I was speaking to a local dealer here in Melbourne yesterday about this and they were told from Sony that it was only the 1st batch that had this problem. So far, none of the cameras they have received have been an issue. Hoping mine will be the same without the issue when it comes in soon.

My camera is due back later today from Sony for the lens adjustment correction. They received last Thursday, and shipped Monday.

Has anyone been able to find out exactly what's involved in the procedure?
I wonder if they have to revisit back focus after the lens adjustment?

Steven,

I'd say that back focus adjustment would be essential after you played with the lens alignment, but having done it myself it is a doddle.

Steve,
The tech I spoke to had some trouble explaining the procedure in detail, but
he did say that the camera was not taken apart. A cover was removed and the adjustment was made via software control. Not sure if that control was hidden in a tech menu or it was done with software outside the camera.
Have you sent your camera back yet? Mine went to Sony San Jose, CA and they let me talk directly to the tech who worked on it. There was a minor English gap where I could not get complete detailed info but they were very helpful and got to my camera quickly.

I may have posted this before. Go to Page 14 of the manual and on the diagram you'll see

Cover of the Lens Control Block (See "Note" below.)
and the note says:
The lens is properly adjusted at the factory. Do not touch the controls of the lens control block.

Brian - Did they say anything about the battery life?

Brent.... the tech said he was not aware of the battery problem but suggested that I call Sony Pro tech and report the issue. I tried but there is a recorded message stating they are close until after Jan 1st.

thanks Brian

Brian, how did it turn out? Are you happy with the results, is the vignette completely gone? Don't leave us hanging :)

I got a new EX1 today and I'm pleased to say that so far it seems a lot better than the last one. At this point I haven't tested for the problem in so much as shooting a wall etc, but I couldn't see solid black corners on the LCD which was quite easy to do with the first camera.

My hunch is that the problem still exists to a degree, although nowhere near as bad as before, I was seeing some darkening in the corners with OIS on, but not the cropped corner effect the last camera exhibited.

When I've had chance to review some footage I'll post more but so far it looks good! I'm really pleased to get my hands on another camera!

Paul.

Having just tested for the problem and capturing the footage I can confirm that my new camera is fine. There is a tiny amount of graduated darkening top right at 15mm, but I would never have noticed it had I not been trying to find a problem and I doubt I'll ever notice it again.

Very happy!

Paul.

Glad to here it Paul!

Yes Bill, camera is fine now. I ran some tests last night and its gone.

Has anyone else sent their camera back?
I know that there were a few others here that had the problem as well.

Slight vignette
 

Paul

I am curious how tiny the amount of graduated darkening you are seeing with your fixed camera. I just received my FEXEX slip so I can send my camera in.
The vignette problem on my out of the box EX sounds like your fixed model.

80% of my work is done shooting kitesurfing, surfing and other outdoor action sports. Quite often the upper 1/3 of my frame is clear blue skies which is how I noticed the vignette in the first place.

My concern is that even after re alignment my EX will still have the occasional vignette issue.

Thanks
Dasher

Hi Charles.

It's extremely difficult to spot, I managed to see it when I was hunting for it with IOS on, but I really cannot see any problem at all in normal use now. If you can see the effect on the LCD I'd suggest getting it looked at as Sony can make it better.

I've uploaded a small clip I just grabbed by pointing the camera at my screens, this would have definitely shown up the issue present in my last camera.

http://www.olikai.com/ex1/no-vignette.mov (6.6Mb)

regards

Paul.

hi Paul

I've just downloaded your clip, watched several times and i couldn't spoted any vignetting. Could you explain me what you see

Thanks

That's what I'm showing, you cant see any vignetting now. If the image / data is studied there is some very slight drop off in the top right corner, but under normal use it's not visible - job done!

regards

Paul.

Does anyone own an ex1 that DOESN'T show ANY hint of vignetting?

I received mine last week and have done two separate tests; one against white and one against a pure blue sky. Perfect in both cases.

Vince

Great!! Do you know if your camera was recalled or had any repairs done to it, or was it perfect directly from the factory?

Spencer, I'm willing to believe the new stock EX1 cameras should be fine.

So am I Steven...I just have no clue when the new-stock ones will be available. If I were to buy one in a few weeks, I'd imagine I would be getting one from the first batch.

You would think so.

I was told that mine was held up for additional QC. It was part of a batch of 28 cameras delivered to my dealer. Their second batch after an initial delivery of 5.

vince

Well,
It's definately better, but it's still there. The top image was before, the bottom is after adjustment upgrade. I just received my camera back from CA yesterday.

Granted these images are extremely different exposures. I believe the lower the exposure the more obvious the vignette. So, it's possible that it might not be as obvious if exposed the same way as in the before repair image.

I've seen and and heard from others who have said they now do not have the vignetting issue after the adjustment.
What do you think?

Sorry to hear that Steven. I would be inclined to ask for a replacement too, especially after sending it off to be fixed once.

I don't know if mine was fixed after production or not, I suspect it was fixed as the box had been opened and the camera showed 40 minutes of usage.

regards

paul.

Thanks Paul.
The odd thing is I sent the camera in the original box to Sony for the adjustment and they returned it in a different box. I must admit, the box they sent it back in is better than the original, but will not have room for all the accessories it came with.

This will make it interesting in sending it back for replacement. Hopefully Sony will work something out directly with me. I talked to the Sony tech repair facility in CA during my initial adjustment and they seemed very helpful.

