The PMW-EX1R is the successor to the multiple award-winning EX1 and further extends the capabilities of the XDCAM EX family with great new features such as DVCAM recording, Cache Recording, Picture Inversion and a host of additional refinements. The EX1R is the ideal solution for customers such as broadcasters, independent videographers and film makers who need exceptional HD picture quality and state-of-the-art workflow from a compact and affordable handheld camcorder.
That’s what Sony have said- so what’s new!
IMPROVEMENTS & NEW FEATURES OVER THE PMW-EX1:
SD Recording in DVCAM fomat with .avi file extension for easy NLE workflow
PAL & NTSC switchable, 4:3 & 16:9 widescreen And an option to use 2.35:1 frame lines so brilliant if you use with a DOF adaptor for accurate cinema framing.
HDMI Output
New improved Viewfinder ( the old one wasn’t high enough resolution)
Cache Recording - Up to 15 seconds!
One-push Auto Iris
Improved Ergonomics
One push mode change for S & Q
Faster start-up
Switches and Jog Dial improvements
Firmware upgrade by users - download from Sony onto SxS card, no need to return the camera to a service centre.
It’s been a while since I’ve updated you, for reasons that I’ll share with you in a few days.
I’ve been developing a new project that will be live in a few weeks. Book Here
In the meantime I’m presenting alongside Philip Bloom and a host of other big names in the tapeless and HD world at RE Frame San Francisco in October from the 19th -22nd.
Also we’ve just completed a comprehensive training DVD about shooting video with the Canon 5D MK II presented by my good friend Philip Bloom.
It’s called Learn Canon 5D MkII Cinematography with Philip Bloom and is packed with everything you need to know in order to shoot great looking video on your D-SLR.
If you are even considering using the 5D MK II to shoot video then this DVD is an absolute must. In 60 minutes Phil takes you through everything you need to know in order to get the very best from the camera and more importantly how to avoid the pitfalls. There’s alos a bonus section on workflow and syncing audio.
The most satisfying element to writing a blog is receiving questions and feedback.
Thank you to everyone who takes the time to contribute.
I received a question from Chris Sinclair here’s what he was asking:
I’ve shot HDV 1080i60i footage, as well as 5D Mark II h264 30p footage. I want to transcode my clips to archive as XDCAM HD footage. But there’s one problem: XDCAM Transfer only allows write-back of dual mono, not stereo, for my clips. Yes, I can output sequences as dual mono from FCP, but not individual clips, and I haven’t found a way in Compressor or FCP to export each of my clips with an audio setting that converts my stereo signal to dual mono signal. Any thoughts or solutions for a simple transcoding/archiving workflow…Thanks for these great tutorials!?
(especially thank you for the kind words)
So in simple terms, yes there are limitations to what you can currently backup on to XDCAM disc.
At the moment the best way - and quickest - would be to put all of the clips on an XDCAM
1080/60i 25Mbps (1440×1080) sequence with the audio set to Dual-Mono in FCP.
If you need to transcode your Canon 5DmkII footage then I’ve had great success with MPEG Streamclip which is available free from www.squared5.com
As for writing back individual clips to Professional Disc, I haven’t found a way to do it yet. (other than the FCP way which is long-winded)
I’m told that by August Sony will be releasing the write back on the PDW-U1 (for PC) in data mode which would mean you could store your clips as data files using the U1 as a low cost writer. In data mode you can use the professional disc as rugged 50GB data storage.
Mac as always takes a little longer and will hopefully be with us mac’ers by October.
I had a question about where to get these from. We simply bought it from ebay. The qaulity wasn’t great but they’re very low cost and they work. My advice is to buy a few.
I thought you might find this interesting. We had a DOP in this week for a client who wants to shoot on the PDW-700 for a Drama in Bangladesh.
The reason for the test was to see how different the images would look using different combinations of broadcast lenses, Digi-primes, filters and film primes.
Originally the production team who mostly come from a film background were very keen to use a Depth of field adaptor and PL mounted 35mm cine primes simply because of experience using 35mm PL mounted cine lenses on film. However the this was going to have a large impact on the budget with around £60,000 worth of investment required to buy the cinema lenses and a Pro-35 adaptor.
We also tested Zeiss digiprimes and while they looked incredible, they were very very sharp. I’ll let you decide when you watch the film. I just thought that they looked too sharp especially on HD.
