Well... it's now November and I just bought the 521PRO... it still doesn't work with the V1U. So now what? Return it, or is this firmware fix actually available now? Can't call Bogen just yet (Sunday) so I figured I'd ask here.

The problem with the V1 and the Manfrotto controllers is more complicated that previously thought. BOTH are not fully LANC protocol compliant; the V1E can be upgraded with a new firmware taking care of its problems with even Sony's own controller, the RM-1BP. On the other hand, Manfrotto have developed a fix as well; how it's being handled outside Europe I really don't know, though.

For anyone else in this situation, I just contacted Bogen and was told that, yes, an update is available for the 521PRO and the V1U. They asked me to send the 521PRO back to them, and they would send me a new one at no cost. Sounds like a winner to me!

Mine got repaired but I'm invited to pay for it
 

Hello all!

I have a 521 and it had the same sympthoms described above with my Sony FX7. I've came across this forum and contacted my national distributor (Dulcifoto in Portugal). They asked me to deliver the item in the shop so they could send to Manfrotto in Poland where it would be repaired.

They phoned my last week to pick it up and to pay for 55€ due to intervention and shipping. Does this make any sense?

I bought my Manfrotto 521 June this year and it never worked allright with my camera. They claim that the unit was upgraded. From my point of view an upgrade puts the item doing something new. It was a revision to put it to work as it was supposed to. I've sent several mails to Manfrotto and no one ever answers.

Who can I mail?
Does it make any sense to pay to fix something that was supposed to work but didnt?
Thanks for all your help.

Regards,
Nelson

Sounds like a winner for me too!

Finally I could get my item back at no costs! It is a pitty I had to send emails to distributors across Europe to solve my problem.

I haven't tested it yet because camera is running a short somewhere else.
I'll update later.

Regards,
Nelson