My HVX is gritty. Who should I have de-grit it?

puredrifting

puredrifting

Major Contributor
Hi all:

What a day, I was out in the wilderness north of Santa Barbara today shooting a heliopter transporting solar panels. Pretty cool shoot. The only bummer was that the safety officer put me in an area that unfortunately had tons of prop wash from the helicopter and I was unexpectedly in Desert Storm type conditions for about 20 minutes. Dirt and crap blowing everywhere. I have cleaned up the HVX externally, I got almost all of it off. But, the focus and zoom rings on my HVX now have a definite gritty feeling. I read the other post in this forum about the $1,200.00 repair from someone who ignored the gritty feeling. I want to take care of it asap.

We had three DVX-100s on a shoot for a television show that were caught in a sandstorm a couple of years ago. We took them to a Panasonic authorized service center in Burbank and they cleaned them out, same type of problem. The service center didn't do a very good job, there was still a gritty feeling to the focus an zoom on those DVXs.

If you were me, lived near LA and wanted to get this handled the RIGHT way so that the lens is cleaned to perfection, who would you go to? I have used Panasonic's authorized reapir center The Video Clinic in Santa Monica on Wilshire for a couple of HVX battery tab replacements and they seemed to have done a good job. Any other ideas about who I should entrust my HVX to? Any LA guys out there who have had someone de-grit the HVX lens that you were happy with?

Best,

Dan
 
Just me, but I've lived with the grit for a good 12 months now and i'm still collecting cash from my HVX. Mine sounds gritty, but the performance hasn't been affected. I stressed for weeks over it, Rang my Pana rep and he said if it performs the same, keep using it. So i did.
 
Yeah but I make my living with my HVX, if it craps out on me on a job, I lose big bucks. I can't risk it, must have it fixed so that I don't have to stress. I am in the middle of shooting theatrical doc with a huge classic rock musician and will be interviewing people like Bill Clinton, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and I cannot excuse myself with "sorry, we'll have to re-schedule you".

Thanks, it's not bad advice but I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing it could go out or lock up on me in the middle of a shoot.

Best,

Dan
 
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"TMNT" No. The mic doesn't pick it up.

"Puredriting" Fair enough, If that much is at stake better get it looked at. On the other hand people have had iris wheels lock up for no reason at all randomly so i dunno, anythings possible. If you get a quote can you PM me, i'd be interested to know what it cost you to get it cleaned out.

Ben
 
Hi Benandaim:

Will let you know how much they charge to do this. I am sure it won't be cheap ;-(

Same with my Sachtler DV-6SB. The air pressure from the chopper was so intense that it actually drove in a ton of dirt through the little seams on the Sachtler, now it crunches and grates on tilts and pans. Know anyone good in LA who can repair Sachtler?

Dan
 
Hey Puredrifting,
Just wondering what you did to resolve this issue? I'm in Florida and your story made me do thinking with all the sand we have here. If you took it in, was it expensive to get it cleaned?
 
I got the gritty feeling in the rings from a baja 1000 shoot. I sent my camera to speccom for CLA. It was great except for a hiccup where they wrote down the seriel number wrong and said my camera was grey market. After that got cleared up they installed the replacement battery holder under warrantee and I believe the CLA for the grit was about 300 or 400 can't remember exactly. Felt like a new camera when I got it back.

-t
 
Thanks, that doe not sound too expensive, but this thread will make me consider more protection measures if and when I decide I want some beach images.
 
ase619 said:
Thanks, that doe not sound too expensive, but this thread will make me consider more protection measures if and when I decide I want some beach images.
Click to expand...

Hi:

The Video Clinic charged me $750.00 to clean it up, they did a great job, it works as new. The Sachtler was about $250.00 to have diassembled, cleaned and re-assembled from Sachtler in LA.

Dan
 
my hvx is still under warranty and the zoom ring is feeling a little gritty, would i still need to pay to get it cleaned?
 
That's not what a warranty is for. A warranty covers product defects, not damage that results from abuse such as exposing the camera to adverse conditions.
 
tacotim said:
I got the gritty feeling in the rings from a baja 1000 shoot. I sent my camera to speccom for CLA. It was great except for a hiccup where they wrote down the seriel number wrong and said my camera was grey market. After that got cleared up they installed the replacement battery holder under warrantee and I believe the CLA for the grit was about 300 or 400 can't remember exactly. Felt like a new camera when I got it back.

-t
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Do you have a link to speccon? I'm considering the CLA aftre shooting in the desert.
 
sorry to hear this all... I had a similar problem from a dirty shoot but I followed the advice of a friend who fixes cameras and I basically just used some compressed air and rotated the lens for an hour or so.. it was better .. and then over time it grinds down so fine that it won't be noticable.. Mine works like it did when it was new and cost me zero... but I think it depends upon the degree to which it happens. From now on, I shoot under a rainslicker or even better.. I put it in my waterhousing. Looks strange but nothing is getting into the lens now.
 
THoff said:
That's not what a warranty is for. A warranty covers product defects, not damage that results from abuse such as exposing the camera to adverse conditions.
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exactly..."my camera is defectively gritty feeling, felt that way since i got it" =)
 
Wow Tim:

I love that term, "defectively gritty". I am sure that the Panasonic service techs will have a good laugh in the back room over that one ;-)

Dan
 
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