Vignette problem

Carroll Lam · December 19th, 2007, 06:49 PM

I too wish to thank you Mr. Martinez for providing a Sony response here on the forum. I am one of the early adopters whose camera exhibits the vignetting.

The Sony tech support staff has been very responsive to our calls to them regarding this problem. Kudos to them also.

Carroll Lam

Christopher Barry · December 19th, 2007, 09:04 PM

Is this a physical or firmware adjustment?

Bob Grant · December 19th, 2007, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christopher Barry

Is this a physical or firmware adjustment?

Given that Sony Au are waiting for a jig I'd hazard a guess it's physical.

Chris Hurd · December 19th, 2007, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juan Martinez

Hello, I am Juan Martinez, a Senior Manager of Sony Electronics.

For those who are not aware, Mr. Martinez is Senior Manager of Technology at Sony Electronics.

Many thanks Juan for posting here -- your presence on this site is greatly appreciated!

Christopher Barry · December 19th, 2007, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Grant

Given that Sony Au are waiting for a jig I'd hazard a guess it's physical.

If that is the case, I do not want to take delivery of my cams sitting at the dealer. I'd prefer to wait for a properly QC batch.

Edit: I am now said to be getting some EX1's that will have been checked by Sony Australia, perhaps another batch/build, swapping out the EX1 units being held for me by my dealer. They shoud be available by the 1st week of January 2008. Looking like a good result.

Spencer Dickson · December 20th, 2007, 05:36 AM

I wonder how many were manufactured in the first batch? I want to get a second wave camera...not a repaired one. Perhaps someone would know how Sony goes about the assembly process and how long it will take for them to be shipping newly built units.

Christopher Witz · December 20th, 2007, 08:00 AM

I received a call back from Sony... they are shipping me a shipping label and having me ship the camera for the adjustment.

Said it would be a 5 day turnaround.

I mentioned that I'm in the middle of a project where the camera is needed and they said " anytime you like... we will honor the fix as long as it's needed ) I'll have to wait till after the holidays to ship mine.

They also said that the 2nd card will most likely ship sooner than 8-10 weeks.

They thanked me for my patience and said that Sony really wants to make things right for us early adopters.

Bob Berg · December 21st, 2007, 09:31 AM

I, too, got my return paperwork yesterday, but I'm waiting until next week to ship...almost no point in doing so before then with Christmas...and I can't stand the thought of the new beast tumbling down the conveyor belts at FedEx in the last-minute waves of holiday boxes. (I made a film for UPS once about the impact on sorting hubs of late train arrivals...it was VERY eye-opening). It might also be a good idea to give Sony a week or two to get good at doing the fix.

We checked 3 other cameras below S/N 100500 at my dealer yesterday. Our camera and the other 3 (or 4 cameras from the batch of 5 they first received) all exhibited the vignette; one on the top right/bottom right, another two on the top left/bottom left, and the last one on the top left/top right.

The Sony Pro group folks have said there is a mechanical re-alignment and a software update as part of this fix.

Craig Seeman · December 21st, 2007, 09:45 AM

I picked my camera on Wednesday 12/19. Serial number 100808. So far so good. I wasn't testing under idea conditions though but if I have to look that hard . . .

Steven Thomas · December 21st, 2007, 09:49 AM

Craig, did you look at the actual captured footage on your computer?

Also, if you have an SDI monitor, you can see the full raster overscan and all.

Craig Seeman · December 21st, 2007, 10:00 AM

Test1 is kitchen cabinet. Not quite flat white but you can see the corners look good.

Test2 is my green screen. You can see vignetting but not of the "corner crop" variety others show. There does seem to be a bit more on the right but the picture wasn't flat lit.

Craig Seeman · December 21st, 2007, 10:16 AM

I checked the above in Final Cut Pro. I then opened the shots in Quicktime Full frame size on my 23" Apple Cinema Display and did the screen grab. Don't have an HD video monitor yet.

Steven Thomas · December 21st, 2007, 10:24 AM

Craig, I take you slowly zoomed through full wide to tele when looking for the vignetting. I'm sure you heard it's been seen with wide open aperture and focal length between 8 to 25mm
If this is your worst case, it looks good to me.
Picture 2, what was the focal length and aperture set at?

Paul Kellett · December 21st, 2007, 10:30 AM

It appears that the serial number from each individual cam appears along with the number from each clip.Cam numberxxx 808,clip number 808 xxx

Craig Seeman · December 21st, 2007, 10:49 AM

F1.9, 8mm. Camera mounted on tripod and hand zoomed through so I could stop at various points with some precision.

Green screen shot was just lit with a china ball we had on the ceiling so I know it's not evenly lit.

I'm going to do more testing though but like I say if it's this hard to find. . .
In November I had checked with the first camera they got in (and they're one of the few [two] Sony authorized service centers so apparently on Sony's word they can fix themselves). That camera had the issue plan as day and looked as bad as some of the worst examples posted here. So I've had another camera I've checked this on. I'm not seeing anything like that on this camera.

