Hello everyone, I had a nasty spill yesterday and unfortunately besides some stitches, my camera took the majority of the fall. Have any of you seen this happen before? The tripod hole mount ripped out and as well as that, actually broke the framework inside the camera bottom. Any ideas on the best route to fixing it? Could I replace it myself? Thoughts? Thanks
HVX200 Tripod Hole structure broken
- Thread starter nate.lav
- Start date
Egg Born Son
Veteran
Lesson one, always fall under the camera! Bones heal. 
Contact Panasonic about a replacement part. Looks like that whole panel is replaceable. I expect it's gonna hurt more than the fall. Nothing else looks damaged, I imagine its been engineered as a weak point to fail gracefully without ripping the guts out at the same time. I read a thread on here just in the last day or two that had a link to a company that makes a rugged 3rd party replacement for just this issue. That said if it hadn't snapped how much worse would the impact damage be? Add the mass of the tripod to the camera! I'm not sure if the thread was for this camera but I clicked on the link and the HVX was a model they cater to. Can't remember the company name though.
Contact Panasonic about a replacement part. Looks like that whole panel is replaceable. I expect it's gonna hurt more than the fall. Nothing else looks damaged, I imagine its been engineered as a weak point to fail gracefully without ripping the guts out at the same time. I read a thread on here just in the last day or two that had a link to a company that makes a rugged 3rd party replacement for just this issue. That said if it hadn't snapped how much worse would the impact damage be? Add the mass of the tripod to the camera! I'm not sure if the thread was for this camera but I clicked on the link and the HVX was a model they cater to. Can't remember the company name though.
If it's just the bottom plate, you might want to consider buying one of these. ( I bought one for my HMC-150 when I first got it )
Juice Designs HVX200 Aluminum Base Plate
Juice Designs HVX200 Aluminum Base Plate
Mark Williams
Veteran
From the photo it looks like a broken magnesium bottom frame which unfortunately looks to be part of the main camera frame part VKN6880. Then a plastic cover which I can't find in the service manual and tripod plate VMP8615 tripod frame . Since I assume the camera works ok then we are talking about replacement of non-mechanical non-electrical parts. But that main frame seems to be substantial and has a lot of components connected to it.
Here is a link to parts http://www.pasc.panasonic.com/epartr/PartslistChoice.asp Put in ag-hvx200 for model number.
Here is a link to a service manual http://elektrotanya.com/panasonic_ag-hvx200_hvx202.pdf/download.html.
Here is a link to parts http://www.pasc.panasonic.com/epartr/PartslistChoice.asp Put in ag-hvx200 for model number.
Here is a link to a service manual http://elektrotanya.com/panasonic_ag-hvx200_hvx202.pdf/download.html.
Last edited:
Mark Williams
Veteran
Man that http://www.juicedesigns.com/products/hvx200-base-plate looks like a possible cheaper solution. I think I am going to get one.
Last edited:
panny service aint too bad. My HVX was beaten out of my hands and dropped and broke. It was totally dead. I sent it in and it was loose connectors and some external parts. The boards had jumped out of their sockets. I spent roughly 300$ and had it back in 4 days....but the plate looks good! Lets see if they make one for my HPX 250.
I can't tell much from the photo, but stripped threads can be repaired with "helicoils". Basically, you drill out the old hole to a oversized dimension. Then you tap the oversized hole with a specially sized tap. Then, you crank a thread insert into the newly tapped hole and baddabing, you have the hole repaired with new threads of the same size. In fact, compared to the original machine threads tapped into aluminum or magnesium, the helicoiled threads are stronger than original. Often in airplanes structures, helicoils will be used in the original design to increase threaded strength. It isn't a complicated process, it just takes care. If you have never tapped a hole, get some help, or practice on something non-critical. Bearing supply houses sell helicoil kits with the drill, tap, inserts and insert installation tool. In small sizes, kits will cost under $30 and are available in either metric, national fine, and unc threads. If you hired this out to a machinist, a helicoil can be done in about 10 minutes per hole. I used to own a machine shop, so this is no bs.
Grant
Grant
Egg Born Son
Veteran
That's the 3rd party one I was talking about, saves searching for it.
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
It is worth considering this quote carefully in relation to purchasing the 'tough plate'
Such a mount (on the camera) should indeed be designed to fail in a manner that saves more damage to the camera - its called 'fail soft' or 'fail safe' they are technically different http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail-safe
Pucchase of a tough plate could cause more expensive damage to the camera upon a future impact
Consider the sticks falling over situation - if the camera breaks away from the sticks the impact on the camera is lessened (contrary to the statement in the promo video) compared to the impact when the camera does not break away from the sticks
Considering a more stupid but clearer analogy - say you used your camera in conjunction with a monopod as a hammer one can see that earlier failure of the joint could lessen camera damage in the long run..
Id get the camera mended by Panny.
Incidentally - the camera is only a camera - way less valuable than the only body you will ever have - Id always look to minimising personal damage in a fall irrelevant in terms of the kit damage - sling it dont land on it..
S
Last edited:
Mark Williams
Veteran
Nate, please let us know how this turns out for you.
I do have HVX200 base plates in stock if you still need one Nate.
I still haven't had a chance to get a HPX250 here to measure. I hope to soon...