Used Sony F3 with suspect condition!

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beefynn

New member
yesterday I inspected the used Sony F3 with about 30 system hours.


There were 2 things I noticed during the inspection.


1. the viewfinder is bent (see picture)
2. the monitoring volume buttons act weird (see picture). Compared to other similar buttons on the F3, these two quite loose and not firm. And one moves if another is pressed.


the owner said he never dropped it.


I planed to buy this camera but i am not sure about its condition.


Can you guys confirm if this is normal?


Thank you
f3s.jpg
 
Well, those issues could occur without dropping the camera.

I've seen issue 1 before on a rental camera. The EVF is weakly designed, and if you hold the camera by the handle towards the back, it's possible to put downward pressure on the EVF joint. For the record, the diopter disconnects from the camera, reducing the size of the EVF in half. I did this on mine and taped up the EVF since it's essentially useless.

I definitely wouldn't be eager to buy this guy's camera. Also, I'd research what the replacement parts or service from Sony costs, and use it as a bargaining chip.
 
Every piece of electronics I've had with buttons like that means the board underneath was pushed off its supports due to someone pushing the button waaaay too hard. I would remove all doubt and ask to send into a Sony service center for inspection, and if its determined that there is someone wrong, get an estimate to fix it and continue negotiations. Any other option you have to ask yourself, are you a gambling man?

As far as the viewfinder, I personally think its a flimsy design anyway and chose to remove it altogether on mine. It is a reversible decision to do so.
 
pass on it, too much money to take a chance. when I looked at getting an F3 I looked at a used one to save 20% on it and in the end bought brand new with warranty, etc.. and figured I could depreciate the purchase and write off on taxes saving the same amount you would be buying used.
 
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Mine has very similar issues. Especially, the monitoring volume buttons are exact same as you mentioned.
It happened since the first day I got it so I thought it's its design.
At lease You can feel the difference when pressing them.

I think others might not notice since the button is not used offen.

For the EVF, about 20-40% of the F3 pictures in google image searching, have some kind of bending.
And again mine bent about 5-10 degrees. (I am curious it bend easily because of the poor plastic housing or weak metal hinge)
 
ok I also just went and checked mine,.

- My audio buttons are loose and wiggle around on the camera until you press them in slightly, then they engage and contact with the actual switch contacts on the circuit board.

- My VF will flex down a little bit, and check out this video I was just watching with alister chapman, his F3 also has a flexed VF downward.

http://www.youtu.be/iqJCFBZDfLQ?hd=1

Besides if he really did drop it you would easily have found some marks somewhere that showed it. If it did fall and not leave marks, then it probably did not fall from very high.
 
I went check and found many images that show flexed EVF and 2 of you have similar conditions, it is interesting that F3 has many issues (Broken Pl pins,EVF,audio buttons, weak mic holder)
 
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