DV Camera disaster...

[Guest]

Dear Friends,

I recently shot a wedding on a Sony DV camera and was about to transfer it
to my laptop for editing on a friends boat. Unfortunately the camera was
dropped into the sea..The camera was recovered and dried out ...I am now
about to have a Sony Technician take the DV tape out of the camera, without
using the eject mechanism... Can anyone tell me if how the tape might be
restored, as I was the only one to shoot a video of the big day and the
family are devestated...

Many thanks from the Emerald Isle

Decibel

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Strangely enough the tape may be readable.... ensure it's completely dry and
free of salt stains..... then you'll need to put it into a new MiniDVcasette
(yeah, destroy an old one)....

I worked for a tv company when I still lived in the UK and a cameraman had
an similar 'accident' with a UMatic camcorder dropped from a helicopter....
they took the tape out of the cassette, washed it in a shower (??!!) and
then strung it round the studio to dry it. All the footage was recovered.

You may wish to try to find a professional company to try this, but you
aren't the first to have the misfortune.

 

[Guest]

Dear Cari...

Only now found your reply to my post...sorry about that I was getting a lot
of spam and as a result missed your reply...many thanks for your message...

Your advice was exactly what I did . I flushed the recovered DV cam with
fresh water...then dried it slowly for about 4 days..tape still in the
camera...then broke open the camera ...whuich was destroyed anyway and took
the DV tape out without using the mechanism ...Inserted the cassette into a
new case ....

I lost about 6 minutes from where the tape was parked to the end...but
recovered 54 minutes out of the 60...I transferred it to DVD and there is not
as much as a frame roll....It was great staisfaction to recover the
content...very important for the bride and groom as there was no other video
of the wedding....

So again many thanks ...at least you know that the procedure works..

Best wishes from Dublin in the Emerald Isle...

Charles.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Wow... congratulations... and I hope the bride and groom are pleased to have
the footage back! Sorry about the last 6 minutes, but that's a great
result!

Well done!