The problem with the 'Pro evo'..

Hi all,

Just got off the phone with the Amphibico dealer..

Apparently the problem with my 'Pro evo' was that there was a leak on the 'left' hand grip which caused it to short. They cannot determine what was wrong with the 'right' hand grip but its working now. The exposure lever has not been fixed yet but is going to be soon as he's not the real Amphibico service man but "their all busy"

So I'm without a housing for another week (that will be around 15+ days) while the waters get colder and my scenic 'healthy reed' sequences slowly fade away for another year.

So all in all that was: (and I've dived with this housing just 40 times)

Left hand grip fails (due to leaks)

Right hand grip fails (unknown)

Exposure lever faulty (too loose inside housing, to stiff on outer dial) oh, and a bit of the rubber fell off on the contact arm.

One of the rubber 'feet' on the bottom of the housing fell off ("that's normal with these weak fittings" just glue it back on)

And because their busy I've no housing...I got the feeling(maybe a misunderstanding) That being the little man you have to get to the back of the cue. That and being told mines the only one thats gone wrong out of a whole batch and "The BBC are happy with theirs" Well thats alright then. As long as their happy... I bet if something went wrong with theirs the turn around would be a little different..

O'k there is answers for all and this shit happens..But it does not make it better. Do any other manufacturers

take this example or is it just me making a mountain out of a 'Norm' mole hill.

Gates is starting to look very good..VERY GOOD...

Dive safe

Dean(happily filming topside)B

Dean sorry to hear that.

You know I remember a couple friends buying the exact same car. One had a perfect run while the other had to replace the gear box and all kinds of funny things happend to it yet here were to exact same models/cars...anyhow that's no good to you, but it is strange how some things work while others don't.

I will forward your post to the Canadians to see if can be sorted out for you Dean.

Wags

Cheers wags,

But apparently they are sorting it out...

Dive safe

DeanB

Well they do indeed know of your problems now Dean.

I sent you a PM as well.

I'll blame you if I get 'spit' in my soup...

Dive safe

DeanB

Har har

One of the rubber 'feet' on the bottom of the housing fell off ("that's normal with these weak fittings" just glue it back on)

Fortunately I haven't had any of your other problems, but I'm coming up on my 40th dive soon...

Dean

I too find it irritating when I get the "others are happy with theirs too so it's just yours that's screwed up." I mean, how does that make you feel better? Joy to the world is great at xmas time but hey you bought a product that works for everyone else but you? It's patronizing.

I'm sure your local dealer will stand by his product and replace what is necessary to get it working. If they don't, let Amphibico Canada know about it.

As for those rubber feet, S&S came up with a great way to make sure they don't fall off... they are screwed on.

I do wonder though... if all their other customers have working products, why are they busy?

Sjspeck... don't worry, I don't think housings are built with a counter that goes... 40th dive ok... everything start falling apart now. Even the most infallable will fail sometime. Just hope it isn't when the orca is playing soccer with a dolphin underwater when it happens.

I heard that..

Apparently all is well down at the supplier farm..

I am now recieving my housing fully sorted tomorrow as they swapped my water logged grip for one of their new ones. Otherwise I would be now waiting two more weeks for a delivery.

They are a filming company as well as the fixers for Amphibico, so I think they must be busy shooting not just dealing with my baby..Though I think getting in some new personnel would be a bonus if they've taken on the services of dealing Amphibico.

Anyway all is done (hopefully) I will try my baby out soon and report.

Many thanks to the persuasive powers of a certain Aussie water lover for his input. I think that might have tipped the scale

Dive safe

Dean(feeling the love)B

That's great news Dean.

We look forward to seeing some of ya footage.

I had to glue my rubber feet back on the Navigator and Phenom as well, but they are all there on the EVO still.

Then again Kelly's MUM picked up her new $60,000 Holden Adventra and when I opened the glove box it fell onto the floor

Maybe we should let them know that it's something they could improve on.

Its good that this (hopefully) all sorted..

But a lesson in not trying to make you feel like a nuisance or even a little bit better customer service could go a long way...I'm glad my housing was the 'only one' with a problem ?? But it was MY housing and I lost valuable days filming. Maybe a rental model for the time spent in repairs would be good. Having to pay for it to be couriered to london wasn't a laugh either. O.k it was only £25 but thats £25 for a not my fault, problem.