Steven,
Did you send the SxS memory card (with a clip of the vignette on it) and the battery with your camera to the Sony Repair Service?

What do I think Steven? I think that you have cause for concern on a couple of fronts. The first being that quite possibly your camera has now been tampered with on some workshop bench, and as much as we all imagine the camera has been serviced by a young (good eyesight, steady hands), well experienced technician who has done many hundreds of these repairs, in all probability the bench is cluttered, the light and pay could be better and 'It's Christmas, so what am I doing here?'.

The second cause for concern is that once opened on a workshop bench in rather heavily polluted downtown Whereversville, the camera will more likely develop other faults further down the line, rather earlier than a factory produced and factory sealed product.

But are you (we) are all putting so much emphasis into this very minor technical failing? When will you ever film an evenly lit surface such as this, hold it for 10 seconds for the viewers to contemplate exposure variations and display it on a totally non-overscanned display?

My wideangle converter just vignettes the very corners ( maybe 4 pixels) of my Z1's frame, but so what? When I use that 17 mm equiv beast, I assure you the viewer will not be perusing the frame for vignetting.

It's long been said that you shouldn't buy a new car in the first 6 months of its production run, that is not unless you want to finish off the prototype testing for the company. Same with the EX1, good people. Take heed from the length of this thread.

tom.

Thanks Tom.
Some of my work will involve needing the entire image. It's not all broadcast. Also, I have seen the vignette in plenty of footage I shot. All it takes is for the corner to have a flat color surface.

Krikor,
I did not send a clip with a memory card. Also, Sony made it clear they understand the problem and know the fix. I believe them since others had their cameras adusted without a problem. My camera seems to be different and apparenty can not be fixed. I just wish they had sent a letter stating this. Now, I have to wait out the camera replacement.

No Vignetting in 2nd batch (UK)
 

I've just got my EX1,serial number 0400594,i can't see any vignetting on lcd,or pc screen or when rendered to dvd and played on tv.
I got it from a shop in south west UK and was told it was from the 2nd batch.I won't name the shop because i don't think it's a sponsor.I will say it was cheaper than anywhere else,they had a few EX's in stock,also big batteries,and plenty of 8gig cards.
Also.,no need to send off for 2nd 8gig card,it was taped to the side of the box,they said all their EX's came with 2nd card.
If anyone wants to know the name of the shop,email me on paulkellett1971@hotmail.co.uk
Paul.

More on my issue
 

I'm starting to think it's worse than it was before sending it in.
Here's a frame grab of my boring living room..LOL

1080 24P HQ
1/48th shutter.
Approx. 12mm focal length
fstop: 1.9 (open)


http://members.cox.net/proaudio4/EX1...f19_24P_48.tif

I can see the issue in many of my shots.
Again, it's there between 8-25mm focal length and does not disappear until you close down
the aperture to at least f4.

Just a random thought on this issue which also affects my camera.
The EX1 has a Safe Area overlay. Well that seems pretty irrelevant to me as almost all HD displays display all of the 1920x1080 frame. The one exception might be the HD CRT monitors. It's quite possible that the techs doing the work and checking the cameras aren't seeing the problem depending on the monitors they're using.
As to suggestions it doesn't matter I'm not so certain. Something in the corner of the frame that comes and goes across cuts or wobbles around thanks to the OIS might be very distracting. While we don't consciously see things in our peripheral vision we do react to them. If it was a static vignette that was always there it would perhaps be less of a problem.

Zoom Does Not Track in My Vignetting Camera
 

One of the important adjustments in a film camera is centering the lens within the film gate - lenses need to be recentered when changing from academy to super 35 shooting for example, as the whole image is shifted to the side .05"

A quick way to test for whether a lens is centered is to put a target on the wall (a piece of tape will do), put zoom lens on the camera and zoom in and out. The target should remain centered on the crosshairs throughout the zoom range.

I tried this on my (as yet) unrepaired vignetting EX1 and found that the zoom does not "track" while zooming. A centered target at full tele shifts down and slightly to the right when zoomed full wide.

Question to all - vignetting and non vignetting camera owners. Does your zoom track? Be sure to test this with OIS off. Use the center marker on LCD for greater precision.

I think this will give a clue as to whether your lens is adjusted properly and whether your camera will vignette.

Thanks.

Hmm.
I have not thought of this, I will try the test.
Also, I can only HOPE that Sony is using the SDI out when checking for this problem. This will offer them the full raster. I can't imagine they are not.
If they are relying on the LCD, you can not use this, it's to small to see the problem.

I sure got the impression they only used the LCD when I saw they turned OFF all display items for the LCD...

Just did vignetting test and zoom/track test
 

I just performed the vignetting test,seems mine is ok,i also performed the zoom and track test,that was also ok so maybe these two faults are linked.Has anyone else with known vignetting tried the zoom and track test ?
I was told by my retailer that my cam was from the 2nd batch.

I am sure that they are related - my lens is clearly not centered on the chip and I have the vignetting problem.

Also, there is a significant vertical error in the zoom test, and only a slight horizontal error. This is consistent with the vignetting that shows only at the top corners of the frame, and almost equally on both sides of the top.

When I zoom from tele to wide, the target (on the wall) drifts down and to the right. My vignette corners encroach on the image as if the offending circular blockage were offset in that same direction. Sounds like a predictable relationship, perhaps?

Anyone else still having the vignetting issue?

I'm still showing the problem after the adjustment.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?...&postcount=434