• Gain Setup – sets gain for each gain switch setting, -3db to 18dB in 3dB steps.
• Shutter: select between speed, angle, Extended Clear Scan (ECS) and Slow shutter (SLS). At 24p, no shutter is 1/24. Speeds: 1/32, 1/48, 1/50, 1/60, … 1/2000. Angles: 180, 90, 45, 22.5, and 11.25 degrees. ECS frequency: 31.98 – 1972. SLS frames accumulated: 2-8.
• EX (extended) Slow Shutter - Off, 16, 32, or 64 frames.
• Shot Transition - see Features, below.
• MF Assist - when enabled, and in MF mode (servo manual focus), MF Assist waits until you focus manually, then it momentarily auto-focuses within a narrow range to fine-tune your setting.
• Color Bar Type - choose between 75% and 100% full-field bars, or multiformat ARIB STD-B28 / SMPTE RP 219-2002 bars (http://www.arib.or.jp/english/html/overview/img/arib_std-b28v1.0_e.pdf)
• Flicker Reduce - choose on, off, or auto, and 50 or 60Hz. This is said to help reduce flicker from discontinuous lighting, e.g. from 60Hz lighting when shooting 50Hz rates, but I’ve never been able to see any effect from it whatsoever on any Sony camcorder. Instead, I use a shutter speed or ECS frequency that eliminates flicker.
• Zoom Speed - choose speeds for the Low and High settings of the top-mounted zoom rocker, and the IR remote’s zoom buttons, each with a range of 0-99.
• Interval Rec - intervalometer, shooting 1-9 frames at intervals ranging from once per second to once per day.
• Frame Rec - shoot single frames for animation (or you can shoot 3, 6, or 9 at a time)
• S&Q Motion – “Slow & Quick Motion”, a.k.a. variable frame rates; see Features, below.
• Rec Review - when the REC REVIEW button is pushed, see the last 3 or 10 seconds of the previous clip, or the whole thing.
• Fader - the EX1 allows two preset fades to be set up for assignable buttons. White and black fades are available, running1-10 seconds.
• TLCS - sets up the Total Level Control System, or auto-exposure mode. Choose from normal, backlight, or spotlight modes; define exposure levels and response speeds; fine tune AGC usage, maximum level, and aperture at which AGC engages; fine tune use of auto shutter, shortest shutter time, and aperture at which it engages.
• Shockless White - three settings, plus off, determine how smoothly white balance changes when you flick the white balance switch, from instantly to about one second.
• White Switch <B> - Select the B setting to be a memorized preset, or Auto-Tracking White Balance; see Features, below.
• ATW Speed – the speed of ATW tracking once it decides to rebalance the color. 1 is very slow (tens of seconds), 5 is faster (perhaps three seconds).
• Wide Conversion – tell Steady Shot to compensate for a wide-angle adapter.
• Steady Shot – turn stabilization on or off.
• TRIM CH-1, TRIM CH-2 – adjust external input sensitivity from –8dBu to –65dBu in 3dB steps.
• AGC LINK – auto-gain control can track both channels together, or separately.
• 1kHz Tone – turns tone on or off when bars are displayed.
• Wind Filter CH-1, Wind Filter CH-2 – enable a wind filter.
• EXT CH Select – you can send input 1 to channels 1 & 2 (for example, at different gain settings), or record each input on its own channel.
• YpbPr/SDI Out Select – the analog component and SDI outputs can be set for HD or downconverted SD outputs, or turned off. You must turn it off to use the composite output.
• YpbPr/SDI Out Display – show menu and status displays on the picture. Everything on the camera’s displays, with the exception of markers, histogram, lens focus and depth-of-field indicator, brightness indicator, zebras, and peaking (see image below)
• Video Out Display – show camera displays and menus on the composite output.
• Setup – add 7.5% setup to the composite output.
• Down Converter – set SD output for anamorphic squeeze, letterbox, or edge-cropped (4x3 center-cut) display.
• LCD – adjust color, contrast, and brightness from –99 to +99.
