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Post by Kellen on Dec 13, 2022 17:33:08 GMT
I wouldn't describe myself as entirely "brand loyal," but when it comes to equipment I have a tendency to stay within a product family in order to maximize compatibility between components. That explains why I purchased a new Fuji EF-X500 shoe-mount flash to use with a 100S and X-H2/X-H2S. I did that instead of a buying Godox, despite the EF-X500's generally awful reviews, not so much in terms of performance, but in terms of reliability. I crossed my fingers and hoped those initial reviews from several years ago had led Fuji to fix the original problems and that the flash would be reliable now.
Maybe I made a mistake...
The EF-X500 worked fine initially. In fact, it worked great. And then it didn't. Four months with the product and this last weekend it simply would not power up. So I installed new batteries and double-checked they were installed correctly. Still wouldn't turn on. So I replaced the batteries again, with another set of four brand new Duracell AA batteries, and nothing. Still not turning on. So I got online and tried to find troubleshooting fixes on YouTube and whatnot. No luck there. As a last resort, I defaulted to my old standby method of fixing high-end electronics and banged the unit around (in the palm of my hand; let's just say I was a bit frustrated). Lo and behold, now it works again. Huh?
Putting aside the illusion that I suddenly feel like Fonzie with "magic" hands  , any guesses what may have happened when I jolted the flash around like that? I can't visually see anything amiss as far as battery connection points are concerned, so a bit baffled how I "fixed" it. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2022 20:50:33 GMT
Hopefully geoffr does not read this as he will probably have a heart attack.
A friend of mine, who unfortunately is no longer with us, used to say, how can you tell the difference between an engineer and a mechanic?
The engineer will take an age reviewing a problem, try several solutions and when they all fail will hit it with a hammer. A mechanic doesn’t waste any time, immediately hits it with a hammer.
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Post by geoffr on Dec 13, 2022 21:14:06 GMT
Hopefully geoffr does not read this as he will probably have a heart attack. A friend of mine, who unfortunately is no longer with us, used to say, how can you tell the difference between an engineer and a mechanic? The engineer will take an age reviewing a problem, try several solutions and when they all fail will hit it with a hammer. A mechanic doesn’t waste any time, immediately hits it with a hammer. The difference is the engineer know where to hit it and how hard, the mechanic just hits it! On one occasion I was doing a software mod on a 777, it was pouring with rain and there was nobody else around. I fired up the aircraft, waited until it had stabilised and found the system display screen wasn’t behaving. After careful consideration, and bearing in mind that I didn’t want to wait a week for the next window, I thumped the surround. The screen behaved and I did the mod. I did raise the necessary documentation to replace the unit though, back in the office while I dried out. |
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Post by MJB on Dec 13, 2022 21:21:07 GMT
My brother is an engineering fitter. His mantra is "if it doesn't fit, hit it. If it still wont fit, cut it. If that doesn't work, paint it.". Now this is all well and good, but he works at the atomic weapons establishment at Aldermaston.  |
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Post by squeamishossifrage on Dec 14, 2022 7:13:13 GMT
My brother is an engineering fitter. His mantra is "if it doesn't fit, hit it. If it still wont fit, cut it. If that doesn't work, paint it.". Now this is all well and good, but he works at the atomic weapons establishment at Aldermaston. Hey - don't sweat it. These things are incredibly robust. I was once in a room when a clumsy GI knocked a Davy Crocket off a table, and we all survived. Mind you, it was an exemplary frozen life tableau of a dozen blokes, all staring at the same object on the floor for what felt like an eternity! |
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Post by geoffr on Dec 14, 2022 14:05:29 GMT
My brother is an engineering fitter. His mantra is "if it doesn't fit, hit it. If it still wont fit, cut it. If that doesn't work, paint it.". Now this is all well and good, but he works at the atomic weapons establishment at Aldermaston. Hey - don't sweat it. These things are incredibly robust. I was once in a room when a clumsy GI knocked a Davy Crocket off a table, and we all survived. Mind you, it was an exemplary frozen life tableau of a dozen blokes, all staring at the same object on the floor for what felt like an eternity! The question is, was it armed?
From what, little, I know about the Davy Crocket it was pretty much a suicide weapon. Apparently no one can run that far that fast.
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Post by squeamishossifrage on Dec 14, 2022 14:44:37 GMT
Hey - don't sweat it. These things are incredibly robust. I was once in a room when a clumsy GI knocked a Davy Crocket off a table, and we all survived. Mind you, it was an exemplary frozen life tableau of a dozen blokes, all staring at the same object on the floor for what felt like an eternity! The question is, was it armed?
From what, little, I know about the Davy Crocket it was pretty much a suicide weapon. Apparently no one can run that far that fast.
You're quite right about it being a suicide weapon. There was even a man-pack version that was designed to blow up important bridges, which were always notoriously difficult to destroy from the air. The pack would be deposited by the bridge, and would then be detonated remotely. It was widely circulated that the remote device had less range than the weapon... This one was, in fact, a 'live' round, but only with what was known as a flash/smoke warhead, so you could see where it landed. Still, had it gone off it would have been enough to plaster us all over the walls. Like most mortar or recoil-less fired devices, the final arming was initiated by shock from the propellant, not like shells from a rifled field piece, where the final arming was done by a certain number of rotations. |
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Post by donerundlecams on Dec 15, 2022 21:22:15 GMT
I was thinking this thread was about politicians .........  Cheers, Jack |
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Post by peterba on Dec 17, 2022 10:37:36 GMT
I was thinking this thread was about politicians ......... Cheers, Jack
I guess you must be referrring to Canadian politicians, Jack.
As you will surely be aware, if you've been following UK news this year, our politicians are fine examples of "reliability" in office. Think Johnson, and Truss.   |
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Post by zou on Dec 17, 2022 16:56:11 GMT
I was thinking this thread was about politicians ......... Cheers, Jack
I guess you must be referrring to Canadian politicians, Jack.
As you will surely be aware, if you've been following UK news this year, our politicians are fine examples of "reliability" in office. Think Johnson, and Truss. 3 this year alone. Is that unreliable (needed replacements) or reliable because you get exactly what you expect? |
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Post by peterba on Dec 17, 2022 17:28:44 GMT
3 this year alone. Is that unreliable (needed replacements) or reliable because you get exactly what you expect? Reliably unreliable. |
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, any guesses what may have happened when I jolted the flash around like that? I can't visually see anything amiss as far as battery connection points are concerned, so a bit baffled how I "fixed" it.
