help - grubs got inside my MiniDV camera!! [Archive]

cb911

Feb 24, 2005, 12:07 AM

well, i'm not sure where i should have posted this, i'm just desprate for some help, so on with the post...

OMG! OMG!! :eek:

i just went to my camera bag a couple of hours ago to get my camera out just to take some stills... and there were... grubs all inside it!! :eek: :mad:

i don't know how the hell they got in there... but i've just spent a couple of hours getting them all out and popping them so they can't do any more damage.

but here's the really bad part - somehow one got in my camera, behind the glass of the viewfinder! here's a picture to show what i mean:

http://img39.exs.cx/img39/5650/gs400viewfinder5fq.jpg

that small picture in the bottom left just has a small red section highlighted to show on the main pic where this thing is... you can see it's sort of a white-ish blob behind the glass there.

well, when i saw that i was really pissed off. now i've got to find a way to get the damn thing out of there. :mad: i'm thinking i might have to un-screw some bits to get at it... but i was just wondering what others would recommend? i'll check my warranty to see if i should just not even un-screw anything, but if anyone's had experience with this sort of thing (i don't know how likely that will be...) with my camera, then i guess it's worth asking.

here's the model of my camera:
Panasonic GS-400

if anyone's had experience with grubs getting into them (yeah, right :rolleyes: ) then let me know. i can use some help about now. :(

killuminati

Feb 24, 2005, 01:37 AM

ummmmmm whats a grub? :confused:

clayj

Feb 24, 2005, 01:51 AM

ummmmmm whats a grub? :confused:Small wriggling insect, similar to a maggot... I think it's a larval form of a larger insect, such as a beetle.

In any case, YUK.

Counterfit

Feb 24, 2005, 02:01 AM

Grubs are annoying little, er, things that destroy lawns.

But I don't see any in the picture... :confused:

mvc

Feb 24, 2005, 02:22 AM

This could only happen in Australia mate...

I suggest there is probably a way to get into that viewfinder if you hunt around, perhaps a small screw at the side/bottom when it flips up. I once had what appeared to be a pubic hair caught inside my MiniDV Camera when I lent it to a friend... :rolleyes:

urban1985_

Feb 24, 2005, 02:44 AM

Hmmm I'm not sure how you get it out, but as for grubs getting in, their eggs probably got in somehow when you took your camera outside. They just ended up hatching in there... I guess it's like an incubator?

That's really gross though, I hope you get them out. Take it to a specialist?

Camera specialist.. not a grub specialist.

kettle

Feb 24, 2005, 02:51 AM

Camera specialist.. not a grub specialist....he he :D

Leareth

Feb 24, 2005, 02:58 AM

First put the camera in the freezer overnight to kill any other living grubs and the eggs so you dont have this problem in a couple of days again, take out the battery first if you can
after that take it apart again to get all the little bugs or take it in for repairs you don't really have a problem with living grubs it is when they die and decompose releasing all sorts of nice corrosive juices that damage elctronics

tech4all

Feb 24, 2005, 03:03 AM

Small wriggling insect, similar to a maggot... I think it's a larval form of a larger insect, such as a beetle.

In any case, YUK.

I thought "grub" was a way of saying food. Like "Let's get some grub".

clayj

Feb 24, 2005, 03:35 AM

I thought "grub" was a way of saying food. Like "Let's get some grub".It has more than one definition. (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=grub)

AmigoMac

Feb 24, 2005, 03:39 AM

I thought "grub" was a way of saying food. Like "Let's get some grub".

