Bad camera or bad battery?

M0RPH

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2003
3,305
1
0
I bought a used Panasonic DMC-FS15 (small point & shoot) used on ebay and a battery from a separate source. Now I'm having a problem and trying to determine if it's the camera or battery.

The camera works for a while after charging the battery, but then suddenly the lens moves in and out a couple times and it shuts off. Same thing if i try to turn it on again. The indicator on the lcd still shows the battery as full. The camera can still stay powered on in playback mode for a long time, which seems to indicate the battery is ok.

So I guess there's 2 possibilities:
1) Some defect in the camera that only shows up when the battery gets below a certain level, or
2) The battery is bad and somehow doesn't give out enough power? even though camera shows it as charged and its enough power for playback mode?

Anyone have an opinion if it sounds like bad camera or battery?
 

DesiPower

Lifer
Nov 22, 2008
15,366
740
126
bad camera IMO, why else would the lens move back and forth a couple of time? does it do that when you shut off the camera? also does it let you take any picture while using flash before it does that?
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
238
106
Agree - indications are it is the camera. A simple battery replacement should answer that.