Wedding Video HORROR! at DVinfo.net

Yow Siang · October 14th, 2003, 02:02 AM

Just shot a video for a full wedding event last Saturday with my XM2.
When I came home and tried to rewind the tapes, a message says "eject tape" after about 5 seconds of rewinding, i put the tape back and the same thing occur, after the third time, i tried taki ng out the tape and to my horror my XM2, ate the tape and how long portion of the tape was crumpled up!.....

I used new tapes by panasonic....

any one had this expereince?????

ys

Frank Granovski · October 14th, 2003, 02:36 AM

No, I've never had this problem. I think your cam has a head problem which needs to be looked at (and fixed) by Canon, unless the Pana tape is substandard.

Chris Hurd · October 14th, 2003, 07:10 AM

You might be able to salvage the un-crumpled part of the tape, but don't put it back into the XM2 until it's been professionally serviced.

Yow Siang · October 14th, 2003, 07:34 AM

The most "saddening" thing is my camera has been to the service centre for the third time in less than a year, and everytime is due to head problem... and the warrenty is over soon, my fear is it may happen again after the warrenty period... and the repair will cost be a bomb.......

ys

Steven Salmon · October 14th, 2003, 08:06 AM

Ah man... I really feel for you. It's a nightmare situation for anybody filming one off events. I hope you can recover the important stuff. The only thing I can remember happening to me is when I was filming the signing of the register, I thought I was recording when I was not and visa versa for about five minutes. It was not until I got home I realised the mistake so I am very cautious now.

But problems with the camera sometimes cannot be identified during the filming process.

What do others do when filming weddings as far as checking that you have everything recording ok? I cannot really stop half way through to check because I then muck the timecode up? Thoughts?

Ta

Steven

Rob Easler · October 14th, 2003, 08:28 AM

I have also been getting all too frequent remove the cassette or eject messages on my GL2. I rewound the tape on my other cam and put it back into the GL2 and it was then fine. It could be that the cannon is too sensetive to tape tension issues. I am not really sure though.

Jason Casey · October 14th, 2003, 10:15 AM

The best way to make sure you get everyting is to shoot with a minimum of 2 cameras. It is more unlikely to have 2 cameras go bad at the same time, and if one does you always have footage from the second camera to fall back on.

Steven Salmon · October 14th, 2003, 12:47 PM

I recently did a wedding show here in Hampshire UK and we were one of two videography companies exhibiting. Although people did not mind paying extra for quality etc, they did mind about having two camera's following them around all day. They thought it would be like the BBC on their special day.

I see two arguments to the story and I see a benefit of having two camera's but I feel I can still produce good enough results using one camera. Although I do run around like a blue ass-fly all day. Maybe the argument is different across the other side of the pond.

Many thanks

Steve

Rob Easler · October 14th, 2003, 12:53 PM

Steven, the two camera's are really just for the ceremony.

Alex Dunn · October 14th, 2003, 02:08 PM

For the ceremony, I like to have a stationary camera at or behind the alter (hidden if possible), to get the faces and vows without a lot of movement. Then I man the second and get the opposite angle (out of the other cameras frame) of the couple coming back down the isle. You just can't time that with one camera. Plus you have the added benefit of having the complete vows in one take with the addition of crowd reaction shots to intercut. It looks good in the final cut.

Graham Bernard · October 14th, 2003, 03:22 PM

"Remove the Cassette". Twice now within 3 tapes. But it has now gone away . . hmmm .. I'm coming up to a year's worth with this cammie . .. maybe 100 miniDV tapes PLUS capture timings to through VEGAS. Okay some milage . . . this is worrying as I've got a shoot this Saturday . . . hmmm...

Grazie

Chris Mueller · October 14th, 2003, 04:00 PM

How do you fix a tape that has been "eaten" by the cam? Just last week, my hi-8 cam had an error and forced the tape out, and some of the tape was hanging out of the cam. Now I have reason to believe the tape has been twisted 180 degrees, and after winding it by "manually" rewinding the tape back into the cassette, I don't know how to fix it. Should I take it apart w/ a screwdriver?

