As for the parts and service, I think Panasonic is required by law to provide all of this for the next 10 years I think. Something like that.

DVC 80 reputable seller. EVS online may have a few left.. hope that helps

<<<-- Originally posted by Scott Plowman : DVC 80 reputable seller. EVS online may have a few left.. hope that helps -->>>

*evil grin*

Bought that last one from EVS a couple weeks ago!

LOL.. you made a good purchase sir.. sorry about your luck Tim.. Beware*** of non reputable dealers.. outside of B&H and EVS I wouldnt have the experience to give my approval to anyone else.. i can tell who not to call though,.. lol. But I wont... you can guess the names Im sure.. ; )

Why not try contacting Panasonic? A couple weeks ago I hammered them with questions as to why they cancelled the dvc80 and they told me they would sell me as many as I wanted in their reply back. It will be a bit more expensive than buying from B&H though.

I bought mine from buydig.com a few monthes ago. I had no problems with them, and I've heard the same from others. I have no idea if they have any left in stock though.

Tim.. and anyone else reading call Panasonic and ensure BuyDig or any other people you decide to business with is a Panasonic dealer for the pro series cam. Just some friendly advice. ; )

Wow! I think I had purchased one of the last 80's from B&H over the weekend as well. Try EVS or maybe even Panasonic directly. I am very happy with my dvc80. If I had a bit more dough, I would've loved to have the dvx100a. Good luck friend!

Arnold

Ag-dvc80 : Loose internal part?
 

Hello guys and gals,

Just wondering if anyone's noticed this with their dvc80? It seems that an internal component close to the lens section is loose. Now I haven't had any problem with the camcorder and I also read another reviewer that stated they also can hear this sound in their 80 as well. (In that review, they stated that Panasonic Tech support validated that this is normal).

Any feedback would be great! I'm hoping that this is the same with everyone else's across the board, otherwise, I'll be glad to have that extended Mack coverage.

Thanks in advance!

Arnold

Dvc80 and 2800mAh Battery life?
 

Hiyas again!

Can anyone enlighten me with the battery life of a 2800 mAh battery and a dvc80 (with and without the use of the viewscreen).

I've also been considering picking up a 3500. By the way, anybody out there try the 3500 sold on dvxuser.com? I read one happy customer in another thread here and would love to hear any other comments.

Thanks again!

Arnold

No defect. I think you'll notice that the soft "thunk" you hear disapears when the camera is powered. The DVX does the same thing (these cams share the same lens and body). I suspect it is some kind of gyro motor for the OIS but I won't claim to be correct, merely speculating, but they all do that.

Now if your cam is making this noise after power-up, well... I should add that I have only noticed this "thunk" when the cam is moved forward-to-back along the lens axis, other directions don't seem to affect it.

im using these as they came stocky with my MX as well as my DVX..

in general, with screen open in warm temp (aprox 30 degrees celius it will last a lil ove ran hour. maybe an hour and a half..

with screen closed your lookin gat about 2 to 2.5 maybe 3. hours.. intermittent power on/off and whether or not your using the lever to zoom or using the zoom ring..

in cooler temperatures, the battery lasts a lil longer..

Well, Jarret Towe is selling his slightly used DVC80 over in the classified forum: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=27270

Some people are jumping on it, so you may want to contact him soon. He was pretty gung-ho when he bought his DVC80 -- he even started a short-lived board dedicated to it, so you can at least be assured that he's not just some run of the mill scammer... And what more could you ask for in today's world :) Beyond that, I don't know the fellow, but you might want to check out that post.

Aside from that, I think it's a wonderful idea for people to contact Panasonic directly -- maybe a bunch of calls saying "I Want My DVC80" might make them realize that they should have kept the camera in production... From what I saw during the short time the camera was produced, it was making headway into both the professional and prosumer markets. Another year or two and we might've seen more productions using the DVC80 -- especially in TV news and reality programming, where producers might want a near-PD150-quality camera for the price of a VX2000. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part...

[as a side note, in the May 31 issue of TelevisionWeek, there's a picture of photojournalist Don North in Iraq with either a DVC80 or a DVX100 -- can't see the telltale LCD side of the camera... I'm hoping it was the DVC80... :) ]

The rough, rough rule of thumb for the DVX is, the milli-amp-hour rating is about the # of hours you'll get, if you add a decimal point.

So, a 2800mah battery lasts *about* 2.8 hours.

A 1600mah battery lasts roughly 1.6 hours.

The big battery, the 5400mah, again lasts *about* 5.4 hours.

Got my DVC 80, now what?
 

I think I was able to buy B&H's last copy of this camera. I just got it a couple of days ago. I shot some footage using all the automatic stuff and was very impressed with the image quality. It looked as good as broadcast to me.

It is a professional camera, however, and the documentation is a little spare. I can't figure out how to set the exposure manually, for example. Nor do I understand what most of the menu options mean. Does anyone know of any resources that would explain the why as well as the what of the options this camera gives me?