Comer 1800 led just puched a hole in my cam...arrrh

M

MR Fanny

Veteran
My Comer 1800 led light arrived yesterday and I just pulled out of the box to have a play. Stuck it ontop of my gh1 and started tightening the screw to mount it to the shoe and noticed some sudden slack. Took the light off to discover this!

I am so effin gutted right now! I have been nursing my gh1 like a baby for 4 months only to have something as stupid as this happen.....arrrrrrrhhhhhhhh!!!!

What are the chances my warranty will cover this? arrrrhhhh!! Just the thought of buying a perfectly fine gh1 only to have it opened up 4months later....arrrhhhh!!

The light itself however is a great product, minus this design flaw for DSLR's so be aware and be careful of your accessory mounts...sigh
 

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Sorry to see that, maybe you tightened it too much? Also Panasonic will probably not cover it, but try contacting them and hope you get lucky
 
Fingers crossed. The thing is I kept on screwing cause there was no point in which it was getting tight for me to know to stop. It had the slightest friction, nothing a normal person would consider to be tight, and then nothing.
 
Sorry your camera is damaged. That really sucks.

But something doesn't make sense to me: Does the Comer 1800 light have a metal point or screw that protrudes down below the bottom surface of its hot shoe?

The hot shoe of an add-on device should have a completely flat surface (except for maybe some electrical contacts as with a flash, etc.). If the Comer doesn't (when it's tightened into place), I'd say the Comer design is defective. A hot shoe device should clamp onto the metal upper lips of a cam's hot shoe, not poke down into the cam! Unless there's something else going on?
 
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It has a fixed plastic hot shoe mount with a hole in the centre where a thread protrudes through when tightening which I found quite simplistic. The one thing I overlooked and didn't connect the dots to make sure to be careful.

It makes no effort at all to clamping onto the upper lips other than by the force of the protruding thread pushing down as you mentioned. I called it a defective design too for dslrs in general and emailed the supplier in which I bought it off from. Unfortunately sending emails doesn't turn back time and fix my cam.
 
Ok Please Let me know, i did exactly the same thing :( I tightened the COMER too much and punch a hole in it...
 
edwinc said:
Ok Please Let me know, i did exactly the same thing :( I tightened the COMER too much and punch a hole in it...
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Sorry to hear that. It shows that it is a flawed mounting system for dslrs. I'll keep you updated on how I go about fixing it.

That part number I posted is the part that has to be replaced. You pretty much have to replace the whole plastic top with all the dials I think as it may only be supplied as one pre-assembled unit.

Where did you purchase from? You can PM me those details if you want. I am trying to get a hold of Comer's email to forward my complaint.
 
Sorry to hear this guys...

FYI the comer 900 has a standard shoe mount (with little top tightening ring).

Having just purchased the GH1 and having 1800, might have had the same thing happen to me. Initially I liked the design of the 1800 but see how it could be a problem on non metal shoe mounts...

Thanks for the warning!
 
If they have it on the 900 then there should be no reason why they would not have it on the 1800. makes no sense! It costs more too...arrh

I have been in contact with the supplier I bought off and I am taking his word in good faith that he will pass my complaint onto comer.
 
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Sorry to hear about the situation. I will forward the info to Comer support and engineer team. It's the Chinese new year there so it will be a while before I hear back from them.
 
Mr Fanny ..I bought my unit from Taky a fellow DVXUSER member. Had no time to complain because of my backlog in edits.. but his customer service is fast..ill buy another unit from him but just waiting for the money to come in :) Also I hope they can incorporate those cheap remote control to control the lights on and off..that will be awesome..
 
edwinc said:
his customer service is fast..ill buy another unit from him but just waiting for the money to come in :) Also I hope they can incorporate those cheap remote control to control the lights on and off..that will be awesome..
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Agreed. Taky your customer service is top notch. I have been liasing with him about the issue and his replys were very prompt, something that is rare now days from an online store dealing with a complaint.

The product is great, but the design isn't universal as it should be and inconsistent when you consider the 900 has the proper mount and the 1800 doesn't. One would just screw the 1800 onto the gh1 as they would assume its the same as the 900 only to have the same thing happen. It doesn't help that Panasonic designed the gh1 with a fragile hollow hot shoe.

I hope Comer realises the bigger implications of this issue in terms of sales and complaints and offers a solution be it a replacement mount or an adapter at least.

I had my first shoot with it last night and it made a world of difference when I started loosing light. Looking for something to cover the hole from unwanted dust as sticky tape looks quite ghetto when rocking up for a shoot..lol
 
Thanks for posting

Thanks for posting

I'm planning to purchase an LCD light and appreciate your pointing this issue out. I'll be monitoring to see if the Comer replaces the non-standard foot. I'd imagine the same thing would happen on other DSLR shoes with a similar design.
 
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