• EVF – adjust color, contrast, and brightness from –99 to +99; choose monochrome or color; set backlight high or low, and enable the EVF even when the LCD is opened.
• Peaking – choose white, red, yellow, or blue peaking indication; set peaking level to High, Mid, or Low.
• Marker – you can enable a safe-area marker and choose its size; turn on a center marker (a small box); show aspect-ratio markers (4:3, 13:9, 14:9, 15:9); and enable a “guide frame” dividing the image into thirds horizontally and vertically.
• Zebra – choose zebra 1, 2 or both. Zebra 1 is settable from 50% to 107%, and shows +/- 5% around its setpoint; zebra 2 is always 100%+.
• Display On/Off – choose from the wealth of onscreen indicators available; you can enable or disable almost every single item individually. I leave them all on, as I can declutter the screen entirely by pressing the DISPLAY / BATT INFO button, and see the raw image in its natural state.
• Timecode – all the normal timecode options are available: time-of-day, preset, or regen; manual setting.
• Users Bit – you can set a value for user bits, or have them record the date, e.g., “20 08 01 29”.
• TC Format – in 60 fps and 30 fps (but not 24, 25, or 50 fps) modes, you can choose DF or NDF TC.
• All Reset – resets camera to factory defaults, including Picture Profiles.
• Camera Data – you can save and recall all camera settings to an SxS card.
• Time Zone, Clock Set – set time and date and compensate for time zone changes.
• Language – warning messages can be shown in English, Japanese, or Chinese. Menus are always shown in English.
• Assign Button – four buttons on the camera can be assigned functions. Some functions, like Freeze Mix or Fader, must be assigned to a button to be usable.
• Tally – turn front and reader tally lamps on or off.
• Hours Meter – shows total operating hours as well as a resettable hours meter.
• IR Remote – turns on IR remote operation. Sadly, it always resets to off when power is cycled.
• Battery Alarm – You can customize the setpoints in capacity and voltage for the battery alarms.
• Battery Info – shows battery type, manufacturing date, charge cycles, voltage, capacity, and remaining charge.
• Direct Menu – set Direct Menu to off, all, or part.
• I.LINK I/O – in SP (HDV-compatible) modes, you can turn i.Link (FireWire) on. Doing so disables SDI output.
• Trigger Mode – start/stop recording to SxS cards only, external FireWire devices only, or both.
• Country – “NTSC Area” for 60Hz formats, “PAL Area” for 50Hz.
• Video Format – Choose between 1080i, 1080p and 720p formats, with field or frame rates appropriate to the Country setting: 24, 30, and 60 for NTSC, 25 and 50 for PAL.
• Clip – set clip name prefix to any four alphanumeric characters, dash, or underscore; reset the four-digit clip number; delete the last clip; delete all clips.
• Format Media – format the SxS cards in either slot.
Important selections, like changing the video format, resetting the camera, or deleting a clip, require an additional step: a confirmation question is diosplayed (“Change Video Format? HQ 1080/24P > HQ 1080/30P”), and you need to select an “Execute” option to proceed.
• OFF – turns off profiles, and runs the camera in factory default mode.
• PP1: [NAME] through PP6: [NAME] – selects a particular picture profile.
• Profile Name – lets you assign a descriptive name of up to eight characters.
• Matrix – turns the color matrix on or off; selects between four presets as described in Performance; sets Level (saturation) and Phase from –99 to +99; and gives you full Linear Matrix tweaks: R-G, R-B, G-R, G-B, B-R, and B-G, all adjustable from –99 to +99.
• Color Correction – you can pick a hue in the scene and vary it by +/- 30 degrees, tweak its saturation from 0%-200%, and adjust the amount of color affected by up to about 35 degrees from the target hue.
• White – you can set up white-balance offsets for memories A, B, and ATW, and set the preset value to any point from 2100K to 10000K.
• Detail – Detail setting on the EX1 deserves its own discussion in Performance, below. You can set level, frequency, crispening, H/V ratio, white and black limiters, the signal used for V detail creation, and how much detail to apply above the knee.
