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Does playbacking dirty the heads?

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currentwestman
Posts: 3292 - Karma: 330
So I'm pretty new to cameras and a good friend of mine who knows a lot about cameras and i don't doubt him (he might read this haha), but anyway he told me that playbacking will dirty my camera's heads.    I've googled it a bunch but haven't had much luck finding a concrete answer.  How true is this? thanks!
Mar 20 2009 7:30PM
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Alkyy
Posts: 2839 - Karma: 149
Dirty heads are caused by dirty conditions usually (go figure) so playback wont really make it any dirtier then when you played it the first time.  If you run different brands of tape the oils being passed over the heads another time would lead to them gunking up.  That doesnt mean its a good idea to play back footy every 2 minutes.  I almost never watch a shot untill im home and importing unless im trying a wierd/ different shot (boom, short depth of field  with motion) and want to see how it actually turns out. hope that helps
Mar 20 2009 7:37PM
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currentwestman
Posts: 3292 - Karma: 330
Right, I definitely will stick with one tape which is sony premiums.  So if the tape is new and clean, it's not too big of a deal to playback?  Also, should you always capture with a capture cam?
Mar 20 2009 7:49PM
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thisandthatfilms
Posts: 7713 - Karma: 525
it dosent nessisairly dirty them it just wears them out. the reason why people with higher end cameras (dvx, vxseries) is because they would rather have a 200 dollar cap cam wear out than a 3000 doller camera haha. head cleaners are very good but only use them after like every 3-4 months because it wears them out also. hope that helped.

PM me for any other questions or just respond on here
Mar 20 2009 9:29PM
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currentwestman
Posts: 3292 - Karma: 330
so technically I could get a shifty cam for capturing right? Since the quality won't change due to the type of cap cam? Also, does playbacking wear out the heads anymore then recording does?

Thanks for the help both of you
Mar 20 2009 10:07PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
Yes. MiniDV is digital so you can capture with any cam, which I would recommend. Playing the footage doesn't necessarily wear the heads more than initial recording, but it is unnecessary wear on the heads. Use a capture cam to preserve your heads.
Mar 21 2009 1:11AM
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Alkyy
Posts: 2839 - Karma: 149

Using a capture cam depends on what you are shooting with, I have an xha1 and a gl2 at my disposal.  I figured i could use the gl to import and everything would be good.  I was wrong.  If you are shooting HD (so say you have an HV30 or something) its pointless getting a capture camera because an hv30 is basically the cheapest HD cam you can get.  Im actually looking for an HV30 with a cracked LCD or even lense for dirt cheap that i could import with

Mar 21 2009 5:50PM
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