HELP! Fading display on E-620

[Tordan58]

Hi,

I am experiencing a "fading display" on my E-620. After ~10 to 15 seconds, it fades and turns black after a second or so. Rotating the display, folding it and deploying it again turns it on again (for 10-15 seconds).

Except from this, camera works as it should.

Is this a power saving feature that I accidentally turned on? Or the effect of cold? (I don't think so since my E-600 behaves fine).

/Tord

[SteveJ]

Re: Fading display on E-620

I think there is a power saving option somewhere, that switches the screen off. You can set it for whatever time you wish. I hope it's that, rather than a fault.

Steve

[Ian]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Yes, you can set the camera to turn the back light off after a set time of inactivity. This is independent of the screen time out so you will still see the LCD according to incidental light as very dark grey againts black. I think it is wrench menu D (Display options).

Ian

[Olybirder]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Yes, you can set the camera to turn the back light off after a set time of inactivity. This is independent of the screen time out so you will still see the LCD according to incidental light as very dark grey againts black. I think it is wrench menu D (Display options).

Ian

This is true but I think the minimum time setting for my E-30 is 1 minute (I don't know if it is the same for the E-620.) Tord says that his screen is dimming after 10-15 seconds.

Ron

[blaggard]

Re: Fading display on E-620

I think the minimum on the 620 is only a matter of seconds, I've only just bought mine and yet to get right through the menu's though!

[Olybirder]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Sorry, I was wrong. I was looking at the Sleep function instead of the Backlight Timer. For the E-30 the manual says '8 sec, 30 sec, 1 min or Hold'. That sounds better.

Ron

[Ian]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Yup - the E-620 and probably all the other recent E-System DSLRs are similar. The backlight can be set to time out after as little as 8 seconds and the camera itself will go to sleep after one minute or other whole minute settings.

Ian

[photonutter]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Had the same problem caused by a duff battery. After switching to a different one the screen stayed as it lit should.

[Tordan58]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Hi,

Thanks for all hints but the behavior I experience is is different from the supposed behavior.

The settings in my camera (D menu -> Backlit LCD) says 30 sec, not 8 (which would have explained the 10-15 seconds I perceived). This time-out supposedly takes effect when in photo capture mode, not when displaying a photo.

The behavior started the other weekend, outdoors with temperatures around freezing point. The display does not abruptly turn black, it fades and after a second or so it gets black.

Bringing in the camera indoors the display backlight seems to work OK - with the exception that sometimes, after turning on the camera, the LCD stays black. In such a situation, touching the shutter release button activates the display.

Lastly, it cannot be the battery. I have tried 4 different batteries and get the same behavior.

Weird. Temperature seems to have an impact, and behavior is not 100% predictable.

This reminds me of a Canon Powershot G4, one of the first digital cameras with rotating display (same design as the E620). Out of a sudden the display stopped working. I had to fallback to using the viewfinder. Some days later it started working again, and has ever since.

Dirt leading to bad contact?

/Tord

[j.baker]

Re: Fading display on E-620

It could be the cold weather.

LCD screens, which most cameras/phones have, are affected by the cold. This makes their response slower, which would give the effect of fading/blurring. The dashboard screen in my car had this problem over the last week. After warming up, the problem goes away.

The camera also switches of the LCD backlight when in powersave. Touching a control/button will bring it back to full power.

[Ian]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Tord - does the problem continue indoors where it is warm?

Ian

[Tordan58]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Ian,

The problem with fading display seems not to happen in indoor temperatures. At least, I have not been able to trigger it when testing indoors.

However some other observations are worthwhile mentioning:

• The behavior with fading display started some 2-3 weeks ago while on a photo session in temperatures around freezing point. For the record, another person, also using E620 during the same photo sessions as me has not experienced a fading display. This indicates there is an LCD related issue with my E620 body, possibly temperature sensor, possibly the backlight illumination, possibly LCD as such, or a combination.
  
• Every now and then (even indoors) the display remains black after power on. This occurs in random fashion, perhaps one time out of ten or so. To display the super control panel you need to either press the shutter release button, switch to display mode and then back to capture mode (i.e. pressing the blue arrow twice), or folding and re-deploying the display. This could be a sensor failure detecting wheather display is deployed in operational mode (and should be illuminated), or folded (and should be black). This behavior started some time back, to the best of my memories already last autumn.

/Tord

[Ross the fiddler]

Re: Fading display on E-620

To me it sounds like a connection problem where there is a resistive connection somewhere. This could be either a dry solder point in the display (or in the camera) or oxidised contacts of a ribbon cable etc. which will work less reliably in more extreme conditions. This may need to be cleaned & re-seated or maybe even resoldering to possibly fix this. Unfortunately, it sounds like a service job.

My E30, after switching on, sometimes may show a Scene mode when the Mode Dial is actually on A & it's fixed by rotating the mode dial & back again, which is enough to make correct contact again (until the next time).

I hope it can be solved without too much expense.

[Tordan58]

Re: Fading display on E-620

Hi

This weekend temperatures as high as 5C are expected, I will put the camera on test and let you know the outcome.
/Tord

[Swordfish]

Re: Fading display on E-620

I had a similar problem with an E620 last year; as it was still under 2 year warranty (just), and I was getting nowhere with it myself, I sent it back to Olympus for repair - they fitted a new screen and it was then perfect.

I know that I had not changed any settings before it suddenly started misbehaving, so it was clearly an internal fault.

Martin