red dot appears in pic

[Morne Terblanche]

Hi to all!!

This is now becoming a massive problem – and i hope sony will read this!!

I have used the Sony ex3 and ex1 cameras for a couple of years now. Filming wildlife documentaries in South Africa, Zimbabwe and more recently Qatar in middle east. Its never failed me – but in 2012 this small red spot has made its appearance … like a “virus”!

I have a total of 21 Ex3 cameras – a mind-blowing 14 of these cameras have been “infected”!!

2012 I bought 11 ex3 cameras … 9 have the spots and are collecting dust!! AND THEY DONT CARE – I HAVE SPOKEN TO MY SUPPLIER – HE CONTACTED SONY DIRECT – I HAVE CONTACTED SONY DIRECT BUT THEY ARE NOT HELPFUL AT ALL!!

How can it be wear and tear if 9 out of 11 cameras from 3 different orders are doing this!

5 cameras going down on 1 shoot!!

SONY – the reality camera operators we use are some of the best in the world .. SURVIVOR US, THE BACHELOR, FEAR FACTOR ect…

2 points on this ..

– cant see them not knowing how to operate a ex3

– trust me – they are spreading the word very very fast about this camera – and maybe even the brand!! ( 5 cameras on one shoot – and its my problem … yea thanks SONY )

Sony – feel free to contact me

morne@rockwallabyproductions.com

[Kara Stephens]

Has anyone ever heard from Sony about this? I purchased 2 EX3’s in 2012 and one of them just got a red dot – of course, right after the warranty ran out. Now Sony wants to charge me $2500 to fix it. I’ve used these cameras a ton in the past but I’ve never had so many problems. So far I’ve had each camera in twice for dust inside the lens elements, which I’ve never seen before, and now this. Did they change production plants or something?

[Tim Walton]

Kara, oddly enough I had a recurrence of the purple smudge or red dot in my EX-3 a few months ago. I noticed it would appear in certain light and showed up on old footage after I took a look back. Sony did replace my prism, cmos block under warranty in late 2009, at no cost.
They now tell me the engineers say the prism is contaminated, and the replacement cost is 2k, 1500.00 for the prism and 500 labor. They did offer a 10% discount.
The problem is of course, how does the prism become dirty producing the spots on the sensor when it is SEALED when built? I asked directly if this problem had been addressed, I was told no it had not. I also asked why would someone replace the sealed block with no assurance of a recurrence. The answer was the same, no reassurance.
You might be aware of the replacement camera for the EX-3 is coming out soon (PMW-300,PMW-400 ) with the same “Sealed ” block.
I asked why would one buy the new camera with the same problem pending. The answer was “we don’t know”.
I can’t even sell my EX-3 the way it is and block replacement would not fix it for a buyer. So I am thinking of switching to Canon as I know they take customer support more seriously than Sony. Good luck, by the way the service center I deal with is Los Angeles.
Good Luck
Tim Walton