Memory card confusion for pmw ex1

[Craig Seeman]

[Robert Floutier] “I could down size by shooting at 720p”
Data rate doesn’t change with frame size or frame rate.

If you have firmware 1.11 and up you can use an adaptor and good SDHC card.
Firmware 1.2 is the most reliable.

You’d then would be able to use MXR, MXM, Hoodman adaptor and new Sandisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC 32GB card probably around $200-$250.

No sense going there until you check the firmware. I would not use SDHC card until you practiced first if you go that route. There’s some user error issues if you push record again while the card is still writing since there a little bit slower than SXS. You also can’t use “bargain” SDHC cards except with may firmware 1.2.

The only “lower prices” SXS cards themselves are SXS-1 cards which might be a bit over $500 each I believe.

[Robert Floutier]

Craig I really appreciate your help.

So essentially I would need to find out what firmware the camera has currently? (how do I check this? baring in mind I bought the model 2nd hand)

lets say my firmware was not up to date, how would i go about making it so? and briefly what exactly is it? is it software?

Once updated i would buy the cards themselves (any you would reccomend? is there a quality drop for SXS to SDHC cards?) along with the adpaters and im ready to go?

taking in consdieration there is a slight delay in record time?

[Craig Seeman]

[Robert Floutier] “So essentially I would need to find out what firmware the camera has currently? (how do I check this? baring in mind I bought the model 2nd hand) “

Here’s the manual if it didn’t come with one.
https://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/xdcamex/manuals/PMWEX1_OM.pdf

Firmware might be in the maintenance menu which isn’t listed in the manual though. I’m not in front of the camera so I can’t check but someone here will post for sure.

[Robert Floutier] “lets say my firmware was not up to date, how would i go about making it so? and briefly what exactly is it? is it software? “

It depends which version you have. 1.2 is available as a download from Sony’s site
You’ll want to bookmark this page
https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcamexsite/
Firmware can be found here
https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcamexsite/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcamex-downloads-XDCAMEXFirmwareUpgrade.shtml
Some people find DIY a bit risky since there is some risk of bricking the camera. Sony will do it for about $130 and claim a 5 – 8 business day turnaround.

[Robert Floutier] “Once updated i would buy the cards themselves (any you would reccomend? is there a quality drop for SXS to SDHC cards?) along with the adpaters and im ready to go? “

It’s recording data. There’s no impact on quality. You just have to what up to 10 seconds before starting record again. That’s never been a problem for me. Firmware 1.2 (I’m still on 1.11) increases the buffer size apparently so it finishes the write to the card a bit faster. That also makes some of the “lesser” brands much more reliable.

MXR and MXM were once exactly the same. Each will now claim there’s is better. MXM does make the Hoodman adaptor so those are the same. Sony now makes their own SDHC adaptor which is more than twice as expensive as the others. All the above newest adaptors are better than their original adaptors so just don’t buy these used.

I’m using an original MXR (bought the first day) with two Sandisk Ultra II 32GB cards but do NOT use that. Sandisk has changed the way their cards are made. I’d recommend Sandisk Extreme Class 10. With firmware 1.2 it seems even the new Transcend 32GB cards work but that may not be the case with firmware 1.11 though. It’s been confirmed that the Sandisk Extreme Class 10 will overcrank just like SXS with firmware 1.2 though.

[Robert Floutier]

Thanks again craig.

delving a little more into firmware I found a very helpful link which was from a ‘Vimeo’ account. A fairly straight forward step by step guide to link the firmware 1.2 that you recommended to my camera.

https://vimeo.com/10106072

drags on a bit but its very detailed.

regarding the slow motion feature the camera has. I used it for the first time the other evening and found that when i played back the footage I filmed it didnt seem as if it had worked, or if it was working it had slow mo’d only the tiniest bit. Is this something that is used for editing purposes? eg. so when you slow mo it in editing suite it looks better quality. or hav i set it up wrong?

Final query is do u recommend i get vortexs ‘mastering the sony pmw ex1?’ As I have lots of questions regarding the camera but I dont want to waste ppls time. Does it cover alot of the field stuff i’m likely to encounter?

Thanks again Craig

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Vimeo framework” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Jay Curlee]

This is slightly tangential but I still have firmware 1.12 for my Ex-1 and am not conveniently located to a sony service center. I also would like to avoid having a week without the camera. With my luck I would brick the camera if I tried the firmware update. That said, I was also an early adopter of MxR. I bought a few of Class 2 Sandisk 16 gb and Class 6 Transcend 16gb cards. Are these cards still recommended by those with my configuration? I have had one Transcend card fail–fortunately without a loss of data.

Are there other reliable brands? I’d really like to add a couple of 32gb cards that will work with 1.12 Firmware.

I highly recommend the MXR Card.

Thanks,

Jay

Jay Curlee

JC Communications
Makers of Rocking the Boat: A Musical Conversation and Journey
http://www.rockingtheboatmovie.com

[Robert Floutier]

This video tutorial is all set for anyone. If i managed to do it, anyone can. I am still such a beginner with my pmw ex1 but it was very very easy (whilst a little time consuming). But like craig said above you’ll be a fairly long time without a camera and you have to hand over a fair bit of cash, considerin you can get it for free.

How were the original cards you used. im still waiting on my cards to come through and i’ll hav a practice on them before I go out for a shoot but anything I should bare in mind other than the speed and not being able to slow mo my work.

thanks

[Jay Curlee]

If you are asking how my original SxS cards worked, they were fine. And the Transcend Class 6 and Sandisk Class 2 were good too.

Jay Curlee

JC Communications
Makers of Rocking the Boat: A Musical Conversation and Journey
http://www.rockingtheboatmovie.com