Photographers - what's happening?

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Hi Knowledgeable Folks. I took my nice wee camera on holiday recently and it wouldn't perform. No - not the battery but something bit more worrying. Very over exposed and with fringes in the image. Useless indeed. I've been through the setting and tried stuff but to no avail (might have missed something). Anyway what are your thoughts? Here's the problem. Wanting to understand (although the obvious answer is get a new camera) what's going on.

Taken in a dark spot under the computer with no flash (shutter was open a while as measured by ear). Strangely in this example the fringes are not very obvious although they appear on the view screen of the camera.

Another looking out the window.

Again fringes don't show up too well. They are a b*gg*r on the camera screen tho'

 

[Paulus]

Is it a digital SLR or an old style manual one? It could be that the shutter mechanism is sticking so over exposing every thing. Try on different speeds or on auto and see what if any difference this makes.

 

[classic33]

Light leak?

 

[KneesUp]

I'm going to take a punt and say the aperture blades are stuck at fully open - hence the picture in the dark is ok, because the exposure the camera set would have had the aperture wide open anyway, so the fact that it won't change doesn't matter. For the window shot, the camera wanted to close the aperture down, but it can't.

 

[MossCommuter]

I'll second what @Paulus says; step 1) Do a factory reset 2) Put it on "Auto" and see what you get.

I don't know your level of expertise but it's possible you've inadvertently messed up one or some of the settings (ISO, shutter speed, aperture and possible white-balance or exposure compensation.

 

[KneesUp]

I'm going to take a punt and say the aperture blades are stuck at fully open - hence the picture in the dark is ok, because the exposure the camera set would have had the aperture wide open anyway, so the fact that it won't change doesn't matter. For the window shot, the camera wanted to close the aperture down, but it can't.

If you tell us what sort of camera it is, or the model, there might be a setting to change, as @MossCommuter says.

 

[Sharky]

Was experiencing something similar with my phone camera yesterday. But by tapping the screen, it refocused and the over exposure appearance sorted it self out. Is there a "tap" function on the camera to get it to focus on the central image, before actually taking the shot?

 

[MichaelW2]

Light leak?

Or worse, dark could be leaking out.

Make, model, ISO speed setting, exposure mode setting?

 

[KneesUp]

Or worse, dark could be leaking out.

Make, model, ISO speed setting, exposure mode setting?

If the dark were leaking out, there would be a pool of it in the bottom of the camera bag.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I would go with cranked up ISO but good to know what the kit is?

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Thanks so far All.

Camera is Olympus FE 5030. Quite a nifty little digital pocket camera but with lots of flexibility.

 

[MichaelW2]

In your settings / toolbox icon menu is an option for RESET.
Restore to factory settings.

 

[Milkfloat]

If you link to the actual file we can look at the EXIF information which may tell us a lot.

 

[numbnuts]

When my OLYMPUS MJU 850 SW was playing up it was the CCD sensor
I used these people to fix it not cheap but worth it
Luton Camera Repair Services Ltd.
49, Guildford Street, Luton, Bed's. LU1 2NJ
Tel: (01582) 458 323 Fax: (01582) 480 165

 

[MossCommuter]

When my OLYMPUS MJU 850 SW was playing up it was the CCD sensor
I used these people to fix it not cheap but worth it
Luton Camera Repair Services Ltd.
49, Guildford Street, Luton, Bed's. LU1 2NJ
Tel: (01582) 458 323 Fax: (01582) 480 165

With respect to the OP, it's almost certainly not going to be worth it for this camera which is a 10 year old model and is worth about 25 quid.

I'd still go for a factory reset and cross my fingers.