On my A7RV (bought last November) today the "AF-On" button started to act up. Again and again it "hangs", and I have to push it so it goes out to its "unpushed" position.
Did anyone know such a problem? What did you do to solve it?
Sending the camera to a repair center, waiting weeks for it and paying absurd money for that is not the way I want to go - there must be an easier, perhaps DIY, solution.
hasenbein wrote:
Never WD-40! Destroys your camera!
And now to the serious answers, please. Thanks.
There are spray electrical contact cleaners that will clean any residue that is causing the sticking problem. The potential difficulty I see is that they are applied by a spray through a tube. I don't know if some spray could possible reach to the sensor where it migth cause problems. It evaportes pretty cleanly, but it may still leve a residue if it got onto the sensor glass.
Yeah, probably have camera rear panel down and repeat small amounts electronic contact cleaner like QD or above and cycle the button plus some canned air to loosen any debris, make sure to wait for each spray amount to evaporate off first. If that doesn't work it's probably the button plunger spring or dome failure but unlikely less than a year.
Best way would probably be to disconnect rear assembly first so any excess dries off and you can limit migration of overspray. Or better yet to access the button assembly (it doesn't look too hard to reach, but not sure about hidden connectors without a guide).
hasenbein wrote:
On my A7RV (bought last November)
Sending the camera to a repair center, waiting weeks for it and paying absurd money for that is not the way I want to go
Why should you pay absurdly high amounts for a repair within the warranty period?
Nifty Fifty wrote:
Why should you pay absurdly high amounts for a repair within the warranty period?
Because I bought the camera via a grey importer with limited warranty. Either way, it would mean that I would be without the A7RV probably for weeks.
hasenbein wrote:
Because I bought the camera via a grey importer with limited warranty. Either way, it would mean that I would be without the A7RV probably for weeks.
But such a defect should also be covered by a limited warranty from the dealer. Whatever. It's actually quite simple if you don't want to have it repaired. Either you're willing and confident enough to open up a modern, expensive digital camera and then mess around with it (with all the potential consequences), or you live with the defect. Unfortunately, washing without getting wet isn't possible.
With such a new camera, I don't think it's a classic contact problem. It's probably caused by minimal contamination, like a small grain of sand. Whether you tackle it with compressed air or a powerful vacuum cleaner is up to you. Poking around with needles isn't without risk either.
I wouldn't be surprised if the problem simply goes away on its own after some time of continued use.
in the past I have found buttons sticking on various cameras and have often found it has just been crud getting in around the edge and making it stick. I have usually sorted this by spraying isopropyl alcohol onto a fine tooth brush and working it in around the edges. I would never blow into the camera with a spray or air as it could make things worse and if anything would use a vacuum cleaner to suck stuff out
Viramati wrote:
in the past I have found buttons sticking on various cameras and have often found it has just been crud getting in around the edge and making it stick. I have usually sorted this by spraying isopropyl alcohol onto a fine tooth brush and working it in around the edges. I would never blow into the camera with a spray or air as it could make things worse and if anything would you a vacuum cleaner to suck stuff out
That's a good idea, I think.
I've had good luck with 90+% isopropyl alcohol getting delicate things unstuck. You can apply with a Q-tip and control the amount of solvent pretty easily. Good luck! The higher percentage stuff leaves no residue.
I used to do a fair amount of DIY because of my tech background... back in the day I used to use cigarette lighter fluid, which is a type of naphtha, to clean old Copal in-lens shutters or sticky aperture blades in simple old lenses. It was recommended to me by a guy who actually ran a camera repair business. I liked it because it didn't over-dry the blades but also didn't leave any white haze or residue either... but I'd probably use something like Caig's De-Oxit for any electronic switch, as it is designed to not harm other typical electronic stuff.
That said, even with my background, I'd much rather have it done by a pro when we are talking about an expensive digital camera body. It's not the devil you know... it's the other one you have to worry about.
Nifty Fifty wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if the problem simply goes away on its own after some time of continued use. hasenbein wrote:
Just a quick update: Somehow the button got back to normal by itself.
;-)
