GH1 Strap rivet broken

This is pretty scary, I was planning to get a GH1 next month, I would use it as a travel hybrid, but what seems to be cheap build can be deadly in a backpacking travel situation.
Is this a case of few bad lemon, or is it a design and manufacturing flaw?
If any case, Panasonic should communicate about it.
 
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Sirocco said:
This is pretty scary, I was planning to get a GH1 next month, I would use it as a travel hybrid, but what seems to be cheap build can be deadly in a backpacking travel situation.
Is this a case of few bad lemon, or is it a design and manufacturing flaw?
If any case, Panasonic should communicate about it.
Click to expand...

aside from the rivet breaking and the ensuing LCD defect and intermittent turning on + off, i actually love this camera. especially while backpacking miles and miles in nepal, carrying this lighter camera (versus my old canon dslr) made a difference. perhaps invest in the black rapid or any other alternative and always keep a hand around or near the gh-1 and it should be ok.

my $0.02...
 
When you know what to look, it less dangerous.
If you see if the rivet is getting loose, then you must stop to hang it from the strap on the spot.

This is a manufacturing fault or maybe a bad quality control at the factory.

Beside that, the GH1 is well build, but a delicate flower..
Its not the D300 nor D3.
 
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Well, this camera is very tempting , since I will be back to the US only at the ned of December I will wait few weeks more to see what Pana and Canon will annonce at CES.
My LX3 and HV30 are doing the job but how great will it be to only carry one camera.
 
My GH-1 camera strap just gave up the ghost. Snapped off the body of the camera. My camera is only 2 months old! Good job I found this thread first, so was expecting it to happen. The camera was just sitting on a table, when the strap hinge popped off!

I would recommend that everyone take their straps off their cameras, find another solution.

I now have a hole in the camera body that looks like it might lead into the electronics.. the camera also rattles whenever I move it, probably a bit of plastic from the strap hinge fell through the hole inside the body.
 
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wow.. gave panny a call, they are being quite difficult with me on the phone. First they told me that I had to call another number to get the camera collected for repair, great, so I call the number, and they then tell me they need an authorization number from the previous guy I spoke to. So I call him back.. and a girl tells me it's a cosmetic fault and can't be repaired on warranty. They also said they hadn't heard of this problem before and it's just isolated to myself (I pointed them in the direction of this forum, but they didn't want to take it)

I would hardly call the strap hinge a cosmetic item, but panasonic disagrees. As well as the large hole, the camera now rattles whenever I move it. I think there is a snapped bit of plastic or metal inside the body. Very irritating. I'll have to put duck tape over the hole and search for another strap solution.

I feel really let down by panasonic..

I won't be buying another panasonic item!
 
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A solutions:

http://www.blackrapid.com/product/hardware/fastenr/


you must fix it , its a metal inside the body and can cause problems.

My suggestion, fix it and pay, its about 100$ fix, but ask to fix both size (only need to put some glue)

I fixed it in one day, I prefer to pay than to send my camera for 6 weeks.
After the fix, its reliable and can be used (with care, I check it every day :) )
 
adys said:
A solutions:
I fixed it in one day, I prefer to pay than to send my camera for 6 weeks.
After the fix, its reliable and can be used (with care, I check it every day :) )
Click to expand...

Where and how did you fix it? I don't want to send my camera in.
 
I ended up finding an authorized service center here...three days and $45 bucks and supposedly good as new. They said it was good I brought it in...
 
Jelleman said:
Where and how did you fix it? I don't want to send my camera in.
Click to expand...

A photography repair center, nothing connected to Panasonic.

A little expensive as I see, but worth it.
I Gave the camera at 11:30 am and got it back at 17:30.
 
Does this repair by a third party could invalidate the warranty giving a way out to Pana in any future problems during the one year warranty?
 
So my strap rivot broke, and panasonic told me this is a cosmetic thing and they won't repair under warranty (!). I would hardly call a gaping hole in the camera body with metal loose rattling around inside the body cosmetic! They also told me that this is an 'isolated incident' and that there are no known issues with the strap rivot (!). I offered, but they weren't interested in looking online to see the many many users experiencing the same fault.

So, they told me they won't repair, and that the fact there is metal loose inside the body is none of their concern, despite the fact this is a serious fault and the camera was literally purchased only 2 months ago.

