This equipment was installed in my edit suite in preparation for the day that my mains power failed and it would give me several precious minuets to switch off my computer…today it went into melt down mode !!!

I was outside with my brother in law running in a second cable for my HD Sky box and we got a whiff of a fishy smell now and again, after about an hour I went into the edit suite to be confronted with a pungent fish smell…the smell of burning electronics. Fortunately I had installed an isolator switch which kills all the power at once then the window was opened. After a while I did my detective work feeling each and every piece of equipment, at first I thought it was the AJA box as it was beside the APC then touching the APC it was burning hot.

It was literally chucked out the back door and left to cool down where on further examination half an hour later revealed the back up batteries were on melt down.

I do find it very unreassuring that a device made to protect your computer equipment from surges, overloads and power failure can itself smoulder to the point of meltdown without having it’s own inbuilt safety device,…what can I say…other than my advice is as follows…

If you have this model APC Smart-UPS 750, switch it off and take it back to the retailer as it’s far to dangerous to be left alone in an office, I have contacted the company and await their comments.

While filming yesterday I got back to base to discover a problem that I had seen once before last year. My Sony MC-50 which is weeks old had decided not to offer me the first 4 shots that you can see clearly as thumbnails but will not play back.

You are presented with this screen when you try to choose any of the 4 thumbnails to play back, as I have said this very same scenario happened to me last year with a different MC-50 while filming on Arran.

My ex boss Jan had her 60th birthday party and once again the first 4 files were not available for playback once recorded, you are left with 2 possible causes…

1. The cameras filing system

2. The SDHC card

All I can add to the mystery is that the cards were indeed Genuine Transend 16G but one was a class 6 and the most recent a class 10, it seems most unlikely that 2 cards used 6 months apart would cause the exact same problem…in my opinion.

Both cameras were the exact same type, an MC-50 but not the same camera, one was demo stock and the other I now own and bought from new.

I tried to recover the files without much success but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth about using the MC-50 as a front line professional tool, the camera is fine otherwise and records onto the same SDHC card with no hitches.

As a further investigation the first 4 recorded files do not exist assuming the the counter starts at 00000.

CONCLUSION : Sony read this blog so I hope we can get an answer to this annoying problem, if I could at least recover the 4 files then this would not be as problematic nor cause anxiety for all MC-50 users. I think it would be prudent for all Sony MC-50 users to check the first few shots as you film them to be on the safe side and keep a random check throughout a days filming.

UPDATE : Having a further look their is some kind of repair under Media Management but I tried this with no success, secondly the thumbnails are produced with the first thing you film, that only proves that you filmed something but does not give any indication as to how long you were filming for.

I have a client who won’t accept my emails because he has an AntiSpam program sitting in place, unfortunately for him he does not realise this is damaging his business. When his AntiSpam filter kicks in it tells me to click on a link and then enter a name and password, then it tells me that by accepting this I will sign up for a 30 day trial of the program !

No chance…I have seen how such programs hinder my clients without me signing up to it as well. Most computers these days have very good spam/junk mail filters without adding any further complications to the process.

My client does not realise he is now off the list of possible Panasonic AF101 owners…because I have no way of contacting him other than email.

One other client has a far “safer” spam filter…it asks you to verify a 6 letter word then tells you that your next emails will be accepted. So the moral of the story is don’t jump in feet first when you see the glossy adds telling you “NO MORE SPAM…EVER” as that very same filter may just cost you the next big purchase or a place in a very long queue.

You have been warned, yesterday I installed iOS 4.2.1 into my iPad and caused FOUR hours worth of grief …DO NOT UPDATE TO iOS 4.2.1.

Apple have had a massive amount of complaints with people updating to what was 4.2 then became 4.2.1 so within a matter of hours Apple had changed the update themselves but I am not recommending you do so as it is clearly very buggy.

It has come to my attention that Panasonic’s 3D camcorder the SDT750 may not be compatible with Samsung’s 55″ 3D LED TV. The Samsung may be 5″ bigger than the Panasonic 50″ 3D plasma but is that a price to pay for the lack of a 3D camcorder, the choice is yours. Note. It has since come to my attention via one of my readers from Austria that he has no problem using the 3D Samsung with the Panasonic 750 3D camcorder. I will carry out my own tests next week to verify this.

Was not expecting this but when I upgraded to Aperture 3 I discovered to my surprise that it needs to upgrade all your thumbnails in your library which in my case took over 5 hours to complete. I started upgrading at 1pm and did not see the new updated programme till 6.15pm…just over 5 hours later. I think Apple should give you some warning about this as this could be critical to some photographers not being able to use Aperture for such a length of time. In previous versions this was done under the hood….YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…this is an overnight upgrade !

I know this has been discussed on many other blogs, but while shooting part of a 3D project in London, from a public right of way several private “security  guards” tried to move us on and prevent us from shooting the exterior of their building. The law in the UK is actually quite clear on this: This extract is from the Met police web site:

“Freedom to photograph/ film

Members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.”

