New Fuji X10 sensor now available for free replacement

Good news for all you Fuji X10 owners, the new X10 sensor that fixes the well documented orb issue is now available (as of 30th May 2012).

I signed up for the sensor replacement with Fuji a few weeks ago by calling Fuji UK Customer services on 08445532322 and giving them my name, address and serial number. They told me to sit tight and wait until I receive a pre-paid packaging to return my camera for the new sensor and also to clean the dust from the inside of my lens at the same time. Make sure you read more about the dust inside X10 lens problems and if you are suffering from the same with your X10 ask them to clean it when it has the sensor swap.

This morning I received the following email

Mr Cooper,

Thank you for registering your camera for a sensor replacement and also for your patience in waiting for the sensors to become available. I am very happy to announce that we now have these parts in stock and we can upgrade your camera as soon as you are able to do without it for a short while.

You will shortly receive some pre-paid packaging with instructions on how to send your camera to our service centre securely and free of charge.

If you have any questions about this service or anything else to do with your Fujifilm camera, please call our helpline team on 08445532322 or email the address below:

Xseries@fuji.co.uk

Kind regards

Ben Barker
Customer Service Manager
FUJIFILM UK

So far I’ve not received my pre-paid packaging but I will update this post when that arrives and also update to let you know how long it took them to replace the sensor. Continue reading “New Fuji X10 sensor now available for free replacement”

Fuji X10 problem with dust inside lens units

I’ve only had my Fuji X10 for a couple of months and it’s an excellent bit of kit but it’s not without its flaws. Aside from the known issue with white discs (blooming) in highlight areas and slow boot times if you don’t format the card in the camera I’ve now got a bigger and much more annoying problem dust inside my lens.

I checked the camera thoroughly when I received it and there were definitely no dust traces inside the lens when it was new. The other day I was cleaning it with my trusty Lens Pen 2 and noticed there were some stubborn spots of dirt I couldn’t shift. On closer inspection I was shocked to find there is what I consider to be a large number of dust particles clinging to the inside of the front lens element and also to one of the inner lens elements.

It seems that this is quite a common problem with many other Fuji X10 users reporting the same. It is, however, reassuring to know that Fuji have been cleaning dust from inside the lens for other users free of charge under warranty. I will be getting this done but since Fuji have announced there is a new sensor replacement program on the horizon this month (May 2012) to combat the white orb sensor issue, I think I’ll wait until I send it off for the sensor swap and ask them to clean inside the lens at the same time.
Continue reading “Fuji X10 problem with dust inside lens units”

Replacement iPhone procedure walkthrough

I picked my iPhone on launch day in the UK (November 9th) and after making a few calls several friends complained of a “creaking” sound coming down the phone.

I eventually narrowed the sound down to the plastic housing for the speaker and microphone, applying gently pressure to the sides of the housing when holding the phone caused the plastic to flex and creak. As the microphone is housed in this area the small sound was greatly amplified down the line to my friends.

I took a trip back to the Carphone Warehouse the next morning, explained and demonstrated the problem and they instantly agreed it was a fault and would issue a replacement. The problem was none of the sales staff were able to talk me through the exchange procedure for the iPhone as I was the first to return a faulty iPhone. They seemed to be under the impression when I connected the replacement iPhone to iTunes I would have to start a new 18 months contract and ask for a refund and termination of the previous contract. This seemed ludicrous to me so after an hour wait in store whilst they called somebody for advice they finally gave me a new iPhone but removed the SIM from my old faulty phone and installed it in the new one.

That was it as far as they were concerned, it should just work! WTF of course it won’t, I powered it on in front of them to prove my point, and sure enough the phone was in Emergency Call only mode until I connected to iTunes.

Somebody then reassured me that iTunes would recognise the phone as a replacement and I’d simply have to enter my old number to migrate my account to the newer handset. This brought up a new problem, since I was migrating from Vodafone to O2 and was porting my number, I had been issued with a temporary O2 phone number for 7 days. Did I enter this temporary O2 number or my number being ported across if iTunes asked?….blank faces from all the staff again!

I left the store and decided to just try it and see what happened, and for the benefit of anybody else wandering how the replacement iPhone process differs from the new sign up procedure I took screen shots at each stage:

Step 1: First Screen shown when replacement iPhone connected.


Continue reading “Replacement iPhone procedure walkthrough”