A550 First Black Frame

I have had this problem as well, since I had the 550. I bought it 11 09 2009 (m/d/y). Quite often the first image taken after the camera is switched on will be totally useless (dark/black).
Back in the 1st week of June 2011, it gave several black images during one outing (I count 8 black/dark images out of 92 shots). I cannot recall whether the camera was switched off between each occurance or not. This happened with a 70-200 mm lens attached.

Then yesterday, 28 june, during another outing where I was testing my sony 300 2.8 (just back from repair), I got so many of these dark frames that I gave up testing the lens and just shot with my Nikon equipment.
I noticed that not all the dark frames are as black as the usual problem generates, which leads me to suspect it might not be the same problem. However several frames WERE black/v dark. And no, I did NOT turn the camera off between each black frame occurrence. Some of the black frames happened with single shots, some during and mixed in with multiple shots (hold the shutter down).

After about 193 shots this stopped happening and everything seemed to work ok again.
However.... This puts the gear in doubt. Will I miss my next great shot because of this problem?

I'll continue testing and if there is a problem I'll have to take it in.

Alp

I had to send my a550 off to Sony (here in Japan) to get the shutter button repaired. They checked the shutter record at the same time and discovered a shutter error, so they're replacing the whole shutter unit. I'm wondering whether the shutter error could be the FFB?? The work is being done under warranty, which Sony at first said they wouldn't do.

I have this issue with both my a350 and a550. I've noticed that if I just let the camera fall asleep, and I wake it up from touching the shutter button, I never get the FFB. Its the only way I can assure myself not to miss a shot.

I have NOT read anywhere of a560/a580 owners having this issue. Maybe Sony has solved the issue without ever officially admitting to the problem

Edited by trainerKEN - 20 June 2011 at 22:18

I've just gotten a good deal on an used a450, please tell me if it has FBF issues. Would be a big turn down for me.

+1 My a500 has the FBF issue and I sent it while under warranty to Precision Camera and unfortunately when it was returned to me it still had the issue

I tried to keep track of user reports on this problem in various forums in order to find out if the number of occurances of this fault is still within acceptable limits or if we are seeing the wake of a problem on a similar scale as with the Dynax 5D and 7D. Perhaps this list of links to other threads is helpful to some:

http://www.mi-fo.de/forum/index.php?showtopic=27066&view=findpost&p=263015

Greetings,

Matthias

Edited by matthiaspaul - 20 June 2011 at 16:41

I have an a550 that does the black frame thing, often after a lens change. It doesn't seem to do it with the 18-55 kit zoom, but always does it with my Minolta 50 1.4 and Minolta 100-200. Annoying, but so regular that I pop off a double shot as a mater of course.