In addition there are no laws preventing you from shooting normal people and buildings in the street, there are exceptions for military establishments, buildings covered by the official secrets act and nuclear power stations. But normal office buildings etc can be filmed at will. The security officers were from the Santander Building on Euston Road. We were not on their property and had gone by the book informing Camden council that we were going to be filming in the street, yet still they insisted we move on. For half an hour they obstructed us, behaving as though they had some kind of legal right to stop us filming (which they did not). Had it not been for the pressures of the shoot and the need to go to another location we would have called the police. It is getting harder and harder to carry out your legal right to film in public places. Contrary to popular belief you do not need to obtain a permit to shoot on the public streets of London (with the exception of Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square). Using a tripod is not illegal or a crime, however causing an obstruction is. To move you on for causing an obstruction the police would have to show that you are impeding the passage of others. Clearly if you are a big crew it is wise to contact the authorities before hand to smooth the way and get assistance from the local authority. You do also need to consider that many seemingly public places may be private property and you may not be allowed to use a camera under the land owners terms of access. In this case the only offence you are committing is trespass which is a civil offence so you cannot be arrested. You should leave when asked and your equipment cannot be touched.

Article by Alister Chapman   www.XDCAM-USER.com

I have been hearing quite a few stories of cameras that are getting severe internal corrosion damage. It appears at first glance that perhaps newer, file based cameras are less well built than older tape cameras, but there is more to this than meets the eye.  I have heard several stories of EX’s and PDW’s that have required expensive repairs due to corrosion. I’ve also found similar stories with other manufacturers solid state cameras. So what’s going on? These are worrying stories especially considering what I do with my cameras, so I have looked into the problem in some depth and found a couple of things.

In all the cases I have heard about, the cameras have been stored after the shoot in Pelicases. Pelicases are excellent at keeping moisture out, but also at  keeping it in and this may be preventing the cameras from drying out. This is not a criticism of the cases, they are excellent and I have several. It is the way they are being used which is at fault. A camera with condensation on the inside will not dry out in a sealed Pelicase, giving the moisture time to do it’s evil work. Prevention is better than cure, so the best thing to do is to never put a cold or damp camera in a Pelicase.  The other thing to do is is to keep large packs of silica gel in the pelicase. The silica gel should be re-charged regularly by baking in an oven. Storing cameras in Pelicases long term is not always wise. I store my cameras in soft bags and this may be why I have not had any problems despite the harsh hurricane and extreme weather environments I work in.

Perhaps just as importantly, there is I think, also another factor at play here. With a tape camcorder if there is condensation inside the camera you get a “dew” warning. As well as preventing recording it also tells you that you have moisture inside the camera. At this point most people will do something to dry the camera out, it also makes you take more care in the first place as you don’t want a dew warning to prevent you from shooting. So I think that camera manufacturers should re-instate “dew” sensors on cameras. It could prevent a lot of unseen damage, perhaps it would just be a warning to tell you about the moisture but not prevent the camera from being operated.

Talking to a friend of mine tonight I got really angry as he told me his plight…He has been producing fantastic work for various “big name” companies and as a designer his work speaks for itself. The “big name” companies are now dragging their heals to pay him…the work is done, their fancy new designs are making them money and he is too proud and professional to “pull his work” till he gets paid…to the extent he has reached the end of his cashflow so he can’t pay his outstanding bills which sets up a vicious circle.

Why am I tell you this because we are all in the same boat, we all talk about workflows with our Canon 5Dmk2, Sony EX-3s but forget that a more important workflow, we should all be paying more attention to is “CASHFLOW”.

I like most of you are running small 1-2 people businesses and we are all held to task with our banks as we dare not cross the line between credit and debt…yet if “they” get into trouble they get 64 billion pounds to help them out. THEY have the Bank of England … WE have one measly £800 over draft and God help us if we use it up.

Banks today are no longer here to help small businesses even though we may have say for talking sake £5K to come in from various sources that are owed to us so my advice to small businesses are as follows…

1. Don’t be taken in by the “promise of more work”. Take my advice the 2nd job is a pipe dream.

2. Do not lower your price on the possibility of future work.

3. Tell the client you will invoice them in two parts, that helps your cashflow and keeps the bank happy.

4. If you are coming to the edge of your over draft phone the bank and put a case to them, tell them about payments owing to you, 99% of the time they don’t care but hang on to the 1% as that may be your bank manager.

5. Make a nuisance of yourself, phone the accounts dept. tell them your plight, you have done the work you are entitled to be payed…the 30 days are up. Write to the MD ask him if he/she can intervene, you have nothing to loose… by this time you no longer need or want further business from this company.

I get really pissed off when I hear good small companies being kicked around by big bullies when it comes to payment, there is no need to treat anyone like this in todays society…if only we had the power to stop their wages then the tables would turn.