Where are the cards?

S

stevechp

Member
What good is this camera? No cards, My FS100 will not charge, will not run off of AC. I am on location in Mexico, and to top it off the the HVX 200 handle broke off, The camera fell one foot landed on the handle snaped off, the screws holding the handle are NOT long enough going into the body above the XLR connections see pics. BTW the camera is still working. I have 4 P2 cards in use now.

http://stevecahill.home.comcast.net/hvx

So this relationship with Panasonic, with no cards, FS100 not working, and a broken camera handle, yes that was my fault, is not good. I thought this might be a good working solution, but it is having its snags with prosumer equipment. I need a tiatium
camera.

Looking forward to Sony's new camera with cards. Hopefully lots of them.

I am a little fustrated.
 
im not sure what youre complaining about? you dropped your camera. thats not panasonics fault...?

and the non-charging FS. unrelated to the camera.

and i dont understand the significance of your title. you dont mention anything about not having cards? in fact you say you have 4 cards???

are you on medication?
 
Wow, how you did that too the handle is incredible. I haven't seen anything like that with this camera. Very solid, very well put together. Not sure i'd want to see you DP'ing with RED ONE or something. I admit it is a little frustrating getting P2 cards lately but they are out there. I bought another 8GB from abel Cinetech on tues, got it today. They said it was the last one they had in stock so I can understand the frustration, we're all feeling the pinch. But larger cards are coming and camera itself is a fantastic piece of equipment that I wouldn't trade for the world. I'm curious about sony too but I'm gonna need to see some footage first. Over all they are different beasts and the HVX is proven and will be hitting the big screen very soon. This is very exciting news that proves once again what a capable camera it is. Don't give up on it yet, we're just getting started ;)
 
Wow- there are some real HVX evanalgist here. The only meds I am on are a tight deadline, and little sleep, just finnished the wrap video, and in my world I have to turn this stuff around in 3 days, on location. So high pressure, and my expectations are high for camera performance, even if I drop it. I think if you take a close look at the handle it could use some beefier attachment points, the handle is casted and very brittle, my 2 cents and experience to date. The camera makes great pictures I want it to be just as great in design and mechinical performance, like my HDCam.
 
I'm not taking any sides, but most any "prosumer" camera or even full pro camera will break if you drop it, or at least some part of it will break. Every camera has a weak point in it. How many what size P2 cards do you have btw? And yes, P2 shortage is incredibly inconvenient and just frustrating.
 
It's like a one sided jelly sandwich. It is always going to fall jelly side down - on the new carpet at your snooty in-laws house. The same for gear. It is always going to land in such a way to cause the most damage from the seemingly most minute event.

Good to see that you could keep working though. I like the gaffed Litepanel Mini to the top of the lens cover. Do you like it? The LP Mini, not the gaffing job.
 
I like the lite panel, it does not get hot and does not draw alot of current. I like where its mounted, I am thinking velcrow at the lens shade, quick setup for run and gun which I was doing this week for a wrap video. The power coard is not very flexiable, stiff that is.

I have four 8 gig cards, my thinking is that I would take 15 cards with me, and NOT reuse the cards, until the data was backed- up when I return from these trips. Trying to managed the cards and back-up , shoot and edit is very time consuming. I come from a tape world. At least with the XDCAM I have a disc I can always go back to. I whish Sony would make a mini disc based camera, that would be the perfect solution, for a camera for travel.
 
Sorry for Your camera misshap.

I experienced a similar thing last year when I lifted the camera by the handle with a small 8 lbs tripod attached. The weight was too much for the very small screws in front. The screws are only using 2 threads of aluminium in the body. I repaired it myself. Panasonic will probably replace the whole body and it will be expencive.

The other sad thing is that when I alerted the forum about this poor design and informed that by spending a few cent on longer screws a possible disaster could be avoided, the evangelists came out telling how stupid it was to lift the camera with an attached tripod.

I'm back to repeating the free advise. Replace the screw with some that are 3-4 threads longer. Do this before you tear off the handle in a short instance of misshap. Pulling it out of a very tight bag may be enough to tear the screws off.

Wise readers are free to use the tip. Others may forget it.

Regarding the repair, I fixed new 4mm thread inserts that I screwed and glued into the body. Saved me from replacing the main body. The handle I had to buy and it costs aprox USD 200...

Good luck with Your work.

Lorentz
 
It's definitely good to know that those screws are too short, that way some of us can replace the screws or just take caution.
 
Great to know there is a possible issue with the handle. Yes longer screws may help here, do you know what the mm size is of these screws, and what the part number of the handle is that you ordered?

Yes the evanaligist have a attitude and I was only reporting my fustration, and the disappointment of a bad design of a handle that is not very well intergrated into the camera, as far as strength.

I would like to know if Panasonic does environmental testing with their products and how well the handle preformed in a drop test on the HVX 200?
 
stevechp said:
I would like to know if Panasonic does environmental testing with their products and how well the handle preformed in a drop test on the HVX 200?
Click to expand...

Drop test?

WHAT?

Its a metal and PLASTIC piece of camera for crying out loud.

Not a Hummer.

Why don't you go drop your 42" plasma and then complain to the manufacturer that it didn't survive your "drop test".

That would make about as much sense.

If you treat your equipment with that much lack of regard, I suggest you either wrap it in bubble wrap or up your insurance deductible.