A mildly tangential tidbit. If you look on page 15 of the manual where all the parts are identified there's a line that's unnumbered. It says "Cover of the lens control block (See "Note" below.) The note says, "The lens is properly adjusted at the factory. Do not touch the controls of the lens control block." Just a wild speculative hunch but that may be where the tweak is that Sony's doing to fix the issue. Just a "fun" speculation.

December 21st, 2007, 09:31 AM	#383
Bob Berg New Boot Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 14	Paperwork and camera testing... I, too, got my return paperwork yesterday, but I'm waiting until next week to ship...almost no point in doing so before then with Christmas...and I can't stand the thought of the new beast tumbling down the conveyor belts at FedEx in the last-minute waves of holiday boxes. (I made a film for UPS once about the impact on sorting hubs of late train arrivals...it was VERY eye-opening). It might also be a good idea to give Sony a week or two to get good at doing the fix. We checked 3 other cameras below S/N 100500 at my dealer yesterday. Our camera and the other 3 (or 4 cameras from the batch of 5 they first received) all exhibited the vignette; one on the top right/bottom right, another two on the top left/bottom left, and the last one on the top left/top right. The Sony Pro group folks have said there is a mechanical re-alignment and a software update as part of this fix.

December 21st, 2007, 10:00 AM	#386
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	Test1 is kitchen cabinet. Not quite flat white but you can see the corners look good. Test2 is my green screen. You can see vignetting but not of the "corner crop" variety others show. There does seem to be a bit more on the right but the picture wasn't flat lit. Attached Thumbnails

December 19th, 2007, 06:49 PM	#376
Carroll Lam Contributor Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 128	I too wish to thank you Mr. Martinez for providing a Sony response here on the forum. I am one of the early adopters whose camera exhibits the vignetting. The Sony tech support staff has been very responsive to our calls to them regarding this problem. Kudos to them also. Carroll Lam

December 19th, 2007, 09:04 PM	#377
Christopher Barry Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 107	Is this a physical or firmware adjustment?

December 20th, 2007, 05:36 AM	#381
Spencer Dickson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 141	I wonder how many were manufactured in the first batch? I want to get a second wave camera...not a repaired one. Perhaps someone would know how Sony goes about the assembly process and how long it will take for them to be shipping newly built units.

December 20th, 2007, 08:00 AM	#382
Christopher Witz Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 591	I received a call back from Sony... they are shipping me a shipping label and having me ship the camera for the adjustment. Said it would be a 5 day turnaround. I mentioned that I'm in the middle of a project where the camera is needed and they said " anytime you like... we will honor the fix as long as it's needed ) I'll have to wait till after the holidays to ship mine. They also said that the 2nd card will most likely ship sooner than 8-10 weeks. They thanked me for my patience and said that Sony really wants to make things right for us early adopters.

December 21st, 2007, 09:45 AM	#384
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	I picked my camera on Wednesday 12/19. Serial number 100808. So far so good. I wasn't testing under idea conditions though but if I have to look that hard . . .

December 21st, 2007, 09:49 AM	#385
Steven Thomas Trustee Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gilbert, AZ Posts: 1,896	Craig, did you look at the actual captured footage on your computer? Also, if you have an SDI monitor, you can see the full raster overscan and all.

December 21st, 2007, 10:16 AM	#387
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	I checked the above in Final Cut Pro. I then opened the shots in Quicktime Full frame size on my 23" Apple Cinema Display and did the screen grab. Don't have an HD video monitor yet.

December 21st, 2007, 10:24 AM	#388
Steven Thomas Trustee Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gilbert, AZ Posts: 1,896	Craig, I take you slowly zoomed through full wide to tele when looking for the vignetting. I'm sure you heard it's been seen with wide open aperture and focal length between 8 to 25mm If this is your worst case, it looks good to me. Picture 2, what was the focal length and aperture set at?

December 21st, 2007, 10:30 AM	#389
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	It appears that the serial number from each individual cam appears along with the number from each clip.Cam numberxxx 808,clip number 808 xxx

December 21st, 2007, 10:49 AM	#390
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	F1.9, 8mm. Camera mounted on tripod and hand zoomed through so I could stop at various points with some precision. Green screen shot was just lit with a china ball we had on the ceiling so I know it's not evenly lit. I'm going to do more testing though but like I say if it's this hard to find. . . In November I had checked with the first camera they got in (and they're one of the few [two] Sony authorized service centers so apparently on Sony's word they can fix themselves). That camera had the issue plan as day and looked as bad as some of the worst examples posted here. So I've had another camera I've checked this on. I'm not seeing anything like that on this camera. A mildly tangential tidbit. If you look on page 15 of the manual where all the parts are identified there's a line that's unnumbered. It says "Cover of the lens control block (See "Note" below.) The note says, "The lens is properly adjusted at the factory. Do not touch the controls of the lens control block." Just a wild speculative hunch but that may be where the tweak is that Sony's doing to fix the issue. Just a "fun" speculation.