On-body power port on Z1?
 

Hello I am currently about 12 hours away from leaving to Shanghai to film for the Special Olympics Webcasting Project. Our team of videographers are all on different flights due to the holiday season here in China and the battery of the Z1 is in another person's bag. I've been searching for a power port on the body of the Z1 but so far have only found indication that FX1 has a DC IN port but the Z1 does not have one, in the same spot, that is. I need to do some checks on the camera as this particular one has been to the repair shop more than 5 times this year for not starting up. If anyone could point me into the obvious direction that I am missing to find the port on this camera? Thanks.

--Colin

the port exist on the Z1, but is covered.
Seems sony disabled it for some reason.
one could be an history about FX1 blowing fuse when powered like this.
best guess is not to fiddle with this hidden port, if it is hidden , there must be a good reason.

Okay, thanks for your help! I guess I'm going to have to push the luck onto my side tonight (I say tonight as it is around 7pm in my time zone).

Giroud is correct, there are some old threads here about fuses blowing on the FX1 - see the following:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=52628
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=44855
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=71373

Personally I wouldn't mess with the hidden power connector - in fact I have only run my Z1 on battery power since I bought it in 2005. But if it's really necessary, you can power the Z1 externally using a sort of "brick" shaped like the battery which has a cord that connects to the external charger. This should have been supplied with the accessories that came with your Z1.

Just curious. Where is that power port on the Z1.
I do not intend to use it.
Just to look at it.

Carlos

Carlos I can assure you it's really not very exciting to look at :)

Unscrew the screw beneath the P-menu button on the back of the camera and the little cover will come off.

I think i might have even successfully used it to power the camera a couple of times but in the light of this thread I won't try that again!

Thanks again everyone! We ended up sending the Z1 to post (where it broke down) and used a VERY old PD100 and the Canon XL1. The shoot went successful, and we have wrapped up the filming!

It's really there. Very exciting for me...

Anyway, when I'm in studio or capturing material, I always use the Adaptor/Charger AC-VQ850 that comes with the Z1.
And so far so good.


Any more "hidden" features on the Z1 ?

The links Boyd refered to seamed awfully similar to the problem we have with our Z1, used it adter our return and wouldnt power on just when I was about to eject tape...thankfully it miraculously turned on after fiddling with the power switch/on-off-on-off etc. After I got the tape out and turned it off it wouldn't power up again...

I think the story goes like never to charge the FX1 and plug in the Firewire at the same time.. something blows! As a result I only use either the charger alone or the battery... never both at the same time..