I've had an Olympus C-2100 UZ since late 2001, and really love it.

Except -- a few years back, I was out hiking, and when I changed
batteries, nothing happened. At the time, I had thought that I
just had a dead set of spares.

Then, I thought that the contacts in the battery compartment
needed to be cleaned. Clean them a few times and everything
was fine. For a while. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Finally, earlier this year, I did some searching and found that
these are notorious for power-related problems. For instance:
<https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/431395>

I followed the four steps given part way down that thread, and
that got me going again. A few times. Now, even they don't help.

In fact, it seems that I was lucky that mine went as long as
it did before having this trouble. Posts on various web fora
discussing it are mostly from the 200x time frame.

However, after reading dozens of threads like these, I've never
read of an actual fix for the problem. Has anybody here ever
had an Uzi with this problem and gotten it (successfully) fixed?
--
Michael F. Stemper
This email is to be read by its intended recipient only. Any other party
reading is required by the EULA to send me $500.00.

On 2023-10-29 10:18, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> I've had an Olympus C-2100 UZ since late 2001, and really love it.
>
> Except -- a few years back, I was out hiking, and when I changed
> batteries, nothing happened. At the time, I had thought that I
> just had a dead set of spares.
>
> Then, I thought that the contacts in the battery compartment
> needed to be cleaned. Clean them a few times and everything
> was fine. For a while. Lather, rinse, repeat.
>
> Finally, earlier this year, I did some searching and found that
> these are notorious for power-related problems. For instance:
> <https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/431395>
>
> I followed the four steps given part way down that thread, and
> that got me going again. A few times. Now, even they don't help.
>
> In fact, it seems that I was lucky that mine went as long as
> it did before having this trouble. Posts on various web fora
> discussing it are mostly from the 200x time frame.
>
> However, after reading dozens of threads like these, I've never
> read of an actual fix for the problem. Has anybody here ever
> had an Uzi with this problem and gotten it (successfully) fixed?

I don't know anything about that camera.

But an issue with some battery compartments is simple "spring fatigue"
where the pressure is low and surface corrosion is enough to drop the
voltage too much to run whatever the 'thing' is.

After cleaning and using emery cloth or sandpaper (mind where the dust
goes), then alcohol, another thing to do is improve the spring tension.
So if you can easily "bend them out" (carefully) that might resolve it.

In the case of my computer trackpad, I have no access to the spring, so
I put a conductive spacer at the negative end (about 1mm thick) and that
adds enough pressure to make the contact good enough.

Good luck.

--
“Markets can remain irrational longer than your can remain solvent.”
- John Maynard Keynes.

Am 30.10.2023 um 00:09 schrieb Alan Browne:
> I don't know anything about that camera.

Over 20 years old, 2MP, zoom range (equiv) 38-380mm. But such a dinosaur
should be replaced by something newer - any inexpensive Olympus camera
with the 12-200mm lens would do.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras forum at
https://groups.io/g/myolympus
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

On 29/10/2023 18.09, Alan Browne wrote:
> On 2023-10-29 10:18, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
>> I've had an Olympus C-2100 UZ since late 2001, and really love it.

>> Then, I thought that the contacts in the battery compartment
>> needed to be cleaned. Clean them a few times and everything
>> was fine. For a while. Lather, rinse, repeat.

> But an issue with some battery compartments is simple "spring fatigue" where the pressure is low and surface corrosion is enough to drop the voltage too much to run whatever the 'thing' is.
>
> After cleaning and using emery cloth or sandpaper (mind where the dust goes), then alcohol, another thing to do is improve the spring tension. So if you can easily "bend them out" (carefully) that might resolve it.

The springy bits are at the far end of the battery compartment, into
which the batteries are inserted lengthwise. Get a needle-nose in
there, and you can no longer see anything.

> Good luck.

Thanks for that.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

On 30/10/2023 12.07, Alfred Molon wrote:
> Am 30.10.2023 um 00:09 schrieb Alan Browne:
>> I don't know anything about that camera.
>
> Over 20 years old, 2MP, zoom range (equiv) 38-380mm. But such a dinosaur should be replaced by something newer - any inexpensive Olympus camera with the 12-200mm lens would do.

Well, no it wouldn't.

The Uzi produces 1600x1200 images, which are both wider and higher than
the monitors on any of my PCs. I don't see any advantage to seeking
pixels for pixels' sake.

