230 hours too much to buy a used HMC150?

E

ericsf

Member
Hello good people,

I've been reading a lot on these forums and want to thank all of you for being such a great source of good info!

I'm ready to dive into the world of the HMC150! I'm going to look at a used one that has 230 hours on it. Is this a lot for this camera and should I have any concerns?

Since it doesn't use tapes and there are no heads, after how many hours do HMC150s generally need repairs? Has anyone sent their HMC150 in for repairs? What broke and after how long? How much was it?

Since I'd be the 2nd owner, the extended warranty can't be transferred to me, and I'm trying to figure out how if it's worth the cheaper price. I'm gonna check out the camera on Sat. Thanks in advance for any advice/info anyone has!!!
 
I've only seen a few photos but it looks like it's in good shape and the owner says he's taken great care of it. He wants $2800 for it and he's including accessories like a couple of batteries, memory cards, a case, and a shotgun mic. Seems like a pretty good deal to me, but I need to do some tests on the camera.
 
230 hours is nothing on a camera like the HMC150 which doesn't have moving parts such as a tape drive.

Even on tape-based camcorders you would not worry much about 230 hours. From everything I've been told the heads on a mini-DV/HDV are good for about 1500 hours as long as they've been looked after and cleaned regularly.

With the HMC150, that amount of hours is nothing to worry about. That's the reason Panasonic have the extended warranty for 3 years - because they know these things are much more rugged then DV cameras were.

Having said that, make sure you do inspect the camera to check for signs of abuse, damage, cleanliness etc because a poorly treated camera will still have problems.
 
Thats a fair price... and pretty low hours... both of mine have more then that. As far as the warranty, if the seller is nice enough, if you have any problems they could send it in for you and have it covered under warranty.

Pretty much the only issues have been the hours meter going haywire - and this one obviously is working correctly in that regard. Like they said look for signs of abuse, otherwise it should last a long time.
 
i bought mine used with about 360 hours... everything run's fine no problems :)

and the price seems really fair with these accesoires...

ah and by the way... it should be possible to transfer the warranty/registration. at least on my european hmc151e (3 years warranty) it was possible to create and transfer the registration to a new panasonic account with my personal data
 
ericsf said:
Hello good people,

I've been reading a lot on these forums and want to thank all of you for being such a great source of good info!

I'm ready to dive into the world of the HMC150! I'm going to look at a used one that has 230 hours on it. Is this a lot for this camera and should I have any concerns?

Since it doesn't use tapes and there are no heads, after how many hours do HMC150s generally need repairs? Has anyone sent their HMC150 in for repairs? What broke and after how long? How much was it?

Since I'd be the 2nd owner, the extended warranty can't be transferred to me, and I'm trying to figure out how if it's worth the cheaper price. I'm gonna check out the camera on Sat. Thanks in advance for any advice/info anyone has!!!
Click to expand...

The hours mean nothing. The way the camera was used and cared for means a great deal. I have a couple of hundred hours on mine. It is in near mint condition, but that is because I take really good care of my gear. My camera lives in a Panasonic Thermodyne case made for it and that makes a differeince as would a properly plucked pelican (I can't believe I wrote that) You should ask what it was stored and transported in? Where was it used mostly, indoors weddiings, outdoors skateboarding? Does the lens have a "clear" filter on it all the time (though I am not a fan of more glass) it helps to protect it and many here put them on from day one and they never or rarely come off. Is the firmware uptodate and have there been any maintenance issues with the camera.
Small nicks and scratches are bound to happen with any camera, unless it sits in a case but you can tell if a camera has been banged around.
All of this being said, the concern people have regarding the number of hours on a camera is certainly a hold over from the day when a transport mechanism was involved. I would be less concerned about the hours and more about how it was used if I were you. But in closing your concerns,like many are the reason I will probably keep my HMC150 when I buy an AF100 as soon as it is out. The fact is, it is great camera, is CCD based and that makes shooting some this very easy compared to CMOS cameras all outboard accessories will probably be easily adapted between cameras.
 
Thanks so much everyone for your replies! To 85mk7,

85mk7 said:
ah and by the way... it should be possible to transfer the warranty/registration. at least on my european hmc151e (3 years warranty) it was possible to create and transfer the registration to a new panasonic account with my personal data
Click to expand...

Really? I've read on this forum that you can NOT transfer the extended warranty to a second owner when re-sold, in the US at least. While the PASS P2 Asset support system site is annoying, I found a FAQ page that seems to say that the warranty can NOT be transferred. This is from the site (https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/cs/ps_e/faq_e.html#anc-17):

Will you support even the second hand equipment by registration?
----The second hand equipment can be registered but extended warranty repair program isn't applied.

When the equipment is re-sold to someone else, is the extended warranty repair program transferred, too?
----No. The right for the program isn't transferred. Please be informed that you need to delete the equipment registration when re-sold. Otherwise, next customer will not be able to register it.
_______________________________

How exactly did you transfer the warranty?
 
W/ respect to the firmware being up to date, how can I tell if it is? The seller said he bought the HMC150 under a year ago from B&H.
 
Hi again,

i dont know about the warranty in the US...

But in Europe, or at least in Germany you will get a 3 year warranty directly by Panasonic when buying the HMC151.

The first owner of my HMC151 bought it in a video-shop.... After he was selling the cam to me, he informed the video-dealer who made contact to panasonic. A few days later i got Mail from panasonic that the registration/warranty is now on my name.

best regards
 
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