HueyFilms
02-12-2009, 05:52 PM
Where do I begin?
Lets start with February 2006. My first encounter with the famed HVX-200. No doubt a camera ahead of its time. From the lens, the codec, the variable frame-rates, right down to the ergonomics, it must of been love.
The first time I worked with the HVX was assisting a documentary filmmaker named David Hausen, he got an article written on him by Panasonic for being one of the first filmmakers to use the HVX on a large production (He made the film "Untitled: Red Hot Chili Peppers Documentary) He praised the camera high and low, saying he may not shoot film ever again...
After working with David and saving for months I took the plunge in November 2007. I bought my baby. At the time however I was working at a cosmetics company as a product shot photographer and actually didn't get to use it very much, at this point it has a little over one hundred hours on it.
One day David calls me up and asks me if I'd like to DP a NATIONAL PSA, of course I ultimately end up shooting for him, but when I arrive on set the sound-recordist says "Sounds like you've got a hiss" A HISS? I hadn't ever noticed a hiss! Of course I hadn't really used my camera much and to me it sounded more like AMBIENT NOISE but after that shoot I started finding myself in a nice position, getting more shoots! SO I begin my journey as a filmmaker working under David, he hooks me up with Maysles films I shoot for them on a couple of events but the more I use my camera the louder this hiss grows...
We arrive to OCTOBER 2008, One month before my one year warranty is about to expire. I decide to get my camera repaired. By now the hiss is intolerable. I send the camera in. I wait. And... I wait....
FINALLY I receive an estimate. $1,200.00 to repair my camera. BUT WAIT - I notice that a lot of the damage noted was physical, this to me is very disturbing, because I have taken care of this thing like it was a child- I ask them to verify the serial number, they begin blaming me with a very nasty tone, I mean it felt like I was being attacked! I couldn't believe it. I tell them that I have a one year warranty still. They tell me they don't cover physical damage, "OK, I understand, but (A) I did not send a physically damaged camera into your center and (B) the reason I sent the camera back to you was because of an INTERNAL problem, an audio hiss. The physical damage was: A broken mic mount, the I.R. plastic tab fell off and broken battery tabs (I still don't know what those are) Now how did this physical damage happen? Well they email me saying that they found the parts in the box that I shipped the camera in and that it must of been due to shipping which they cannot cover but they will go ahead and fix the audio hiss under warranty. "OK, fine. I just need to work and make money and this is how I make money."
They fix the camera. Of course a part is backordered and I have to wait a week and a half longer. What are you going to do.
I get the camera back. I still hear an audio hiss, but I will admit it is considerably lower, almost unnoticeable, the only way I even knew it was there was because I turned the levels all the way down and you could still hear it. But I thought that it could be ambient noise or interference. I shoot some music videos before the holidays that don't use sound anyway, and then JANUARY 09 rolls around. I get hired to do a DOC project, I show up, I hear the sound: "OK, well I guess I gotta send the camera back and see what's up.... WAIT, I'm out of warranty!"
I call up Panasonic, I get nobody, I call them the next day, NOBODY. I email Peggy the same lady who blamed me the first time, except now she doesn't even blame me, she just doesn't respond. I literally BEG these guys to help me. Finally I get a message on my phone: Hi this is Cliff, I want to talk to you about your camera.
I call him back the next day.
We talk, he tells me that it wouldn't be covered under the warranty, I explain to him that I barely use the camera and its suffering from the exact SAME issue and it had never been fully corrected to my knowledge, he agrees to talk to his people, he tells me he'll call me right back....
One day goes by.
Two days go by.
A WEEK finally goes by. I'm making calls to Panasonic left and right, I finally get someone on the line who transfers me to Cliff.
"Hi Cliff, I spoke to you last week about my camera, and you said you we're going to get back to me"
- "Oh, I must of forgotten, alright let me try and figure this out for you, can I call you back?"
(I'm boiling inside, but I agree)
"Ok, thanks."
He calls me back at the end of the day and tells me that they are in-fact going to fix my camera because its the same issue.
SIGH, God am I relieved.
I send the camera back, it cost me $65.00
A week goes by and Cliff emails me probably the best thing I've heard in a long time: "Justin it seems like your connectors just got loose, we tightened em up and we're shipping your camera back."
Yes!
The camera arrives 3 days later, not bad.
UNTIL I check the camera to hear the exact same problem. I email Cliff immediatly. He gets back to me asking me to test the camera in a variety of ways. I do. He tells me that the recordings I sent him sound "Cleaner" than the original ones I sent him. Well thats good, but I don't need CLEANER, I need CLEAN, I am an camera op and this is how I make my living in this hard economic time, this was an investment, I need my problems solved not bandaged.
I email him and let him know that I'm upset, I get a message back with more ways to test the camera, this is when I really get upset, because I am hearing the exact SAME problem, I would know by now if the camera was working properly. Meanwhile I am in the middle of fashion week hired to shoot 5 shows. I email Cliff. Questions Questions are sent back in a million ways, clearly they think I am to blame and have no clue as to what I'm doing, meanwhile I compare my camera to Davids, Albert Maysels, and some other Doc guys who shoot with the cam and they all have clean audio tracks. What am I doing wrong? Nothing to my knowledge. How can I get help? Apparently Panasonic doesn't care about me, I'm a small number in the sea of sales. What can I do? ... Well I too am waiting for that response email.
I don't mean to rant, to ramble, to whine, I just want what anybody wanted when they purchased their camera: A working reliable product, from a company who is supposed to be RELIABLE and Consumer Oriented.
This IS NOT PANASONIC.
The only thing I can do now is warn people, let people know my story and let you make the choice.
HVX-200: A great camera backed by possibly the worst costumer service reps in the country.