Also, how do I fix my camera from having these problems? It's about 5 or so years old now and I don't remember if it has ever had a head cleaning.

Jason Casey · October 14th, 2003, 04:11 PM

The best way to fix it is to cut out the twisted pard and splice it back together. IF you put it through a camera the way it is now is a 50/50 chance that it will get caught again. Once you have it spliced, make a dub of it right away and use the dub to edit with.

IF there is a very long section of tape that you think is twisted then you will probably have to take it apart and unthread the tape to see if it is twisted, then rewind it again.

Don Palomaki · October 14th, 2003, 04:21 PM

Best NOT to run a splice over the heads, it could do major damage. MiniDV is not like the old 1/4" audio tape.

Jim Hill · October 15th, 2003, 02:14 AM

This has happened with my little Canon MV550i. After thoroughly searching for a reason I believe it to be a result of using different brands of tape. In my case, I was using Sony tapes exclusively and then I switched to TDK. The rewind issue started immediately. I thought it was the TDK tapes, so I went back to Sony and guess what, the rewind problem was still there.

There is a thread elsewhere on this forum about tapes. One contributer suggested that Sony tapes use a liquid lubricant and most other manufacturers use a dry lubricant. The poster suggests that when these two lubricants are mixed, a sludge forms on the heads which interferes with correct operation of the mechanism.

If this is the case, then the best recourse is to have the camera cleaned by Canon. The probability is that normal tape head cleaners won't do any good (I know the Panasonic one doesn't) since each manufacturer's cleaner is designed against their own tape.

Yow: I'd be very interested in hearing whether you used Sony tapes prior to the Panasonic ones.

October 14th, 2003, 02:02 AM	#1
Yow Siang Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 153	Wedding Video HORROR! Just shot a video for a full wedding event last Saturday with my XM2. When I came home and tried to rewind the tapes, a message says "eject tape" after about 5 seconds of rewinding, i put the tape back and the same thing occur, after the third time, i tried taki ng out the tape and to my horror my XM2, ate the tape and how long portion of the tape was crumpled up!..... I used new tapes by panasonic.... any one had this expereince????? ys

October 14th, 2003, 07:10 AM	#3
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	You might be able to salvage the un-crumpled part of the tape, but don't put it back into the XM2 until it's been professionally serviced. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

October 14th, 2003, 10:15 AM	#7
Jason Casey Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 93	The best way to make sure you get everyting is to shoot with a minimum of 2 cameras. It is more unlikely to have 2 cameras go bad at the same time, and if one does you always have footage from the second camera to fall back on. __________________ Jason Casey www.jcmediaservices.com www.kickbacktracks.com Royalty Free Video Production Loops!

October 14th, 2003, 04:11 PM	#13
Jason Casey Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 93	The best way to fix it is to cut out the twisted pard and splice it back together. IF you put it through a camera the way it is now is a 50/50 chance that it will get caught again. Once you have it spliced, make a dub of it right away and use the dub to edit with. IF there is a very long section of tape that you think is twisted then you will probably have to take it apart and unthread the tape to see if it is twisted, then rewind it again. __________________ Jason Casey www.jcmediaservices.com www.kickbacktracks.com Royalty Free Video Production Loops!

October 14th, 2003, 04:21 PM	#14
Don Palomaki Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,487	Best NOT to run a splice over the heads, it could do major damage. MiniDV is not like the old 1/4" audio tape. __________________ dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com

October 14th, 2003, 02:36 AM	#2
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	No, I've never had this problem. I think your cam has a head problem which needs to be looked at (and fixed) by Canon, unless the Pana tape is substandard.

