AraiGordai in Thailand

e1 camera defects.

after taking more than a thousand shots on the e1 during the work trip in samet, i've found a few problems with the camera. the first thing is the poor color evaluation and the second is the hot pixels on CCD sensor when taking night shots.

The auto white balance has been known to e1 and was mentioned in the user review, but what i didn't know is that the effect of changing color, or color bleed. below are some images that shows the bleeding of greenish tone. The bunglalo picture, if you look at the white paint, you will see a shade of light green, influenced by surrounding green. this happens when green is the dominant color.


it gets more obvious when you look at these two picture of the same tree at slightly different angle. the color of the green leaves changes between the two shots.

check the color of the green in the 2 pictures above and below. the changes in the lighting causes the change in the tonal color of the green. the yellowish green doesn't reflect the reality.



if you look at the one with blue sky or with the red flower below, the green behaves correctly. so overall, i think there's some problem with the color interpretational logic. seems like it works well when there are a 'balance' of color variation in the scene.



this green color variation became so evident when composed in a panoromic shot when the tree leaves virtually changes color as the camera tries to adjust its balance(which changes the color). as i'm returning the camera, i wonder if all E1 has this behavior and is actually not considered as a defect, I will try using a fixed outdoor white balance set instead of relying on its inaccurate auto white balancing, i hope it help out with the color. the panorama shot below shows the yellowish green color which is not like the real thing but as the green plant gets nearer to the beach and the sky, the color becomes more accurate


i think many of the pictures, especially scenic one, my lil point and shoot can do a better job than the E1. this is my forth olympus digicam, most of them has great realistic color, but the e1 being the most fancy and expensive, doesn't do well in auto mode.

the other problem is hot pixel in the ccd sensor. this is a classic, all of the oly cam i had has this problem, some i spot right away and exchange it for another model. the last point and shoot i changed it four times. the sensor is the heart of it all. there's no point to use good camera with a bad film. anyway, this e1 also has hot pixel problem. so i'm returning it, hopefully i get a defect free one.


i have am a bit suspcious of how they are able to offer lower pricing than e1 in states. i hope thai merchant didn't buy the 'minor defective' in bulk and sell it here. there are many cams that have been returned, exchanged by the customer because of some problems, and ccd hot pixel is the classic problem. now, they just replace to the user with a new one. the defective one can go back to fix as refurbished, or it might have been sold at lower price for another grade of consumer. a none picky consumer type. a thailand consumer type. i hope its just my 'fear' and not reality. from all the time and experience of using products here in thailand, anything is possible.

i'll go pickup a new one today after sending it in for a few days. cross my fingers.. and toes.

posted by AraiGordai @ 1:19 PM