DVX100A Hits Floor!!!

[Arthur Hancock]

Well it finally happened. After ten years of shooting my video camera hit the floor. Twice. I didn't drop it, my VX100A fell off the MILLER mounting plate!!! I tried to reattach it with a Swiss army knife and it fell again (at a fancy gala dinner for our local chamber music festival). Very embarrassing. My Miller tripod (DS- 10) has always had an absurdly short mounting screw and after a couple of early scares I thought I had the damn thing really locked on. I talked to a Miller tech this a.m. and he said "Oh, we changed that to a longer one to fit the new DV cameras." Duh! So much for giving a reputable manufacter more credit than my own common sense observations. I've used $400 Bogens forever and never had something like this happen...

The good news is it landed on a thick carpet. No surface damage at all.

The only suspicious symptom is this: when I hold each side of the manual focus ring and move it to the left and right (not turning it) I hear a little "click." Focus is OK. Maybe the click has always been there? I hope?

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

 

[Arthur Hancock]

More symptoms: When I move the focusing ring to the right and left (not turning it) there is a little "play" involved--the ring is able to move slightly back and forth--that's when I get my little "click" or "bump." I just talked to someone at Macie Video Service who duplicated on the phone my "problem" with a 100A he had on hand--so maybe I don't have a problem?

 

[Barry_S]

Sounds like you got lucky, so I'd stop looking for problems and maybe just shoot some test footage. If the footage looks good and your controls are all working, the camera is probably fine.

 

[Arthur Hancock]

Footage looks fine. Nonetheless, Miller insists I have the camera checked out (very nice!). I love this tripod, btw.

Thanks.

 

[taichili]

The focus ring mount is broken inside , need to be replace .

 

[Daniel Skubal]

I've dropped my camera three times. The only thing that resulted was a slightly looser view screen... very fortunate. It fell all three times because it wasn't screwed in the tripod securely enough. I'm always afraid I am going to crack the base, so I don't tighten it up. Either way, these things are pretty strong. They can take a hit as long as all of the impact isn't absorbed by 1 specific area.

 

[pmark23]

I had a camera fall a few times. I don't know what is more painful: Watching it hit the ground the first time, or watching it bounce and hit the second time, then third, then fourth...

Now I wrap the camera strap around the tripod handle to act as a safety-strap.

 

[zulubeached]

Happened to me, too.
Now, when turning the the focus ring, there's at one point a very slight scratching sound to be heard, but it turns just fine...anyway - if it doesn't interfere with getting good footage, I doubt there's any replacement necessary. After all, this is a imaging device, not a role model for properly fixed focus rings...