-
EC3 weirdness
Hi,
Anyone experience problems with workings of EC3? It has been working, but has decided not to do so today for our shoot. When I turn it on, it seems to send a message to the camera changing the settings (the image and information on the display changes, but none of the other buttons control anything and none lights up on the unit. I may well need to send it for maintenance, but I’m wondering that, as it hasn’t experienced any abuse or been used too often yet, if the solution might be something simple. I’ve already opened the back and seen nothing obviously wrong internally. Any ideas? It’s so great that the COW exists! I’ve so appreciated all the comments and shared experiences and, especially, all replys to my earlier postings!
Linda
-
5 Replies
-
Laura,
Reboot, reseat the cables then send both in for service if no go! I’ve had failures with EC3 that were maintainance issues. In general I find the Panasonic products to be less rekliable and less robust than they should be!
JS
-
Hi Laura,
I’ve had my EC-3 for a few years and had several problems. The first 2 were cable failures. I tried to use an aftermarket 100′-0″ and the ends were not to spec. If you have a cable from Pana and it has a (unusable) BNC on the end, most likely it has failed because of useage or 1 or more of your pins has failed. When you send in the unit for service, send in the cable.
good luck
M -
John,
Someone else once called me Laura before. It’s a nice name. The first thing I did was to reseat the cable and reboot, yet the result was the same. I think I will be sending the EC3 for maintenance. It hasn’t been overworked and great care has been taken with it, so it’s a bit baffling. What type of maintenance problem did you experience? Thanks for the response, which I was able to quickly view while on location!
Linda
-
Hi M at HD Extreme,
You make me wonder if I should change my name. However, I have a friend named Laura and that might get confusing for our mutual friends. Seriously, thanks so much for your prompt response! We’re still using the original cable. I haven’t had to use the BNC end yet. (Interestingly enough, the cable will power the Varispeed, which uses the same outlet in the Varicam.) I think I will need to send the EC3 for service and be sure to send the original cable with it. You mentioned that the first 2 failures you had were cable-related. What was the 3rd?
Linda
-
Had a problem with my EC3 as well. On a shoot it stopped working about 4 set ups into the day. Inspection on set revealed a small nick in the cable. A friend shut it in the pelican case and didn’t notice it. I’m told that as a precaution you should always power off both camera and EC3 when disconnecting or reconnecting. I guess that the cable came apart at that pinch and kept opening and closing and at last the EC# gave out. Had 2 cables and both were bad.
Had a company reset the connectors the next day but still nothing. Sent it to my reseller who sent it to Panasonic. Now here is the killer. They (Panasonic) had it for 4 months. You should be prepared to be missing it for a while if you send it to Panasonic as it appears you will have to do. Don’t know what the problem is with Panasonic and repairs and parts. I love my Varicam but not so much the support and service side. Am waiting now since the Masters to get a part for the body. Roger Macie my tech in Boston ordered so long ago I sometimes forget I’m waiting for it.
Best of luck with getting it fixed.dw
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up