Checked that and tried an external power supply. NOTHING. It is dead as a door nail. Was sent to Sydney today and should find out what it was in the next day or so.
Thank god for the 5 year warranty.
HPX500 won't power on
- Thread starter Tom Shortridge
- Start date
Checked that and tried an external power supply. NOTHING. It is dead as a door nail. Was sent to Sydney today and should find out what it was in the next day or so.
Thank god for the 5 year warranty.
Just got word from Lemac about the camera.
They are claiming that it is a moisture problem and therefore the warranty is void.
The camera hasn't even been near rain for 3 to 4 weeks so I'd like to know how that is happening.
The camera worked fine then died, no warning. Something really fishy going on here.
Combine that to a mate of mine that just had a P2 card die on him that was only 2 years old and P2 is starting to
look very shacky.
Add to that the fact that Lemac told me they would get the techs to call me about it. An hour later they hadn't called so I contacted
Lemac who gave me the number for the techs. I call them to find out they went home early.
Doesn't look good at all. Was about to buy a new P2 but if this is the way they deal with things I'll buy a 700 instead.
Michael
They are claiming that it is a moisture problem and therefore the warranty is void.
The camera hasn't even been near rain for 3 to 4 weeks so I'd like to know how that is happening.
The camera worked fine then died, no warning. Something really fishy going on here.
Combine that to a mate of mine that just had a P2 card die on him that was only 2 years old and P2 is starting to
look very shacky.
Add to that the fact that Lemac told me they would get the techs to call me about it. An hour later they hadn't called so I contacted
Lemac who gave me the number for the techs. I call them to find out they went home early.
Doesn't look good at all. Was about to buy a new P2 but if this is the way they deal with things I'll buy a 700 instead.
Michael
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Jan_Crittenden
Veteran
Hi,
Take a look at your camera case. It it seals tightly so that it is waterproof, or just so tight that humidity cannot escape, you should put some desiccants in case to suck up any humid air in the case when it is closed. This could be the source of your "water damage" and will be on your new camera regardless of manufacturer.
As far as a P2 card giving up the ghost after two years, that seems odd, and he should contact Panasonic about that, they should analyze it. And frankly one P2 card having a problem wen there are 100s of thousands out there does not make P2 shaky. It makes your friend's P2 card an anomaly, that is we are curious as to what went wrong and he should contact Panasonic.
Hope this helps,
Jan
Take a look at your camera case. It it seals tightly so that it is waterproof, or just so tight that humidity cannot escape, you should put some desiccants in case to suck up any humid air in the case when it is closed. This could be the source of your "water damage" and will be on your new camera regardless of manufacturer.
As far as a P2 card giving up the ghost after two years, that seems odd, and he should contact Panasonic about that, they should analyze it. And frankly one P2 card having a problem wen there are 100s of thousands out there does not make P2 shaky. It makes your friend's P2 card an anomaly, that is we are curious as to what went wrong and he should contact Panasonic.
Hope this helps,
Jan
That still wouldn't explain why it took 4 weeks to die. There has never even been a moisture warning come up with the camera.
The fact is I've been a network cameraman for over 20 years. Used just about every type of camera in some of the worst situations imaginable.
Whenever it rains I air out the portabrace, camera, case and if needed the car. After the drama I had with my 610 I nearly didn't
buy another Panasonic. (It spent 6 months of it's first year in the shop and ended up going to Japan) The 5 year warranty on the P2 made me
change my mind. I now find out it is pretty much useless.
As for my mate with the P2 card, he did contact Panasonic and basically got told too bad but nothing we can do about it.
I'm just saying there is something not right here.
The fact is I've been a network cameraman for over 20 years. Used just about every type of camera in some of the worst situations imaginable.
Whenever it rains I air out the portabrace, camera, case and if needed the car. After the drama I had with my 610 I nearly didn't
buy another Panasonic. (It spent 6 months of it's first year in the shop and ended up going to Japan) The 5 year warranty on the P2 made me
change my mind. I now find out it is pretty much useless.
As for my mate with the P2 card, he did contact Panasonic and basically got told too bad but nothing we can do about it.
I'm just saying there is something not right here.