• Skin Tone Detail – lets you undo excess detail on a selected skin tone. You can pick the hue, vary its width and saturation, and set the amount of detail in the range –99 to +99.
• Knee – you can select auto or manual knee. In manual you can vary the knee point from 50% to 109%, and its slope over a range of –99 to +99. You can also change the Knee Saturation Level—control color saturation in the knee region, from 0 to 99 (default is 50).
• Gamma – Choose from four STD gammas and four CINE gammas, as well as vary the midtone levels +/-20% within each gamma setting, i.e., a nominal 50% level can be moved between 40% and 60%. See Performance for more details.
• Black – adjust the master black level from –99 to +99
• Black Gamma – adjust the shadow gamma—essentially the gamma of the lower half of the tonal scale. The range of –99 to +99 will make a nominal 25% gray vary from 15% to 35%.
• Low Key SAT – vary shadow saturation from –99 to +99.
• Copy – copy the current profile to another one, e.g., overwrite another one with a copy of this one.
• Reset – reset this profile to factory defaults.
In the sub-$10,000 range, only the JVC HD100/200 series cameras provide a comparable level of tonal-scale adjustments, and only the Canons offer as much color flexibility. The EX1 trumps these examples with the most comprehensive detail controls around, as well as Sony’s Cine gammas, about which more will be said later. The broad range of most parameters, as well as the fineness of their setting (usually 199 steps), gives you a degree of control unparalleled in this class of camcorder.
Adam, that is a great review. I want to pass on a shoulder brace that I found that is specifically designed for the Sony PMW EX1. I have been using it for a few days now and love it.
Here is the link:
http://www.studio1productions.com/vsb1.htm
I hope this helps other EX1 owners
Rob
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/01 at 06:51 PM
> It may be a pain to handhold and some of its controls and connectors could use
> some improvement, but the PMW-EX1 has raw resolution, latitude, highlight
> handling, flexibility, and tweakability unmatched by anything else under
> $10,000.
I’d probably say under $20,000.
You don’t’ say what resolution the red chip was shot at 1080 or 720.
Optical performance: what the metal beam bent or is the barrel distortion uneven?
Given that the HVX-200 resolves beyond it’s chips, is there a way to test the EX1 for resolution beyond 1000 lines?
> Thus 25p frames suffer a 1/50 sec top-to-bottom delay, and 24p frames take
> 1/60 sec.
Can you elaborate on how 1/24 images are taken at 1/60 a second? You mentioned the camcorder has a blade angle adjustment, which would change the length of time the light is collected, also a “slow shutter.” How do these play into a default 1/60 second shutter? I ask because your description:
> At 24p, no shutter is 1/24. Speeds: 1/32, 1/48, 1/50, 1/60… SLS frames
> accumulated: 2-8.
Would imply that there is nothing between 1/32 and two complete frames on top of each other. Not one long frame of 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, etc.
Posted by Anthony on 02/01 at 08:42 PM
Marco: “Jellocam” is a trademark of AJW’s Cameralogical Neologisms, Inc. Use it again and you’ll owe me licensing fees. <grin>.
Leo: yes, the battery drains after 2 or 3 days.
Anthony:
• The round red thing was shot in 1080-line mode (there is no 60i in 720, only 60p).
• The metal beam is straight (it carries 3- and 10-ton cranes, so it had better be straight!); that’s the “moustache distortion” to which I refer.
• The HVX200’s lens resolves past its chips, which is why it aliases so vigorously; the EX1 does, too, just not so much.
• A 1/24th-second image isn’t captured in 1/60 second, it’s just that the bottom line’s 1/24th second happens 1/60 second delayed compared to the top line of the image. Like a tube camera, there’s a sequential readout of the image, as opposed to a CCD’s frame-at-a-time simultaneous capture.