Justin
Lets start with February 2006. My first encounter with the famed HVX-200. No doubt a camera ahead of its time. From the lens, the codec, the variable frame-rates, right down to the ergonomics, it must of been love.
The first time I worked with the HVX was assisting a documentary filmmaker named David Hausen, he got an article written on him by Panasonic for being one of the first filmmakers to use the HVX on a large production (He made the film "Untitled: Red Hot Chili Peppers Documentary) He praised the camera high and low, saying he may not shoot film ever again...
After working with David and saving for months I took the plunge in November 2007. I bought my baby. At the time however I was working at a cosmetics company as a product shot photographer and actually didn't get to use it very much, at this point it has a little over one hundred hours on it.
One day David calls me up and asks me if I'd like to DP a NATIONAL PSA, of course I ultimately end up shooting for him, but when I arrive on set the sound-recordist says "Sounds like you've got a hiss" A HISS? I hadn't ever noticed a hiss! Of course I hadn't really used my camera much and to me it sounded more like AMBIENT NOISE but after that shoot I started finding myself in a nice position, getting more shoots! SO I begin my journey as a filmmaker working under David, he hooks me up with Maysles films I shoot for them on a couple of events but the more I use my camera the louder this hiss grows...
We arrive to OCTOBER 2008, One month before my one year warranty is about to expire. I decide to get my camera repaired. By now the hiss is intolerable. I send the camera in. I wait. And... I wait....
FINALLY I receive an estimate. $1,200.00 to repair my camera. BUT WAIT - I notice that a lot of the damage noted was physical, this to me is very disturbing, because I have taken care of this thing like it was a child- I ask them to verify the serial number, they begin blaming me with a very nasty tone, I mean it felt like I was being attacked! I couldn't believe it. I tell them that I have a one year warranty still. They tell me they don't cover physical damage, "OK, I understand, but (A) I did not send a physically damaged camera into your center and (B) the reason I sent the camera back to you was because of an INTERNAL problem, an audio hiss. The physical damage was: A broken mic mount, the I.R. plastic tab fell off and broken battery tabs (I still don't know what those are) Now how did this physical damage happen? Well they email me saying that they found the parts in the box that I shipped the camera in and that it must of been due to shipping which they cannot cover but they will go ahead and fix the audio hiss under warranty. "OK, fine. I just need to work and make money and this is how I make money."
They fix the camera. Of course a part is backordered and I have to wait a week and a half longer. What are you going to do.
I get the camera back. I still hear an audio hiss, but I will admit it is considerably lower, almost unnoticeable, the only way I even knew it was there was because I turned the levels all the way down and you could still hear it. But I thought that it could be ambient noise or interference. I shoot some music videos before the holidays that don't use sound anyway, and then JANUARY 09 rolls around. I get hired to do a DOC project, I show up, I hear the sound: "OK, well I guess I gotta send the camera back and see what's up.... WAIT, I'm out of warranty!"
I call up Panasonic, I get nobody, I call them the next day, NOBODY. I email Peggy the same lady who blamed me the first time, except now she doesn't even blame me, she just doesn't respond. I literally BEG these guys to help me. Finally I get a message on my phone: Hi this is Cliff, I want to talk to you about your camera.
I call him back the next day.
We talk, he tells me that it wouldn't be covered under the warranty, I explain to him that I barely use the camera and its suffering from the exact SAME issue and it had never been fully corrected to my knowledge, he agrees to talk to his people, he tells me he'll call me right back....
One day goes by.
Two days go by.
A WEEK finally goes by. I'm making calls to Panasonic left and right, I finally get someone on the line who transfers me to Cliff.
"Hi Cliff, I spoke to you last week about my camera, and you said you we're going to get back to me"
- "Oh, I must of forgotten, alright let me try and figure this out for you, can I call you back?"
(I'm boiling inside, but I agree)
"Ok, thanks."
He calls me back at the end of the day and tells me that they are in-fact going to fix my camera because its the same issue.
SIGH, God am I relieved.
I send the camera back, it cost me $65.00
A week goes by and Cliff emails me probably the best thing I've heard in a long time: "Justin it seems like your connectors just got loose, we tightened em up and we're shipping your camera back."
Yes!
The camera arrives 3 days later, not bad.
UNTIL I check the camera to hear the exact same problem. I email Cliff immediatly. He gets back to me asking me to test the camera in a variety of ways. I do. He tells me that the recordings I sent him sound "Cleaner" than the original ones I sent him. Well thats good, but I don't need CLEANER, I need CLEAN, I am an camera op and this is how I make my living in this hard economic time, this was an investment, I need my problems solved not bandaged.
I email him and let him know that I'm upset, I get a message back with more ways to test the camera, this is when I really get upset, because I am hearing the exact SAME problem, I would know by now if the camera was working properly. Meanwhile I am in the middle of fashion week hired to shoot 5 shows. I email Cliff. Questions Questions are sent back in a million ways, clearly they think I am to blame and have no clue as to what I'm doing, meanwhile I compare my camera to Davids, Albert Maysels, and some other Doc guys who shoot with the cam and they all have clean audio tracks. What am I doing wrong? Nothing to my knowledge. How can I get help? Apparently Panasonic doesn't care about me, I'm a small number in the sea of sales. What can I do? ... Well I too am waiting for that response email.
I don't mean to rant, to ramble, to whine, I just want what anybody wanted when they purchased their camera: A working reliable product, from a company who is supposed to be RELIABLE and Consumer Oriented.
This IS NOT PANASONIC.
The only thing I can do now is warn people, let people know my story and let you make the choice.
HVX-200: A great camera backed by possibly the worst costumer service reps in the country.
Justin