EX-3 setting recommendation

[Don Greening]

Your Z1U only shoots interlaced so I would set the EX to match that. You’re looking for continuity here to keep the look of both cameras similar. I would use the HQ setting on the EX because it’s less likely to cause picture breakup issues recording fast scene changes (like speeding cars). The SP mode is essentially HDV. Modern day editors like your Edius program are very adept at conforming one codec to match another.

I would use manual iris for sure because you don’t want the picture to continually cycle from darker to lighter as you follow vehicles in and out of the unlit areas of the track. That would be extremely distracting for the the viewer. Set your exposure for the lit areas and let the shadows fall where they may.

[Ronnie Martin] “white balance manual or auto?”

With a wide shot the colour temperature should remain fairly constant since there’s probably only one type of track lighting anyway. You can set the white balance manually if you want but I would suspect that auto-tracing white balance would work pretty well in this situation.

Shutter speed is always a compromise between motion blur at the lower settings and a stroby looking picture at the other end. In your case you also have to think about having enough light because higher shutter speeds reduce the amount of light hitting the imagers. No one can give you an exact setting for your particular situation.

– Don

[Andrew Stone]

On a strictly theoretical level, I would lean towards SP 1080/60i on the EX3 as this is closest to the Z1U but and this is a big but since you are doing potentially fast moving stuff to experiment with shooting in HQ 1080/60i on the EX3. You will probably get fewer artifacts and they still could match up quite well. The key is 1080/60i. The big question is whether to use HP or SP mode.

[Steve Wargo]

This is the very thing that I did when I started my production company in 1982 and we shot on VHS, moving up to S-VHS in ’87 or so.

I would start with SP and look for problems. If you don’t really have any, you’ll get more record time. The racers will not even see an occasional glitch. They wouldn’t see it if you stopped the video and showed it to them.

Lighting at a track can be tough. Dirt tracks do not have a reputation for even lighting. You want manual iris (auto iris is bad, bad, bad) and set it so that you are at the top of your exposure when the cars are under the brightest light. While the white cars might seem a bit hot, you’ll still have a picture in the darker areas.

Talk to the track owner about spending a couple hundred grand on evening out the lighting. He’ll probably decline because the beer drinking crowd at dirt tracks don’t care. He’s right. I’m not trying to slam the crowd. I was a professional dirt track racer from ’76 till ’85 and, trust me, as long as we could see the car numbers, we were very happy. If it was in focus, we were in heaven.

Back then, we had tube cameras and the color was never right. Today’s cameras have got to be fantastic compared to those things and I envy your product.

Where are you located anyway?

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
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Rafael Amador]

[Steve ] ” I was a professional dirt track racer from ’76 till ’85”
And how for a pro racer 25 Mbps is enough?
Always more and more power!! 🙂
I think that if the 25 Mbps of my EX-1 disappear I won’t miss it at all.
I haven’t used a single time. i do not mean that is not useful. if I should record a long conference or so is an option.
Record 25 only if you have no memory for 35 recording.
Almost 25% more of data rate makes a huge difference.
Your pictures that will have a lot of lights/shadows will be much easier to CC.
There are some Picture Profiles designed to work in low-light situation.
I found one that works really well although I haven’ tried in many different situations.
You can find it in: http://www.basspig.com
BTW would be interesting if we start to share some information about Picture Profiles.
I have tried few of the recepies that is possible to find in Internet.
Some of them gives a very interesting picture but they let no much room for a later CC.
I prefer to get the look I want in post. Most of the time I shoot I don’t know how I go to use the pictures.
I want something that let me use get the best of the camera letting me freedom to treat the image.
And a happy new year for all of you my friends.
Cheers,
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Ronnie Martin]

Talk to the track owner about spending a couple hundred grand on evening out the lighting. He’ll probably decline because the beer drinking crowd at dirt tracks don’t care.

Thanks guys for all your suggestions. I have been shooting dirt racing video for the past 4 years or so and progressed from a PD170, Zu1, EX-1 and now finally the EX-3. I know you don’t mean to trash the dirt racing crown Steve, but obviously you have not been to the same tracks I have been going to lately. In the main grandstand no alcoholic beverages are allowed. Many tracks have a section for this on the back straight a way. The cars are very sophisticated in construction and design. I guess the best way to describe it is to go to this link on You Tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCss53LmJDA

(sorry about the poor quality it actually looked pretty good until You Tube re encoded it.)

