dregenthal
Veteran
Two weeks ago I was at Fort Benning, GA to shoot interviews and events at the “Ranger Rendezvous.”
It was both hot & humid there (not terribly different from our climate in SW Florida this time of year).
Shot (outside) for a couple hours Monday out on Fryar DZ. Mass drop & assault demonstration. No issues.
Tuesday/Wednesday (indoors) got several hours of sit down interviews. No Issues.
Wednesday. Shot over a 2 ½ hour period (indoors) at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. No issues.
Thursday, mid-day outside. Got about 15 minutes of shooting in outdoors at the Ranger Memorial . . . and then:
1. Audio died (completely)
2. LCD died (completely)
3. I could bring up the menu but not make any changes (main screen only, visible through the viewfinder). I was hoping to try to re-initialize the camera . . .
Thinking the issue “might” have been caused by heat and/or humidity (although no different than other recent outside shoots), I retired to the air-conditioning of my vehicle.
My next actions were to install a freshly charged battery, replace both SDHC class 10 cards (previously formatted in camera). Replaced my Panasonic 7-14 lens with a Panasonic 14-140, both known to be working without issue.
Tried a couple phone numbers for Panasonic Repair in Secaucus . . . listened to a lot of pre-recorded messages but couldn’t figure out how to get a human being on the phone.
Three hours later after the fact, while in my motel room, the only change was that the LCD would come on for a few seconds then die. Still no response from the menu beyond the main menu screen.
Called Spec-Comm (which is where I purchased this camera). Keith, from tech support, came on the line, asked some questions then said he would do some research and call me back.
When he called me back, Keith asked if by chance I had the camera remote with me. By some stroke of luck, I actually did. While stating that it might not work he suggested I try a reset/reinitialize with the remote. Amazing . . . that worked (Keith is now on my permanent Christmas card list).
I lost some potential interviews due to time constraints but was able to get a few more in along with two other indoor events the following day. The camera continues to have audio issues. Whether hard wired or wireless (with new batteries), after about 15 minutes the audio falls apart.
The camera, at present, has 46 hours on the clock.
I know I need to contact repair to send it in but wanted to report the issue here (in addition to monitoring it to see if an extended period in an air-conditioned and humidifier controlled environment made a difference).
It was both hot & humid there (not terribly different from our climate in SW Florida this time of year).
Shot (outside) for a couple hours Monday out on Fryar DZ. Mass drop & assault demonstration. No issues.
Tuesday/Wednesday (indoors) got several hours of sit down interviews. No Issues.
Wednesday. Shot over a 2 ½ hour period (indoors) at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. No issues.
Thursday, mid-day outside. Got about 15 minutes of shooting in outdoors at the Ranger Memorial . . . and then:
1. Audio died (completely)
2. LCD died (completely)
3. I could bring up the menu but not make any changes (main screen only, visible through the viewfinder). I was hoping to try to re-initialize the camera . . .
Thinking the issue “might” have been caused by heat and/or humidity (although no different than other recent outside shoots), I retired to the air-conditioning of my vehicle.
My next actions were to install a freshly charged battery, replace both SDHC class 10 cards (previously formatted in camera). Replaced my Panasonic 7-14 lens with a Panasonic 14-140, both known to be working without issue.
Tried a couple phone numbers for Panasonic Repair in Secaucus . . . listened to a lot of pre-recorded messages but couldn’t figure out how to get a human being on the phone.
Three hours later after the fact, while in my motel room, the only change was that the LCD would come on for a few seconds then die. Still no response from the menu beyond the main menu screen.
Called Spec-Comm (which is where I purchased this camera). Keith, from tech support, came on the line, asked some questions then said he would do some research and call me back.
When he called me back, Keith asked if by chance I had the camera remote with me. By some stroke of luck, I actually did. While stating that it might not work he suggested I try a reset/reinitialize with the remote. Amazing . . . that worked (Keith is now on my permanent Christmas card list).
I lost some potential interviews due to time constraints but was able to get a few more in along with two other indoor events the following day. The camera continues to have audio issues. Whether hard wired or wireless (with new batteries), after about 15 minutes the audio falls apart.
The camera, at present, has 46 hours on the clock.
I know I need to contact repair to send it in but wanted to report the issue here (in addition to monitoring it to see if an extended period in an air-conditioned and humidifier controlled environment made a difference).