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dropped camera, all plastics in fronts in pieces-ewww! but still working!
My dvx is almost 3 years old. After the first 2 years of glorious shooting, i got a bit too complacent and lazy until it happened. the pretty red head PA was in a flirting mode and i just cant pass up the chance, rushed to put camera on the tripod, turned my back to it, strap caught my arm and next thing i know, im on my knees picking up plastics bits between cracks on the concrete floor. Bad karma. my wife have always nagged me about being careless with my gear and she was not there that day.
anyways, after deciding that anything to do with the red head would not be appropriate at this point, i put the former dvx in two ziplocks; the body in one and the mess in the other and called it a day.
I tinkered with it back home and found out that the camera’s insides still works! inserted a tape went out in the garden, zoomed in, zoomed out, did some macro shots and everything’s in focus. Only thing is that all is in autofocus because the damaged ring is still one of the parts in the other ziplock.
To send it to Panasonic for servcing was out of the question at the time; I have a project to do and its my only workhorse. Im still in my early years in the business and in survival mode, so i cannot afford to buy a new one and shipping it to panasonic means i will be disabled for a least 3 months. so with superglue, and a lot of pain; i reassembled and reattached what i could.
a year and 3 docus later It now serves as a backup second cam to another DVX100, the A. i somehow got used to its weaknesses; a little bump of the front and it will decide to disassemble; only and always i full view of important clients, a constant humbling process.Ok, so much for this long story. I love this camera and i think the damage is just mechanical in nature and i could manage to give it new life if only i can get replacement parts. theres a parts list for DVX on the internet but there are no illustrations of photos for me me to be sure its the right part. i inquired about the literature but its been 2 months now and nothing.
i really would appreciate any fix to my problem.
hardluck -
2 Replies
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Have you considered taking it to a camera repair shop- they can at the very least help you order parts if not perhaps fix it for a reasonable fee.
Noah
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Thanks for the reply. Yes ive considered sending it. problem is i forgot to say that im now in expensive paris, meaning i have to shell out precious euros while my modest income is in philippine pesos; exchange rate 70:1. sorry for being cheap but what they charge here just to see it is already the price of a whole new set of dentures for me back home!
I lookeD at the parts and price list for the dvx and unless i opt to change the whole lens assembly, (around 700$) all the other (plastic, mechanical) components are priced between 2 bucks to 40.+shipping. Im looking to spend max 200$ if i skip the repair shop here.
here’s he parts i really need to replace which i cannot be certain with the very limited description in the panasonic list:
1. Focus ring–there is no visible damage but wont hurt me much to replace.
2. plastic with 3 screws where front glass of the lens assembly is attached, i believe it also has the grooves where the focus ring gears rotate. it doesnt do that anymore so i dont have manual focus, i think ive lost (or broken)some locking pin or pins from its frequent disattachments. The screw heads are also busted because of layers and layers of superglue i have applied to attach the no 3 part.
3. part that hold filters, attach the lens hood/shade and the lens’ specs are written: “10x optical Zoom”, 72mm, focal length etc. This is a non-moving part but very important.
4. I would also like to replace the front glass if its possible to order it separate from the rest of the lens assembly. it has this annoying clouding and ‘rainbow’ on the upper right side, i suppose caused by chemical reaction from the superglue. i dont want to touch it fearing i might do more damage. although it doesnt affect much the captured image, i have to be more careful with it handling glare than my other DVX; i got used to it though.
again many thanks for the quick response.
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