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EX-1 shortcomings
We’ve had our camera for a week now and I’ve got a few minor issues. Some of these may seem rather “so-what” but as bad as I’ve beat up on the Red camera, I thought it only fair.
In order of use:
1. The on-off switch is a joke. I can see this thing lasting a year at most. Then what?
2. The menu system is backwards. The things we need instant access to are at the bottom of the lists and the once-only stuff is at the top. For instance, Steady Shot is at the bottom while Gain Set-up is first. Gain should be about 4 down. Shot transition, which I will never use is near the top, as is shutter angle, which is something I will most likely set and forget. How often does one change the shutter angle? Some of the other, like MF Assist and Fader, should be in “Others”.
3. More menues. Under Others, we have Time Zone, Clock and Language at the top and Video Format, Clip Name and Format at the bottom. Tally and IR Remote should be near the top and they’re near the bottom.
4. More more menus: When you enter the Camera menu, for example, you should see the top 6 things you’ll need access to and that’s not the case. You have to scroll to get to anything.
5. The roller wheel for the menus should have stayed with the consumer line. The joystick works nicely, though.
6. I am completely taken back by the fact that the only thing we can get from the I Link port is HDV. I thought for sure that we would be able to run a downconverted 1394 cable to a tape deck for when we have to record plain old DV to something. But instead, we can only use the composite signal from the AV cable or the Component cable but what DV device has component in? Not many.
7. I thought there should have been a 3200 & 5600 preset for white balance but I simply made Picture Profiles 4 thru 6 to be daylight.
8. The lens seems pretty solid but let’s see what becomes of the lens control port. Just for the heck of it, I tried to plug in my 8 pin Fuji lens controller and it was a touch too big.
9. Here’s one for ya. The infrared remote only works from in front of the camera. That’s right, no rear sensor. What moron thought that this is where it should be? Oh, I forgot, that’s so the news reporter can shoot his own stand-ups. Sony caters to the Japanese news world and production is secondary. I could use a rear sensor for jibs, remotes, and numerous situations. You can go through the menues using the remote but you can’t turn the menus on or off. You have to hit the menu button on the camera to do so. We shoot a lot of conferences and the cameras sit out ahead of us, sometimes unmanned on a wide shot. It would be nice to zoom or to roll some footage from the tech table without having to go to the camera and getting up and walking to the cameras each time is simply stupid.
10. We should have more access to the clips without turning the camera off and then rebooting in the Media mode. I think the HVX200 is a bit better on this count.
11. Inconsistancy. In the camera menus, there is Shockless White which is a method where you can have the white balance work over a small period of time so that when you manually white balance, it doesn’t just slam into the correct white balance (heaven forbid!) and another menu where the Auto Trace White speed is set (same idea). On Shockless, a higher number means slower and in ATW, a higher number means faster. What idiots! There is simply no logic to this.
But why do I complain? I have memorized every switch on every camera we own from DVX100s the DSR500s to an F-900. When you’re working in the intensity of production, you can’t be looking for which switch is which or wondering which way to throw a switch or turn a knob. It has to be intuitive. The menues we often need, have to pop up when we turn the menus on, not scroll past Language or Clock Set to get to the Video Format.
Now, The Book.
As usual, the book leaves some things out. Such as, when you have the audio switches on the back of the camera in certain positions, the menues are blanked out. If you have an audio input switched to internal, you can’t set the inpedence level for the external input. If you were shooting with the camera mic and knew that you would need to switch to an external mic, you can’t change the setting till you switch the mic input to external. Probably not a big thing but why?
Overview:
Did you ever notice that the gain switches are upside down? Not just this camera but most cameras. They have the low setting at the top and high at the bottom. Up is down and down is up. ??????
The Iris, Zoom and Focus controls are all proper. The switches are also laid out in order: top is Iris, which is the first ring from the rear operator position. And then the macro and focus. The slide switch underneath for the servo is also correct. Slide it toward the operator for operator control. Obviously done by someone outside of Sony, thank God.
I found the SxS cards to be easy to work with and transfer was quick and easy. We’ve stayed away from P-2.
We don’t have version 6 of Final Cut (not quite Pro) so we haven’t been able to personally test that process but we rented the camera to someone who did and they were quite happy.
More later as I stumble across it.
All kidding aside, I would rather have three of these than a RED. Much more practical in all respects.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 has arrived and it’s fascinating. -
29 Replies
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It is good that some of the menu functions can be directly accessed from the LCD though. Steady Shot is one example. Slow Shutter and Shutter Speed are also on the LCD and a fairly quick Joystick toggle.
I think the White Balance is a bit quirky as you allude to. In Picture Profile you can only set WB on the Preset setting. Switch PP and your preset changes from 3200
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nice rant steve!
im sure ron shook will be intested to read it too… and PLEASE send it to Sony, i reck SOME of the stuff could be addressed in a firmware upgrade (like the daft menu stuff)
my biggest gripe by far is how difficult it is to hand hold (made more severe by the fact that i left my tripod at work this holiday)
till later
mark. -
Mark,
[Mark Palmos] “nice rant steve!
im sure ron shook will be intested to read it too…”I sure was and would sure welcome more from any and all, plus the abverse, i.e., what you are particularly digging.
I’ll use this opportunity to also thank Joe Incardona for his test shots of both EX1 and HPX3000. You can’t really tell a lot in comparison because of the less than desireable DVCProHD codec on the 3000. In comparison the EX1 on these shots, except for perhaps a little less competent highlight handling, looks better. I wouldn’t expect it to when the AVC intra 100 codec is used in the Pany, but the differences are gonna be very subtle, I suspect.
I’m starting to think that anyone who purchases anything other than this camcorder in the $5-50k range is going to need to have a very good reason other than picture quality for doing so.
Ron Shook
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Bear in mind if it’s anything like the XDCam series, and I’m sure it will be, there will be a lot of changes via firmware upgrades. Sony seem to be responding to user criticisms so feedback like this can actually make a difference.
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Does the EX1 manual detail a firmware upgrade procedure? How is it done? Or are EX1 firmware upgrades pure speculation?
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there is no mention i have noticed, but i guess will happen and is similar to how anything gets updated… download a file, unzip and copy to an empty media stick, switch on the camera in playback mode and the camera will read the file and update automatically… even my cheap yamada dvd player does it kinda like this (no camera though 😉 )
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Juan Martinez said there would be a firmware update that would allow other cards certified by Sony to be used in the camera so I don’t think firmware upgrades are speculation.
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Thanks for this thread! I, like so many, was ready to pull the trigger on getting an hvx200 until I saw the ex1. I had a couple of questions for the experts: One, is the picture quality really comparable to the Pany 2000/3000? What would the drawbacks be? And two, any suggestions on labeling the cards? Is that possible without damaging the cards or posing any problems with inserting them in the camera?
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thanks steve. i didn’t have the energy and the list could be bigger. once again, the suits make a product less than an engineer can deliver so it will allow their job security to fix it in the future.
Mac Pro 3Ghz Intel Dual Duo, 6GB RAM, 30″ ACD
MacBook Pro 17″
Sony XDCAM EX with a Sachtler Tripod System -
They come with a label sticker. I would number them rather than project label them.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 has arrived and it’s fascinating.
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