Okay, trying not to freak out... I just bought the Image 2000 matte box (Barry Braverman's article "The Curse of DV Revisted" convinced me my interior interviews with two elderly female doctors would benefit from the Gold Diffusion FX 1/2) but after putting it on my DVX, and looking at the camera straight on to make sure I had it screwed on correctly, etc. my lense looks crooked to me. I'm wondering if I somehow dislodged it so what was a "straight" rectangle is now a bit tilted, or if my camera came that way and I just never noticed. Maybe I just always assumed the tripod wasn't level when I looked through the lense.

If I did screw it up, I can't feel any "give" to straighten it back again. I showed it to my husband who said, "if it is off, it's only a little." Maybe I'm just obsessing here, but I spent a lot of money on this little cam, and I hate to think I've damaged it in some way. :-( Any thoughts?
Marcia

Marcia:

First, your camera. My "rectangle" around the lens elements appears to be square/straight. I'm pretty sure the cam is not messed up but I would call Panasonic just to check. Perhaps that element is adjustable for some reason (there are two small screws in there).

Per filters, I'll start another thread to address this debate...

Stephen, just a follow-up. According to Panasonic my only option is to send it in for repair. The guy I spoke with figured it came that way and I hadn't noticed, which makes me think I just shouldn't care if I didn't notice until now. It isn't THAT far off, and it always seems like when things go in for repair, they come back with something else wrong. So maybe I'll just compensate like I've obviously been doing all along. Thanks for your feedback, though. Much appreciated, as always.

If your threads are screwed-up, send it to Pana for repair. If it comes back with something else screwed-up, send it in again. If it comes back with yet another problem, get a refund. If they don't want to give a refund (can't collect it), take them to small claims court. When you win, and Pana doesn't want to pay, put a lean on the company. :)

send it in, you paid too much for the camera to have something wrong like that with it. And Frank's right if they screw something up send it back in.

mine is crooked too, but it doesnt bother me too much

Well, if I bought a new car with a crooked bumber, I'd take that back too.

Take it back to the people you purchased it from and do a swap for a new one. If that doesn't work, send it back to Panasonic.