Fair enough they have only just taken on the Amphibico service side and theres lessons to be learnt, but lets hope they 'are' learned.

Dive safe

DeanB

Dean,

Do you rate Light & Motion? I've had mine for my TRV950 since March and no probs. Done only 20 dives with it though!

Johnny Boy..

To be truthfull I haven't had much experience with L&M gear..I used a hired housing for my TRV950 when I was in Malta back in 2003. That actually did the job well. The only reasons I went for Amphibico was the price difference and that the BBC seemed to use them.

I have met people who have had probs with L&M in the past, but then there are a few video geezers on here who rate them time & time again.

I know Steve and Ross at F.E.P (L&M agents U.K) and they are genuine people who go out of their way to help..So the after sales service is good. And they never name drop..Well they can say they know me if they want to go bankrupt

I think I might have opened a can of worms with my 40th dive speach, but that was just me ranting..

If you look through the threads you will see who uses L&M..There are quite a few..

Dive safe

DeanB

P.S I've just recieved my 'fixed' baby.. Now to find someone to dive with..

Dear, Dean Burman, Wagsy, and Drew,

(Great website Wagsy)

Hello All, it’s Andrew from Amphibico UK, I’ve poped into your conversation to

let you know we do take all the small guys very seriously.

Dean your equipment was sorted out as soon as the diagnosis was done and within an hour or two of the conversation you had with Andy at Amphibico UK. This is when you were doing your web bit. So it was ALL sorted out BEFORE!! any of our friends emailed us.

Dean you should remember our very long conversation when you told me you were keen to get more professional with your underwater video and I took you through a long list of advice about all the things to take into consideration when preparing to shoot, when shooting, including very detailed advice on colour correction, filters, exposure, and shutter speed, I remember this conversation being about 40 minutes.

You told me months ago about your exposure control issue and I asked you to bring it in as soon as you could and we would sort it out, but unfortunately you did not send it in. It arrived months later when I was away with the Amphibico delegation, Ron the boss, JC and Joe at Wildscreen in Bristol where we had a stand. Unfortunately overlapping with the Birmingham Dive Show which we would have otherwise attended. The timing was very bad as immediately after I was pre-booked on a feature and have just finished tonight. In my absence Andy one of the camera engineers had diagnosed the problems which were then communicated to you. There is no problem with the right grip at all (if you short circuit the left grip the right will not work) In an emergency you could operate with the right grip only by removing the minijack connector for the left arm found lower left of the lens

As for reliability, you DO WIN the prize for the only warrantee repair we have yet seen on any EVO HD Pro housings. We hire these housings to many productions with some people who have very little experience of housings and if anything was to be vulnerable I can tell you they would discover it.

Extreme Facilities Ltd Hire all the recent Amphibico Housings PD150/170 & 2000, EVO HD PRO for the HVR-A1 and HC1. The PHENOM FXZ1 for Z1 and FX1. We also hire the AMPHIBIAN for the Sony HDW 700 730 750 F900 Cine Alta and F900R Cine Alta.

Yes we do get busy at times but this is not a constant issue.

We deal with all requests strictly on an urgency basis and we will do all we can to get things done swiftly for our clients.

Amphibico UK is a professional and helpful organisation and not a box shifting online warehouse. We go out and shoot both for pleasure but mainly for work. This way we get to understand any operational issues with products. We can give Amphibico in Canada real operational feedback, and clients useful and current advice.

We do have a very busy fully equipped workshop and we make a lot of custom modifications for Cameras, recorders and housings using our in house Broadcast engineers and Precision engineers.

If anyone has any enquiries do not hesitate to give us a ring or drop in, we may have to talk as we continue to work but we’ll supply the coffee and we are always keen to welcome new faces

Kind regards

Andrew Schaale Extreme Facilities Ltd / Amphibico UK

Hello All, it’s Andrew from Amphibico UK, I’ve poped into your conversation to

let you know we do take all the small guys very seriously.

Wow, recognition for the "little people", way to go. Some of the people on this board have achieved massive successes with their work, work which should be recognized and lauded. I guess until we have the retainer contract with NHU or NGTV we will always be seen as 'just another videographer'.