It is more like mini NASCAR these days. I am sure you can find some of the tracks that you mention but they are the exception not the rule.

Many of the current NASCAR drivers drive dirt during and in the off season to keep their reflexes up to par. Also many of them have bought interest in the larger tracks across the country. The top class is the Super Late Models and they move very fast and the action is really hard to capture with just one camera. Our results last year with the EX-1 were much improved over the Zu1 even though our end result is a SD DVD.

The only complaint that I have had with the EX and the ZU1 is when I down convert to SD DVD for authoring that I get artifacts on horizontal and vertical components of the image. This is especially evident when panning and zooming. Unfortunately with the cars traveling at over 120MPH on 1/4 or 3/8 mile track you are constantly moving to keep up with the action. Most all of my shooting is hand held. I found that a tripod or mini pod did not allow any up and down movement that is needed as the cars approach and go buy. This weekend I used a modified shoulder brace that I bought for the EX-1 and aside from a sore shoulder it was much easier to handle than the EX-1 just not as much pressure on my wrist.

Sorry to ramble on so….. I have learned so very much from all of you on the Cow forums. Please don’t be offended by my dumb stupid questions from time to time.

Keep up the good work….. and keep those suggestions and picture profiles coming. Best of luck with your video efforts in the New Year.

Ronnie Martin
http://www.dirtracingvideo.com

Ronnie Martin
Kato Video Productions

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[Steve Wargo]

Thanks for the clip. I only see two dark spots and that’s between 1&2 and between 3&4. The rest looks pretty even. As for the EX-3, I can see where you may need a long lens from that vantage point. We shot all of our later stuff on stix with proper lens controls. I worked with ESPN for 8 years shooting off-road races. That meant a 30 puond camera on the shoulder for 8 hours or more with very few breaks. I can’t give you much sympathy on holding the EX on your shoulder.

As for the beer infested rednecks, that was meant in jest, of course. I’ll look around for the dirt track commercial spot we did and see if I can’t post that.

Your footage looked very good, by the way. As far as bit rate, I would still test the 25mb against the 35. If it works, why not use it? When your shooting an event, it would be tough to lose something because you were a minute short on record time.

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
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Craig Seeman]

[Steve Wargo] “When your shooting an event, it would be tough to lose something because you were a minute short on record time. “
But with MxR and SDHC 32GB you can pack the camera with 4 hours of record time at 35mbps. At $185 (compared to $1425 for 32GB SxS) you can bring 4 cards for a full 8 hours of recording in addition to loosing the need for laptop and assistant to offload. With high motion subject I’d imagine that 35mbps will hold up where 25mbps might break.

[Ronnie Martin]

The Magnolia track on the clip is the best lit track of all that I attend. Most of that footage was shot early in the afternoon before the sun went down. The sun is to my back and I get some nice shots there. Some of the others really are a challenge not only for me as a videographer but for the drivers as well. It all depends on the placement of the lights and my vantage point. At some of the tracks I have to shoot right into them when the cars come out of turn 4 and then on the the front straight. The EX series sure does a good job for there is no smear at all. I just wish it came with a 20x lens. One of the best vantage points that I have is at a track in South Mississippi right at the Mississippi Louisiana line. The track has several dark spots and the infield is really not lit at all. I started there with my PD170 and it was the best low light camera I have used at the dirt tracks. AT the track in South Mississippi,I am usually way up on top of the press box and it is like shooting fish in a barrel. The end result is pretty good in spite of the low light conditions.

Thanks again guys for all your help

Ronnie Martin
http://www.dirtracingvideo.com

Ronnie Martin
Kato Video Productions

[Craig Seeman]

The EX can rival if not surpass the PD-170. Don Greening wrote about it here at the COW. Check the articles section. Shoot 1080i60 (progressive eats light).

You can get a 1.6 lens adaptor for the EX1. You should be able to get longer lenses for EX3.

[Philip Imbrenda]

We have EX1 & Ex3 with 60 gig hard drives. The drive does not allow over or under cranking, the SXS are costly Where can you buy a MXR?
Thank you
Philip
Tv One

Tv One Productions