Hey there. I have managed to lose the manual for my camera (PDW 700) and have a possibly dumb question. When shooting, I often notice an orange circular light with a enclosed question mark, in the bottom left side of the viewfinder. What does this indicator light mean and how do I make it go away? Sorry for the dumb question but I am very new to this camera and my previous camera, a DV-400 did not have this indicator light. Thanks in advance for your help.

Is it an exclamation mark or a question mark?

If it is the former it just means you have something set to a non standard/default setting, such as having the shutter turned on. You can go into the menus and tell it when you show the indicator.

any of the following will cause it

Not a fan of that warning light! Always scares me but without telling me why!

Mike,

Next to the menu switch there is another silver toggle switch called "Cancel/Preset/Escape". Flick that up and the camera's status pages will be shown on the viewfinder. There are four status pages and you can cycle through them by flicking the switch multiple times.

One of the pages is called "ABNORMAL STATUS". Any line shown on that page that begins with a "!" is the reason the warning light is being shown in your viewfinder.

Here is the Sony PDW-700 Manual (http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/xdcam/manuals/PDW-700_V1-2_Operation_Manual_E_.pdf). Click save and print off another copy every-time you lose it!

One of the pages is called "ABNORMAL STATUS". Any line shown on that page that begins with a "!" is the reason the warning light is being shown in your viewfinder.

Thanks Doug! Great tip. I only rent the camera so haven't mastered it as much as the cameras I own.

Don't feel too bad. I've spoken to F800/700 OWNERS who don't know about the status pages.