Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 April 7

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April 7

Weird problem with Olympus E-620

I have an Olympus E-620 DSLR which I bought second-hand from Germany via eBay. Lately it has developed a weird problem. Sometimes when I switch it on, the display goes all black. Pressing any of the buttons on the rear control panel doesn't help. Even switching it off and back on doesn't help. The LCD panel in the viewfinder still works OK, and the camera takes pictures. Focusing the lens but not actually taking a picture brings the display back, but it soon goes all black again. This happens for a couple of minutes, after which the camera starts working normally. Then some time later the problem comes back. What could be causing this? Can it be fixed? JIP | Talk 08:16, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like an intermittent electrical contact to me, probably to the backlight for the LCD display panel. Any temperature changes or vibrations could change whether it has a good contact or not. If you shine a bright light at the LCD display panel when it's "out", do you see a faint trace of what you'd expect there ? If so, this verifies that it's the backlight. So, you'd then need to take it apart and fix the loose connection. Are you any good at soldering ? StuRat (talk) 08:32, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

I'm no good at electronic operations myself. I have noticed that this happens when the camera's outdoor temperature drops, i.e. when it is brought from the warm indoors to the cool outdoors. After a while, it starts working OK. But when I next bring it from the warm indoors to the cool outdoors, the problem reappears. JIP | Talk 08:44, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that has all of the symptoms of a bad contact...although there are many other possibilities. I agree with StuRat. Just imagine a wire that's only just gently touching the place it's supposed to be connected to. The slightest vibration would cause it to break or make contact. Temperature changes have a similar effect because the various metal parts involved are all expanding and contracting - pulling the wire away or pushing it back together. Very likely, the problem will soon go "solid" and the backlight will never work again. It's not exactly a hard fix *if* you can get the camera apart and find the wire that does that...but with modern electronics, that can be an almost impossible challenge. SteveBaker (talk) 15:52, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

This is getting worse. It has happened for two days now, and so far the display has only momentarily become all black, and that has been in the cool outdoors. Now it has been starting doing that even indoors, but then the camera has been out in the cool for several hours now. When I say "all black", I mean the display doesn't turn off - all the pixels fade to black. I can tell because there is a slight brightness difference between a powered-off display and a powered-on but all-black one. I might have to take it to repairs, which could last several weeks. In the end I might have to buy another camera. I don't know if I'll buy another second-hand E620 or try Olympus's current models, but I'm hesitant because they lack optical viewfinders, and I'm not sure if my old Four Thirds lenses will work with these new Micro Four Thirds cameras. JIP | Talk 18:51, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

More recent information: The camera has now been in my apartment, in a warm environment, for over an hour. A few moments ago, I could use the display all OK for everything else than viewing the pictures. Trying to do that caused the display to fade to black. I'm almost positive now it's because of a loosely connected wire, which contracts in a cool environment, losing contact. However, there is little I can do to fix it myself. JIP | Talk 19:42, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

In partial response to your last comment, your 4/3 lenses won't work with micro 4/3 cameras without an (expensive!) adaptor ring. Andrew Gray (talk) 19:49, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Well, sounds like you definitely need to take it in for repairs. Or, if you've decided to write it off entirely and buy a replacement, then you might as well try to fix the old one yourself. (You may very well end up destroying it, but, if you've already written it off, that's no big deal.) StuRat (talk)

A repair shop in my home city said they could fix it. They couldn't name a price without seeing the camera, but they said it would take two to three weeks. I'll take it to there on Monday (there's an important event I need to photograph on the weekend). At the same time I'll buy a point-and-shoot camera as a temporary replacement. JIP | Talk 16:28, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

That's a good idea, as your current camera certainly isn't reliable until it's fixed. I'd make sure the shop has a guarantee, as it's easy to wreck a camera once you open it up. They may not be willing to pay the replacement cost if they ruin it, since it's such a high risk operation, but, at very least, they should return your payments to them. StuRat (talk) 16:38, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Biographic photo

I would like to add a photo to a Wikipedia (Vilém_Klíma). However, I have difficulties to use the correct licening. I got the photo from his son. Advice where I must seach for help would be very helpful. --Pikkedil (talk) 10:21, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

WP:COPYREQ gives full details of the process, and WP:MCQ is the appropriate desk for questions of this sort. Tevildo (talk) 12:07, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

A more practical answer would be to consult WP:OTRS and have the son (if he took the photo or otherwise owns the copyright) send a note of permission to OTRS.--Wehwalt (talk) 12:35, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Looking for enlistment dates for my father during Pearl Harbor

My father just passed away last week @ the age of 87. He served in the US Navy aboard the USS Swan. I am trying to locate his exact enlistment dates. His name is Donald Eugene Bybee. — Preceding unsigned comment added by RTBYBEE (talk • contribs) 11:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Sorry about your father. There's some information here on how to access the info you want. Hot Stop (Talk) 14:34, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Just FYI, I checked ancestry.com (a pay site) and while they have a couple of naval references to your father, they don't have the enlistment date. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:52, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Childrens Book

I always took the title of this book to be "The World Upside" It was about finding the "X marks the spot", in a cave the cross was on the back wall and with the sun shining through the water fall over the entrance it worked like a pinhole camera projectingthe veiw from outside onto the dark back wall, upside down. I do not care if it would work I just hope someone knows the title of the book so that I can find it after 60years — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.36.39.96 (talk) 13:26, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Weird...I didn't find your book - but I did find a bizarre web site that talks about an actual cave that does something like this. The web page is a bit odd...Check it out: http://www.bnainoah.net/VJRI/copperscroll.html

SteveBaker (talk) 15:47, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Waterboarding in Zero Dark Thirty accurate?

