My baby! She won't wake up Eeeeeek! :~(

[Mark Sasahara]

So, there I was, shooting B Camera for a music video. Got my rig running, getting close ups of the talent. I'd been using it for the last three days. Everything is just grand. Even got tape of Emma Bunton aka Baby Spice on day one. Mark's a hero, not a zero.

During a short break I'm showing the camera to one of the crew and the camera shuts off. Okay, I'll just hit the standby button. Nothing. Push it again, still nothin'. Huh? Did the battery go? I'll get another. Pop that in, nothin'. Shit! What's wrong? How about another battery. Nothin' Turn it off, turn it on..."Hey we gotta roll tape here, can you roll"? Nope, the camera won't power up.

AC Adapter? Turning on and off, pushing buttons... Still nothin'. Let it cool down, maybe something really simple I overlooked. I'll go back to Gaffing and come back later. Sorry, B Camera failure. A Cam has to do it all now.

Later and then the next day, much testing of batteries and various power sources and still the camera won't power up and she won't barf up the tape neither. I didn't drop it, I didn't abuse it. I have been babying my little baby since I got her and she just won't wake up- More "waaaah waaaahing" from Mark. I even checked the internal #2025 battery and that was okay too.

I sent it to Canon earlier today. Better call 'em and let them know it's coming. At least it's under warranty and Chris From ZGC is going to help ride herd on that by checking in with Canon and helping it along. Thanks!

I'll keep y'all posted. Anyone else have their XL2 just die?

[Chris Hurd]

Master fuse has blown. I'll bet you anything that's what it is. Something has tripped the breaker that protects the camera's electronics, but unfortunately the only way it can be reset is to send it back to Canon Service. No doubt they will give it a thorough check-up as well, I think that's standard procedure. Keep us advised. Chris will take care of you -- she's Superwoman.

[Richard Alvarez]

Master fuse it is. I had mine blow, replaced, and blow again. Wound up replacing the camera. The people at Zotz were very good in dealing with Canon.

[Mark Sasahara]

Ahh, but what would cause the master fuse to blow? I was running with the 16x manual lens, servo zooming for framing, but manually focusing and the FU-1000 finder with the lens light on. At the time the camera died it wasn't even recording. I was putting it on standby a lot the few days before hand.

I had put about twelve to fifteen 63 minute tapes through the camera. Including additional time with the camera on, waiting for the set on various shoots, or being on standby, so maybe I had this thing on for about 25-40 hours before the fuse blew, if that's what it was.

We'll see...

[Chris Hurd]

Just a wild hunch, but it might be related to the B&W EVF. Be sure to send it in with the camera. Just to cover your bases you should send the lens with it as well. If you coordinate with Chris at ZGC, I'm sure they can turn this around fairly quickly. Canon USA might even let you have a loaner in the interim (they won't offer, but if you ask for it, they'll probably come through). Keep us advised,

[Richard Alvarez]

Mark,

Your description of what happened was EXACTLY like what happened to me. I had run about 12 tapes through the camera. I put it in standby, moved to a different location, and when I went to turn it on... nothing.

I also shoot with the 16x manual, and the FU-1000. I sent in the body, and Canon diagnosed a problem with the lens mount. They said it wasn't covered, so I paid for a repair, and they sent the camera back. Less than an hour's use on the returned camera, the fuse blew again.

I sent the camera back. At this point, Bryan at Zotz went to bat, and I got a replacement camera.

So far, no more difficulties, but as I am tied up editing a documentary, I don't have more than an hour or two on the new cam.

[Mark Sasahara]

Thanks guys!

I just got off the phone with Canon, they haven't looked at it yet. I don't have anything scheduled, so I'm good, plus it's only a day for shipping, since I'm near NJ. They're short staffed, so if they don't get it today, they'll get to it tomorrow. Pray for me boys, pray for me.

I sent them the whole rig as I was using it, 16x manual lens, FU-1000, battery, plus I sent the charger and AC adapter.

Would a battery running at 8.3V pop the fuse? Fully charged batteries run at 8+ Volts.

[Richard Alvarez]

Mark,
As I live in California, I went through the west coast repair shop. In my talks with the top rep, he admitted that they didn't know why it was blowing. Perhaps the east coast reps will have more insight.

Best of luck to you,

Richard

[Mark Sasahara]

Thanks Richard. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Now I'm wondering if I'm going to have to rent a back up every time I go out. Sheesh.

[Bob Safay]

Hey guys, I remember reading someplace that if you try to change lens or viewfinder without powering down the camcorder it could blow the fuse. Also, it can happen if you try to connect it to a deck via firewire and the deck is turned on it can also pop a fuse. Same with a computer. If you connect it to a deck or to your camcorder make sure all equipment is turned off before connecting the firewire. Bob

[Chris Hurd]

The deal with the lens is that the contacts are crossed when you're in the process of mounting or removing one... so it's important that the camera is turned off during this procedure.

[Richard Alvarez]

All well and good. But none of that describes the problem I encountered.

THe camera was working - I was shooting a performance - I put the camera in standby - I moved to another location - The camera would not "power up". End of story

The second time the fuse blew, it was actually while I was reading this board. The camera had been "repaired" and sent back. There was a question about wether or not the battery indicator could be seen in the UV-1000 viewfinder. I powered up the camera, looked in the viewfinder, powerd it down. Answered the question on the board. Thought to make sure, went to power it up again... and nothing.

No lens changing, no viewfinder changin, no computer connections. Just massive power failure.

As I said, the Canon techs in California don't know why it blew.

[Mark Sasahara]

Thanks for the info, good to know. Shut it off before doing anything!

The weird thing is that it was on, but not recording. It was sitting on the tripod and my friend just touched it and it went down. I jokingly chided him about it.

I'm proud of myself for only being upset about it for about ten minutes while I tried to rescusitate it. Then I had to jump back to gaffing.

Canon has it now and they'll check her out.

[David Levine]

Has anyone had this happen who did not have the bw viewfinder attached?

[Richard Alvarez]

David,
An interesting question. Since there are a total of two of us who have had this happen, it would take a few more of these to draw any more concrete conclusions.