A comment such as this could be deemed as demeaning and insulting, but for me it just gives more resolve to crack on and work harder. One day people will eat their words and that will be such a sweeeeeeeeeet sight to see.

Cheers,

Mark.

Chill.... Mark - that is a direct quote from one of the contributers see the earlier comments.

And don't take any offence - anyone please!!

All the best Andrew

Hey Mark, arnt you a pro yet Hurry up and catch up will ya.....

10 years ago too find tips, tricks, share information and problems with products took forever to get around, now it can happen in a moment with the internet with sites like Wetpixel and so. Our hdvunderwater site did 97 GIGS of traffic for October

Cheers Andrew for your post, and Dean, we want to see some of your footage now so Apply That Little Trick I suggested to you and and see how you go.

Hi all,

Fair comments:

The reason for not sending my unit in at the first prob was that (as Andrew knows) I was told "Many pro's generally fix smaller problems in the field"... O.k I usually do for obvious things or if my stuffs out of warranty but sometimes if you fiddle around with gear yourself, the warranties then void, so I gave it a go and it worked for a short time, which I said to Mr Schalle..But only with me having to keep fiddling every other dive. (F'ing annoying.)

Our 40min talk..Yes, O.k good advice..But as my mother says "your always to polite Dean".. 90% I knew already otherwise I couldn't have made an award winning film already, but sometimes when you have to learn things yourself you can pick up tips from the 'Pros' through conversation, so I listen intently...

When the grip started to go wrong I rang Mr Schaale and was told "well we only have someone in the office mondays and tuesdays, were out filming for the rest of the week". So i was reluctant then..But it had to go in. Also every time I spoke to Mr Schaale I was informed to "clean the jack plug sometimes thats the cause" This was not the prob, O'k as I mentioned before 'in their favour', their a busy team, granted, but it still does not help me. I'm not a production campany with money to throw around and with 4 or 5 spare models It's my only one with my cold hard cash.

The strange thing was My unit was at Amphibico U.K for well over a week in which I lost valuable days filming..When I finally spoke to(who I think was) Andy about sending it in and that i said I was told that there would be hardly anyone there he said, "I'm here all week so send it down" I said I needed it a.s.a.p "hopefully it won't be a problem".. I then phoned later that week to find out it was still sat there, waiting to being looked at and Andy? was at a seminar/show.."But he'd be back sometime tomorrow" which was a friday, so no good for that weekend then... Should Amphibico do loaner units if you have to wait..The jury is out.

I could of been told about the Isolation of the left grip when on the phone. That would have helped.

If i'm the only person with a problem in the U.K then great...But as i've found out I'm not the only person with a 'pro evo' with the problem.. But it still is a problem.

Also with the exposure lever I was told by Andy that "all the models levers are loose" and now Wags is giving tips on how to (hopefully) fix the problem..Thats good but can you amaging buying a car in the day only to find out later that night that the lights don't work. Ringing the dealership up and being told "Yeah thats a problem with that model, just stick some candels in the glass that helps" You'd laugh..

I'm trying not to take swipes at Amphibico U.K or anyone who works there. As i found out when I went down there, they are a hard working busy team.. All I wanted was the product I paid for..Doing all the things it said it will do... It doesn't.

I've got my unit back now..Very quickly 'After' all the thread reports and yes the grips are fine..But the exposure lever..Still not working..I'll try Wagsy's Idea..Thank fook for the little man. Not you though wags, Your BIG.

Dive safe

DeanB

Wag's, I'll show some of my footage when I've bought a new P.C and software as mine now crashes under the strain...

Hey Mark, arnt you a pro yet Hurry up and catch up will ya.....

Hahaha, don't consider myself to be. Love what I do and love to share it. One way to get through life is to be satisfied and satisfied I am. I don't make any great claims and try to get by that way. I am reactionary at times, bull headed too but thats just the way I am, like it or leave it. A kettle's a kettle as far as I'm concerned.

Cheers,

Mark.

P.S Andrew, no hard feelings intended. We all strive to do our best, being called little by anyone is demeaning. It may not have originated from you but contained in your response is a place it maybe should not have appeared.

I agree Mark,

Sometimes even in conversation things do not get put across properly..You have to watch what you say..

'Little' I maybe, but 'little' I will not be..For long.

In water Sunday.. Lets try this baby out..

Dive safe

DeanB