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 #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.




Serial #403078

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

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



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).

what was the serial number david?

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.

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"

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.

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. The BBC insisted on sending the camera from the UK so I can't easily swap it out.

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

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.

I just got my EX1 back from San Jose with a request to remove a piece of crud from inside the lens (seen here):
http://www.vimeo.com/1007825
While it was there, I requested the firmware to be updated and that they fix the paint loss issue on the back plate by the roller/selector button. When it got back Friday, I checked the lens and the crud was STILL THERE. Unbelievable! According to the service ticket, they updated the firmware and performed a complete checkout of the camera. Since they were given the link to the video, they can't claim that they didn't see it or couldn't find it. AND, to top it all off, they broke/jammed the audio selector switch that controls the manual or auto level controls for the mics!!!

I'm hopping mad at this point especially since I had only owned the EX1 for two weeks when the lens crud issue appeared and the paint started to come off. I'm almost afraid to see WHAT they are going to do to the camera when I send it back for the jammed switch. I'm hoping to get another camera but I'm not sure when any sort of Lemon Law would kick in with a product like this.

I just got my EX1 back from San Jose with a request to remove a piece of crud from inside the lens (seen here):
http://www.vimeo.com/1007825
While it was there, I requested the firmware to be updated and that they fix the paint loss issue on the back plate by the roller/selector button. When it got back Friday, I checked the lens and the crud was STILL THERE. Unbelievable! According to the service ticket, they updated the firmware and performed a complete checkout of the camera. Since they were given the link to the video, they can't claim that they didn't see it or couldn't find it. AND, to top it all off, they broke/jammed the audio selector switch that controls the manual or auto level controls for the mics!!!

I'm hopping mad at this point especially since I had only owned the EX1 for two weeks when the lens crud issue appeared and the paint started to come off. I'm almost afraid to see WHAT they are going to do to the camera when I send it back for the jammed switch. I'm hoping to get another camera but I'm not sure when any sort of Lemon Law would kick in with a product like this.

Dave, When you say crud, do you mean small silver particles on the inside of the lens? I had this problem. I suspect it is actually flakes that have come off the sealant used to seal the front lens on. Which might explain why your camera had them again. They sealed the lens back up after cleaning and particles appeared again perhaps?

When I said "crud", I meant that big black chunk of foreign matter that is on the left side of the frame in the linked clip. I spoke with the manager of the Service Dept. yesterday and my EX1 is on its' way back to them tonight. If it was only a small piece of dust, I might not have a problem but this thing is really noticeable when you point the camera at the sky and stop the lens down. Then, to add insult to injury, they broke my Channel 1 audio circuit. I've also asked them to look at some fairly obvious CA color fringes too but I'm not very hopeful on that issue. By the time this thing gets back, it will have been in somebody else's hands longer than it's been in MY hands.