• When I say “no shutter is 1/24”, I mean “shutter OFF is 1/24”, sorry for the confusion. As to no intermediate speeds: use ECS for fractional speeds from 1/31.98 on up. For slow speeds, use SLS: slow shutters from 2-8 frames in duration. But AFAIK there’s nothing between 2 frames and 1/24, and between 1/24 and 1/31.98.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/01 at 10:45 PM
So now what do I do if I own two, count ‘em… two XHA1’s? This is why being in this business can be so damned expensive!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/02 at 12:11 AM
UPDATE: At 24fps, 2 frames is 1/12 sec, 3 frames is 1/8 sec, 4 frames is 1/6 sec,... 8 frames is 1/3 sec. So yes, all those slow speeds are there; they’re just given in frame durations instead of time. Sorry for not seeing this bloody obvious fact last night (note to self: never comment when you’re too tired to think straight).
Scott: two XH A1s? Be on the leading edge and shoot 3D. 3D is the Next Big Thing… again…
But seriously, XH A1s are still very fine cameras; in the sub-$10k arena I think they are second only to the EX1 when it comes to 1080i image quality, and they’re much easier to use handheld than the EX1. They perform today every bit as well as they did a few days ago, they do some things (like tape recording and standard definition) the EX1 can’t, and they’re already paid for. The ecosystem is a bit more crowded now, but the XH A1s still have their niche.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/02 at 10:15 AM
The overcrank in 25p mode actually goes up to 60p not 50p, just don’t use it when using artificial lighting or you will get flicker like i have!
Posted by Philip Bloom on 02/02 at 02:13 PM
oh, and you can play back overcranked in playback in the camera,
But GREAT review, very fair! Nice one.
Posted by Philip Bloom on 02/02 at 02:15 PM
As always a great and detailed review. Thank you Adam. The only bit missing IMHO is that you do not talk about the audio side of this extraordinary (for its price) EX1. Could you post further details. I am a shoot-and-run cameraman and normally am not able to have the luxury of an accompanying sound man, so on-board mics and sound are important considerations for me.
Many thanks in advance, John
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/03 at 06:35 AM
I have shot a lot one man band with it and it’s worked great. The built in mic is OK, I stick a nicer one on top and use that as my main camera mic. I mount a radio mic receiver on the hot shot. All works great.
Posted by Philip Bloom on 02/03 at 06:44 AM
A stunning review, Adam. Thank you.
Do you have similar sensitivity numbers for the Z1? How does the EX1 compare? I have seen reports of a half stop more sensitive (a disappointment) to almost 3 stops better (too good to be true?). How do the 2 cameras’ noise levels compare with increased gain, say at +6, +12 & +18db?
Chuck
Posted by Chuck Savadelis on 02/03 at 08:04 AM
Adam,
Great review.
I am very surprised by 10 stops of dynamic range.
Using the same criteria, how does that compare to other cameras you have tested?
I am particularly interested in the HVX, RED, F23 and Kodak film.
Posted by Eric Pascarelli on 02/03 at 10:33 AM
Philip: 60fps in 25p? Great!
John: audio sounds “pretty good” but I haven’t done a formal evaluation yet. Check back in a couple of weeks when I have another EX1 to work with.
Chuck & Eric: Z1: ISO 160, HVX: ISO 320: http://www.adamwilt.com/HD/4cams-part1.html
I was surprised by the 10 stop latitude, myself. The HVX has about 8-9.3 depending on how you measure (http://www.dv.com/columns/columns_item.php?articleId=193001363). In a RED test last September I initially saw a bit over 8 stops with an early version of RedAlert; with a recent version of RedCine I’m seeing over 9 stops in the same footage, and RED has improved their latitude in later builds of the camera. When I have one to test for real, you’ll see the results here at PVC. F23 is said to be very, very good in this regard, and I’ve been impressed with the pix, but I haven’t tested it formally. As to Kodak film, I don’t recall what they’re claiming for Vision 2 emulsions, something like 11-12 stops? More? The Expression 500T, especially: it makes a gorgeous picture, and the sensitometric curve certainly implies 12 stops: http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products/negative/tech5218.jhtml?id=0.1.4.6.10.12.4&lc=en
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/03 at 04:11 PM
I heard someone complaining recently about not being able to erase SxS card A while B was still recording. Is this true? In other words, the maximum amount of continuous record time would be the total of your two cards—no on the fly offloading and reusing of cards.
