Fine Sand or dust granuales at DVinfo.net

Den Williams · February 14th, 2007, 07:27 AM

I thought I would post my experience as it might help others.

I have just been on a trip to kenya filming a kitesurfing event, the sand there was really fine and quite windy in the afternons. I did alot of filming with my XM2 but to my dismay half way through I discovered sand granuales on the screen when looking closely through the view finder, I cleaned the lens and looked very finely at the front end, I had a wide angle lens on but could not see anything! I took the wide angle lens off and still could not see anything! so I figured sand must of got inside the sealed unit somehow and was on the inside iris or sensor! luckily I had a backup camera to use and put the xm2 away for the rest of the trip.
when I got back to the UK I phoned up the service center and they basically said, if you get sand inside the unit your camera it is now useless, for the cost of them to repair it you might as well buy a new one! but I could take it to them and pay £50 to see if they could do anything.
Now I was feeling a bit miffed at this, my first XM2 was stolen from my car and this new one which I had to fight hand and tooth with my insurance company for had around 3 hours use from new!
So I took another inspection at the xm2 and under closer inspection found that the sand was in fact inside the view finder, when you tilt the view finder into the upright position there is a small hatch you can open up and blow out any dust inside! I am now a happy chappy again but a bit miffed that I did not know this before hand and so missed out on using the XM2 while away.
But I could imagine maybe a not so moral service center charging quite a bit for a 10 second job, if there was any out there.

Graham Bernard · February 15th, 2007, 09:30 AM

Eh? So your footage would NOT have had it? You could have checked your footage in Kenya, and been relaxed.

Always check the OUTPUT.

Oh yes the "Escape Hatch" in the Eyepiece! So easy to loose - eh?

I had the obverse of this. A WHITE Pixel at about "8 o' Clock". Didn't see it UNTIL the footage. Once seen I could then replicate this on an external monitor, see it under certain conditions in both EP and LCD.

So, always check out output! After all, that IS the most important place?

February 14th, 2007, 07:27 AM	#1
Den Williams Tourist Join Date: May 2006 Location: u.k Posts: 2	Fine Sand or dust granuales I thought I would post my experience as it might help others. I have just been on a trip to kenya filming a kitesurfing event, the sand there was really fine and quite windy in the afternons. I did alot of filming with my XM2 but to my dismay half way through I discovered sand granuales on the screen when looking closely through the view finder, I cleaned the lens and looked very finely at the front end, I had a wide angle lens on but could not see anything! I took the wide angle lens off and still could not see anything! so I figured sand must of got inside the sealed unit somehow and was on the inside iris or sensor! luckily I had a backup camera to use and put the xm2 away for the rest of the trip. when I got back to the UK I phoned up the service center and they basically said, if you get sand inside the unit your camera it is now useless, for the cost of them to repair it you might as well buy a new one! but I could take it to them and pay £50 to see if they could do anything. Now I was feeling a bit miffed at this, my first XM2 was stolen from my car and this new one which I had to fight hand and tooth with my insurance company for had around 3 hours use from new! So I took another inspection at the xm2 and under closer inspection found that the sand was in fact inside the view finder, when you tilt the view finder into the upright position there is a small hatch you can open up and blow out any dust inside! I am now a happy chappy again but a bit miffed that I did not know this before hand and so missed out on using the XM2 while away. But I could imagine maybe a not so moral service center charging quite a bit for a 10 second job, if there was any out there.

February 15th, 2007, 09:30 AM	#2
Graham Bernard Old Boot Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London UK Posts: 3,633	Eh? So your footage would NOT have had it? You could have checked your footage in Kenya, and been relaxed. Always check the OUTPUT. Oh yes the "Escape Hatch" in the Eyepiece! So easy to loose - eh? I had the obverse of this. A WHITE Pixel at about "8 o' Clock". Didn't see it UNTIL the footage. Once seen I could then replicate this on an external monitor, see it under certain conditions in both EP and LCD. So, always check out output! After all, that IS the most important place?