Vulnerabilities

Discuss the PMW-F3 and any other F series camcorders here
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darraghsinnott
Posts: 6
Joined: March 20th, 2011, 9:31 pm

Vulnerabilities

Post by darraghsinnott » May 2nd, 2011, 10:01 pm

I hate to be a party pooper when it comes to the F3 but I knackered my F3's viewfinder today - and it revealed a problem that could easily happen to someone else.

The mounting holes on the handle are different to those on the chassis itself. The ones on the chassis have a solid metal base so it's difficult to thread a screw in too far.
Not so with the ones on the handle, they have a very flimsy piece of plastic at the base. Screwing in an accessory (that has longer than 1/4" threaded screw) you can easily break
through it and (as in my case) damage the fragile ribbon connector underneath.
This ribbon drives the display on the viewfinder so once damaged that's the viewfinder gone.. Not that I actually use it much but it was handy outdoors for checking settings.

I was a bit disappointed at this and would have expected the mounting holes to have a metal 'socket' not just a tube leading down to the delicate electronics shielded by a bit of plastic.

So, you've been warned - be careful.
alisterchapman
Site Admin
Posts: 431
Joined: February 1st, 2011, 7:43 pm

Re: Vulnerabilities

Post by alisterchapman » May 2nd, 2011, 11:22 pm

Thanks for the heads up Darragh. Going to make this a sticky. Sorry to hear of your miss-fortune. That isn't the best bit of design!
darraghsinnott
Posts: 6
Joined: March 20th, 2011, 9:31 pm

Re: Vulnerabilities

Post by darraghsinnott » May 9th, 2011, 11:31 pm

You might be interested to know, I've been in touch with Sony (Prime Support) back and forth for the last few days regarding the busted viewfinder ribbon.

Their fabulous idea is "to put a warning in the user manual advising one to not screw anything in that is longer than 5.2mm (1/4")" ... or something like that.... "so the problem cannot happen again".... errr... I doubt that's going to nail this bug Sony, but that's your business I guess. Upgrading the mounting hole design on the handle so you can screw in to hand tight without wrecking your camera would be a better solution IMHO.
They should have another go at the mic holder too while they are at it as I can see that breaking off just as easily as it did on my EX3, but that's another story.

Anyway, the nice guys at Sony (PS) will repair my unit free of charge of course since the warning is not currently in the manual.

The big issue for me now is - can I believe the '7 Day' turn around promise?
I ordered (and paid in advance for) two F3's in Feb and I've only had one delivered so far and no one - not even Mystic Meg can tell me when the second camera is going to be delivered.
So I'm a bit reticent to send this unit back until I have the second body in...

Anybody else have experience of Prime Support turn around times? Are they reliable?
Duke M.
Posts: 16
Joined: May 15th, 2011, 2:54 pm

Re: Vulnerabilities

Post by Duke M. » May 15th, 2011, 3:02 pm

There is the possibility of the cheese plate replacement handle that ET was displaying at NAB. Its not yet released in final form but looks promising.
alisterchapman
Site Admin
Posts: 431
Joined: February 1st, 2011, 7:43 pm

Re: Vulnerabilities

Post by alisterchapman » June 1st, 2011, 8:22 pm

Prime support turn around is normally pretty quick. I had to use it once for a Z1 with a focus issue and it did take about 6 days.

1/4" threaded holes are often very shallow. You do have to be careful on many cameras, not just Sony that your screws are no too long.

F3 supplies are very limited at the moment. I want to get a second one, but prices are too high and availability too low for me right now. There are also EX1R and EX3 shortages at the moment. It's all due to the Tsunami and earthquake. I believe many other Japanese companies are having similar issues. Hopefully things should start to slowly return to normal over the coming months.
darraghsinnott
Posts: 6
Joined: March 20th, 2011, 9:31 pm

Re: Vulnerabilities

Post by darraghsinnott » June 3rd, 2011, 12:19 am

Well we'll see - the damaged unit was picked up yesterday - just as my second F3 body (finally) arrived in so that was nice timing! The Prime Support guys seem to be a good bunch so I'm hopeful that it won't take longer than it needs to.
I'll be more careful with the accessories in future but I'm sticking to my guns... you should not have to worry about screwing things in too far - at least not when turning by hand - it should be possible to go hand tight without crashing through the screw hole and into the electronics - as far as I'm concerned there's no excuse for that on a professional camera IMHO.
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