Actually it's both of them, I would like the Original poster to clarify because AFAIK, grub is a small piece of food and a kind of small insect ... now, if the guy got both of them ... :D ... have fun! and hopefully you won't find the pubic hair :eek:

angelneo

Feb 24, 2005, 05:09 AM

I have no idea why but this thread is sending shivers down my spine. Good luck to getting them out. Hopefully, it doesn't cost you much.

cb911

Feb 24, 2005, 05:30 AM

LOL :D

this is cracking me up. :D which right now is a bad thing... i just busted my lip and snapped of my tooth at ice skating - laughing or smiling will bust my lip open again.

now, to clarify. i do mean the small insect type of bug. it is very gross, thus my anger when i discovered these small critters all inside me camera bag. :mad: lets say we've got some problems with controlling the common "pantry moth"...

the grub (or remains of it's 'cocoon' - yuck) can be seen in the photo. it's the white thing in the top right of the viewfinder.

i'm sure they couldn't have got into too much of it, at least where the tape loading mechanism is seems to be well sealed, no sign of them in there. there are a couple of small screws i could undo, but i'm going to check my warranty first, just so i don't void it.

i guess i should take it to a specialsist, the camera specialist anyway just to see what they say. i suppose they've had lots of experience with things like this, and other native Australian animals like little koala's and kangaroo's getting stuck in there. :p

Cursor

Feb 24, 2005, 07:40 AM

Are you sure they are grubs and not maggots? I had grubs in my lawn, and I'm pretty sure that the beetles only lay their eggs (which hatch grubs) in the roots of grass just above the top soil. Why would they be in your camera? Well, I geuss while I'm at it, why would maggots be in your camera, unless you had food stored with it.

Jaffa Cake

Feb 24, 2005, 08:34 AM

On the subject of livestock infested kit...

I was doing bit of housework last weekend and was giving my computer desk a good clean – which made me wonder how the innards of my G5 were doing for dust in the six months I've owned it. So I took the side panel off... only to discover a bloody spider had made its home in there!

There was a web covering the air space in between the front grill and the main fans – it looked like the little blighter was filtering the air that was getting sucked into the machine. There was no sign of the spider (which is a good thing seeing as how I'm extremely arachnophobic) and needless to say I spent the next ten minutes gingerly removing the web.

Sorry for veering a little off-topic but cb911 – I know exactly how you feel!

*shudders*

Merf

Feb 25, 2005, 01:28 AM

Ha You guys want to see some real grubs! I found these ones while I was woodcutting.

Merf

tech4all

Feb 25, 2005, 01:32 AM

Ha You guys want to see some real grubs! I found these ones while I was woodcutting.

Merf

Do they have a head? :confused: I could so see those on Fear Factor, which they probably have been.

homerjward

Feb 25, 2005, 09:13 AM

killuminati

Feb 25, 2005, 10:35 AM

i found this website in which a guy got a snake caught in his wintel pc. would up in the power supply and everything...yuck! but it must be worse to actually find something in there lol
http://www.hmm-364.org/computer-snake.html

haha. poor snake :p. I wonder if thats actually real. Cool pics anyway.

mac-er

Feb 25, 2005, 11:36 AM

i found this website in which a guy got a snake caught in his wintel pc. would up in the power supply and everything...yuck! but it must be worse to actually find something in there lol
http://www.hmm-364.org/computer-snake.html

I think that is fake. Here is "another" version of it. Sounds like an urban legend.

There is something not quite right with the positioning of the snake in the pictures to me...looks staged.

jayscheuerle

Feb 25, 2005, 12:05 PM

Cursor

Feb 25, 2005, 12:59 PM

Oooh.. You sure about this? I'd worry about condensation forming when it was taken out of the freezer...

Not to mention it sounds kind of disgusting, unless you don't keep food you eat in the freezer (even if it is sealed).

cb911

Feb 25, 2005, 04:52 PM

i don't think i'll be putting it in the freezer... it's gone futher than that now...

it was "attack of the damn pantry-moth"!! :mad: the damn things got in everywhere... somehow a heap of eggs got in the bag, and in somehow inside the camera. i went to take the tape out - some even got in there! i think the tape is gone, better not to use in in case i clog the heads...

but it get's worse. while i had the battery in i thought i'd see it it was still working... so i flicked it over to stills (photo) display mode, yeah, the viewfinder was a bit gunked up, the LCD was all working fine. then i put it over to stills record mode... nothing! just a blank screen... so looks like i'm going to need some serious work... will have to find a camera repair specialist.

