Fault with Sony DSLR

[Safling11]

Has anyone else had problems with any of the Sony Alpha models? Last year my 3 year old A100 packed up and I ended up replacing in December with the A550. This developed what appears to be the same fault at the weekend - shutter release becomes hard and wont focus and I am unable to use any of the buttons to manually change any settings. When I had my A100 checked out I was told the 'motherboard' (can't remember what the guy called it) had 'gone' and this appears to be the same symptoms. Sony are definitely not the most helpful company to deal with when a problem, but I am a tad concerned that there may be an inherent problem

[reciclatoru]

...i have a alpha 200 for more than 2 years and took more than 10000 pictures but nothing strange till now...
...hope the best...

[Colin Southern]

Hi Annette,

I think similar things happen to most cameras from time to time, but in those cases it's usually just temporary; usually it comes right if one removes the lens & battery for a few seconds (and in extreme cases the backup battery). If that doesn't fix it then I'm aftaid it's "into the shop" (and/or time to consider a brand change!).

[carregwen]

Annette

If you purchased it last December surely it is still under warranty? Get it fixed under warranty, and ask for a full explanation of what the fault was, and why it happened. Then decide if you want to keep it.

Or... you could try kicking it, sticking it in the micro-wave for 10 minutes, or giving it to someone you don't like as a Chrissy prez!

[Safling11]

Or... you could try kicking it, sticking it in the micro-wave for 10 minutes, or giving it to someone you don't like as a Chrissy prez!

Sorry for delay - been away. Thanks for the advice Rob, but now my microwave wont work

(Not so) seriously though, have tried everything to clean etc and now the only thing that wont work is the shutter release - stuck fast and unmoving. It is still under warranty but Sony wont commit to how long they want your camera for, be it days or weeks. They have better not be too long or I might go out and buy a Nikon

[Dave Humphries]

They have better not be too long or I might go out and buy a Nikon

Welcome to the club ....

oh, have I jumped the gun a bit there?

[PopsPhotos]

They have better not be too long or i might go out and buy a nikon

GO, GO, GO!

(I can jump on the bandwagon, too.)

Pops

[Class A]

They have better not be too long or I might go out and buy a Nikon

Nah, you don't want to downgrade.

You need not worry that you have encountered an inherent problem. The models surely are sufficiently different to exclude that.

If I were you, I'd stay with Sony, collect some glass and sooner or later pick up a used A850/900. Lovely cameras.

If you've had it with Sony then change to another brand with in-body image stabilisation. (Now I've made "friends" with both Nikonians and Canonians... )