot or so of fire proof space if they do go bang. I have never had one go off and when they do it is almost always in a branded gadget that takes a type that is stupidly expensive if it not fake.
The memory stick type is worth considering as these are cheap and with an independent card reader can be read quickly and will also cut down on battery usage. The reader is powered by the USB port on the computer.
Raspberry Pi computers actually use SD cards like as if they are a hard drive and the cards are are £5 for 8GB at Wilco.
I have for some years been sticking to gadgets that all use SD cards as the blanks are easy to get and are big enough for transferring data from one computer to another without having to lug a heavy hard drive about.

[camallison]

That is why I suggested Cameron Sino (C-S) as the replacement battery manufacturer. I did an extensive study in 1999 -2001 on Li-ion batteries, visiting many of the manufacturers, for a major outfit. It concluded that "branded" were indeed most expensive, but C-S had the same capacity (or better) and were quite safe. I have a video of a "branded" (think of a Japanese company starting with "S" and only 4 letters) Li-ion battery going bang as a result of overcharging. Luckily it was in a fire-resistant testing chamber as the flame was over a metre in length and lasted about 45 seconds. C-S units subjected to the same overcharge only bulged, but didn't catch fire.

Colin

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Joe. I prefer AA batteries because I can buy them in packs quite cheaply at Rufforth Auto Jumble.

Many thanks Refugee and Colin for the useful battery information which is new to me and much appreciated.

I'm not usually one to dither around so Bron and I have just returned from Curry's with both a new Digital camera and TV.

The camera I chose is on special offer it being a Nikon Coolpix L26 Red and although I dislike insurance I've got my camera needs now fully sorted for the next three years. There was also a special offer on insurance so I paid the extra £9; total cost was £53.97. The 2GB card transferred straight in from my Canon so this saved a bit of cash. It's incredible that I could buy a brand new 20.1 Megapixel camera with Wide 5 X Zoom and 3" LCD brand new for such a low price including three year new replacement warranty. It's a lovely looking camera.

Whilst in-store we said we would be looking at TV's as well because ours is faulty always showing sport and the colours being washed out? The force was with us for a change; the store was having a clear out of ex display sets these being supplied in their correct boxes and with a 30 day guarantee but insurance was available at £1 per week; this set is a Samsung UE32F4000 with an excellent specification cost to us was £239.50 and I declined the insurance offer. I doubt this new TV will sort out the constant sport problems but hopefully it will give us years of DVD viewing? We were told that first thing this morning the floor by the wall was full of these discounted TV's and when we looked there were only four left on sale.

I've now got two new toys to play with; I've already installed batteries and card into the new camera and I must be improving because without reading the instructions I've set up for language; date and time of day so first impressions are good. I've attached the stand to the TV so after dinner I'll play around with the TV but it's highly possible it will be simply plug and play if it's been on show in the store?

A very busy but worthwhile morning once I stopped moaning and got my act together? It was so depressing looking at all the cameras for sale through eBay so I'm sure I've made the right decision to cut to the bottom line and buy new; at this price why waste lots of time with second hand items?

I now need a crane to move our old TV.

Kind regards, Col.

[Yorkie]

Hi,

I too was surprised to see that Brian is still with us Big Al; laughter must make us live longer.

Thanks Lawrence; I bet David can enlighten us regarding Brian?

Sir Brian (Lord) Rix CBE, DL (AKA Baron Rix of Whitehall, in the City of Westminster and of Hornsea in Yorkshire) is one of nature’s gentlemen. Now aged 90, he's still full of zest!

He was born in the village in which we’ve lived since 1991 - Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire, the youngest of four children. His father, Herbert Rix, and Herbert's two brothers, ran the shipping (and subsequently, oil) company in Kingston upon Hull, founded by his grandfather Robert Rix. The Rix group today is a major company into petroleum, oil distribution, operates a shipping fleet with tankers and cargo boats, owns a major car sales outfit in Hull (Jordan’s – Fiat Alfa, Chrysler, Jeep). Many of the filling stations in Hull including the 24/7/365 one in our village is owned by Rix.

http://www.rix.co.uk/

He became a ‘radio ham’ in 1937 at the age of 13 and became a life Vice-President of the Radio Society of Great Britain in 1979. His call sign is G2DQU. He’s also Patron of RAIBC - The Charity Working for Radio Amateurs with Disabilities. Apart from the early pre and post was days, I don’t think he ever found time to spend on air. In the early 1980s when CB had its ‘moment in the sun’ one of his brothers rand a CB radio shop in Hull.

He married Elspet Gray - an actress in his company and they were together, domestically and professionally, for 64 years, until she passed away in February 2013. In December 1951 the first of their four children was born - a daughter, Shelley, and had Down Syndrome, in those days referred to as mongolism. There was no welfare support for such children and certainly no education. (Shelly died in 2005, aged 54).

He’s worked tirelessly to improve the lot of people with learning difficulties, both with Mencap, as Chairman and President – a position he still holds to this day. Since entering the House of Lords as a Cross Bencher in 1992 he’s campaigned ceaselessly on any legislation affecting people with a learning disability. He has been one of the most regular attenders in the House and every year has introduced numerous amendments to legislation, mainly that associated with health, social welfare and education.

He’s also campaigned against smoking. Having been a smoker for ten years, Rix gave up smoking on Boxing Day in 1950 when he lost his voice during a matinee of Reluctant Heroes. He subsequently became a rabid non-smoker and a Founding Member of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health).

As an actor, he presented more than 90 one-night-only television farces on the BBC. They might be considered by many today to be ‘passé’ but were often presented at Christmas or on other bank holidays and were hugely popular, with viewing figures regularly topping 15 million. In the early 1960s Rix was the highest paid actor (along with Robert Morley) to appear on BBC TV. Only 6 of his 90 farces remain in the BBC archive - the earliest were never recorded and many of the latest were wiped along with many other memorable programmes, so Brian Rix is rarely mentioned in retrospective programmes looking at the early days of television.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Rix

Another famous actor – the late Ian Carmichael was born in Hull, where his family used to own an upmarket Department store no longer in business:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Carmichael

[Aerodyne]

Col, I have two Samsung TVs and am very pleased with both. Nikon is a good make and I think you've done well with the camera purchase. As for Lithium batteries, I've used them in camera for years and so far, no trouble - though one did fail on me (a branded one, probably a Nikon!) by swelling and stopping me fitting it in the camera. I've bought several no-name ones and again had no problems, this far at least. I'm about to do a search on the internet to see if I can find the brand of batteries mentioned by Colin (Camallison) as they sound promising.

I often watched Brian Rix and Espeth Gray in their TV farces, great fun. Simpler times, though. Or was it just me who was simple - who shouted 'still are'?
I didn't know Ian Carmichael was related to the Hull store proprietors. I knew the store in the 1950s when I made quite frequent visits to Hull, where my brother lived. Ian Carmichael was great in 'Lucky Jim', the film of the Kingsley Amis book. Great character actor.
Tony

[camallison]

Tony,

To find the Cameron Sino batteries, you will need to look at the photos accompanying ads - they don't advertise themselves, but sell through retailers. Many of the usual cast of characters sell them.

Colin

[PS - this is the guy I buy mine from and never had a dud:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/UK-DIRECT-STORE...7675.l2563 ]