does anyone know how much this might cost? would i be able to pull it apart and clean it up myself? looks like something got on the inside of the lens as well...

i didn't have any food in the bag... but i think i found the source of infestation. the bag was on the kitchen bench (my computer setup is just next to there...) and there was some old box of organic musli or something - i didn't see it myself but it seem'd that's where they came from. now i'm embarassed to have been stupid enough to leave it on the kitchen bench. they can't be maggots becauset that's what fly's lay in meat - no meat around where the camera was. but beware of those bastard pantry-moths! :mad:

i wish i just had a snake or something instead of grubs. now it seems like the camera will have to be completely taken apart and cleaned, even if that's possible. the camera may be totalled now. :( and it wasn't insured in any way, so i'll see what happens. i'll take it in for repair on Monday...

Mechcozmo

Feb 25, 2005, 08:00 PM

Check your other equipment that was near the camera... just to be sure....
(imagine those grubs getting inside a hard disk. While spinning... uhoh!)

Doctor Q

Feb 25, 2005, 08:22 PM

Ha You guys want to see some real grubs! I found these ones while I was woodcutting.Merf, I had my cursor over the thumbnails of your photos and the mouseover text appeared saying "Click image for larger version".

"No thanks," I said to myself.

cb911, I had a less-serious problem like yours, with moisture in my previous camcorder. It was in the viewfinder, however, so it did not affect the shots, only what they looked like while I was filming. I sent in the camera for a routine cleaning but that didn't fix the problem. I didn't want to disassemble the camera myself, so I lived with it until I eventually upgraded to my current camcorder.

Is your problem with the images you get or only with your use of the camera?

cb911

Feb 26, 2005, 03:41 AM

well i'm 100% sure the grubs didn't get into any of my other equiptment. thank goodness.

and some good news about the camera as well... my bro was playing around with it and a picture started to come through as normal - no more black screen! :D so it looks like things may not be all that bad....

i haven't used the camera yet because i'm worried about leaving it on for too long and frying the grubs inside. i will take some stills and see how the picture quality is. i'm pretty sure i can see some gunk behind the lens, so that's not good... and i would like to get the stuff out from behind the viewfinder. i use that alot more than the LCD to conserve battery when i'm out.

well i'm going to take it in for a repair/cleaning on Monday and see what they say...

pseudobrit

Feb 26, 2005, 04:16 AM

I would take a screwdriver to it myself.

But I'm the tinkering type.

cb911

Mar 2, 2005, 07:47 PM

well i finally took it in for a cleaning/repair yesterday. there was only one other customer there... i was hoping there'd be no one else around. so i walk up to the counter and i'm like "yeah you know some grubs just got in my camera". LOL :D well they've never seen anything like that before. mostly it's just sand getting in cameras so i hope that means they won't have any troubles getting this out...

it was a AUD $110 fee just to get it looked at - but that's taken off the price of repair if you go ahead with it. they said it may be $200 total to fix depending it any of the opticals are scratched. but that's alright considering it's a $2500 camera. :shock:

one of the service guys looked at it and said it looked like a spider in there. well - there'll be a bit of a surprise for him. would be so funny if there's still some live ones in there. LOL :D wish i could see his face when he opens it.

puckhead193

Mar 2, 2005, 10:13 PM

Send your camera to fear factor, maybe they can think of something gross to do with it...
Seriously, sry for your bug problem

Wyvernspirit

Mar 3, 2005, 01:15 PM

any updates?

asphalt-proof

Mar 3, 2005, 02:00 PM

I think the solution to your camera problem and pantry moth problem is to burn your house down with the camera in it. Collect the insurance, buy a new camera. Profit!

Seriously, getting rid of moths can be a real pain in the arse. Good luck.

r6girl

Mar 3, 2005, 04:00 PM

Ha You guys want to see some real grubs! I found these ones while I was woodcutting.

