[ Post New Message | Post Reply to this One | Send Private Email to todd walker | Help ]

MiniDV/XL-1 and Tape Condensation

from todd walker (stwalker@jps.net)
Hello,

During a recent documentary shoot with an XL-1 we've had a major problem (lost 20 minutes of good footage) with dropout on two seperate occasions. Both occured when we moved from a colder climate to a warmer one within an hour, and the temperature changed 10-15 degrees (San Francisco is a miserable city for shooting; humidity changes frequently too).

We think it is condensation, but are unsure (the warning never came up and I maintain the camera cleaning in a faithful and regular manner). Has anyone else noticed such a problem? Is the XL-1 particular sensitive to temperature changes or is a MiniDV related problem? We were shooting on Maxwell tapes.

If so, how can we avoid this problem? Documentary work demands quick changes; waiting two hours, as the manual suggests, with the deck open often is impossible as time is of the essence.

Cheers,

Todd

(posted 9007 days ago)

[ Previous | Next ]