F35/F65 owners in Los Angeles (Urgent)

Z

Zsigmond James

Member
I urgently need the help/assistance of any willing F35/F65 Owner in Los Angeles, I can pay a rental fee/return the favor.

I need to test/rent any power supply for the F35/F65 for use with my F65, today (Saturday) if possible.

I just retrieved my F65 from the Sony Service today(around 5pm Friday), after yet another costly repair(3rd within a span of 8 months).
and to my dismay, upon attaching a battery to the V-mount, found that the Camera won't power on. There's a quick flash of the green power light,
but that is it. I took apart the camera, and found nothing out of the ordinary; i.e. Pinched wires, loose connections, etc, which leaves me to believe that my battery plate cable has shorted out.
Sony is unfortunately closed Sat & Sun as are most rental houses... So I can't get a definitive diagnosis until Monday, that being said, I have a shoot on Sunday. I thought I'd reach out here,
and see if anyone can help me out of this jam. I'd truly appreciate it.

Thanks guys!
 
Is it one designed for the F35/65?

I've had a couple of plates way back when which are simply not capable of delivering the juice that the F35/65 require to turn on
 
I believe that it was designed for the F35, yes. It's this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/217085-REG/Sony_BKPL551_BKP_L551_Battery_Adapter.html

It has worked up until now. It's just bizarre that the camera came DOA from the Sony Service center. Since first taking my F65 to the service center for a PL mount replacement, back in Aug of 2015, the camera has
displayed a number of anomalies. Stuck mechanical shutter($16,000 replacement), and most recently intermittent power failure for which Sony claimed was due to a faulty AC harness, which they replaced($850),
yet, here I am with a brick, stuck between a rock and a hard place, despite Sony's service center okaying the camera for release.
 
If it helps you, my camera arrived DOA after having had its V4.00 upgrade from Sony in LA. Top Teks in the UK pulled it apart and showed me that the harness powering the shutter had been crushed when the camera had been re-assembled. Sony claimed this damage must have "happened in transit" and they never took responsibility, but they did send me a new harness!
 
Question - how are you using that power supply with your camera, as it's got an XLR output, not the 8-pin LEMO?
 
The company that I purchased the camera from in Sweden, seems to have modified the cable. The version I have does indeed utilize an 8-pin LEMO cable. Not sure if Sony sold it that way at some point.
 
If you can find somewhere with the Abelcine juice box, that has an 8-pin lemo out, should be able to test the camera.
 
just saw this, PM me if you want to borrow Abelcine plate, probably too late but I am located in North Hollywood.
 
yachacha said:
just saw this, PM me if you want to borrow Abelcine plate, probably too late but I am located in North Hollywood.
Click to expand...
I really appreciate the offer of assistance that you guys have extended to me: James, Yachacha, and Jason.

I wound up getting some emergency help on Saturday from David Rivera at Hollywood Camera. He went above and beyond normal customer service duties.
Opened the shop up on a Saturday, called and left a firm message with one of the service engineers at the Sony service center. And rented me an F65 package
for a mere fraction of the camera's rental value.

He had some tests done on my camera while at the shop. Looks like my F65 is completely bricked and, it's not at all related to any sort of faulty battery plate, which I originally surmised to be the case.
The camera won't even power up via DC. The Tech at HWC said that it's likley that Sony inadvertently damaged the internal power supply while doing other internal repairs on the camera...

I just hope I can get the service center to right this wrong without dragging it out for several months....

Again, I appreciate all the help guys. Just drop me a message if you guys ever need any assistance in Los Angeles.

Kind Regards,
James Zsigmond
 
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This is really worrying. The techs at Sony LA should really know better, more to the point they should thoroughly test their work before they return cameras which is clearly not happening
 
With the costs of parts and service for these cameras it's kinda terrifying hearing multiple horror stories of service centre negligence in the past week (for both F35 and F65 cameras).
 
My F65 is in the center now being upgraded to FW 4.2. Spoke with the head tech there for the F65 and relayed my fears. I didn't come away feeling particularlyreassured at all, but going through with the upgrade anyways. Just hoping the camera doesn't come out the other side with issues and if it does that they'll take care of them in a speedy manner. I flew in to LA from the east coast last week with the camera in tow, because I was told over the phone that they could turn around the camera in two days. I get to the service center and am totally disabused of that notion. Luckily work takes me to LA again this week, so I will still be able to pick up the camera in person and inspect it. Fortunately, even though I was given bad information from Sony Service, I had planned on not having the camera for a week, so I was not affected. Still, I could imagine after flying cross country and learning my plans were ruined, I would have been pretty upset.
 
If it helps at all, Top Teks in London are absolutely amazing and to be honest, probably almost as easy to deal with as the LA guys for some of you.
 
Just wanted to update this. Got the F65 back from Sony LA with the new vf port and updated FW. It's working great so far!
 
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