I have had this camera for about 3 days and put it under no stress at all and already my flip out door seems to have a problem. It doesn't feel right and won't latch completely, though it is completely functional.

I was planning to use this with my hoodman loupe, but haven't even had a chance yet.

With the scarcity of cameras I'm very reluctant to send it out for repair already since it does work.

I heard it was a flimsy design, but really.

Lenny Levy

Leonard, I am very curious to hear reports about use of the Hoodman loupe. Doug Jensen, frequent poster and long time cameraman is not a fan of it. One or two others have said it is OK. My big concern is the ability of the LCD hinge to withstand the lateral torque that will inevitably come into play when using the Hoodman loupe, over time.

We all know the LCD screen is positioned too far back on the camera to be optimally placed as an EVF.

I presume you are talking about the Hoodman EX PRO KIT as shown here...

EX KIT PRO-Hoodman Corporation (http://www.hoodmanusa.com/products.asp?dept=1065)

-Andrew

First of all I am a huge fan of the Hoodman Loupe and I use it both on my EX-1 and my T2i.

It is the EDX kit you mentioned.

Second , it is not the the hoodman that seems to have hurt my door I tried it once a few days ago and then put it away.

I did nothing to my door other then opem and close it while testing the camera in my living room.

I misunderstood your door problem. I thought you were talking about the door for the SxS card slots which has received numerous derisive comments since it was previewed back in the fall. So if I understand you correctly, the latch for the LCD screen isn't catching the edge of the screen when you fold it shut. If so, it sounds like the closing mechanism is broken or a spring inside has come unhooked.

If it is something as simple as that, if it were me, I would take it to the Sony service depot. I have one fairly close by so it's not that big of a deal. When I've had small camera maintenance stuff to be done, they would take the camera, I'd do some errands and come back to pick it up the same day.

Hopefully yours is relatively close to where you live.

I believe mine is in LA and i'm in San Francisco.
I'll call them tomorrow.

Leonard, I am very curious to hear reports about use of the Hoodman loupe. Doug Jensen, frequent poster and long time cameraman is not a fan of it.

-Andrew

Just to clarify, I do like the Hoodman Loupe when used on my EX1, but is is useless on the F3.

Doug ,

Do you mean its useless because the door hinge won't support it or because you can't get your head in that position when you're handheld or what.

Visually it seemed to work fine to me and the way I do handheld with a monopod instead of a shoulder brace it seemed just fine as well. I'm just quite disturbed by the door hinge.

Think there is any possibility Sony would actually recall and replace these hinges? Didn't someone else on this forum already have to send his camera back for the same problem.

Do you mean its useless because the door hinge won't support it or because you can't get your head in that position when you're handheld or what.

Both reasons. And my head won't fit in that position on a tripod, either.