Posted by Jason Prisk on 02/03 at 08:29 PM
yep. just like the p2. How could you erase in cameras whilst recording? That doesn’t make sense.
If you are doing on the fly offloading and reusing, you erase your card in your pc/mac after dumping then put it back in.
Posted by Philip Bloom on 02/03 at 11:48 PM
Excellent review, as always, Adam.
All of the footage I’ve seen so far is a strong selling point for the EX1.
One concern though is that some users have reported battery drainage when the camera is supposed to be off. Due to the fact that there’s a backup lithium button cell in the base of the camera for maintaining date and time info, one would think that there is no need to have the camera always powered on at some hibernation level, hence no need to drain the battery that powers the camera.
Of concern to some is how to edit this footage. Some are claiming CineForm works for them. I have also found that MainConcept’s MPEG Pro HD3 gives Premiere CS3 the ability to work with XDCam footage, just as transparently as HDV footage, minus the ability to play back on a second monitor with a dual-head graphics card. Sound is there, as with video and the MainConcept CODEC appears to bring all the functionality for .MXF files. So the workflow is XDCam -> Sony Clip Browser -> Export to MXF -> import to Premiere Pro CS3.
I have been testing with downloaded clips, but in a few hours UPS will be delivering my first PMW-EX1, and I will be doing some serious testing then. Hopefully Sony has fixed all the earlier problems with vignetting, battery drain, etc.
Posted by Mark Weiss on 02/04 at 10:25 PM
Thanks for the review, Adam. I plan to order one, but I have a serious concern about how to remotely operate and monitor the camera while on a crane.
I’ve been googling it for weeks and still can’t find a solution. It seems that Sony moved away from their standard LANC connection on this camera. So, there may not be a way to control iris/focus/zoom remotely. I did see the remote zooms available, but nothing else.
Also, with monitoring, is there a way to use a standard crane/camera-mounted LCD monitor with this camera, or do I have to buy some high-priced solution?
Thanks for your help, in advance.
Posted by Daniel Brienza on 02/06 at 11:03 PM
To update, I received my PMW-EX1, s/n 102161, on Feb 5th.
I tested the audio, and it is DAT-quality.
In all other respects, camera performed as well or better than I expected, based on all the reading I’d done on it.
However, there is bad news… after 5-1/2 hours of use, the next day, I attempted to used the camera and seeing the weather was nice that day, I stepped outside and attempted to shoot some daylight scenery. I first deleted the images on the SxS card, as it was nearly full, and attempted to zoom in on a particular piece of foliage. The camera was wildly out of focus. I checked to see if I was on manual, but it was indeed set to auto.
The other thing was that the picture was wildly overexposed and the iris was at f1.9, instead of closing down with the bright light of the outdoors. I could not get a response from the auto iris. I could manually adjust it, but auto was just not working.
I then discovered that the menus and picture profiles were not responding when their respective buttons pressed. The camera had locked up and lost it’s ‘mind’.
I turned off the power, but the camera would not power down, either, after a couple of tries. I removed the battery and then powered back up, thinking it may be the odd random lockup. But the camera only displayed “XDCAM EX” in the viewfinder and would not power down when switched off. Five minutes later, the display appended “E-15030” to its logo. Obviously, some critical error. I can find nothing on the problem on Google.
I called B&H;, and after some troubleshooting, they offered to exchange the camera.
I have owned five other Sony cameras, and all have been reliable with no failures. I am hoping the XDCam EX1 is not being manufactured in a ‘cost-saving’ process that results in shortened component lifespan. I really hope this is a rare fluke.
Two days have passed and I am still waiting for the store to send me the prepaid return shipping label so I can get the exchange process moving. Until then, I have a $7000 brick on my hands.