Merf

dude, those are so gross. i can't believe you picked them up! :eek: i hate insects of any kind. passionately. i can do snakes and lizards, but bugs are out of the question. had i found those grubs, i would have done a very thoroughly girly thing and run screaming to anyone nearby, asking them to please kill the nasty bug-things i just found.

marianne

cb911

Mar 3, 2005, 07:05 PM

no updates yet - but the camera is in for repair so i'm just waiting for them to look at it and email the report to me.

i'll post back when i get the damage report...

i would burn down the house, except we just renovated and the camera wasn't listed on the insurance. would have been better to burn it down before the renovation...

r6girl i guess that's understandable since you're a girl after all. but it's probably a good thing you weren't there with those grubs or it would just be too tempting for someone to throw one at you. :D

r6girl

Mar 3, 2005, 07:25 PM

r6girl i guess that's understandable since you're a girl after all. but it's probably a good thing you weren't there with those grubs or it would just be too tempting for someone to throw one at you. :D

well, i must say that not ALL girls would react that way, but i do happen to girly in that stereotypical way about bugs. i don't recall that anyone has ever thrown a bug at me before, though my husband has threatened to do so on occasion, knowing my fear of bugs (definitely not cool - there are serious repercussions for such activity on his part ;) ) after coming out of the shock-induced faint and doing some damage to my throat and lungs from screaming so much, i'm sure i would chase down whomever threw the bug and given them a serious beating! :p

hope your camera gets fixed without any problems!

marianne

cb911

Mar 10, 2005, 12:07 AM

well... have i got some news.

the repair place called me up this morning and told me what their technician found out... the first part of the conversation went something like this:

"Hello, this is <person> from <electronics repair store>. could i speak to Mugget please?"

"yes, speaking"

"i hope you're sitting down"

"oh... okay. yep, i'm sitting down"

"$1496"

:eek:

then she read out the report - the tech guy still thought that they were spiders inside, i guess they can't believe that it's actauly grubs of moth larvae. basically they got their damn dirty webby silk stuff all inside the camera. on the CCD, and some lens or something - basically there's 3 parts that can't be cleaned because of a protective coating on them - so they have to be replaced. and because it's such a new camera this is the first one they've had in, and the first time they're ordered these parts for it so it's going to be about 4-6 weeks before the parts even get here. :mad:
well those bastard grubs did a good job of pissing me off now. :mad:

i just called back and told them to go ahead with the repairs... $1496... i'm sure i will have nightmares based on that number tonight. now i have a really bad feeling in my stomach... but i suppose there's nothing to do but get it repaired - considering that it's a $2500 camera. :( i did think of just getting them to send it back to me because as far as i looked at it, it still worked, although i didn't try it with a tape in there. but the picture would have been absolutely crap because of all the web on the CCD etc. which is no good. unless you're going for that permanent "Resident Evil filter" look as my bro put it. :rolleyes:

they're also going to email the report to me so i'll post more details when that arrives. and i'm going to keep the parts that they're taking out - i figure i may be able to have a 2nd camera just for really dangerous or messy shots. wouldn't hurt - and then i may use the 2nd camera in some situations i'd be afraid to take the good one. so if anyone happens to have a Panasonic GS-400 (PAL model) that has a busted CCD or somethng that they want to get rid of cheap... i'll take it off your hands. :)

i'll try and keep thinking positive but i can't believe how this happened... :mad:

Doctor Q

Mar 10, 2005, 01:10 AM

$1500!? That really put you between a rock and a hard place, deciding whether to pay the ransom to replace those parts. I sure hope it has a long, event-free life after this.

altair

Mar 10, 2005, 02:01 AM

Really sorry bout your camera, but this has got to be the funniest thing ive read in a few days.

