Ultimate EX1 bug
 

I got a EX1 yesterday and immediately took it out in the woods to film some sequences for a bear story we are shooting for the BBC in the woods of Minnesota. I had been following the chat room stories about early software bugs etc, and making sure our camera would be problem free. Had a good start but kept seeing an insect move across the image. First I thought it was something on the front of the lens, but couldn't see it when I looked. Then I thought it must be a fly buzzing around in front of the lens. Couldn't see that either. I kept on filming but would would see the black insect move across the picture again and again. I ended up peering into the lens and eventually saw a bug walk across the inside of the lens, probably about three elements back into the lens. I had to laugh having gone through the process of making sure there were no software bugs and got a real one instead. The BBC insisted on sending the camera from the UK so I can't easily swap it out. Guess I will have to put in the freezer, a bag of moth balls, or something to kill the bug? I then want to send it off to a bug expert to see if it crawled in here, is an English bug from the rental house or one that came all the way from Japan. Will keep you posted.

what was the serial number david?

Serial number
 

Serial #403078

the 3 thousands, probably made in january
since the lens is sealed into the camera, not sure when the bug got in, but it should be an easy exchange for you, either form the california or new jersey location.

Paul, are you saying that New Jersey (Teaneck?) is now handling service issues in addition to San Jose, California? Do you know this from Sony? When I asked a while back they told me San Jose ONLY (in USA).

Craig:
My camera went to Teaneck, NJ for a dead LCD & EVF replacement.
I suppose that could be confirmation

Did they give you a new insect?

Great news for those of us in the north east USA. Given the cost and time it takes to ship to San Jose, it's much easier for me to drive to NJ for drop off and pick (should such emergency arise). That could mean getting a camera back several days sooner . . . and days means getting back to earning income with it sooner.

It might help everyone here if Sony posted updated list of service centers for the camera or if any others found that Sony has added new service sites.

craig,
when i had the stuck pixels issue, my first discussion with my pro rep was to get a new unit. they spoke with the new jersey location and said that any replacement would be through them, for a new unit.
they also walked me through some internal functions that fixed the problem, so a replacement need not be placed.

paul

love that question! it's like "ah! yes, the 3000s had a real problem with bug infestation, that 4000s were fitted with zappers to combat that problem"

Yes Phil. There's was that standing puddle of water in which all those mosquitos hatched at the same time during a specific production run.

In fact as the season goes on you'll be able to equate the serial number to the type of bug and its point in development.

You see they got the mosquitos but not the fruit flies. The series with the Japanese beetles creates very nice reflections off the shell but there's no control over it.

All this will be equated to the serial number.

Thought that was "bokeh". Now it's bug-keh?

Yes but the camera is probably bug-keh-rd.

I have a friend that put a DSR570 down in some grass. Next time he switched it on it went pop. When it went in to be repaired it was found to be full of ants that had shorted some of the power supply parts.

Oh man, this is just too funny. A bug in the lense!? LOL!

I hope you get a new unit quickly so you don't lose too much time with your BBC spot.

David.
Interesting news.
Slightly off topic,
I thought that the BBC had vetted the EX1 and found it unsuitable for their HD use? Or would this be for SD only? Something about 35mBs VBR being insufficient bandwidth for them after encoding? (reel-TV reported this last week, I believe.)

Could you enlighten us?

Thanks!
Cheers
Chris

BBC use
 

You are right about the EX1 not being accepted as full HD by the BBC. We are allowed to have 5% of our film shot on this camera and not have more that 40 seconds of footage in one go. Most of the film is being shot with a Panasonic HDX900 (1080 25p). Normally we would not use this camera but have a need for a small portable unit to backpack into more remote locations.

Apart from the intruder, the camera is performing well. I pulled it out again today and did not see the little critter. May be the zoom squashed him. Trouble is that would leave a pile of crunched up bug parts floating around in the lens. Glad this is a rental and hopefully we can get it exchanged.