Jan_Crittenden
Veteran
It could be that over time the corrosion started at the beginning of the 4 weeks and finally eroded over time. erosion does take time otherwise it would not be called erosion. So it may well be that it started after the rain and took time to have full impact. It is the case and its air tightness that can make a big difference, and so I repeat that you should invest in some dessicants to throw into the case because the humid air inside can cause issues. I have seen this a number of times. And yes the Portabrace rain slicker will keep it sort of dry. Humid air in and around the camera needs to dry out. Humid air would not cause a moisture warning to come on because it is very subtle.
And i would encourage your friend to go up one level in management at Panasonic.
Best,
Jan
And i would encourage your friend to go up one level in management at Panasonic.
Best,
Jan
Was it raining 3 or 4 weeks ago? Did the camera get wet? Or, did you have a rainslick,etc. to protect the camera? I've shot during light rain, but also had a cover on. I don't seal the camera in a hard case, just use the soft bag.
I lost a warranty on my cell phone because the moisture indicator inside of the battery compartment was showing too much humidity. It never got wet, but I was shooting in Borneo, where the humidity was almost 100%, and my Sony BetaCam was fuming with mositure. I've never lost a Sony camera in 30 years of shooting because of moisture. I like my HPX500, but have seen more problems with power supplies than the Sony's.
Could be the capacitors again, like 15 years ago, where Panasonic and Sony bought poor grade capacitors ( not their fault) from the cap. companies. Many cameras had to be re-capped. Also, the VTRs had poor caps during that period.
Now, I will say, when looking at the camera boards, Sony has a different coating on their boards, than boards from Panasonic. Could be that Sony's coating is more moisture resistant. Now, I have seen leaky caps from all manufactures. All those small round metal cans. If you find the leaky cans early, you can clean up the leak before it corrodes the board. If you wait too long, you'll have a lot of corrosion on the metal pads that you will have to clean up. Open up the side plate and pull out the boards. It's easy and you can't really hurt anything. Look for corrosion near the metal cans. Look for over all corrosion. Do the metal tracings on the bottom of the boards look clean? Or do you see corrosion that might indicate poor coating..
This is my experience from shooting, and being an electronic tech for 30 years.
I lost a warranty on my cell phone because the moisture indicator inside of the battery compartment was showing too much humidity. It never got wet, but I was shooting in Borneo, where the humidity was almost 100%, and my Sony BetaCam was fuming with mositure. I've never lost a Sony camera in 30 years of shooting because of moisture. I like my HPX500, but have seen more problems with power supplies than the Sony's.
Could be the capacitors again, like 15 years ago, where Panasonic and Sony bought poor grade capacitors ( not their fault) from the cap. companies. Many cameras had to be re-capped. Also, the VTRs had poor caps during that period.
Now, I will say, when looking at the camera boards, Sony has a different coating on their boards, than boards from Panasonic. Could be that Sony's coating is more moisture resistant. Now, I have seen leaky caps from all manufactures. All those small round metal cans. If you find the leaky cans early, you can clean up the leak before it corrodes the board. If you wait too long, you'll have a lot of corrosion on the metal pads that you will have to clean up. Open up the side plate and pull out the boards. It's easy and you can't really hurt anything. Look for corrosion near the metal cans. Look for over all corrosion. Do the metal tracings on the bottom of the boards look clean? Or do you see corrosion that might indicate poor coating..
This is my experience from shooting, and being an electronic tech for 30 years.
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After talking to the tech direct I have the true story. There is a little corrosion caused by water coming in via a D-tap that is on top of the V-lock mount. This has also blown 2 fuses. No where near as bad as was first told to me. Needless to say am getting a new V-lock mount. Suggest anyone who has the d-tap on the top do the same.
FWIW Mike, the IDX vmount has the dtap on the side.
Hi Guys.
I realise this is more or less a mute point as there are not a lot of people still using the 500. For those of you that are, mine has died again. Has done exactly the same thing even with the new board. The techs seem to be at a loss to explain it. I hope they work out what is wrong with it soon as it is costing me a fortune in more ways than one. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear from you.
Mike
I realise this is more or less a mute point as there are not a lot of people still using the 500. For those of you that are, mine has died again. Has done exactly the same thing even with the new board. The techs seem to be at a loss to explain it. I hope they work out what is wrong with it soon as it is costing me a fortune in more ways than one. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear from you.
Mike