This is my personal HMC150 and it's always performed flawlessly... but while shooting some fishing a few months ago, the tripod tipped over onto relatively soft grass. The camera itself managed to survive with just a scrape on the hood (relatively minor), but the tripod mount... being a chinzy piece of pot metal under the plastic exterior... was bent. Upon opening the bottom to see the damage, the pot metal frame that the tripod socket screws into cracked in a couple of places. It didn't completely separate and I was able to bend it back and finish the shoot.
I called Panasonic service for an estimate, they wouldn't even look at it unless I was sure I wanted to fix it (or pay like $200 for a bench fee if I didn't) and the actual camera wasn't damaged at all, so I just re-aligned the frame and JB-welded it back in place. In addition, I filled the voids that cause it to be weak from the factory with JB Weld (if you're not familiar, it's a VERY strong epoxy resin, people use it to fix cracked engine blocks) to make it even stronger than it was from the factory.
So, anyway, I've discounted the cost of the camera significantly to account for the damage to the tripod socket but it's functioned flawlessly since I made the repair and the tripod socket is strong as ever. Added some photos of the repair.
Comes with the original accessories, manuals, etc. Also comes with two batteries (the TINY one that comes with it and the BIG extended battery). I'll also throw in a 16GB SD card and an 8GB SD card.
Email is best. justin@bregar.com
I'm on eBay as jbregar with 255 feedback with 100% positive.
I called Panasonic service for an estimate, they wouldn't even look at it unless I was sure I wanted to fix it (or pay like $200 for a bench fee if I didn't) and the actual camera wasn't damaged at all, so I just re-aligned the frame and JB-welded it back in place. In addition, I filled the voids that cause it to be weak from the factory with JB Weld (if you're not familiar, it's a VERY strong epoxy resin, people use it to fix cracked engine blocks) to make it even stronger than it was from the factory.
So, anyway, I've discounted the cost of the camera significantly to account for the damage to the tripod socket but it's functioned flawlessly since I made the repair and the tripod socket is strong as ever. Added some photos of the repair.
Comes with the original accessories, manuals, etc. Also comes with two batteries (the TINY one that comes with it and the BIG extended battery). I'll also throw in a 16GB SD card and an 8GB SD card.
Email is best. justin@bregar.com
I'm on eBay as jbregar with 255 feedback with 100% positive.
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