Panasonic LX3 Shot Count
Via good fortune on the DPReview
forum, a service manual for the LX3 appeared. I'm not interested in
getting inside the camera, but the good find was that now we can see
the true shot count of the LX3, instead of getting confused by the
easily upsettable file numbering system. The Leica D-Lux 4 behaves the same.
To show the logged error codes and also the internal history of counts of camera actions, follow this procedure....
1.
Get the camera into an initial state where it can be made to get to
those other information displays by being in
Record mode with the dial at P then hold Focus and Up
(cursor) buttons and then turn camera on. The camera will turn on like normal and tell
you to remove the lens cap if you haven't already.
2. Now to get
to the interesting bits, hold Focus, and press Menu/Set, and Left (cursor) together. The camera now cycles though three
different displays each time you do that.
Normal > Error Code Log > Operation History Counts >
Normal > etc
If your LCD is set to turn off in a short time it will do so, revive the LCD display by doing step 2 again.
Power camera off to reset back to normal operation.
The Error Codes
really are the work of a service person to make sense of, the
explanation is in the Service Manual but without spare parts or
adjustment procedures then it is a "back to service" job to fix errors
that do appear if your camera is misbehaving. Mine shows all zeros at
the moment.
The Operation History Count
is much more interesting...... mine as at November 2009:
Camera Info
Ver 2.10 : 0000 : 010B (obviously firmware level followed by ??)
No: xxx (long number displayed, maybe the main board serial number?)
PWRCNT: 2362 (the number of times camera turned on)
SHTCNT: 6849 (the true camera total shot count, only reset by some internal service operation like replacing parts)
STBCNT: 219 (the flash count, number of shots with flash)
PSVCNT: 15 (number of times the auto power off has actuated)
Interesting in that counts of 108,000 and 149,000 have been seen in the DPReview forum thread, just how long does this shutter last?
To explore the camera further go here
where Bing Bao has explored his Leica D-Lux 4 thoroughly - there's a
lot more to the service mode than I've shown above, you can most likely
make your camera into another country version. You can also turn it
into an expensive brick if you do the wrong thing. Be very careful!
The LX3 service manual is here but was meant to be a temporary posting so may disappear at any time