Unreal.
 
Actually, a drop test is a standard test procedure for any product. The test limits vary but it is normally performed. EIA or Mil list various procedures and limits for this type of test. Not sure what Panasonics criteria is though.
 
Boo Hoo.

The camera should be mil spec, and water proof, capable of being dropped from 15 feet and suffer no damage....Oh, and still cost 5k. Or maybe it should only cost 3K ?

Get real folks. What part of "prosumer" are people missing? I guarantee that said XDcam can suffer damage from being tipped over from it's standing position without even being dropped. Drop it from a foot up and see what happens- any takers?

I remember one of the recent "broken battery tab" posts, where one poster was wondering if the HVX was OK to take on an open ocean yacht race, due to the battery tabs. The implications of the post were absurd, if not surreal.

Oh my, where to start? To shoot in the open ocean for a long period, with one prosumer camera- and the concern is about the battery tabs??? This is just a bit short of delusional. I would never tackle a shoot like this with just one camera, whether it was a Varicam or a HVX. No back-up camera, and your worrried about the frickin battery tabs?

I digress.

This kind of thinking and some of the thoughts expressed here are testament to how much value the HVX and other cameras are bringing to the market- not how much they are lacking. Consequently, this has created wildly unrealistic, if not absolutley silly expectations. There's also a tremendous amount of wah-wah-whining going on.

And no, you don't have to be a HVX evangelist to see how distorted and annoying this dynamic has become.

Thanks for the tip on the longer handle screws. That's helpful info.
 
Most car bumpers won't survive a ten mile an hour collision.

Drop the cam might not be the fast, but there are no bumpers on the cam.
 
hotchkiss said:
Boo Hoo.

The camera should be mil spec, and water proof, capable of being dropped from 15 feet and suffer no damage....Oh, and still cost 5k. Or maybe it should only cost 3K ?

Get real folks. What part of "prosumer" are people missing? I guarantee that said XDcam can suffer damage from being tipped over from it's standing position without even being dropped. Drop it from a foot up and see what happens- any takers?

I remember one of the recent "broken battery tab" posts, where one poster was wondering if the HVX was OK to take on an open ocean yacht race, due to the battery tabs. The implications of the post were absurd, if not surreal.

Oh my, where to start? To shoot in the open ocean for a long period, with one prosumer camera- and the concern is about the battery tabs??? This is just a bit short of delusional. I would never tackle a shoot like this with just one camera, whether it was a Varicam or a HVX. No back-up camera, and your worrried about the frickin battery tabs?

I digress.

This kind of thinking and some of the thoughts expressed here are testament to how much value the HVX and other cameras are bringing to the market- not how much they are lacking. Consequently, this has created wildly unrealistic, if not absolutley silly expectations. There's also a tremendous amount of wah-wah-whining going on.

And no, you don't have to be a HVX evangelist to see how distorted and annoying this dynamic has become.

Thanks for the tip on the longer handle screws. That's helpful info.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with the orginal poster about Panasonic being to blame for a user issue, however I would like to comment further on reliability and prosumer devices. I work for one of the leading computer companies as a procurement engineer. My job is pretty much all reliability. Part of our standard procedure is to test product including the laptop and desktop ranges for drop tests. These test can range for 1 foot to 6 feet depending on the product. So, yes, a drop test of 1 foot is a reasonable expectation for a product.

Now, in the original post it is clear the camera still works so to me it looks like Panasonic included that as part of their desing guidelines.
 
i wonder how many people dont double hand their hvx-m2 setup? I'm guilty of grabbing mine by the handle and lifting it to to tripod.

thanks for the screw replacement tip.

Jason
 
If anything, this post is only to raise attention to a issue with the handle that I discovered, I would of only discovered the "short screw" issue if I had not droped the camera at one foot, (the weight of the camera released the zipper on a backpack and fell out as I was putting down the backpack.) IF it had not broken I would not of found the short screws, I would advise to back-out the screw and see for yourself. Hopefully my carelessness will save others from the handle issue. I made the sacrifice for the good of all you HVX users, and I am proud of it!

Fix your cameras handle.

End of story.
 
I also can underline, that a drop test is a normal procedure, but it is not obligatory. And if performed, it doesnt mean, that the product will be resistant to any drops, but by performing these tests you can see if the product has a minimal strenght to drops and where to improve something. The screws could be an example, because such "mistakes" are not necessary.

I work at TÜV Rheinland Japan right now and one of the projects Ive been working on, included a drop test for toshiba notebooks. Toshiba for example also advertises such tests.

We filmed all the tests and they provide it on their website:

http://www.dynabook.com/pc/catalog/ss/070605rxb/kenro.htm

And the link to the droptest video:

http://www.dynabook.com/pc/catalog/ss/070605rxb/movie/75cmjp.wmv

This was not a standard test (too high), but lower heights are common.

I assume Panasonic is a company in the same range as Toshiba and I think/hope they also spend a lot of money on testing and quality assurance. But it is possible that they dont perform such tests, which would dissappoint me, because thats what makes a company really good for me.

Anyway, we dont know what they test or not, so we cant judge them. Just be careful or "fix" the screws. Thanks for the information on that.
 
Zacuto also has an insert that protects your handle:

HVX200_heavy_load_support_dsm_detail.jpg


Link
 
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