Sudden problem

[Alec Lence]

I purchased an XL2 a few months ago and since have shot only three-four scenes with it (have yet to fill a single DV tape).

This morning while capturing with the cam, I played through the footage just fine, rewound, played again and started to notice a mosaic pattern on the monitor and viewfinder - was more pronounced when progressing between cuts. I rewound to check it out and it got worse - so I played previously shot and captured material on that tape and it is having the same problem.

I have been roasting through these forums and the internet about this similar problem, but have yet to see it happen "all of a sudden" like this.

I have been using Panasonic tapes, no brand switching, the different shots were all with a variety of settings and previously worked, including just a few hours before capturing today. Bought and ran a head-cleaner, which didn't solve the problem.

I've read many solutions ranging from head cleaner, to fastforward to end of tape then rewind to beginning, to have my heads serviced/replaced, to locking myself up in a gulag and pounding rocks.

Any suggestions are much appreciated,
thanks

[Alec Lence]

Stuck a new tape in, set up three shots of various types, recorded all three, replayed, no problem. Very strange, I still don't know what happened to the other tape.

I replayed the entire weird tape. The stuff I shot a few weeks ago is fine, the mosaic pattern doesn't start showing up until the things I shot last week, and it only happens about 3/4 of the way through that section, and the stuff I did last night it completely wacked. Like I said, I played through all of this stuff once today, rewound, played again and it was fubared.

weird. again, all suggestions/criticisms welcomed - I am, afterall, only a film student :-)

[Michael Salzlechner]

Alec

when i got my XL2 first it was fine for the first shoot which was about 2 hours of shooting. I also shot some other minor stuff no problems.

Then we had a full day of ice skating to shoot and sure enough i ended up with some video dropout artifacts like you describe.

I posted here and it seems this happens with new XL2's and they need a cleaning. I cleaned mine and ever since have not had any problems.

[Alec Lence]

Thank you, that is a huge load off of my chest. I have a suspence project to shoot by mid-week and sending my camera to Irvine was really putting a monkey-icbm into those plans.

[Kevin Janisch]

I had similiar problems on a brand new XL2 with Panasonic MQ tapes for the first 2 weeks. I switched back to Fuji (used Fuji on my XL1s) and I haven't had a single problem since and its been 25+ tapes at least. Just my experience, not sure if it will help.

Kevin

[Jeff Miller]

I use Sony Premiums and my first XL2 tape had dropouts. Cleaned the heads and haven't had a problem since.

If "Clean heads before first use" isn't in the book, it should be :)

[Pete Bauer]

Not as clear and prominent as it should be, but it is in the manual. Page 32 at the top.

[Josh Dahlberg]

When you say "clean", I take it you simply mean run a head cleaning tape through the XL2 for ten seconds?

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Josh Dahlberg

When you say "clean", I take it you simply mean run a head cleaning tape through the XL2 for ten seconds?

That's correct Josh. Should be the first thing you do after putting a battery on the camera when you get it.

-gb-

[Mark Utley]

I had no idea. I got my Z1 two weeks ago and have shot about 5 hours of footage. I'll clean the heads tonight.

[Josh Dahlberg]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

That's correct Josh. Should be the first thing you do after putting a battery on the camera when you get it.

-gb-

Thanks Greg... especially good to know as I'm ordering a couple of new cams this week! It sounds counter-intuitive to "clean" a brand new camera, but I guess there must be a good reason.