Camera Cleaning

only a week ago I got my camera back from the police from last year when I had my accident,

the only problem is, the police anit going to look after anything they take and its been moved about alot from storage to different startions ect.

now iv got it back, the heads on it are fucked, I get the 'block lines' runn across the screen on play back, this is sometimes due to it recording with bad playback or playing back tapes.

2 reasons this could be is the heads are knocked out of place enough to distort it, or two its very dirty/staticy on the heads

iv used a tape cleaner on it, over and over again (5 runs) while its been like this and it gos away, I shut of the camera and leave it aday and I have to preform the same task again for it to go.

Do any of you know any Methods/Tips on cleaning the heads or can recoment any cleaning kits to do the job?

also is there anything I can about this legal wise? they took the camera off me so it was in there care and now on return its broken....that isnt fair to me at all...any help dodklingski lol or what ever his username is...I forget.

any links to cleaning products/methods will be a great help for me

thanks
-webby

get a Dynex MiniDV head cleaner...works wonders..

is that spelt right as cant find any links online, you got alink that ships to uk?

Hmm.. I don't know the legal system in the UK, but I can tell you that our legal system wouldn't give you any compensation.

You could do a few different things..

1.) you could take your chances and try to find a better head cleaner.

2.) If the camera is expensive or has a sintamental value, then take it into a tv shop or product service department (example: sony, jvc, cannon, ect) for repair.

3.) buy a new camera, cause it sounds like it's time for a new one any how.

I wish I could help you more, but this time, I don't know how else to help.

I'd defo make an enquiry to the police station or get some legal adivce. If West Yorkshire police had damaged my cam I wouldve sought compensation.

Thats what happened with mine JVC..

Well it just kept popping up and say Please wait..
Condensaion in operation or some thing like that.

thanks for the help,

1.) thats what im going to try first. going to order now and hope that this fixes my problem.

2.) the camera was £300 3years ago, its a sony TRV19, they dont make them anymore but the quality is better than the new HC designs that replaced them (I also own a HC20). if the cleaning tape does nothing then I will take it to a repair shop but my mums b/f's camera had the same problem so they told him £100 repair cost.

3.) I dont have the money, this isnt my main camera its my 2nd angle/back up camera, but its the only one that can use the light I have for it and iv spent alot on batterys ect. if and when I get the type of money I'll be buying a VX or a HiDef Camera, untill then iv got to stick to what iv got.



well kats camera does the same but not so offend and that was only amonth old when louzy was lent it, now she's got it back it does this alot but a cleaning tape fixes it, I think your camera could of been mistreated but because of its higher quality it was less effected, kats camera had scratches all over it and it was mint before, but then I know it was in dan's care so I have no idea if the police didnt look after it or it was him.

Police departments do the best they can to keep things confiscated and things of evidence nature in the best condition possible. When you are moving around mass amounts of stuff in evidence rooms to rearrange for others things can get bumped and scratched but the general rule of thumb is to treat it with respect. When I am collecting evidence I dont want it to come back and get me in the ass if I fucked up someones shit.

I don’t understand why it takes so long for things in the UK to get back to their owners. If police kept someone’s camera for a year or even a few months in the united states, there would be a outcry. But I am sure after a year sitting idle in an evidence room the dust and stuff fucked it up.

As for as the responsibilities of the police maintaining your property when its in evidence is basically this:
1. Everything we take off you and put into evidence must be logged on an evidence sheet at the crime scene
2. The current condition of the property taken from you is noted on the evidence sheet
3. All your property should be put into plastic or paper bags and then sealed to protect it
4. Whenever evidence changes hands from officer to officer it is noted on the evidence sheet.

With that said, there is no specific "law" to if things get damaged in a police evidence room because well, accidents do happen. Things gets dropped or bumped, police are humans and make mistakes. My suggestion would be go to your police department and file a complaint because a person has a right to reasonable expectations that their property will come back to them in the same condition it was taken.

ok thanks for the help, it was kept in a evidence bag, so its been mistreated, but lets say they tryed to charge me with something no on else felt was right and they played every trick in the book to bring me down, which took ayear but I was found not guilty by the judge and all the jury, they was bitter and made the year while the case was going to court very hard. so I wouldnt be surprised if the camera got 'accidently' banged about and dropped as I told them I cared about the camera and wanted it back asap.

if it was human error that it was dropped/banged then it dont have to have any visible damage to the outta case..who is to know?

im just pissed off iv been trested like shit by then and now my camera was in there care is no longer usable.

there should be some kind of law if they break somthing then they should pay for repairs or replacments.

I don’t know the whole story behind what you were charged for and why. Its a tough position to be in as a police officer when charging someone. If you break the law, you break the law regardless of the reasons or intentions behind it. If I were to make constant exceptions based on why people did something, it would be impossible to enforce laws. There are times I flat out don’t want to charge someone because of how it went down, but I have to cause its my job and the person broke the law. Its as simple as that.

If the police fucked up your camera based on you being found not guilty, well I have no real response for that. I would hope that’s not the case as its about as unprofessional as it gets in our work and demeans everything we stand for.

The only question I would ask is: how old is the head cleaner you used? Depending on the quality, they only usually last for a certain amount of runs, and they themselves get dirty. If its a head cleaner you've been using for a while - it could just be time for a new one.

Take the came apart and clean the head cleaner by hand, or go to a Best Buy and for like 5 bucks they clean out the entire thing (thats what I did when I had bug eggs in my lense).

the nearest best buy is like new york from here, it'll cost to much to fly to the u.s.


im thinking of using rubbing aclohol and a cottenbud but not sure...thats if the new cleaning tape iv orderd dosnt do its job.

...or you could just go find a MiniDV tape head cleaner...it's tape that cleans the inside, but you can't record on it..thats tecnicaly what dynex is

Oh - for the record webby - I once had this problem with a DVD player - I know its quite different, but both read/write digital media...

Anyway - tried a cleaner. Tried alcohol on the lens. Finally, tried compressed air - and that worked like a charm. You could always give it a whirl - can't hurt.

And also, when my cam stopped working when I was filming in a chemical fire-extinguisher cloud, my camera got so full of chemical powder crap, that it wouldn't do anything. I fast forwarded and rewound a bunch until it worked again. You could try that too.

like I said





well the fastforwarding and rewinding works after about 5mins, havnt tryed filming to see if it will work, but everytime I pick up my camera a day later im back with the lines. I will seek a can of air if the tape dont work.

cheers everyone