Dropped Sony A350

Golgarth

Golgarth

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Karl
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Y mother in law accidentally dropped my camera last week (left the bag open as she picked it up) and now it is out of kilter. The gears are grinding on power up and when it takes a shout the image is missing the bottom fifth as seen in the viewfinder :-(

Sony state a "fixed" repair cost of £117, but then state if it costs more they will contact you to ask if you want to proceed, if you don't it costs £54 to get your camera back......

Anyone dealt with Sony repair centres and have costs they can share? Thinking I may as well ring the insurance company?

Cheers in advance for any help :-)
 
Golgarth said:
Y mother in law accidentally dropped my camera last week (left the bag open as she picked it up) and now it is out of kilter. The gears are grinding on power up
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Hi Karl

When you say the gears are grinding on power up - is this the body or lens ? Do you have another lens to try ?
The Sony bodies have in built IS - I wonder if it's this thats been knocked out and thats making the noise ?
Where did the camera fall on to - the body or lens took the impact ?


Golgarth said:
when it takes a shout the image is missing the bottom fifth as seen in the viewfinder :-(
Click to expand...

You look through the viewfinder and see all the image and some is missing when you take the shot ? Is the image missing on the LCD when reviewing it in camera or when the image is downloaded at home ?


Golgarth said:
Sony state a "fixed" repair cost of £117, but then state if it costs more they will contact you to ask if you want to proceed, if you don't it costs £54 to get your camera back...........Thinking I may as well ring the insurance company?
Click to expand...

Did Sony state what was included in the repair cost, or at least give you an idea of what was included ? Are there any obvious signs on the camera / lens of damage - chipped, cracked etc or or is it damage inside the camera ?

With regards to insurance, what cover do you have on it and what is the XS, etc etc.

Hope you manage to get it sorted...
 
it's probably not the gear grinding but the sensor shift buzzing.
1 of the downsides to sensor shift is that because the sensor has to be able to move it's mounts are more fragile & hence more susceptible to damage from knocks.
The fact that your image is out of alignment with the viewfinder image would tend to confirm that the sensor is out of alignment.

Sony Pencoed has a good reputation. If you decide to go ahead (& the fix will probably cost as much or more than the market value) try to deal with them direct rather than via Sony HO.
 
Cheers for the replies so far guys. To answer a few questions....

If you took a shot, in landscape of someones face, and aligned the chin to the bottom of the frame, when you review the shot the chin will be missing from the shot, and more space above the head.

When I say the gears are grinding it is the arm that rotates on the mount when you turn the camera on, it doesn't matter whether a lens is attached or not :-(

The camera also won't do a sensor clean (yeah I know it does sweat FA but it was something else I noticed)

Other than the above there is no sign of damage to the camera on the outside, and the lenses are working fine on a friends camera. I think I will just ring the insurance company before sending it off. I really need this thing working for Christmas.

As said before, if anyone has had a Sony repair completed and could share their experiences, and more importantly costs, I would appreciate it.
 
Golgarth said:
The camera also won't do a sensor clean (yeah I know it does sweat FA but it was something else I noticed)
Click to expand...
& how does the sensor clean? - it shakes it using the SS system, again it's pointing to the sensor being dismounted.

what I would call the arm that rotates is the aperture mechanism, the gear drive is the pin (at the 5 o'clock position of the mount viewed from the front) shaped a bit like a screwdriver head (that rotates) - which do you mean?
 
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aye, I agree it sounds like the sensor is out of align/dismounted. The grinding comes from the rotating ring seen below:
a350%252520mount.JPG

Basically as soon as the camera is turned on it rotates to the position seen and tries to continue :(
 
Well, it's back from Sony.......

Early impression (well, 4 shots) were good, no noises, shots worked.

Then it locked up, camera error. Turned off and on, all working ok again, for 12 shots, then every shot was a black shot.

Off and on again and seemed to sort itself out, until about 50 shots in it died, "camera error", and no way to stop it.

Before dying I noticed there was no sensor shake on boot up and the "cleaning" function also didn't work.

Ho hum, time to start the argument in the morning, this was done through the insurance company so gonna have to argue as this is too long now.

Not a happy camper
 
They clearly haven't repaired it properly so I'd be badgering them to either repair it properly or to source another 350 that does work.
 
Def first thing in the morning you need to be speaking to them and not accepting this as a repair. Be firm and explain fully and in detail what has / is happening, expressing your great disappointment about the quality of work that appears to have been done.

Hope you can get a resolution ...
 
The thing that really annoys me is that I sent the camera in with a full "what works and what doesn't". They have fixed 2 out of 5 faults.
As far as I can tell they must have replaced the control board and re-aligned the sensor, pity they didn't appear to test it....

DSC_0094.jpg
 
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just to continue the saga.....

Camera is back, again, and (touch wood) appears to be fixed this time, should be though, the eventual repair bill was just over £400 (Talk about the insurance company being robbed).

Best bit is I was proved right, it has had a new mirror box AND a new control board, there was also something done to the sensor but the insurance company were vague as to what (they have the repair list not me, nor will they send me a copy....)

Will be getting properly tested this weekend, so fingers crossed I will be back out and about and enjoying photography again.

Can't believe Sony originally quoted £116, then lifted that to £212, then sent it back, then charged ANOTHER £200 the second time, had they quoted correctly I would have had a new camera nearly two months ago.
 
No company (wanting to stay in business) can quote you a repair price without knowing what is actually involved & hence parts costs.
I think that you will find that had e.g. a Canon or a Nikon had the same amount of parts & labour that the costs would have been similar.
They do say " However, it might not be worth getting your product repaired depending on the cost of the repair or the value of your product." http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/repair

At least it's the insurance companies money & not yours :)
 
Glad you've got it back and it seems to be fine now ...

Pity as you said, they couldn't do this the first time round
 
heidfirst said:
No company (wanting to stay in business) can quote you a repair price without knowing what is actually involved & hence parts costs.
I think that you will find that had e.g. a Canon or a Nikon had the same amount of parts & labour that the costs would have been similar.
They do say " However, it might not be worth getting your product repaired depending on the cost of the repair or the value of your product." http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/repair

At least it's the insurance companies money & not yours :)
Click to expand...

The annoying bit is, and had I been privately repairing the camera, they did quote a price, then amend it, which was accepted, the first time, THEN added to that price the second time. If I had been paying for this myselfI could potentially have been left in the awkward position of paying much more than it was worth for the repair, as once you have committed and payed the first time you kinda can't stop.....
If you ask me the secondary cost should have been absorbed by Sony, as it was in essence their fault for the first time fix failure.

Not that bothered in reality, as as said, it's not my money, but thought I would add this as a cautionary tale for anyone else who could be in the same predicament.
 
The initial price that they quote is for an initial look (& a basic service - clean etc.).
They cannot give you a definitive repair price until they physically have seen the camera & worked out what is wrong, parts needed etc. to fix it.
Unfortunately in your case this was compounded because they obviously thought that they had fixed it but for whatever reason that turned out not to be the case & it required returning & additional work & parts.

Not anybody's fault - just bad luck.
 
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