February 6, 2007 – Kyocera Japan announced last week extended warranties for three now-discontinued digital camera models, the Finecam M400R, M410R, and the SL400R after reported problems with the CCD sensors. Kyocera now offers free repairs for these cameras until 2010.
Kyocera reported on Feb. 1 that select models of the Finecam M400R, Finecam M410R, and Finecam SL400R malfunctioned, experiencing LCD and CCD failures in humid environments. To remedy the problem, Kyocera is extending the warranty for free repair service on these models until March 2010, according to a Japanese press release.
In April 2005, Kyocera stopped producing their Contax-branded digital cameras, a joint collaboration between Kyocera and Carl Zeiss. Kyocera maintains that the company will still offer customer service to Contax customers.
Other manufacturers including Sony and Nikon have reported similar digital camera defects when exposed to humid environments. In Nov. 2006, Sony acknowledged LCD performance problems in eight Cyber-shots: F88, M1, T1, T11, T3, T33, U40, and U50. Last week, Nikon warned users of possible malfunctions on the Coolpix SQ, 5700, 5400, 5000, 4500, 3500, and 3100.
