jaapv Posted October 28, 2008 Share #1 Posted October 28, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi all, from Senga Bay, Malawi! I managed to find that miracle - an Internet connection, albeit desperately slow... Here is a quick report on the fuctioning of my cameras: DMR-disappointing. It refuses to charge batteries when ambient tempertures are over 40 Centigrade. Fortunately I found a fridge now and then to cool them before recharging. (no recharging at night with solar) It developed a fault early on; playback of any image below # 23 would freeze it. resetting turned out to be complicated: leave on, remove battery, reinsert battery, turn off, turn on. Anything else would just leave it on playback with no switch, even on-off, responding. On the last day that I needed long lenses it put itself out of its misery by refusing to fire altogether. I was lucky, I only needed the M8 after that. Off to Solms as soon as I return.... The M8 - what can I say - It never missed a beat. It got totally drenched, sitting in its own puddle for an hour when Lake Nyassa went from millpond to 3m high waves within minutes - it must be of the same ilk as Tina's cameras;) . It got totally blasted by sand and dust and carried on regardless, vibrations of off-road Landcruisers, boat engines and light aircraft made no difference. Utterly reliable. It goes off to Solms too - but just for a CLA and upgrade:). Oh - the Jobo Gigabit copying device went wrong too - it only tells me error 4 - whatever that might be... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 28, 2008 Posted October 28, 2008 Hi jaapv, Take a look here M8&DMR- Quick field report. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Wolfgang Esslinger Posted October 28, 2008 Share #2 Posted October 28, 2008 First of all I feel really sorry for you and hope that you managed with the M8 to get at least the important pictures you wanted! You described the nightmare that haunted me for the past weeks: mysterious DMR failure and nothing you can do about it. I have been thinking whether to go digital or analog in Argentina in December, always hesitant about the DMR due to some relatively minor failures I had experienced in the past. But my feeling is: if its going to be warm and wet, don't rely on it. So now I will definitely go analog (and take an M as backup nevertheless). In this respect: Thank you for your post! And I wish you success with the CS, ie. getting back a DMR which will be more reliable in future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
topoxforddoc Posted October 28, 2008 Share #3 Posted October 28, 2008 Jaap and Wolfgang, I get intermittent glitches with my DMR. However, all I do is undo the powerpack, release the back and then put it all back again. It must be a contact issue. When I do that, it always comes back to life. Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share #4 Posted October 28, 2008 Contact cleaning was the first thing I did, Charlie, it was not that:o . I will use it as a backup to the R10 next year, I hope Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgcd Posted October 28, 2008 Share #5 Posted October 28, 2008 Sorry to hear about your DMR failures. They are somewhat surprising to me as mine spent more than a year in over 40°C heat and extreme humidity with no ill effects at all. Beside the regular safeguards against humidity for my entire gear, I did nothing special to protect it. I hope you can get it back in top shape quickly after your return. Cheers, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhsimmonds Posted October 28, 2008 Share #6 Posted October 28, 2008 Sorry to hear of your DMR problems. Mine worked well throughout a hard trip through Australia last year, mostly in temperatures from 35 to 40C and down to freezing in Tasmania. Again this year from low temperatures on top of the Rockies to the heat of the Arizona desert in the U.S. However last year on my return from Australia, I also had a battery problem, or so I thought. It turned out to be a faulty charger which Leica replaced for me. It seems that the charger is not as reliable as the camera! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share #7 Posted October 29, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Well- I was a bit put out as well. I have two chargers, and they both behaved identically: blinking red light for overheated battery. The ambient temperature was 42 Centigrade. I think the M8 uses a higher cut-out point, as those batteries charged without problem. I do not know if the problems of the DMR were brought on by the temperature. I suspect not. I think maybe vibration. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsteve Posted October 29, 2008 Share #8 Posted October 29, 2008 Jaap: Don't use a M8 formatted card in the DMR. It will hang the DMR. May be the problem you are having. Robert Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted November 1, 2008 Author Share #9 Posted November 1, 2008 No Steve - strict segregation: M8: 4Gb SDHC DMR 2Gb SD... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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