topic Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera? in Alpha & NEX interchangeable lens cameras

Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

D_in_London — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 12:24:21 GMT

Watch 8 Minute YouTube Video to See The Problem

The video shows my Sony A6000, a camera that I was extremely pleased with and showing off to all those Canon and Nikon users. I had the camera for 14 months without a single problem - then all of a sudden the camera refuses to go into the menu, or the dials would stop working, as you can see from the video the problem comes and goes, but makes the camera totally unfit for purpose. I have invested a lot of money in the Sony Alpha system - first buying a Sony NEX 5N (which I used to film this video) and also 4 Sony Lenses, Sony Memory Sticks, etc and finally the Sony A6000 Camera.

Does anyone know what causes the problem and how to fix it?

Also what is the standing with European Union Law? Are electrical goods covered by 1 year or 2 year warranties?

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

Amfion — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 13:11:02 GMT

Hi! And welcome to the Community even if it's not for a nice reason....

Haven't seen or heard anyone with the same problem as of yet, but by the looks of it yours is very recent as wel?

What have you tried to fix this?

Maybe you can try:

- Take out the battery for a longer period of time, say a day or so?

- I see you've updated your software, maybe try to re-run the update? If the installer doesn't recognise the software you may be able to do a new install.

For you warranty question I think it would be wise to contact Sony Customer Services.
http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/contact

Good luck!

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

D_in_London — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 13:39:19 GMT

I've already tried taking the battery out for several weeks and in the video you can see me performing a factory reset on the camera which doesn't help fix the problem.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

Amfion — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 13:45:36 GMT

Several weeks? That should have been enough if that was the solution...

I saw you trying the factory reset, what I meant was connecting the camera to your computer and rerunning the software update installer. Don't know if this will fix this, since I haven't had this problem myself, but could be worth a try!

If that doesn't work I would recomment contacting customer services or the camera shop where you bought your camera to send it in for repair.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

D_in_London — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 13:59:24 GMT

The camera was 14 months old at the time the problem occurred a few weeks back. I've contacted both the camera shop and Sony both said 12 months is their warranty limit and they'd charge for a repair - being in the EU I was told by some there's a 2 year warranty law that cover the whole of the European Union - this is what I want to clarify.

Either way I think this is some kind of in built flaw with the camera, looks like a software bug to me. Potentially something that could affect the entire Sony range of camera, I'd think Sony would want to actively get involved to investigate the problem to make sure it's not something that could affect their entire line of Sony Alpha cameras.

I think all potential new Sony cameras customers would worry that at this price range their equipment should last more then 14 months and if things do go wrong, which they do from time to time a company as huge as Sony would want to support their loyal customers to solve a problem that appears to be software related and beyound the control of the user.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

Amfion — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:21:18 GMT

I get your point! But not being a Sony employee I can't help you get an answer on that. Yours is the first camera I saw of heard of with this problem.

I'm in the Netherlands, and I know that the European Law states a two year warrenty as you said, but really don't know how this affects the UK.

I'll try to get someone from UK community to respond!

(Was just browsing around here when I saw your question :smileywink:)

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

D_in_London — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 02:15:45 GMT

Would certainly be good to get some more eyes on this problem, espacially if it's firmware / software related

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

lumen_ — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 09:08:05 GMT

If my camera would be in such a shape that it wouldn't react to buttons and would start to behave abnormally otherwise, I would take it to Sony Authorised Service point and leave there with good clarification of the symptoms.

In my understanding all the EU countries have 2 year warranty for ALL consumable goods that fall into category "long usage goods".

It doesn't matter what the manufacturer says for warranty period, because 2 years is the minimum (and manufacturer should understand that when they launch a product within EU).

That is the reality atleast in Finland, I hope it applies to whole of EU.

I run all the time to warranty texts "1 year warranty", but that is b******t from the seller/manufacturer and they always try this (so customers wouldn't return products so easily I guess). One has to demand to follow EU's 2 year warranty (and mention that this is a "long usage goods" (or whatever is it called in English).

For example...

I have a SEL-1018 lens, which was bugging multitude times and repaired once and still bugged.

When I took it second time to warranty repair for same fault the warranty time already had gone overdue actually.

But I insisted that warranty still applies as this is clearly a "craftmanship failure" (hope term is translated from Finnish correctly). And they never coughed at all and repaired it for free.

This left a good image for me atleast of Sony warranty service.

Hope your A6000 problem gets somehow solved!

🙂

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

AbortAbort — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 12:54:35 GMT

Your shutter button half press is sticking / phantom activating. You can tell by the AF boxes staying on and the AEL. This stops yoiunfrom accessing the menu and when you can access it it boots you out (like half pressing the shutter normally does).

