Does a camera lose Autofocus over time.

pixelpixel · 06-01-2007, 8:31 AM

I have a point and shoot camera thats over a year old and have noticed that it has started to lose autofocus features its not locking on to anything!!!!.

I have tried every option on the camera also did a factory reset. Still the same thing.

I was just wondering if this is a normal thing with point and shoot cameras ?

This is an example of my first ever picture that I did when I got the camera.

To this day I still have not been able to get a picture like this again.

Is there anything that I can do?

beachy · 06-01-2007, 10:56 AM

if it's just over a year old i would be pretty brassed off if it's started doing this, i would be inclined to get in touch with the manufacturer and see what they have to say, although most things are only gauranteed for a year, there is something called "not fit for purpose" which basically means things should work for a reasonable amount of time which is more than a year, i would mention this to them if they refuse to do anything, i do know of people who have taken companys to the small claims court for things like this AND WON, of course i'm assuming in all this you have looked after the camera, and it has had no major knocks or been dropped.

pixelpixel · 06-01-2007, 11:16 AM

My camera has not been and will never be dropped. Its my best friend. It just has a few issues and needs to focus on a few things or anything.

I will give it another factory reset tonight and see if that will clear anything out.

Does anyone have a test I could do to make sure its working again ?

(I feel that due to me having a p+s camera I get over looked. IMO

)

beachy · 06-01-2007, 11:20 AM

let us know what make and model it is, and maybe someone on here who possibly has the same one can point you in the right direction.

pixelpixel · 06-01-2007, 11:34 AM

Its a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W17.

The manual can be found via this.

Thanks

T0MAT01 · 06-01-2007, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixelpixel

Does anyone have a test I could do to make sure its working again ?

You can take a photo of a ruler, placed so it's pointing away from the camera lens, focus at the half way point and take the shot that way you can see if it is front/back focusing by which part of the ruler ends out in focus.

If it's not focusing at all then it wont be much help tho.

pixelpixel · 06-01-2007, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T0MAT01

You can take a photo of a ruler, placed so it's pointing away from the camera lens, focus at the half way point and take the shot that way you can see if it is front/back focusing by which part of the ruler ends out in focus.

If it's not focusing at all then it wont be much help tho.

Will give it ago..Thanks