Clint Fleckenstein
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
-
Ditto on that. You’d be amazed at the way Final Cut (or a Mac in general, really) can behave when it gets a preferences file corrupted. Sadly it’s not a very rare occurrence. I just had a late night session where I had to push something out via Firewire and got nothing but digital garbage on both audio tracks (but video was perfect). You guessed it: preferences. There’s also some sort of MediaIO plist file that might have to hit the trash, too…depending on your issue.
Cf
-
I love my 7D and it’s fun to take out and play around with for video but unless I had a specific situation for which a DSLR is the clear-cut best solution, I’d never trade a video camera for it. A camera such as an EX1R is a great video camera without having to make all sorts of time-consuming and work-intensive concessions and extra provisions in workflow. Sometimes a DSLR is the exact tool for the shot, but most of the time I dare say it isn’t. Yet.
If your question was between a 5D and a second EX1R, I’d say go for it and have a gear selection that allows you to choose when to use each. If you’re asking whether to ditch the Sony and get a DSLR, I think you’d find that a painful proposition in the long run.
Don’t compare list price of a 5D vs an EX1R, either. The EX doesn’t need all sorts of expensive rigging to get it to work, additional technicians to pull focus and that sort of thing, and it just simply does a lot of video-related things BETTER outside of image quality.
Look at some of the behind-the-scenes stories on a lot of the really stunning DSLR videos out there, and you’ll find that they’ve got a half dozen or more highly trained people working to make that 5D put out the kind of images you see.
C
-
XDCAM EX footage could have worked a LOT better if Sony had started with ONE app for browsing, logging, and transferring / rewrapping. Instead I think they chose to make some XDCAM tools compatible with EX and muddied the waters significantly.
Thankfully we’ve been to busy for me to find out if this has been fixed, but I remember early on when we logged and named clips in Clip Browser, only to find out that those items are worthless to XDCAM Transfer and didn’t transfer to Final Cut Pro. If this has been addressed, please let me know…because that would be VERY handy.
I don’t feel like having hundreds (if not thousands) of cached sources in my XDCAM Transfer pane, so when I clear them out any clip information such as subclips or other metadata is cleared as well, instead of being stored in that oh-so-important BPAV structure. Again, tell me if that’s been fixed, because it was really infurating to see that information vanish when we cleaned up the Source pain in XDCAM Transfer the first time.
I remain devoted to the XDCAM EX gear, because I still think it’s the best thing out there. I do, however, wish that Sony had gone out on a limb and made a more EX-specific XDCAM tool to handle browsing, transferring, and rewrapping all in one shot. Oh, and make good use of the BPAV folder for clip logging information.
Cf
-
1) It’s easy to get good keys with this camera. Shoot 1080p30 and you’ll have all the resolution you need.
2) If you’re worried about spill, a little bit can often be overcome in your keyer. One plus is that you’re shooting waist-up, so you can cheat ’em toward your camera a bit more. Not sure how I feel about throwing the Chromaflex variable on top of a situation you already feel is challenging.
3) I use Keylight in After Effects. Not only is it really capable even with poorly-lit, guerilla-style footage from the worst of circumstances, but I like to key my footage right as I composite and add the other elements. AE is my playground for that.
Cf
-
When we bought our EX cameras, B&H had a pretty nice little accessory kit. It included the Sony WA adapter, a Sony USB reader for SxS cards (this does NOT work with MxR type adapters tho), the Vortex Media training DVD for the camera, a large capacity battery, a large capacity card, and some other stuff. You might look into that.
Second vote here for the Sachtler FSB-6. GREAT for the price. Ours was $1500 but that was with carbon sticks. I keep saying I’m going to order a second one but haven’t pushed that through yet.
Cf
-
I hope to be very soon. Search for the thread “Blacks not black” here in this COW forum.
Cf
-
https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com
1-800-538-7550 is the parts number, they have lots of different contact numbers on that site for different reasons. My suggestion is to call the parts guy and have him figure out how that LCD panel is activated when swung out. From there maybe you’ll have to get transferred to service if you can’t perform the repair yourself.
In my experience, some parts do NOT appear on Sony’s schematics. I ran into that when one of our part-timers let one of our EX cameras (EX1) do a backflip off the tripod last month, shattering the EVF on the back of the camera. Some of the guts I needed to make the repairs did not appear on the parts diagram. A quick call to Sony had the right part number for me in less than five minutes. Then they put out a service bulletin (which showed up in my email that afternoon) to let people know of the part number.
Cf
-
I don’t know how the camera knows when the LCD is swung out/open or not, but perhaps there’s a switch that tells it so (and turns on the LCD). And that switch could be the source of your problem. I didn’t see anything on the parts diagrams so you’ll probably have to call Sony ServicesPLUS and ask ’em.
Cf
-
That’s in the hidden menu. Hold ALL camera buttons down while simultaneously switching on the camera and sticking your tongue in the MxR adapter (this has not been tested with MxM or Sony adapters).
Cf
-