AF100 wouldn't stop recording

Bern Caughey

Bern Caughey

Veteran
We were filming a music video one night this weekend, & during a take one of the AF100(s) wouldn't stop recording. There was a lot of moisture in the air, so much so that some equipment, & all the bags, felt wet to the touch.

We tried everything we could think of to shut down the camera, but even flipping the On/Off switch didn't work, so we finally pulled the battery. Unfortunately the clip seems lost, but the camera appears to be fine, & we continued filming with it.

The point of this post is not to bag on the AF100. I've had a 5D2 malfunction in a very moist conditions too. My question is whether there is some software that might be able to best recover the clip from the card?

We immediately locked the card, & didn't use it again, so the clip should not be overwritten.

Thanks,
Bern
 
Unfortunately we don't have a clip to repair, but hope to recover it from the card.

According to the following thread a HMC150 user was able to recover an MTS using PhotoRescue 3. I already own this program, & will try it tomorrow when I can get the card from the editor.

http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/122/859764

jmarkham said:
speaking of moisture ... is the Portabrace the only decent slicker out for the AF100?
Click to expand...

I have a couple of rain covers for the AF100.

The first one I picked up was the Petrol PR410. It's a bit bulky, & needs a little customization to fit properly, but seems like it would work fine. I've used these previously on an HPX without problem.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/686762-REG/Petrol_PR410_PR410_Deca_Transparent_Raincover.html

When they became available I purchased camRade's "WetSuit for Panasonic AG-AF100". It folds flat into a relatively small package so I keep it, plus filters, filter holder, & sometimes Barry's book, in the laptop compartment of my backpack.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...AF100_WetSuit_for_Panasonic_AG_AF100_101.html

So far I haven't had to resort to a rain slicker, & one wouldn't have done much to protect the camera this past weekend, as our problem was due to condensation. And I haven't fully fit the camRade to the AF100 as it doesn't go over Olof's bracket, which has stayed on my camera since receiving it. Still the camRade seems good, & has a clear plastic window that allows the LCD to open while remaining protected from rain.

camRade answered my emails quickly, & is available by special order from B&H, FilmTools, & others. Mine arrived from the EU in about a week.

Best,
Bern
 
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Bern Caughey said:
during a take one of the AF100(s) wouldn't stop recording. There was a lot of moisture in the air, so much so that some equipment, & all the bags, felt wet to the touch.

We tried everything we could think of to shut down the camera, but even flipping the On/Off switch didn't work, so we finally pulled the battery. Unfortunately the clip seems lost, but the camera appears to be fine, & we continued filming with it.



Thanks,
Bern
Click to expand...


I had a similar thing happen. My AF101 (UK) wouldn't stop recording, none of the buttons worked and I had to remove the battery to stop the Camera. I was not in a moist environment, I was in my living room. Luckily I was just testing the Camera, so the clip was of no importance. This happened a few weeks ago and has not happened since - though I haven't used the Camera a great deal in that time - been working on jobs that provided kit. I was unsure if I'd set a lock function or hit a something by mistake or if it was a malfunction. Interesting to note that it has happened to someone else and another Camera.

Could anyone else this has happened to post so that we can get an idea if this a common problem or maybe discover why it happens, sort it out, etc.

To reiterate, I was most definitely not in a moist environment - though condensation can cause problems in freezing up cameras.
 
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My editor ran PhotoRescue on the SD card, & the program ran for almost a full day. He did recover numerous MTS files, but the take we wanted was missing.

Best,
Bern
 
Bern Caughey said:
My editor ran PhotoRescue on the SD card, & the program ran for almost a full day. He did recover numerous MTS files, but the take we wanted was missing.

Best,
Bern
Click to expand...
The problem could be, that there ist no valid mts file header, so its difficult to find the file.
 
I had the same thing happen to me yesterday, while filming traveling shots. The AF100 refused to stop recording until I removed the battery. There was no moisture in the air but the camera was a bit warm.

The clip is fine, and the camera seems to work well again, but this is scary. Is there any new insight into this?
 
I had the same thing happen to me and it was in a very moist environment. I had to pull the battery and lost the clip, luckily it wasn't overly important.
 