cb911

Mar 10, 2005, 09:01 PM

well i've paid up $500 so they will order the parts now... i've just got to wait 4-6 weeks. :mad: i don't know how i'll survive that long... i'll have to borrow a friends cam. i'll miss my 3 CCD's... :(

i can see how this is funny... glad it's made someone smile. :p

well here's the service report if anyone's interested:
SERVICE DETAILS

**UNIT HAS HAD A LOT OF LITTLE BABY SPIDERS IN IT- FOUND DEAD
ONES & SPIDER WEBS ACROSS CCD BLOCK & LENS PARTS ( LENS
FRAME UNIT, 2nd MOVING FRAME, OIS UNIT, 4th MOVING FRAME), AS
THESE CANNOT BE CLEANED BECAUSE OF PROTECTIVE COATING
THEY HAVE TO BE REPLACED. UNIT REQUIRES REPLACEMENT OF CCD
BLOCK & LENS PARTS ( LENS FRAME UNIT, 2nd MOVING FRAME, OIS
UNIT, 4th MOVING FRAME), FULL ELECTRONIC ADJUSTMENTS TO LENS ..

really sucks to be me right now...

joepunk

Mar 10, 2005, 10:38 PM

Can't believe I never saw this thread until now.

Sorry about your camera and about the repair costs.

Brings back memories for me.

At least you did not eat any of the grubs by accident. Unlike poor unlucky me :eek: My mother had bought a smoked roasted turkey from some little place that smoke roasts turkeys. After a few day in the fridge, my dad puts it in the oven for awhile and when I took a bite of the leg and swallowed, I felt something wiggling on my fingers and behold, maggots were crawling on/in the turkey. Great times that was.

cb911

Mar 11, 2005, 12:16 AM

puckhead193

Mar 11, 2005, 12:39 AM

At least you did not eat any of the grubs by accident. Unlike poor unlucky me :eek: My mother had bought a smoked roasted turkey from some little place that smoke roasts turkeys. After a few day in the fridge, my dad puts it in the oven for awhile and when I took a bite of the leg and swallowed, I felt something wiggling on my fingers and behold, maggots were crawling on/in the turkey. Great times that was.

Please tell me you don't buy meat their anymore... Did you get your money back or something...

cb911

Apr 13, 2005, 03:01 AM

well i have got my camera back now - the wait wasn't as long as i'd feared, back in just over a month.

here's the final service details:
SERVICE DETAILS
DISMANTLE UNIT, STRIP DOWN CAMERA & REPLACED PARTS LISTED, REALIGNED LENS UNIT, CLEANED SPIDERS & WEB FROM UNIT, PERFORM ELECTRONIC ADJUSTMENTS TO LENS ASSY; CLEANED OXIDE FROM LOWER DRUM ASSY; ADJUSTED PG SHIFTER & BIT ERROR RATE, REASSEMBLE AND TEST

i asked to keep all the parts that they took out of the camera, and i got back this little bag - hardly seems woth $1050 to me... :rolleyes:
http://img64.echo.cx/img64/9133/gs400partsbag7qg.jpg
http://img180.echo.cx/img180/6575/gs400parts5yp.jpg
And here is the parts list:
• lens frame unit
• 2nd moving frame
• OIS unit
• 4th moving frame
• CCD unit
for a total parts cost of $1050. :eek:

well, it's all working like new. now i'm going to buy a new camera bag and keep it well away from any animal infestations.

Doctor Q

Apr 13, 2005, 03:11 AM

Better luck next time.

cb911

Apr 13, 2005, 09:35 PM

i'm hoping there won't be a next time! :eek:

i sure will be more careful from now on...

joepunk

Apr 13, 2005, 10:43 PM

wow joepunk - unlucky for you! :eek: that would have freaked me out... i remember something similar happened to a friend of mine. he had some kind of meat sandwich for lunch one day and it wasn't in a cool bag or anything. well some lunch time the maggots had got right into it. :eek:

Almost makes me want to not purchase prepackaged/made food from stores but alas I still do.

Thanks for the update on what items had to be removed. Good luck in the future.

Please tell me you don't buy meat their anymore... Did you get your money back or something...

No. But my father did complain in person very heavily to them. I don't believe we go our money back. But they did get a telling off.