My V1 is screwed up....CAUTION... and where to repair?
 

While shooting this morning, I pointed by V1 at a flag that was waving and the sun was backlighting it. It was VERY, VERY bright, so I upped the shutter speed and got the effect I was looking for. When the flag waved just right, the sun would shine directly into the lens. Ever since, the iris is no longer working!!! It will in auto mode but when I switch to manual, the wheel has NO EFFECT on the iris. Also it seems like there is an ND filter "stuck" or the shutter isn't down to what it is showing me because even outside it needs to be wide open to even come close to producing a properly exposed image.

I've tried reseting (using a toothpick and pressing the reset button). Sometimes when it comes back up, there are some weird black lines and purple squares over the image! Ughh.

I can't believe just shooting at the sun would do this, but a word of caution, it could screw up your cam. Maybe it has something to do with CMOS sensors?

Anyway, where is a good SONY service center to ship it to? I've NEVER, and I mean NEVER had a problem with any of my SONY cams before. (PD-150, PDX-10,FX1) so I have no idea where to send it in.

Sony Service Center
Sony Electronics
123 W. Tryon Ave.
Teaneck, New Jersey 07666
(201) 833-5300

Call and they will fax you a repair form. I sent my V1U there two weeks ago for what I thought was a back focus error and it turned out to be an issue of operator error. I got it back yesterday.

Here's the thread FYI

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=96108

Thanks Lee. I have contacted them and they have just faxed me the form.
Luckily the camera has a 1 year parts and labor warranty.

I still can't believe this was caused by pointing the camera at the sun, but who knows? It was early morning light with NO CLOUDS, so it was an extremely intense bright sun. Anyone ever shoot into the sun before? I've been shooting for close to 20 years, and in the old tube days it was a no-no, but I've been very succesful using my other cameras shooting this type of shot before.

Paul,
Perhaps the iris failure is just a coincidence and not due to high exposure. Anyway good luck with the repair.

Lee,

Yeah, I've been thinking that too. It just seems like a weird coincidence that the very next shot I went to take, the iris was no longer working. I do think I had powered down the unit in between the two, so maybe turning it back on had more to do with it then shooting into the sun.

Geez, I hope it's not any indication of build quality of this cam. I only have about 125 hours on it. My PD-150 is closer to 4000 and still going strong!

If anyone feels brave and wants to shoot into the sun like this and report their findings, it would put my mind to rest, I was at full telephoto, Shutter at 4000 BTW. Of course, only if you feel brave, if it screws up your camera, I take no responsibility!

Wow, 4000 hrs! Sorry to be OT, but have you had the heads changed on the pd150 or are the heads still going strong?

Is that 4000 head hours or 4000 hours with the power on?

With the ME tapes heads seem to last forever, local Sony repair centre says they've had VCRs still running perfectly with 6,000 hours on the heads. The drum bearings seem to wear out before the heads go.
MP is an entirely different matter.

FWIW, I shoot into the sun (no filter other than UV) on a very regular basis with my V1. Here is a shot from a couple of hours ago. In this shot, we're at approximately 4K, I'm pointing straight at the sun as you can see. No problems so far, and I've got at least 100 hours of this sort of shot.

Spot,

That is reassuring. I couldn't believe it had much to do with what I had just shot but with the new CMOS sensors, I wasn't sure. My shot was much more zoomed in on the sun then what you show, still I think it's something else.

My PD-150 has 4000 operation hours. Sorry, made me curious so I had to check! The drum time is closer to 2000. Never had the changed! That camera has been a real champ to me!