Sony EX3/Atomos “Samurai”—–Feedback Please

[Michael Slowe]

Hey Bill, I didn’t know they did an upgrade for 50mbps shooting, do they do one for the EX 1, well worth it if they do.

Michael Slowe

[Michael Palmer]

Bill,
The Samuri would be a great way to compress your video as it uses the 10-Bit color pallet and at 50 Mbps it will move the color space from 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 and this is much more information that will go into your digital recording file. It would be better to up the bit rate to at least 100Mbps Long GOP or 220 Mbps I-Frame.

Michael,
The Ex1/3 cameras only come with 35bps 4:2:0 compression and there is no upgrade that I know of available to improve them, not that it couldn’t be fixed with a firmware update, Sony’s marketing plan has newer replacement models that use this same encoder. Convergent Design uses the same Sony Mpeg-2
(8 Bit) encoder in their Nano Flash, the only difference is CD opens the encoder for the end user to set the bit rate and compression scheme for either Intra or Inter frame compression, and as you increase the bit rate to 100 Mbps (amount of bits that will be saved) you can choose either all I-frame or Long GOP compression. Hope this helps

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Bill Griffin]

OK cool….many thanks…but I really want to know if anybody has had problems with the “Samurai” itself… is it worth the money?

Bill Griffin
HD Cameraman
972-475-6870
http://www.dallascamguy.com
Dallas, Texas USA

[John Street]

Hi Bill,

I have successfully used two Samurais (one connected to EX1r and one to EX3) at a dozen live events in the past 2 years. I use them to record presentations one hour at a time (1hr per clip) for 6-8 hrs per day. I record in the ProRes 422 format (not LT and not HQ) and have not had a problem. I forget the make and model of hard drives that I use, but be sure to purchase drives that meet the Atomos spec.

Good luck!

john street

[Michael Slowe]

Thanks Michael, understood. I suppose if one really needed 50mbps the EX replacement, the PMW 200 would be the camera to go for. Recording to a Convergent Design box is too cumbersome for documentary work.

Michael Slowe

[Michael Palmer]

I have the Anton Bauer battery adapter for my EX3 and I just velcro my Nano on to the larger AB battery, its nice to know I have redundant recording as well, worth every penny IMHO.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Bill Griffin]

Mike,

Yes, having a back up recording is what I like about a external recorder and I have used the nanoFlash with my camera for several reality shows….and its not that bad on the back…as I use the Sony shoulder brace I got off ebay.com and it has a extra mount on the left side….

thanks to all for the good feedback……

Bill Griffin
HD Cameraman
972-475-6870
http://www.dallascamguy.com
Dallas, Texas USA