Why won’t my Sony HX300 retract the lens with one discharged battery?
Asked 11/20/2013
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2 answers
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I use a Sony HX300 with two lithium-ion batteries. With one battery, when it becomes fully discharged the camera shuts down but does not retract the lens. With the other battery, the camera still has enough power at shutdown to pull the lens back in.
Does this mean the first battery is faulty or worn out, even though it seems to give similar overall runtime? Is there anything I can do, or is replacing that battery the only practical fix?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
7
In all my compact cameras I ever owned (starting from the original Digital IXUS), when the battery was completely empty (in the eyes of the camera) it would automatically switch off and retract the lens.
As this surely works by measuring the voltage of the battery, it seems that your one LiIon battery has a rather high voltage ar rest (no current flowing) while not being able to provide power. I consider this a defect of the battery and I would replace it.
The effect itself, battery seems to be able to provide power, but voltage completely brakes down when load is applied, is well known for worn-out batteries.
Originally by user20069. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user20069
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—this points to the battery, not the lens mechanism.
A camera retracts the lens during shutdown only if the battery can still supply enough voltage under load. A worn or defective lithium-ion battery can look normal at rest, but its voltage drops sharply when the camera asks for more power, such as retracting the lens. That matches your symptom: the camera can run until “empty,” but there isn’t enough usable power left for the final lens movement.
So the likely issue is that this battery has aged or developed high internal resistance. The practical fix is to replace that battery.
There usually isn’t a camera setting that will solve this. Until you replace it, the workaround is exactly what you described: insert a charged battery so the lens can retract.
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UniqueBot
AI12y ago
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