Got the gig! Now my camera's broke...

MikeWilkinson

MikeWilkinson

Veteran
So I got hired as a Dp for a low budget digital film. I've done a couple shorts, and edited feature lengths, but this will be my first time as DP for a full length.

I was pleased to make a solid contract, get half the pay up front, and actually feel like I knew what I'm doing :cheesy: in this planning/budgeting phase.

So of course, I was gathering my camera kit for this job yesteday, went to power up my DVX and it's makes a horrible noise when it runs. I read some posts on here about similar issues and I think I'll be OK... but it's a scary thought. Maybe I should bring my HVX as a backup?

When this gig is over I'll make use of that Mack Warranty. Anyone have any experience doing this process wth their Mack warranty?
 
arges03 said:
So I got hired as a Dp for a low budget digital film. I've done a couple shorts, and edited feature lengths, but this will be my first time as DP for a full length.

I was pleased to make a solid contract, get half the pay up front, and actually feel like I knew what I'm doing :cheesy: in this planning/budgeting phase.

So of course, I was gathering my camera kit for this job yesteday, went to power up my DVX and it's makes a horrible noise when it runs. I read some posts on here about similar issues and I think I'll be OK... but it's a scary thought. Maybe I should bring my HVX as a backup?

When this gig is over I'll make use of that Mack Warranty. Anyone have any experience doing this process wth their Mack warranty?
Click to expand...
Why would you Shoot on the DVX over the HVX anyways, even if it was SD?
My friend is going threw the mack warranty right now and i believe its working ok for him.
 
Producer's choice for SD. She also has a matching DVX.

I've read several posts on here about shooting SD on the DVX vs. HVX, with arguments for both. While I like the weight, LCD and iris controls on the HVX better, using the DVX just keeps it a bit more simple for me. Plus my DVX has been a paperwieght for the last 6 months... I'd like to get some use out of it...
 
**UPDATE**

After going through the motions and symptoms that many have seem to have on here, this is the overview result;

1. Loud humming for a few days
2. Humming only occurs from time to time over a few days
3. In the middle of shoot day 2, the "WARNING PSD NG ERROR" starts blinking
4. My frame is visibly jumpy in the vertical direction (OIS is off and it still does it)
5. I power on/off until it stops being jumpy, error remains but frame is fine
6. The next day the havoc continues, but footage comes out fine
7. I notice that when I pick up the cam/tripod and set it down a little on the hard side, the humming stops
8. Later the next day the humming and frame jumping begin again
9. I gently smack the underside of the camera near the lens
10. I firmly smack the underside of the camera near the lens
11. The error goes away. The humming stops.
12. Worked perfect all day yesterday.

I obviously don't recommend doing that, I found it out by accident... After this shoot I'll prolly send it in for repair. It just sucks that Mack will take forever I just know it...
 
We had the same error message with our DVX - it basically means the OIS is not working properly, which if on a tripod is not a big deal. It won't affect the recording in any other way - it's just annoying to see in the middle of the frame all the time.

I believe it ended up costing like $200-300 for us to fix - not bad considering we found some other guy on the internet saying he had to pay over a grand to get it fixed!
 
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