EX1R / Nano Questions before I buy

[William Urschel]

Mike:

Well, I’m very limited in actual experience re your question, in some respects, and normally I deplore those giving opinions without related experience -but I have SOME experience. First, a disclaimer – I have an EX-1, NOT an EX-1R, but about the EX-1, I just love EVERY aspect of it, EXCEPT the blasted thing is sooo awkward handheld (same can evidently be said about the EX-1R) – I get around this, when not on sticks, by using the inexpensive, and very effective Steady Stick (you can Google it). I would certainly second all the comments above about NOT using auto white balance (only exception of mine is when panning from daylight to incadescent, etc.). I have NO experience in feeding the AVI directly to my PC. But I have quite a bit of experience with the Nano and am over the top enthusiastic about it – you’ll pay for it straight up using its Flash cards, instead of the relatively expensive SxS for the EX-1R (though you may want to purchase the SxSs anyhow, just to insure a second, lesser quality backup). I won’t say any more about the Nano, except to refer you to a post, a couple, three below “Nano!!!” by Michael Palmer, and if you have not already read it, please do, including my lengthy comments based on ooodles of experience with the Nano, and real world experience about the results when viewed on consumer test screen viewing! Again, I can’t comment on plugging the output directly to a PC or Mac, but if you go with a combo of the EX-1R and Nano, you’ll be joining hundreds who are so positively taken with each device, and who usually can’t say enough good about the combo – but I’ll bet you’ve already seen some of these, which led to your consideration of the combo in the first place!

[Mike Caruana]

Thanks for all the great responses. I am definitely sold on the EX1R but may wait a week to see what happens with prices (although I doubt it will drop being a pro model).

In the last two days, B&H has dropped the pre-order price for the Canon FX105 from $4300 to $3995 and the HS21 is now $499 (expires today)! Probably because they have a few people over at the CES looking at what’s coming down the pipeline for 2011. I may order a Vixia for the heck of it to start playing around with and then use it as a family/vacation camcorder later on (I’m not going to want to lug my EX1R to Hawaii, etc…)

[Brent Dunn]

You can take me to Hawaii and I’ll lug the camera 🙂

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite

[Rick Diamond]

Mike, the EX1 will provide great images for you. I would strongly suggest using all manual controls however. I understand that going from a fully automatic consumer camera to a camera that is capable of fully manual professional images is a big step. You will definately find it worth the effort though. If you’re starting out by shooting yourself, you’ll have the time for a little trial and error. Take that time and get proficient at the process. As far as green screening, the EX1 recorded directly to SxS or SDHC at 35mbps/4:2:0 works very well. I green screen in After Effects using the Keylight plugin. I’ve tried hosing the HD-SDI out to my Matrox MXO-2 at Pro Res 422. It also works fine but if there’s any improvement over the SxS recorded signal, I can’t see it. So, at this point in time, I would say that it’s premature to be buying the Nano, unless you have a client that needs delivery of a higher codec than 35mbps.

Rick

[Don Greening]

[Rick Diamond] “So, at this point in time, I would say that it’s premature to be buying the Nano, unless you have a client that needs delivery of a higher codec than 35mbps. “

Indeed. There’s really no use for a C.D. Nano for interviews because there’s not enough motion happening to make much of a difference between the the 35mbit 4:2:0 and the higher bit rates and colour space you get from using the Nano. Where the Nano really shines is in fast motion shots. Here’s a comparison picture kindly donated by Michael a while ago that really shows the difference.

– Don

Don Greening
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com