Crazy?

[Justine Haupt]

Am I crazy?

http://www.particleproducing.com/images/xl2inside.jpg

Maybe, but I did fix a loose firewire/remote port ;)

[Greg Boston]

Yeah, but did you get it back together in working order?

Just kidding. Even as a technician, I never ventured into the bowels of my XL2 cameras.

-gb-

[Chris Hurd]

Amazing, thanks for sharing that... if you have any other photos of this surgery, I'd love to see 'em.

[Mike Andrade]

I just looked over at mine and almost cried....Wow.

[Ian Stark]

And you used the candle for . . .?

[Bob Safay]

How did you ever find the testicular fortitude to do that? Whatever it was can I buy some? Please send more pictures. Oh, does it still work? Any left over parts? Bob

[Matthew Nayman]

You sir, are a braver man than I...

Hey, what the hell? I thought there was supposed to be a steel frame in there! I feel cheated ;)

Doesn't look like I expected (then again, I was picturing tiny gnomes shutteling pixels back and forth on very fast converyor belts).

Matt

[Matthew Nayman]

Also...


I think you just voided the warrenty.

[Richard Alvarez]

I suspect he's had it past the warranty, and that was the reason he did what he did.

[Grant Sherman]

That table-cloth is clearly the sign of a deranged mind ;-)

[Mike Teutsch]

The table cloth doesn't bother me, nor do the screw drivers, but the scissors scare me to death! :)

Mike

[Justine Haupt]

Ha... interesting responses.

To answer questions:

Yes, it still works,

No, there's no left over parts,

No, it's no longer under warrenty,

and, the candle/scissors were there by coincidence along with a hex driver I was using for an old hard drive sitting next to it (looking for screws). I was considering throwing some old rusty wrenches and a saw into the mix to make the pic more interesting, but decided against it ;)

I took a couple other pics at different angles, but nothing really close up (I guess I should have, in hindsight). I'll post those.

Two very tiny screws had held the firewire/remote port in place and broke. Luckily, the screws on an old JVC cam I had that doesn't work anymore were exactly the right ones and went right in.

I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't pretty sure I could fix it. It only made sense that the firewire board was a small separate unit, attached to the rest by ribbon cable, so I wasn't expecting to have to solder anything (like broken contacts).

I also considered posting on this board to see if anyone had any experience doing this before going ahead on my own, but decided I'd probably have gotten to many "No! Don't do it! Are you an idiot??" type responses.

http://www.particleproducing.com/images/XL2inside2.jpg
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/XL2inside3.jpg

[Alan James]

So this is something I’ve always wondered. Where is the shutter on the XL2? Is it in the lens or in the body? It would seem kind of strange if it was in the lens, but I guess cause it has 3 chips it might be necessary to put it there to obstruct the white light before it is broken up into seperate wavelengths.

[Mike Teutsch]

Good job Justin!

I have been taking things apart since I was a little boy, and I too have no fear digging into things. I sometimes even dig into things under warranty, just to save time and trouble.

When I have something that I know is totally dead and usless, I often take it apart to see how it is made and save small parts, switches and screws for future use. Hey, remember my motorized dolly mover? It was made from salvage parts from old items!

Have fun, but don't attempt this at home kids!

Mike

[Nate Weaver]

Originally Posted by Alan James

So this is something I’ve always wondered. Where is the shutter on the XL2?

Shutter in many video cameras is not a physical thing. It's the manner/speed in which the CCDs are read out to the controller chip.