From: Christine Nielsen
Here's an odd thing that happened to me today...
While shooting with the k-5 at my daughter's gymnastics meet, the
camera stopped working. As in, I'd push the shutter, and though I'd
feel something inside activating slightly (the mirror? though it
wasn't the full-bodied slap of my previous run-in with mirror flops),
the shutter would not release. Then, the battery indicator would
appear empty (having appeared full seconds previous), and the LCD
screen would say "battery depleted". I couldn't get it to shoot...
Not on manual focus. Not after turning off & on. Not after removing
battery & replacing. Not after replacing battery with a different
battery. Not after changing lenses. Not after checking to make sure
it wasn't the k-7...
Here's when it did work: after fiddling with a Setup menu item
"Select Battery"... it has 3 options: Auto, Body First, Grip First.
It must be set to Auto as default... and even though I was not using
the grip at the time, the camera seemed to think I was, since it
showed a little diagram of two batteries, both lit. I switched to
Body First, and... bingo. Back in business.
(I will add: grip was not attached, but I did have my tripod mount
screwed into the base of the camera... )
So, what do you make of that? It is somewhat similar to the flops..
for which the camera has already been serviced... but not exactly.
I've been meaning to send in my 16-50 for service (won't focus, won't
shoot in AF)... maybe I send it all in together? Or maybe I wait
until it really goes belly up & can't be revived? I feel like I've
had some bad luck with this camera... but maybe this is the cost of
use?
Did you have the grip attached when you first turned it on & then remove
the grip to mount it on the tripod? That's the only way I can think of
that it would think the grip is attached when it isn't. If you turned it
on with the grip attached & then removed the grip it might glitch &
still be looking for that battery ... or not.
I couldn't make the K20D do it, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.
(Extrapolating from the K20D + grip) I believe that when "Select
Battery" is set to "auto", it uses whichever battery it thinks has the
most charge when it's first turned on.
When it's set to "grip first" or "body first", it will use that battery
until it's almost depleted, then you have to manually switch to the
other battery by turning the camera off & back on.
Looking at the K20D "Select Battery" menu, icons for both batteries are
shown even when the grip is not attached. When the battery grip is not
attached, it should have a diagonal line through the grip battery icon
to show that it's not present.
In other news, I bought a k-01 today. (Before all the other stuff happened.)
:)
-c
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