I complained to panasonic and after hours and hours on the phone sending me around in circles, they finally agreed to repair it - but with a catch - the lady promised to give me a call back to arrange collection of the camera, and to provide me with a job number. Suffice it to say, she never called. I called them back, and but she hadn't given me her name, so the whole saga has started again. I've now spent more than 5 hours on the phone in total and a lot of my time on this. It's no closer to a solution, and if I ever did manage to get them to agree to repair it, and, god forbid, it actually went ahead, they claim it takes them 6 weeks - so I'd be for 6 weeks without a camera. Ridiculous. I will NEVER buy another panasonic product. Period. I'm going to have to pay to get this repaired myself. This is among the worst customer support I ever experienced, and I buy gear all the time.

You could of course complain to trading standards body and get their arses sued, but who has the time for this? I don't. And you shouldn't have to. Panasonic is a large company and you don't expect this kind of underhand behaviour from them.
 
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matt9b said:
Yes, it does invalidate the warranty.
Click to expand...

Yes, but I have mack insurance for 3 years.

I suggest to everyone to do the same.

BTW, mack insurance covers the strap rivet fix. The only limit is that you can use it only after 3 months from the day you bought the camera.
 
I guess its depends on which Panasonic office you deal with, Panasonic here in NZ have been fantastic, going out of there way to find parts and fix the old DVX. Of course that is the pro division, the support on the consumer side could be completely different.
 
I registered here just to tell the world this is not an isolated problem at all.
I've been happily owning and using my Panasonic GH1 since October 2009.

Last week however, without using force or anything, one of the two mounting parts for the safety-strap (whatever it's called) on the side of the camera was loose. See photos of it here: http://jult.net/xs/gh1/http://www.xs4all.nl/~jult/gh1/

I have no idea why this would happen, but to me it seems like a bolt inside of the body was screwed off while it should never even turn, it wasn't mounted properly by Panasonic, or it is simply a bad part or manufacturing/design failure. I can't fit the part back in, there is no way to screw it tightly or anything. Not without a proper repair set anyway, and surely not without breaking the warranty.
Whatever the cause, I know it isn't my fault, I'm sure more users of this camera will experience the same problem, and I'm certain Panasonic doesn't want this to happen;
The safety belt isn't exactly the part you would want to be unreliable, *especially not* for a camera of this price-range!

The most annoying thing is that now I'm forced to use the GH1 without the security of the strap around my neck or arm, so when I drop it, it would actually drop to the ground, instead of being secured by its strap. Making my photography and videography a harder task, because I need to be extremely careful. Panasonic should make sure their camera-bodies are safe, strong and secure, and they have failed to do so here, and pretty much ruin the occasion of taking a lot of beautiful pictures.
I don't like to use the GH1 this way, it feels really unsafe with the open hole on the side and the loose metal part inside.

Frankly, I think Panasonic should actively take them back in from all GH1 buyers, update the model and offer us all a new one, or they should refund the money and let us buy a new one. This is not the way to create a camera of this price-range.
I've started a write-up on a well-known Dutch web-log about this issue, and hope Panasonic realizes they just can't produce crap like this and hope for the best and continue their business.

When tempted to buy a Panasonic product in the future, I will surely think twice about it from now on, and recommend against it to anyone I can explain this occurance to.
 
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Would it be a good idea of starting a collective of people posting up a pic of their broken rivets? no talking just pics and say basic details of yourself and location? a dedicated link could possibly help others in their endeavors in getting it fixed under warranty.

Panasonic can't turn their heads for long if alot of people post up and is known as the place to post if it ever happens to someone.

I dunno, just a thought. =)
 
MR Fanny said:
Would it be a good idea of starting a collective of people posting up a pic of their broken rivets? no talking just pics and say basic details of yourself and location? a dedicated link could possibly help others in their endeavors in getting it fixed under warranty.

Panasonic can't turn their heads for long if alot of people post up and is known as the place to post if it ever happens to someone.

I dunno, just a thought. =)
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well, just returned from my travels around the world and packaged up the GH1 and mailed it to panasonic's repair center (in elk grove, illinois). reading other users experience, i sent it with delivery signature confirmation. i included a letter explaining what had happened and even included the URL for this thread to show that this is not an isolated incident.
i will keep everyone posted on what transpires with this repair request.
 
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