Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/04/18

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Subject: [Leica] A bit OT, but we're Renaissance folks, right?
From: hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter)
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 18:43:35 -0400
References: <E169A97E-65C3-4C5E-AC7B-DB4208E2EA93@bex.net> <CAF8hL-EQaDLUfSLvnmqi6e8i5gUnxUw_UyytoYGCGdA-yo3pcA@mail.gmail.com>

I wouldn't think that a few minutes of applied power would un-corrupt an 
EEPROM, though. Wouldn't it have to be re-flashed?

?howard

On Apr 18, 2014, at 6:20 PM, Richard Man <richard at richardmanphoto.com> 
wrote:

> EEPROM corruption?
> 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Howard Ritter <hlritter at bex.net> wrote:
> 
>> I have a Nikon N80 film SLR that sat unused after 2005, when I got my
>> first digital SLR, until yesterday. I want to use it again for an idea I
>> have about film astrophotography, so I put new batteries in it and turned
>> it on. No result--nothing on the LDC data panel, no autofocus, no shutter,
>> no LCD panel illuminator. Pushed the two-button reset. No result. 
>> Batteries
>> out, batteries in, turned it on, turned it off, reset it, etc. etc. No
>> result. After a few minutes I noticed that the LCD info display on top now
>> showed a big -E-, meaning no film in the camera, as it does when the 
>> camera
>> is off--progress! Turned it on and the LCD went blank. On & off again. No
>> result, not even the E. Another minute or two and the E was back, and when
>> I turned it on, it now showed camera data, as is normal. Push the shutter
>> button and all goes blank. A few minutes later and the display is normal
>> again, and now pushing the shutter button causes the lens to auto-focus 
>> and
>> the shutter to fire. From there it's been working normally.
>> 
>> So, as that the N80 is as much a computer-controlled electronic device as
>> a mechanical one, it clearly has circuitry. Apparently some circuit
>> component underwent a change in 9 years of not being powered up that
>> disabled the device, then recovered function in a gradual or incremental
>> manner once power had been applied. What is it?
>> 
>> An internal intermediary battery that gets charged by the main batteries,
>> purpose being to preserve the computer's data when the main batteries get
>> discharged, and without a charge on which the camera won't work? And as it
>> charges up, starts to run the camera incrementally? The manual makes no
>> mention of an internal battery or of a period of recovery if the camera's
>> been unused for years (maybe Nikon didn't even know this could happen).
>> 
>> An electrolytic capacitor that loses its polarity in years of non-use,
>> then re-forms over several minutes after new batteries are installed?
>> 
>> Anyone know or have thoughts?
>> 
>> --howard, n7exn
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> // richard <http://www.richardmanphoto.com>
> // http://facebook.com/richardmanphoto
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



In reply to: Message from hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter) ([Leica] A bit OT, but we're Renaissance folks, right?)
Message from richard at richardmanphoto.com (Richard Man) ([Leica] A bit OT, but we're Renaissance folks, right?)