If I end up needing to replace it, I wouldn't go with Olympus, since
they have left the camera business:
<https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53165293>

12-200 is a good deal shorter than my current lens, which is, as you
said, 38-380. Yes, I do sometimes zoom in that far. And the lens is
image-stabilized, which is great in low-light situations, as well as
for capturing birds in flight.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

On 2023-11-03 13:47, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 29/10/2023 18.09, Alan Browne wrote:

>> After cleaning and using emery cloth or sandpaper (mind where the dust
>> goes), then alcohol, another thing to do is improve the spring
>> tension. So if you can easily "bend them out" (carefully) that might
>> resolve it.
>
> The springy bits are at the far end of the battery compartment, into
> which the batteries are inserted lengthwise. Get a needle-nose in
> there, and you can no longer see anything.

Dental hook.

--
“Markets can remain irrational longer than your can remain solvent.”
- John Maynard Keynes.

Am 03.11.2023 um 18:52 schrieb Michael F. Stemper:
> 12-200 is a good deal shorter than my current lens, which is, as you
> said, 38-380. Yes, I do sometimes zoom in that far. And the lens is
> image-stabilized, which is great in low-light situations, as well as
> for capturing birds in flight.

Well no, the 38-380 of the 2100 UZ are socalled "equivalent" mm of focal
length

The 12-200 is 24-400 equivalent, both much wider than the 2100 UZ and
even longer.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus E-series DSLRs and micro 4/3 forum at
https://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

On 03/11/2023 17.25, Alfred Molon wrote:
> Am 03.11.2023 um 18:52 schrieb Michael F. Stemper:
>> 12-200 is a good deal shorter than my current lens, which is, as you
>> said, 38-380. Yes, I do sometimes zoom in that far. And the lens is
>> image-stabilized, which is great in low-light situations, as well as
>> for capturing birds in flight.
>
> Well no, the 38-380 of the 2100 UZ are socalled "equivalent" mm of focal length

That, I knew.

> The 12-200 is 24-400 equivalent, both much wider than the 2100 UZ and even longer.

They've changed how things are specified? It's no longer "35 mm equivalent"?
That, I did not know. I always thought that they should move away from making
specs related to a different technology.

Thanks for the info.

--
Michael F. Stemper
This sentence no verb.

Am 04.11.2023 um 14:49 schrieb Michael F. Stemper:
>> The 12-200 is 24-400 equivalent, both much wider than the 2100 UZ and
>> even longer.
>
> They've changed how things are specified? It's no longer "35 mm
> equivalent"?

In the original press release in the year 2000 they were talking of a
7-70mm lens (38-380mm equivalent):
https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2220060189/olyus2100uz

So even then they were declaring the real focal length.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus E-series DSLRs and micro 4/3 forum at
https://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

On 03/11/2023 13.44, Alan Browne wrote:
> On 2023-11-03 13:47, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
>> On 29/10/2023 18.09, Alan Browne wrote:
>
>>> After cleaning and using emery cloth or sandpaper (mind where the dust goes), then alcohol, another thing to do is improve the spring tension. So if you can easily "bend them out" (carefully) that might resolve it.
>>
>> The springy bits are at the far end of the battery compartment, into
>> which the batteries are inserted lengthwise. Get a needle-nose in
>> there, and you can no longer see anything.
>
> Dental hook.

It took me a while to come up with one, but that did the trick.

I went out on the trail today and took about a dozen photos, with no
loss of power.

Thank you very much.

--
Michael F. Stemper
The name of the story is "A Sound of Thunder".
It was written by Ray Bradbury. You're welcome.

On 04/11/2023 16.20, Alfred Molon wrote:
> Am 04.11.2023 um 14:49 schrieb Michael F. Stemper:
>>> The 12-200 is 24-400 equivalent, both much wider than the 2100 UZ and even longer.
>>
>> They've changed how things are specified? It's no longer "35 mm equivalent"?
>
> In the original press release in the year 2000 they were talking of a 7-70mm lens (38-380mm equivalent):
> https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2220060189/olyus2100uz
>
> So even then they were declaring the real focal length.

Well, I didn't see the press release, all that I saw was what was
on dpreview. I just checked the owner's manual, and they finesse it
in there, simply saying "10X optical zoom [...]".

But, I'm a bit confused about how to compare real focal length to
35mm equivalent. Two posts back, you said that 12-200 works out to
24-400, which is a ratio of two. In your latest post (the one to
which I am following up), you say that 7-70 is equivalent to
38-380, which is a ratio of just over 5.4.

Isn't there a simple way to get 35mm equivalent? Some day, this
camera will die for good, and it'd be nice if there was some
standard way to compare the various apples and oranges that'll
be on the market then.

--
Michael F. Stemper
The name of the story is "A Sound of Thunder".
It was written by Ray Bradbury. You're welcome.