DVX won't work in Camera mode anymore

[P!body]

I have a DVX-100a. I use it semi-regularly to shoot sketch comedy, weddings, short films, and other smaller video projects.

Last Sunday I was shooting a quick “run and gun” type project outdoors in Austin, TX. It was hot and as humid as it usually is here and I was sweating as I tend to do in the heat, but I’ve never run into a problem shooting in that environment. After about 20 minutes of shooting the LCD begins to flicker and then the camera shuts off.

I had a full battery and everything seemed fine. So I assumed it was a humidity thing. I brought the camera home in the Air Conditioning to hopefully let it regain some normalcy. After about an hour or two, I checked the camera again and the camera mode was not operational. I could switch the mode to VTR and it works fine (with the image on both the LCD and viewfinder). But anytime I switch the camera on it makes the slight mechanical noises as if it’s receiving power but nothing shows up and there is no function to the camera mode.

There hasn’t been any progress to this point. I imagine I’ll have to send it in to Panasonic. I had a few questions for those of you who may have dealt with this sort of thing before.

• Has anyone run into this type of problem before?
• Any tips on how to fix it myself (if it’s not actually a major issue)?
• What’s a decent estimate on how much sending the camera in to Panasonic with this problem will cost to fix?
• How long does it usually take to get your camera back from Panasonic?


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[MLDman]

Well it appears to have overheated. The last time someone reported an issue like that to me they had been shooting in the dessert. Sadly your best option may be to send it back to Panasonic. You can try to fix it yourself but that could make things worse if you don't know what you're doing (that's not a slam on you, camera repair is hard). The motherboard that controls the camera functions was torched. Your looking at a sub $500 dollar repair from Panasonic (don't quote me on that but our camera got fixed for around 350). It will probably be out for 3 weeks. I hope I'm wrong and it's nothing major. Good luck.

 

[Benjus]

Hi, i have a Panasonic AG-DVX100A and it had CCD'S dead pixels because i was shoot an laser light, recording a disney event. Well fix the camera was costing 1300us$. Only the part, was costing 1041us$, so i found in craigslists a broken dvx100a whit a lens problem (unfocused - Impossible to focus) but whit a goog ccd`s. I send to service the two cameras to make an "frankencamera". The broken camera have a nice body but is blind. It is very expensive to repair, and i think to sale in parts.
If you want, tell me what´s the part number, I can sell you more cheaply. You can download the manual service: http://www.4shared.com/file/36099679/feadcf86/Esquema_AG-DVX100AP.html?s=1
greetings