Head Cleaning

[Mariusz Cichon]

I would suggest to bringing your camera to authorized service center. One reason is that those heads in Varicam are more fragile and much smaller than your DigiBeta. Accidentally breaking head will costs you $$$ ‘s to replace it.
Secondly they need to replace self cleaning arm and they can run test to see how often camera needs to use error correction.
I can tell you that because I did it for years working in camera service center and I know it is more difficult with those cameras.

Mariusz

[Ernie Santella]

My camera is new, so no need for service yet. So, you’re saying never clean the heads? That can’t be right. There has to be an average amount of hours before running the head cleaner tape. I was just wondering if you also need to do the alcohol cleaning also.

All us Varicam/900 users, are you guys not cleaning your heads?

Ernie Santella
Santella Film/Video Productions
http://www.santellaproductions.com

[Edward Chick]

Although this is not vari-cam specific. I ran into an emergency situation over the weekend with an f900 sony series 3. Client was demanding alot of excessive playbacks.
Producer felt that money was better spent on Craft Service than a Video Assist person:( Eventually my prediction came true: the playback heads clogged!

The rental house did not include a head cleaning tape/I forgot to check for one when prepping. So I took off the side of the camera, took a clean cotton handkerchief from my kit, applied lens cleaner to the ‘kerchief and went to work on the drum and tape path, both were quite dirty.Slapped it back together and ran a quick test- Warning light stopped blinking/no particle breakup on playback.

Producer called today to inform me that the tape we were encountering problem with was fine!
Although the aforementioned technique may be frowned upon by other tech types; bottom line is when you have to make it work, you do it. The heads are sensitive, but durable.

[Mariusz Cichon]

I did not say that you should never clean it. Panasonic says heads drum should be cleaned every 500hrs drum running time but I think you can go past that depends how and where you use it.
I said that heads should be cleaned in authorized service center. If you break it cleaning it you will have to pay to replace it and void warranty. You are free to use cleaning tape but I would be careful how often you do it. Use it when you have blinking lights on the camera but not before every shoot 🙂
Sony has much more durable cylinder and heads. On the Varicam it is so much easier to break it. It is your choice. It maybe be just not worth it since you need to get that clening arm.
You can do it but you have to be very careful. I recommend using authorized service.

[Ernie Santella]

Well, I finally spoke to an authorized Panasonic repair tech. They recommend using the head-cleaning tape between 50-100 drum hrs. And then to have the tape path thoroughly cleaned about 3 times per year by a authorized tech, don’t try it yourself. This all depends on average useage (More often if you’re shooting the Discovery Channel’s ‘Dirty Jobs’)

Ernie Santella
Santella Film/Video Productions
http://www.santellaproductions.com