Run&Gun
08-02-2004, 11:11 PM
Just wondering if any of you out there shooting with the Sony D-50 or D-50 widescreen have experienced the following or similar problem:
Last Thursday while shooting a sit-down interview, for no apparent reason and without warning, my camera went black. The camera stays fully powered up, the viewfinder remains on(including tally and all on-screen information:timecode, safetybars, etc.), the signal being fed to the monitor is still up(but the image is black, like you closed the iris), the deck remains on and continues to record(PVV-3:BetacamSP). The image disapears(goes completely black) for several seconds then the picture returns and looks exactly like it did before. There are no signs before it happens that the camera is going to do anything abnormal and no signs afterwards that it has done anything wrong. This is the third time this has happened, but the first time that I've captured it on tape(it occurs on tape just like it happens in the viewfinder and monitor). Also, this morning my friend with the same camera calls me on the way back from an interview he just shot and the exact same thing happened to him. The only thing that appears to be in common with all of these occurences is that the cameras have been on for probably at least an hour or more. The problem does not occur again afterwards, so it doesn't look like an overheating problem because it seems like it would keep happening again and again. Everytime it's happened to me I've been on battery(HyTron 120's fully charged), but my friend had it happen while he was on a powersupply(Anton Bauer).
I've talked to Roger Macie who has not heard of this problem with the D-50's, and also to Sony Tech who is scratching it's collective head at the moment(they thought I may need a software update, but I have the newest version in the camera).
It's too bad this is happening and in such a random fashion because it's forcing me to pull my camera from any live shots and other important, possibly "one-off" situations.
For those of you that have used or own one of these, you know that Sony has made a very impressive camera at the right price point. I just hope this problem can be found and fixed very quickly, because we all know that you're only as good as your last shoot.
Last Thursday while shooting a sit-down interview, for no apparent reason and without warning, my camera went black. The camera stays fully powered up, the viewfinder remains on(including tally and all on-screen information:timecode, safetybars, etc.), the signal being fed to the monitor is still up(but the image is black, like you closed the iris), the deck remains on and continues to record(PVV-3:BetacamSP). The image disapears(goes completely black) for several seconds then the picture returns and looks exactly like it did before. There are no signs before it happens that the camera is going to do anything abnormal and no signs afterwards that it has done anything wrong. This is the third time this has happened, but the first time that I've captured it on tape(it occurs on tape just like it happens in the viewfinder and monitor). Also, this morning my friend with the same camera calls me on the way back from an interview he just shot and the exact same thing happened to him. The only thing that appears to be in common with all of these occurences is that the cameras have been on for probably at least an hour or more. The problem does not occur again afterwards, so it doesn't look like an overheating problem because it seems like it would keep happening again and again. Everytime it's happened to me I've been on battery(HyTron 120's fully charged), but my friend had it happen while he was on a powersupply(Anton Bauer).
I've talked to Roger Macie who has not heard of this problem with the D-50's, and also to Sony Tech who is scratching it's collective head at the moment(they thought I may need a software update, but I have the newest version in the camera).
It's too bad this is happening and in such a random fashion because it's forcing me to pull my camera from any live shots and other important, possibly "one-off" situations.
For those of you that have used or own one of these, you know that Sony has made a very impressive camera at the right price point. I just hope this problem can be found and fixed very quickly, because we all know that you're only as good as your last shoot.