Contact cleaner may fix it, but worst case needs a new shutter button assembly. I had this a bit on my A7S, but but it cleared itself up and worked fine, but mine was a phantom triggering fn button.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

Amfion — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:08:43 GMT

Hi! And thanks for your contribution on Sony Community!

I'm afraid this won't be the solution in this case, since the camera is showing a software problem warning.

Or did yours show this as well?

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

AbortAbort — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:35:35 GMT

I watched the first section of the video, where did it say this? (Time in the video might help). What does the message say exactly?

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

AbortAbort — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:51:08 GMT

100% guarantee it is the half press of the shutter button false triggering / sticking. You can tell because the AF boxes stay on even when they aren't touching the shutter button. The AF lock also overrides access to the menu and most other functions. The AF goes off without touching the button when he first turns the camera on (after turning off).

If you got a brand new one out if the box if you got someone too half press the shutter while you tried all these things it would have the same.

I don't know where you are getting the idea there is a software error coming up?

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

Amfion — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 14:22:04 GMT

Well... it's not my camera but the warning says:

Menu/Dial bug, Potential bug in camera's software/firmware. So the idea that it is software/firmware related probably stems from that.

Since you've encountered this problem yourself, did your camera show the same warning?
Because if it is the same problem you've had, it's probably a mechanical problem, which wouldn't affect as much users as a fault in the software would as @D_in_London fears.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

AbortAbort — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 14:51:22 GMT

You understand that the display is coming from the camera being pointed at a computer screen right? Like that white screen that says:

Firmware 2.0

Menu / Dial bug

Etc etc.

That is a screen that the camera is pointed at and is taking pictures of.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

Amfion — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:46:24 GMT

Ah shame on me, I didn't recognize the warning screen but I don't own a
a6000 so I just thought it was one I didn't know..... But this explains a
lot! My honest and well meant apologies 😃 and thanks for your
contribution!

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

AbortAbort — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:52:09 GMT

No worries, all good. It's funny I scoured the video a bunch of times trying to see some warning popping up on the screen ha-ha!

Anyway, 100% certain it is a dodgy shutter button, not a system wide firmware bug. Should be an easy enough fix for the owner.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

ReflectPhotography — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 10:31:37 GMT

I Have had a problem with my A6000, I allways shoot in manual mode with speedlights most of the time. about 1month ago the camera would just flick through the navigation menu by its self, from aout to shutter mode and so forth. It does this for a few seconds then sorts itself out. The camera is 2 years old so no warranty. Any suggestions

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

lamesony1 — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 15:43:30 GMT

Hi - I have this problem with my Sony a6300 - the buttons become unresponsive. The camera is two years old and has been not been abused or mistreated.

Many others havethis issue too and while it is documented on the web and on the Sony Community board, Sony refuses to acknowledge it. It is thought that the grease in the shutter button is making the camera think the user is shutter focusing and hence disabling the other buttons. Here are the suggested solutions:

1. Turn off AF Shutter focus and activate back button focus - see the web on how to do this. This did not work for me.

2. Press the shutter button down for five seconds - this worked for me after two tries.

3. Spray electric contact cleaner (NOT WD-40!) on the shutter button - this has worked for some - see https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3970067

4. Get the shutter button cleaned - either professionally or by taking the camera apart yourself - there are videos on this - seems risky

5. Ask Sony for help (good luck).

6. Use a door stop.

7. Switch back to Nikon, Olympus or Canon which have much much better reliability. A $1000 body should last 10 years, not 2.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

AdventureNomad4Nature — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 19:40:16 GMT

I have had the same problems, exactly, and more. The other night I was all set up to do Milky Way shots, perfect night, temperature, sky, no moon, no wind, lighting set up with campfire, etc. etc. Camera went totally bonkers, and I only managed to get one accidental shot, which is far from perfect. Nothing on my camera worked, no dial, no menu, no picture playback, no focus, couldnt turn on or off. I tried everything, including a reset (which was almost impossible to do, except menu was accessible for about 3-seconds), battery, card, etc. etc. I ended up not having a photoshoot at all, after all that! Put the camera away and just resigned myself to it going in the trash, since warranty is way expired. Next morning, worked just fine. However, this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened, this was just the worst time of them all.

Re: Disaster with Sony A6000 Menu System Bug - What's Wrong With My Camera?

Strampke — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 20:20:25 GMT

Did the camera suffer a sudden temperature drop?

Condensation and humidity maybe?