Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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[Ron Shook] “If you’re able to, lower the detail enhancement on the EX1 and check the noise level again.”
Will do. Initially I thought the test would be most beneficial with the Sony default settings right out of the box. All I did was change the recording format from 1080i to 1080p. The shutter speed default was 1/60 and I never messed with the shutter angle or even looked to see what it was but I’m assuming it’s at 180. To keep the test fair I also reset the PD170 to default settings as well.
Any further testing or comparing will have to wait now until later as I will be away over the holidays until Jan 1st.
– Don
“Away from the camera but not from the COW”
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You have to create a custom DV NTSC capture preset and change the audio capture bit and sample rates from 16 bit 48K to 12 bit 32K. Go to the Final Cut Pro menu>Audio/Video Settings then click on the Capture Presets tab. Create a copy of the DV NTSC preset using the “Duplicate” button then “Edit” button. Change the audio format to “32.000 kHz 16-bit 2-chan” then click OK
In A/V devices tab click the Options button beside “Audio – Firewire DV”. Change the bit depth to 12 from 16 and the sample rate to 32000.00 from 48000.00
Activate the Log and Capture window (Apple-8) and make sure the capture setting is using the new capture preset you’ve just created and you’re ready to rock and roll.
– Don
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[Bob Douglas] “So does the Sony Transfer Software do the Conversion to Quicktime while moving the files off the flash cards at 9X?”
That’s correct. There is no extra time added for conversion during the transfer because the actual file is not being re-written, the .mp4 wrapper is simply being removed.
– Don
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The report is somewhat misleading because the initial test conclusions were reached from simply looking through the viewfinders of both cameras. The text of the article has not been updated yet to reflect the result of the frame grabs that are from a another test done 2 days later where the findings are somewhat different.
The frame grabs show that the EX1 beats the PD170 slightly in all stages of the low light test but that the EX1 generates more picture noise at plus 18 gain than the PD170 does.
After the first test I was concerned that the viewfinders might not be giving a true representation of what the recorded video may actually look like. So, to take any viewfinder discrepancies between the 2 cameras out of the equation I re-did the test. The frame grabs in the article are the result of that second test.
– Don
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[Bob Douglas] “Has anyone used the EX SxS Cards in a Mac Pro ExpressCard/34 slot yet? “
Yes. A Mac Pro is a desktop and doesn’t have an Express 34 slot. A Macbook Pro is a laptop and does have the slot.
[Bob Douglas] “Did it just mount on the Desktop or is software required? “
It won’t mount on the desktop without the software driver from Sony which is free.
[Bob Douglas] “Are the Video files QuickTime’s or do they have to be converted, if so is it time consuming?”
You need the XDCAM Transfer software to transfer the the files, which is also free from Sony. The files are in an .mp4 wrapper and the transfer software will convert them to QT .mov files during the transfer. The above software comes included on a disc with shipping PMW EX1 cameras and is also available from the Sony web site as a free download.
[Bob Douglas] “What kind of transfer speeds are you seeing?”
Around 9 times real time.
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/142/856240
– Don
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[Raymond Motion Pictures] “It’s not ‘incidental’ if they’re performing to it.”
Correct. But music playing in the background at a wedding is considered incidental recording. Again, this is here in Canada. What that is considered in other parts of the globe I have no idea.
– Don
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[Gavin Dunt] “so you either dump back to tape (which defeats the object of tapeless workflow), buy a stack of 500Gb drives (all eggs in one basket analogy springs to mind), or dump your rushes after the edit. “
…….or back up to XDCAM disk, or back up to standard Blu-ray writable disks. If you back up to Blu-ray you can change the .mp4 filename to .ts and that will allow anyone with a set top Blu-ray player or PS3 to view clips from the EX1. This is huge if you need rushes done every day.
– Don
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[Caton Clark] “Any truth to this?”
Haven’t heard that before. Perhaps you’re referring to the fact that if you have the 2 internal drives configured with RAID 0 (both drives acting as one) and one drive fails the media on the other will not be accessible. But there won’t be anything wrong, physically, with the drive that did not fail.
– Don
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[Rafael Amador] “I will open a blog about:-)”
You should!
– Don
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Sounds like you got a pretty good deal, Raf. I paid $6999.00 CDN for just the camera. Don’t forget that Sony has a mail-in rebate for a free 8 gig card. Make sure your supplier gives you the Sony mail-in form when you get your camera.
– Don