CompuServe Messages

Hi Sandra Yeah, my camera is actually the one that Ricoh puts its name on. But they're all really the same TR-101. Mine has had no repairtype problems. I've shot 70 hours of tape the past coupla years. No time in the repair shop. I think you got a lemon. You should have them replace it; I assume you have a long warranty (that's why I bought the Ricoh-labelled model, I could get a 6 year warranty, and i've learned that company (not third party) warranties are absolutely vital with gear that has mechanical parts, as these things do). As noted, the only things I dislike is too-speedy zoom and camera noise getting on the soundtrack when recording quiet stuff (like nature things). Thus, it's an understatement to say that I'll be very interested in your reports on the Azden mike. I don't know about the pro. cameras. They're out of my price bracket, and I sniff that they're overpriced cuz they know pros will pay lotsa money, whether or not anything is that much money's worth better. As to Steadicam Jr.: almost bought one at the end of this tax year, but held back. A friend has one, and has problems with it: she says it takes a lot of practice to get it to work. Also, she says it takes good arm/shoulder strength, which she lacks (I don't, but that still made me a bit reticent). She also said she had a friend who used it, and got good results. Too much anomalous data for me to go spend the bux …. I can wait …. maybe they'll have a new one soon …. Also: it comes with an external black and white monitorette (lcd screen). I'd like to get it without such a thing, and just be able to use one of the little Citizen or Sony color monitorette (citizen is lcd, sony is active matrix, both about 3" diagonal measurement). I like color; the b&w viewfinder on the camera is a pain. I've seen ads for competitors to the Steadicam Jr. that claim to have features that improve upon it, but have read/heard nothing about them. Thanks for the response. Happiest imaging to ya. stan