sealing the card door

[Thomas Kist]

Don’t use tape. it will leave glue particles that might end up deep in your camera. and tearing it of in a hurry will break that flimsy plastic door. in the end you are worse of using tape. if you must, use tape that leaves no glue. be especially carefull in hot circumstances.
if you worry about dust buy a jacket or cameraglove.
and I think that this camera is a lot more dustproof than any tape based camera we used earlier.

Thomas Kist
Freelance D.o.P
Amsterdam,The Netherlands
PDW-700,EX-3&Letus,FCP 6
http://www.thomaskist.com

[Michael Pruitt-bruun]

i think it’s a legitimate concern, Ed. that was my first thought when i saw the camera. there’s no seal whatsoever, and while there aren’t the moving parts you have in a tape drive, it is a big hole into the guts of the camera.

i agree with Thomas that gaff tape might not be the best solution. but under certain conditions it seems better than nothing. what about some sort of velcro, attached such that it put no strain on the door itself, but made a flap over it? ghetto, i know. and probably offensive to the sensibilities of some. but so what, if it preserves the camera.

[Ed Kukla]

I am concerned with grip tape being too agressive with the door.
Velcro wouldn’t really seal the door tight.
I’m thinking of looking around for another tape that isn’t as agressive as grip tape.

Another idea I have is to add some more grip tape to the sticky side of the main piece of tape so the tape will not stick to the door itself but only to the body around it where the seal is needed.

Film magazines have been taped for years to keep dirt & dust out. Camera tape is pretty much the same thing as grip tape only in 1″.

[Noah Kadner]

Carry a can of compressed air. Bag the camera in rain and heavy sand. Putting adhesive tape on the camera permanently will do a lot more harm than good.

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[Ed Kukla]

Are you saying putting tape on THIS camera is a problem or on any camera? Why?

[Noah Kadner]

Well as others have pointed out above- anything with adhesive on it is potentially harmful to your camera. There are no moving parts inside the SxS card drive door. So unless a piece of metal foil or huge piece of dirt wedges in there there’s nothing a blast of dust off won’t fix. I’ve had an EX1 for over a year now in sand, rain etc no issues with door as stock.

Noah

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Now featuring the Lens Adapter Guidebook, Sony EX1 Guidebook,
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[Brian Barkley]

I agree that I would not place tape directly on the door. Rather I would jerry-rig a piece of cloth or somehing over the door . . and then hold that in place with a large rubber band or like device.

Don’t know why Sony didn’t think of this when designing the camera. I know that many cameramen find themselves in dusty places.

[Ed Kukla]

Camera assitants have been using camera tape on film cameras for 50 years. Virtually every film magazine gets taped up. Often the door to the camera gets taped.
As I stated at the top, I am concerned with damaging the flimsy door. I’ve added a piece of tape to the backside of my tape cover to keep the cover tape from sticking to the door and preventing damage to the door.
I would like a better solution but for now I think I’ll ‘stick’ to the tape. Occasionaly I’ll need to clean off the residue. No big deal if I stay ahead of it and don’t let it sit for years.

[Brian Barkley]

Yes, I date back to the film days … 40 years ago in fact. But putting tape around a film magazine on a metal camera, be it Arriflex or whatever, is in no way a comparison to these plastic video cameras that we are talking about. The flimsy door on the EX3 could not be compared to those film camera “beasts” to which you refer.

But good luck in whatever you decide.

[Ed Kukla]

I agree that extra care needs to be taken. I put a piece of tape on the backside of the cover tape and no sticky part of the tape touches the door. The sticky tape only touches the body around the door. It’s working well so far.

Thanks