The key objective was trying to emulate the look of film. The tests were preformed using HG3 in the PDW-700 hyper gammas as this gives a large dynamic range with subtle tones.
These were the combinations:
Canon HJ22 clean
Canon HJ21 clean
Canon HJ 22 With Lee soft FX filters
Canon HJ 22 With Black Frost
Canon HJ 22 With nets
Zeiss DigiPrimes 7mm & 40mm
Canon HJ 21 with Lee Soft 1 detail off
Canon HJ 21 with Lee Soft 1 detail - 20 (watch how the charts change in the background)
Canon HJ 21 clean detail -20
P&S Pro35 & 16mm Ultra Prime
P&S Pro 35 & 85mm Ultra Prime
We have a holiday here in the UK today and while browsing some tweets I came across this from Steve at Genus in Australia. It’s an advert for the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT1
It made me laugh!
But here’s the thing……also I want one of those camera’s. (Great work from Panasonic marketing in Australia!) Who needs mega expensive commercials when viral marketing sells cameras!
I was in Sofia, Bulgaria at the weekend with my friend and colleague Philip Bloom of www.philipbloom.co.uk and we were teaching a bunch of film makers about how to create the film look using video, depth of field adaptors and learning tapeless workflow.
It was pretty interesting and very enjoyable sharing our knowledge with the film makers.
While we were there we shot some footage on the new Canon 5D MkII.
I thought you might be interested in seeing it.
The camera does have some limitations though!
It only shoots in 30P mode and you have no manual control over shutter speed, ISO or aperture if you use EOS lenses. So we were using a Nikon to Canon EOS adaptor and Zeiss ZF Nikon mount stills lenses.
You have to cheat the film speed and lock it so that you can control the aperture which is a little fiddly but works well particularly at night.
The sensitivity is incredible and most of what you’ll see in the video was shot at ISO 1250.
The codec is H.264 and once finished we transcoded the files to XDCAM EX 35mb/s for editing. This reduces file size considerably and makes for much less processor intensive editing. The transcode software is free and is called MPEG Stream Clip and you can get it here
I’ve been asked a couple of times about the new AJA Ki Pro and although I didn’t managed to see it at NAB a colleague did get his hands on it and we’ve been going through the specs and it is very interesting indeed.
The AJA KiPro is a full 10 bit 4:2:2 recorder at under £4000
If you use FC then this will work a treat
If you are a Mac user then this is a product you need to check out!
This is master quality recording that traditionally on tape means recording on HDCAM SR or HDD5. Ok so those formats have other features and this is not an either or situation rather a compelling argument for tapeless technology advances at cost points that are hard to ignore.
This device sits in a similar category to the Panasonic AG-HPG20 (reviewed on a previous blog entry at www.Tapelessmadeeasy.com)
The Ki Pro is a one piece recording device that has a removable cartridge which is about the size of a large DVCAM tape box. The cartridge can be either Hard drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SDD) with a further option to record on to Express cards (2 slots) It has a familiar set of operational controls (like a conventional record deck-play, FF, RW Pause, Rec…) and a comprehensive I/O panel with component, composite, HD-SDI and HDMI. Analogue balanced XLR inputs and unbalanced Phono inputs.
It records full 10 bit 4:2:2 in Apples ProRes codec and the base unit has a £3200 UK List price. (that’s without drive cartridges) The Drives range from 128GB -256GB SDD and 250GB-500GB HDD so there’s lots of storage and of course you can use Express cards.
Powering the unit is easy with a 4 pin XLR using battery power or a 110/240 supplied AC adaptor
Not really practical for small camcorders
It’s not going to be very practical for small camcorders but on a larger production it could prove to be a very handy acquisition format.
AJA have also created an underslung cradle that bolts on to the camera and sits between the base plate of the tripod and the camera. The unit is not huge but equally if you do a lot of hand held work this will add extra weight and some bulk which will contribute to operator fatigue. But if you don’t need to hand hold too much this is a tremendous product if you are an FCP user.
It’s a sensible move by AJA to create a device that records in the native codec of FCP. No transcoding, file re-wrapping or even any more transfer time.
With this quality at a recording bit rate of 180 mb/s the Ki-Pro will work well with HD minicams.
As soon as I am able to get one from AJA I’ll test it and let you know how we find it.
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