Is the depiction of waterboarding in the movie Zero Dark Thirty technically accurate? I had always been under the impression that waterboarding is a bit more aggressive and that the CIA takes a more aggressive approach forcing water down your airways. In the movie, the CIA agents were simply pouring water gently onto the detainee's face. Couldn't the detainees just hold their breaths? Acceptable (talk) 14:27, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

See Waterboarding#Technique for the CIA's account of their method, which does not include "forcing water down your airways". It doesn't sound too bad but this source says that the US Armed Forces, with the exception of the Navy, have stopped using waterboarding in their escape and evasion exercises because of "its dramatic effect on the students who were subjects". The navy apparently uses a toned-down version, with a damp cloth and a minimal amount of water. Alansplodge (talk) 15:28, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Christopher Hitchens had it done and there's a video on Youtube of it. It's done by ex SEAR people (or it implies that it's close to it). Draw your own conclusions from that. Shadowjams (talk) 14:12, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Receiving money

I am trying to set up an online shop to sell some stuff, but it seems my website hosting provider has arranged it that I can only accept payment through either a service they own and charge quite a lot for, or through paypal, which I am not allowed to use. So, I have been trying to find some other way of charging people money, possibly through emailing them details or some such, but I have no idea what to do.

Is there any service I can use, that will allow people to just enter their card details and send the money, without having to create an account and verify details and so on?

Kitutal (talk) 15:13, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

We have an article about that: List of online payment service providers. Paypal is certainly the market leader in this field - but there are plenty of other to choose from. The difficulty is whether people coming to your site will trust these other organizations - so you should probably pick the most well-known alternative. I would say (without evidence) that Square, Google Wallet and Amazon Payments would be my top three Paypal alternatives. Amazon payments is used by Kickstarter - and you (unknowingly) use Amazon payments every time you buy something from Amazon's website - and for that reason many people will be familiar with them.

That said, if the terms and conditions of the website hosting provider only allow you to use their service - then you may be skating on thin ice by going with something else - even if you can figure out a way to do it. Personally, I'd never go with a website provider that places such ridiculous restrictions on you. I use DreamHost - and they are 100% free of any such crazy rules...I'm sure most others are too. SteveBaker (talk) 15:40, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

I looked through that list, but I wasn't sure which ones could be used without my customers having to set up their own accounts as well. it isn't that the website provider doesn't allow it, but that their shop template doesn't have room for anything else, I'd need a custom site for that. Kitutal (talk) 17:31, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Sadly, that's likely to be true for almost any online payment providers. The interface to their site will almost certainly require custom HTML/JavaScript code - and it the template system you're using doesn't allow for that, then it's quite likely to be impossible. When you opt for an easy "canned" website solution, you tend to sharply limit what you can do with it. SteveBaker (talk) 19:17, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Multiple "same family" deaths for Ohio 1962-1966

Looking for a list of the above. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucille7 (talk • contribs) 16:03, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

That's a very tough question to answer. We're going to need more details...is there *anything* else that you know? SteveBaker (talk) 19:11, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Accidents, in Ohio, in which multiple members of the same family died. 1962 thru 1967. Lucille7. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucille7 (talk • contribs) 19:52, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Eggplants

I am looking for an Eggplant named "Bayadera" I have looked everywhere, I can't seem to find it. can you help me? Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.71.252.161 (talk) 19:54, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Where have you looked? so that people don't waste their time on this unusual question.86.4.181.3 (talk) 21:13, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

I've found a Bayadera Aubergine brand of lipstick, and here is a photograph of a "Bayadere tomato creme fraiche verrine" - "Bayadere" in the photo just refers to the horizontal bands of the dish, not the variety of vegetable, though. Tevildo (talk) 23:29, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Can anybody identify this car?

What's the car?

Hi all. When I was out yesterday photographing churches for a future WP article, I spotted this interesting, ancient car (cropped photo attached). Can anybody identify the make and model, and also the approximate year of manufacture? Obviously it is pre-1963, as the number plate has no year suffix. I'm guessing mid-1950s...? The location is Sanderstead, incidentally. When I have the details I will edit the file details accordingly. Cheers, Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 20:11, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

That is a Ford Consul 315, if I'm any judge. Tevildo (talk) 21:30, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

That's the one – thanks! The 1961–1963 date range puts it a little later than I expected. Funnily enough, in the article, the very same car (photographed five years ago at a classic car rally) is illustrated! How odd... Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 21:43, 7 April 2013 (UTC)