My digital camera died

[electra225]

I have a Nikon digital camera that I dearly love. I've had it for ten years or so. The battery box lid won't close, so I have to use shipping tape to hold it closed. Here lately, it won't focus right. I reckon it's been dropped too many times onto a concrete floor. It is easy to download the images to my computer. Taking pictures with a phone is okay, only they are huge and nobody, including me, can figure out how to set the phone camera to take smaller pictures. I hate having to resize every picture so I can post them online. So, we decided to buy a new digital camera. We got a Kodak "PIXPRO" model AZ 401. The upside is it is "point and shoot" so I don't have to be an expert cameraman to use it. And it is fairly light. The downside is it uses "AA" batteries instead of being rechargeable and it does not come with a memory card. I can use up to a 32 GB memory card. It seems fairly simple to set up and use, although it did not come with a user's guide. I have to get that online. It will take videos, allegedly in sufficient quality to satisfy YouTube. This model was mid-priced, really more than I wanted to spend, but not as much as the top-rated models. Canon makes the top-rated models, but they start at $250 which is unnecessary for what I want to do with it, and considering my photography skills. Cameras cheaper than this one may be considered "kiddie" cameras, waterproof and shockproof. They take adequate, but not outstanding pictures. I really wanted something a notch above these models. I haven't taken the first picture with this camera yet, so stand by. I only have the start up guide, which really doesn't answer any questions. I'll find the user's guide and figure out how to set this thing up like I want it.

[TC Chris]

Buy some AA rechargeables and keep an extra set or two on hand. Not quite as easy as plugging the charger into the camera but almost, and the batteries should be cheaper than the proprietary versions used by many cameras, including my little Olympus point-and-shoot.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I have had horrible luck using rechargeable batteries. Either the batteries don't last, or the charger takes a dump.

[electra225]

I changed a setting hoping to alleviate some of the trouble you guys have had posting pictures. Let me try to post a picture straight off my phone....

Apparently it worked. The filesize on this picture is over 10 MB. See if you get along better now....

[William]

Mr. Bentley gets his buggy ride, and the photo looks good too!

Bill

[Firedome]

Looks like it takes a good pic. Let us know how you like it, one of these days I'll need to replace my 15 yr old Olympus, it's getting flukey. Bigger pic size on this site is good, I've had trouble and don't like going thru re-sizing. And I like the idea of a Kodak, one more legacy US brand that's just barely hanging on.

[electra225]

The picture I posted above is from my phone. It was a test to see if the changes I made to the forum software helped.

I got the memory card installed in the new camera and took a few pictures of general stuff. I still have to download them, then see what I've got. I like the user manual being on the computer. I have it bookmarked. I can go to a specific topic without digging thru a bunch of paperwork. I'm always the last one to know.......

The hardest part so far has been putting the strap and securing the lens cover. I believe one of those little desktop tripods will help me. My aim is not as steady as it once was. That will help me get better pictures when I'm doing electronics. It has a setting for "settling" the picture, which I have on.

[hermitcrab]

We bought this gem from wally world about 2 years ago... paid like 200 bucks for it .... took maybe 10 pictures with it in total, treated it with kid gloves ... never dropped or abused ....already deader than a door nail ... I was so mad I was going to toss it into my wood chipper ...wife stopped me...

[electra225]

That Nikon is almost a dead ringer for the Kodak I just bought. I have almost $150 into this one by the time I had to buy a memory card for $10. The USB interface cable is also optional, although the one from my old camera will work. There is a "third world" vendor who makes these cameras, probably specifically for Walmart, and they just use the Kodak name. KInda like RCA tv sets are now. ONN made them for awhile, I have no idea who makes them now. I learned one thing about totally dead cameras. Make sure the batteries are making good contact. One half of the batter box is also the lid. IT wears or gets bumped and damaged so does not make good contact with the batteries. I dropped my Nikon which is why it died and why it didn't want to focus. Yours has been treated better, so maybe your batteries are wonky somehow. IT doesn't take much sometimes. Good luck.

I kept my old camera so I wouldn't lose the memory card with all my pictures on it.

[electra225]

Well, drat!

I guess I need to make the THIRD trip to Walmart to get what I need to make this camera do what I want. The USB interface cable from my old camera won't work. The plug looks the same, but it won't connect. If only there was a MODICUM of product knowledge in retail nowadays. I work for Walmart, have for ten years. I bought this camera in the store I work in. From a "yellow badger" who is not 18 years old yet. Aren't they supposed to have been born with an electronic device in their hands? This kid is advertised as the go-to electronic gadget guru. Do I give my customers this type of crappy service? I shudder to think......

I did have a lady complain to management about me the other day, come to think of it. We were out of her brand of coffee creamer. Four o'clock on Sunday afternoon is not the time to go shopping for hot-selling coffee creamer then complaining when it's sold out. The manager simply asked what she expected me to do? Was he rude? No. Did he offer an alternative? Yes. Did he advise when we might be back in stock? Yes. Again, I ask, what do you expect him to do? I love retail.....

The kid selling cameras should know to sell the memory card and interface cable separately. I wonder if they are all like that. No excuse.

Speaking about wood chippers. A few years back, there was a crew clearing limbs in Phoenix. A man walked up to the guy running the tree chipper, handed him his wallet, then dived in head first. True story........

[hermitcrab]

first thing we did was replace the new batteries with newer ones.. the battery compartment is pristine no corrosion ... I took it down to the bench and used my power supply to power it up.... nope ...all it has done is sit in my dresser drawer when not in use ... never buy one again.

