[Craig Seeman]

Those few who’ve gotten it seem to be VERY HAPPY. One person reported and vignetting issue and sent the camera back but the others have been A’OK with the features and quality.

[Craig Seeman]

It seems a handful of people started getting them in Europe around the 16th or 19th. I’ve heard of only one person in the USA who got his on the 21st in Utah. Another person from LA has confirmed they’ll have it tomorrow.

Talk about dribbling in.

I’m hopping I’ll get mine this week.

[Craig Seeman]

I feel uncomfortable pointing to another forum. Since the person with the demo DoF shots had posted them to their site I’ll ask them if they wouldn’t mind my posting the link here at the COW.

[Craig Seeman]

24p to card is 24p (no pull down) in 35mbps. There are cases where the OUTPUT (not to card) is PsF (1080p30 and p25 component out for example).

I’ve scene DoF test posted to another forum that I found “shocking” IMHO. I guess I’d become used to 1/3″ chips. 1/2″ chips really makes a difference. The fact that the camera has a DoF display in the LCD helps too.

[Craig Seeman]

I usually put in my contracts that I retain ALL RIGHTS to all materials I generate until FINAL payment is made.

BTW, maybe it’s me and my 25 years of experience working for 6 facilities that all went under . . . Final payment is ON deliver and not after. Either that final delivery is in person with tapes or media being xfered along with the payment in hand or the check arrives in my mailbox and the media goes out that day.

Sure there are exceptions but in your business model you have to examine what it does to your business if some small percentage don’t make that payment. To me that’s lost time and any efforts to collect is additional lost time.

[Craig Seeman]

Although I don’t have direct experience shooting with one card and formating the other, my understanding is that may not be a problem. I believe it may also be possible to delete the clips from the card from the laptop so that one wouldn’t have to reformat the card each time.

Interesting question though regards the workflow but the presentations I’ve seen all pointed out theoretically continuous record with 2 cards and a laptop.

[Craig Seeman]

and you said something about NOT using CMOS in 2/3″ chips because they were not good enough.

[Pedro Ferreira] “Just for you to know, the Grass Valley approach uses 2/3 inch sensors and 22 bit internal processing and 10 bit 4:2:2 recording… certainly not comparable to SONY’s EX approach… “

[Craig Seeman]

[Pedro Ferreira] “will my neighbour competitor leave me eating dust in normal Lighting conditions?”

What are “normal” lighting conditions? There are SO MANY times when I shoot corporate or marketing videos where conditions prevent me from using a light kit in very low light situations. The EX1 will be the first small “hand held” size camera that can produce good video in low light. I sometimes have to shoot in dimly lit bars or restaurants. I’ve also shot corporate videos in testing labs where no light is permitted. Now if you’re shooting in daylight or with a light kit all the time it’s not as critical.

[Pedro Ferreira] “Files, and converting them to uncompressed 10 Bit, and am Very Very strict on final output quality, wich means most projects involve major surgery to achieve the best look possible. “

You’d likely get better quality shooting with an EX1 in 35mbps (instead of HDV 25mbps) and going to ProRes although 10 bit uncompressed is certainly ok. Of course in a studio situation the EX1 will give you 10 bit uncompressed straight out of SDI.

[Pedro Ferreira] “So, I need to record sometimes more than half an hour non-stop to edit next, and that cam’s inability to record at least that kind of time makes me wonder If I am missing something or not”

Huh??? Two 8GB cards gives you 50 minutes and 2 16GB cards will give you 100 minutes at 35mbps or 140 minutes at 25mbps. In addition, if you bring a laptop you can record NON STOP since one card can record while the other offloads into the laptop. 50 minutes of video would take around 5 minutes to load into that laptop.

[Pedro Ferreira] “And CMOS are a MINUS for me…If they where as good as they say, F900 would have CMOS…or F23 too…you see… “

CMOS technology is being improved on. It’s gone from 1 chip consumer cameras to small chip cameras like the Sony V1 and will eventually have the performance for 2/3″ cameras. The Grass Valley Infinity is also using CMOS. Sony certainly will be developing higher end CMOS cameras too.

[Pedro Ferreira] “When I need to shoot anything worth it I go HDCAM or HDCAM SR (rented ) “

And certainly the F23 is a better camera than the EX1 if you have the budget. If you’ve limited yourself and your client base.

The Z1 can’t shoot progressive, over crank, under crank 720p60 and with 1/3″ chips it won’t match the depth of field of the 12″ chips on the EX1.

I’d STRONGLY recommend you read both the EX1 product literature and the many “first looks” that have been posted around the web.

[Craig Seeman]

Sony rep told me a nifty “trick.” Apparently you can change the .mp4 to a .ts (Transport Stream) and the files will PLAY on a Blu-ray disk in any Blu-ray player. No compression or authoring needed. The 35mbps VBR falls within Blu-rays playable 40mbps data rate.

Of course one might copy the files from card to disc and burn the free Sony clip browser on to the disc for the client to view if they don’t have a Blu-ray player. This workflow seems a lot easier than handing the client a tape or even XDCAM disc which they then need to have or hunt down or rent a player for.

[Craig Seeman]

Ryan, you need to talk as much or more about cameras rather than just codecs. Sony certainly views XDCAM (HD) as the new digital betacam. It’s not a direct 1 to 1 comparison though.

Certainly XDCAM acquisition has been approved for broadcast documentary applications on various channels such as Discovery Channel.

Certainly an F355 holds up well compared to digi beta kits. The EX1 seems to be an excellent b-camera to it and I know of no equivalent new digi beta system for $6700. I believe a F355 will cost in the neighborhood of $25-$30k depending on what lens you get, etc.

I can’t imagine anyone suggesting XDCAM (HD) is not a step up from digi beta (the format). The camera kit itself depends on what you have, want, need.

Of course you need to think about WHY you need to upgrade. You may have none. In which case you can stick with digi beta. On the other hand if you think tapeless workflow, HD, various new camera features and tweaks (from cine gamma to under/over crank) will help your production/business.

There are downsides to digibeta as well as XDCAM (HD) but how those impact you really depends on your own/you client’s needs.

I think the vast majority of people purchasing new kits today would choose XDCAM HD (or P2-DVCProHD) over digibeta. Some certainly may choose HDCAM (or HDCAM SR) or DVCProHD tape depending on budget and need.

For corporate video XDCAM HD or P2-DVCProHD make much more sense . . . if you are considering an upgrade for business reasons. If your clients are happy with Digibeta and you see no advantage to upgrading, don’t. You will have to at some point though as everyone shifts to HD.