My AF101 had a similar problem a few weeks ago when I was taking an interview. I was shooting in the sunlight and the camera became a bit hot. Suddently some camera's bottons didn't work at all (menu functions not working, and it was not possible to exit the menu, and others) but the rec/stop botton did work regularly and the clips on the cards were ok. As the AF101 was on, a "COM" alarm was blinking in the viewfinder/LCD, and swiching off the camera didn't produce any effect in solving the issue. In the end my reseller sent the camera to the Panasonic repair service in UK for a software replacement. Now it's ok, but I cross my fingers reading the posts above.
 
It happened to me at least three times, and all was good after I pulled the battery out. But the last time that issue was unrecoverable either swiching off te camera nor pulling the battery.
So it was necessary to fix the camera reloading the software by the Panasonic repair service. That's my story, so be aware that the problem might recur.
 
It would be nice to get a word from Panasonic about this, and what to avoid, if possible, so that it doesn't recur.

Also there seems to be some who lost their clip, and some like me who had no problem with it. Maybe it's because I pulled out the battery but immediately plugged it back in, so the camera still had some power to do a save?
 
My recommendation would be to call their service department. I've never witnessed this, but, they might have. Do not assume they will see it here.
 
Hi,

Posted earlier on this thread about my camera not stopping until I removed the battery.

I said then that I was not in a moist environment.

Some posters here seem to be blaming heat, camera getting warm, etc. - possibly in some/their cases.

When it happened to me, I was just playing with the camera, testing one evening at home in my living room. No Moisture. The room was not remotely hot. The Camera had barely been switched on, certainly not for any length of time, so had definitely not heated up. For me there was definitely no overheating.

Not doubting anyones circumstances here - just trying to get closer to isolating the possible cause/circumstances that cause the problem - and there may well be more than one cause, could be a list of them, heat, moisture, humidity, even dryness - who knows?

Now that more people have reported this issue, I'm a lot more scarred of it re-occuring at a critical time on a shoot, loosing footage, etc.

I was hoping it was a one off anomaly.

The problem has not re-occured.

Has anyone had it happen more than once?

The people who sent their cameras back to Panasonic for repair - did you get any explanation or feedback from Panasonic?

Anyone reading this, if you'd had this issue please post so we can see how common a problem this is.
 
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When the last issue occurred to me, I was shooting outside, not in wet environment nor in hot sunlight. The camera's body was a bit hot touching the external shell, but not in such a way to create a malfunction in the internal electronics. I fear that the problem could be a bug hidden in the camera's internal software. Panasonic's repair service told me that they simply reloaded the software. No problem in the electronics.
It may happen that some camcorders are born unlucky.
 
Dear Lordy. Thankfully this has not happened to me yet but I would definitely appreciate it if someone updates this thread when they get feedback from Panasonic!
 
Bern Caughey said:
My editor ran PhotoRescue on the SD card, & the program ran for almost a full day. He did recover numerous MTS files, but the take we wanted was missing.
Click to expand...

Bern, please contact me via the Private Messages to discuss how we can take a look at your card.

Is it possible that the cameras were in some odd mode like interval or something like that?


Thanks,

Jan
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
Bern, please contact me via the Private Messages to discuss how we can take a look at your card.

Is it possible that the cameras were in some odd mode like interval or something like that?


Thanks,

Jan
Click to expand...

Jan,

Thanks for your offer, but I started this thread back in early May, & it's only recently been resurrected. Since then the card has been reformatted, & put back in rotation.

We were filming all day on a pair of AF100(s), & didn't change modes, except for a bit of VFR. We captured clips before, & after, the problem without changing modes either.

Both the cameras, & cards, have seen much work since, & had no issues.

Thanks,
Bern
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
Is it possible that the cameras were in some odd mode like interval or something like that?


Jan
Click to expand...


I think when this problem happened to me the Camera was still very new and probably in one of the out of the box settings - I hadn't even got around to playing with the settings at that point, and certainly was not in any odd modes. I thought maybe I'd accidentally done something as the Camera seemed fine afterwards. I watched for it happening again and it didn't so I kind of wrote the incident off until Bern posted with the same problem. Since then others have posted with this problem. Still not sure how wide spread it is.

Data retrieval of ruined/lost clips is certainly a step in the right direction, but we need to try and establish why this problem is occurring, if it likely to re-occur and if it can be cured.

Neil.
 
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