[electra225]

I can't say I blame you. Have you considered calling the "800" number? Maybe they can give you some idea of what to do.

And another idea. Try reaching out to Walmart management. Although massively overworked, they are not bad people for the most part. Ask for the store manager or co-manager. I had a flat panel TV, way out of warranty, replaced by an accomodating store manager. You don't have anything to lose. In spite of what you read, Walmart managers realize you have a choice of where to shop, particularly in the days of Amazon. They don't want to "deleted" off their customer base. I could tell stories about Amazon, particularly their return policy, but that's for another day. Good luck.

[TC Chris]

Nikon won't service the camera? I've had manufacturers fix things for free when they figured I'd had a bad experience. Can't hurt to try. I suspect that for a modern piece of electronics, what you'll get back is a different one that they've already renovated after somebody else returned it.

My Chevy is stored in a complex of pole barns (very nice ones, brand new). The owner rents one out to somebody who takes back under-warranty and test-vehicle steering racks and rebuilds them for Nexteer (formerly, Saginaw Steering Gear, the company that built the Chevy's power steering gear). The building he rents is their sorting room.

And for Greg and his customer complaint.... One of my good learning experiences while wandering through higher education was a job behind the counter at the library. I soon learned that being a demanding jerk got you worse service. At least when this guy was behind the counter. Polite people with a genuine need or problem? I'd bend the rules for them. But the jerks got by-the-book service. One especially obnoxious one, demanding something I wasn't supposed to do, led me to write my name on a slip of paper and my boss's name. "Here, this is my name. This is the lady who runs the library. Complain to her tomorrow." (Go ahead, complain that I was following her rules).

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I love working retail. I like watching people. My theory is that many people leave their manners and common sense in the parking lot when they enter a store. I wouldn't give up on a $200 camera. There may be options to get it repaired or replaced at a reasonable cost or even no cost. I broke my old one and it didn't owe me anything. I had taken thousands of pics with it, and it always did a good job.

Chris, I got an official "atta boy" from the Regional Vice President one time due to a customer complaint. There was a young mother in my department who had about a two-year old boy standing up in the front of a shopping cart. I told the young man that he was not standing in a very good place and that maybe he should sit down to prevent falling out of the cart onto his noggin on the hard concrete floor. The woman had been on her phone, ignoring the kid. She heard me speak to him and told me not to talk like that to her child. I explained that I had seen a kid tumble on his head in the Home Depot parking lot one time. He landed on the top of his head, licked his lips once, then went to be with his Creator. I did not want to EVER witness anything like that again, and did not want that fate for her son. She was having none of it. She wanted to speak with my boss. The store manager asked me my side of the story. I told him I would give my job ten times over to see that young man grow up to be a ripe old age because I "deleted" his mom off asking him to sit down in a shopping cart not designed to be stable for passengers. She complained "up the chain" all the way to the Regional Vice President. He came to our store and gave me an "atta boy" badge, which I still have on my vest.

[electra225]

There are three common "C: connector to USB type cables. "C", "Mini C" and "Micro C". My old camera takes the Mini C, my new camera takes the micro C cable. Walmart does not handle that cable, at least at our store. Not even a spot for one. What good is a camera that you can''t get what you need to make it work? I have 30 days to return the camera and get my money back. I'll check at Best Buy to see if they have one. If not, I'm going to return the camera, keep the memory card, then buy a camera somewhere that has all I need to make it work. So beware if you buy a new digital camera. Wherever you buy it, ask if it has the memory card and USB cable, if you want to download the pictures to a PC, Internet or printer. And will off-the-shelf accessories work with it or does it require proprietary accessories. Make sure you have all you need before you leave the store.

[TC Chris]

Is there by any chance a wireless connectivity option for the camera?

Oh yes, all those cords. I have a bunch of flashing lights for my winter commuter bicycle because the ride is often in the dark at this time of year. They're all rechargeable (yay) but they don't all use the same tiny connector (boo). I have a box on the kitchen counter with chargers and cables. At least the chargers are all standardized.

But the cameras? I've got two little Olympus point-and-shoot models. My brother gave one to my mother and the other to me at the same time. Mine was the ruggedized model (waterproof, sorta drop-proof) and hers wasn't. Otherwise identical...almost. Think they use the same tiny end of the connector cord? Nope. I think they do use the very same non-standard memory card, the proprietary one that won't plug into the slot on the laptop.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

I miss the old film cameras. Yes developing film to get your pics was an additional step and sometimes messy but learned to do it and enjoyed the process. Some photog/artists claim that analog pics can't be duplicated, sort of like us with tube analog sound. I think there may be something to that. Plus it seem mechanical cameras were always pretty much fixable, dead digital = dead.

Mark Twain once said about working in a store: "You're at the beck and call to every son of a bitch with a nickel" LOL.
Twain had a way of cutting right to the truth. I worked a 2nd job in an auto parts store for a year for spare cash and the discount...never again.

[danrclem]

I started to develop black and white film and pictures when I was in high school. My brother messed around with it and I took a photography class my senior year. I still have all of my equipment here somewhere but it's just too easy with digital.

I used to have a Nikon N65 film camera but bought a Nikon D3400 a few years ago. I have an 18-55mm lens and a 70-300 lens. It does a great job but pictures have to be resized if posted to most sites.

[electra225]

I have my camera set for 6MB filesize. That is the size they recommend for the best detail, and it should post nicely on the forum. Can you reset the filesize on your camera?

[danrclem]

I don't know if it can be reset or not. I'll have to check and see. I know it has more features than I'll ever know what to do with.