October 14th, 2003, 07:34 AM	#4
Yow Siang Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 153	The most "saddening" thing is my camera has been to the service centre for the third time in less than a year, and everytime is due to head problem... and the warrenty is over soon, my fear is it may happen again after the warrenty period... and the repair will cost be a bomb....... ys

October 14th, 2003, 08:06 AM	#5
Steven Salmon Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Southampton, UK Posts: 47	Ah man... I really feel for you. It's a nightmare situation for anybody filming one off events. I hope you can recover the important stuff. The only thing I can remember happening to me is when I was filming the signing of the register, I thought I was recording when I was not and visa versa for about five minutes. It was not until I got home I realised the mistake so I am very cautious now. But problems with the camera sometimes cannot be identified during the filming process. What do others do when filming weddings as far as checking that you have everything recording ok? I cannot really stop half way through to check because I then muck the timecode up? Thoughts? Ta Steven

October 14th, 2003, 08:28 AM	#6
Rob Easler Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 219	I have also been getting all too frequent remove the cassette or eject messages on my GL2. I rewound the tape on my other cam and put it back into the GL2 and it was then fine. It could be that the cannon is too sensetive to tape tension issues. I am not really sure though.

October 14th, 2003, 12:47 PM	#8
Steven Salmon Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Southampton, UK Posts: 47	I recently did a wedding show here in Hampshire UK and we were one of two videography companies exhibiting. Although people did not mind paying extra for quality etc, they did mind about having two camera's following them around all day. They thought it would be like the BBC on their special day. I see two arguments to the story and I see a benefit of having two camera's but I feel I can still produce good enough results using one camera. Although I do run around like a blue ass-fly all day. Maybe the argument is different across the other side of the pond. Many thanks Steve

October 14th, 2003, 12:53 PM	#9
Rob Easler Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 219	Steven, the two camera's are really just for the ceremony.

October 14th, 2003, 02:08 PM	#10
Alex Dunn Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 202	For the ceremony, I like to have a stationary camera at or behind the alter (hidden if possible), to get the faces and vows without a lot of movement. Then I man the second and get the opposite angle (out of the other cameras frame) of the couple coming back down the isle. You just can't time that with one camera. Plus you have the added benefit of having the complete vows in one take with the addition of crowd reaction shots to intercut. It looks good in the final cut.

October 14th, 2003, 03:22 PM	#11
Graham Bernard Old Boot Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London UK Posts: 3,633	"Remove the Cassette". Twice now within 3 tapes. But it has now gone away . . hmmm .. I'm coming up to a year's worth with this cammie . .. maybe 100 miniDV tapes PLUS capture timings to through VEGAS. Okay some milage . . . this is worrying as I've got a shoot this Saturday . . . hmmm... Grazie

October 14th, 2003, 04:00 PM	#12
Chris Mueller Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 49	How do you fix a tape that has been "eaten" by the cam? Just last week, my hi-8 cam had an error and forced the tape out, and some of the tape was hanging out of the cam. Now I have reason to believe the tape has been twisted 180 degrees, and after winding it by "manually" rewinding the tape back into the cassette, I don't know how to fix it. Should I take it apart w/ a screwdriver? Also, how do I fix my camera from having these problems? It's about 5 or so years old now and I don't remember if it has ever had a head cleaning.

October 15th, 2003, 02:14 AM	#15
Jim Hill New Boot Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Paris Posts: 15	This has happened with my little Canon MV550i. After thoroughly searching for a reason I believe it to be a result of using different brands of tape. In my case, I was using Sony tapes exclusively and then I switched to TDK. The rewind issue started immediately. I thought it was the TDK tapes, so I went back to Sony and guess what, the rewind problem was still there. There is a thread elsewhere on this forum about tapes. One contributer suggested that Sony tapes use a liquid lubricant and most other manufacturers use a dry lubricant. The poster suggests that when these two lubricants are mixed, a sludge forms on the heads which interferes with correct operation of the mechanism. If this is the case, then the best recourse is to have the camera cleaned by Canon. The probability is that normal tape head cleaners won't do any good (I know the Panasonic one doesn't) since each manufacturer's cleaner is designed against their own tape. Yow: I'd be very interested in hearing whether you used Sony tapes prior to the Panasonic ones.