Posted by Mark Weiss on 02/07 at 01:06 PM
Mark,
Your story’s inspired me to remember to get mine insured. Digital items react that way, and there’s no exception to a EX1, which is basically all computerized. My iPhone froze once, and I almost had heart failure. I’d really lose it if my EX1 did that out of warranty.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/07 at 03:01 PM
I used to by ‘extended service contracts’ but by and large, I find that most of the time you don’t use them and they become a bad investment. If you have one repair done over the life of the camera, that pretty much equals the cost of a 3 year contract in typical cases. So unless the camera breaks several times, requiring several trips back to the repair facility, a service contract may be wasted money.
UPS finally e-mailed me the shipping label, around 7PM, so it will have to go out tomorrow. So it looks like mid-week next week before I see a replacement. Meanwhile the 15-day trial on the CineForm that I am testing ticks away, with no camera to test with.
Posted by Mark Weiss on 02/07 at 06:35 PM
Daniel: the lens remote port allegedly has zoom and start/stop functionality, but that’s it. You could possibly run a fiber-optic conduit between the camera’s IR receiver and the IR remote’s LED for limited additional functionality (e.g., push-to-focus). Your best bet would be to use external motors driving the toothed rings for iris and zoom, and add a clamp-on toothed ring for focus (the matte box / follow-focus folks will be making these); I’ll probably wind up doing that myself as I expect to fly an EX1 from a jib. As to monitoring, you have composite, component, and SDI to choose from, but see my comments about downconversion quality.
Mark: Sorry about your dead camera! Electronics tend to follow a “bathtub curve” for problems: lots of infant mortality, then years of long running, then lots of failures towards end of life (the “bathtub curve ” describes the shape of the plot of frequency of failures vs. time). I’ve only had two infant mortality failures: an HVR-M10 that developed a scrambled display after fifteen minutes (!) of operation, which B&H replaced with no bother or fuss; and an Apple TiBook 800 which stopped working on battery power after two weeks, which Apple fixed for free on a two-day turnaround. Both the fixed TiBook and the replacement HVR-M10 are working as I write this. In all likelihood your replacement EX1 will work properly for years—but still, what a disappointment when a shiny new camera goes totally mad and has to be swapped out!
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/08 at 12:59 AM
Any issues with rolling shutter artifacts?
Posted by Rich Reilly on 02/08 at 08:51 AM
Adam, indeed, that is the nature of most solid state electronics. My wife works in semiconductor manufacture, and she says all it takes is one microscopic impurity on a photomask to cause later problems with the ICs. Some grow “whiskers” across connections and fail internally.
The other new failure mode we get to look forward to is RohS compliant (lead-free) soldering, which has a whisker growth problem, causing short circuits on fine-pitch surface mount components after a few months of operation. Lead in solder used to inhibit this growth, but the new lead-free soldering has issues that have yet to be worked out. That’s why the military electronics is exempt from RohS compliance.
I sincerely hope that is not a contributing factor with the XDCam!
I finally got my shipping label from B&H;/UPS last night, and I dropped off the camera at UPS today. So maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday I should have a replacement in-hand. Hopefully, a perfect replacement with no other problems that this one didn’t have!
Posted by Mark Weiss on 02/08 at 01:18 PM
Hmmm..found this regarding rolling shutter and less than ideal fuorescent conditions:
http://dvxuser.com/jason/CMOS-CCD/
Wouldn’t this type of thing make documentary style problemmatic? Not likek there’s always time or ability to remove offending fixtures.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/08 at 03:55 PM
Rich,
You can easily shoot “slow” fluorescents with the EX1 by making sure that your shutter is set to 1/24, 1/30, 1/40 1/60 or 1/120 in 60Hz countries or 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 in 50Hz countries - Just like a film camera! And no need to remove offending fixtures unless the are really flickering, like when Godzilla walks by.
Posted by Eric Pascarelli on 02/08 at 05:03 PM
Rich: I haven’t seen anything like the flickery fluorescent clip, and I shot a lot under magnetically-ballasted line-rate fluorescents. My guess from looking at the clip is that a higher-than normal shutter speed was used; that would easily explain the banding (the color of fluorescent light varies during each part of the AC cycle), however I cannot guarantee that’s the situation Barry had in his test clip.
If you shoot with a shutter speed that’s a multiple of the half-wave duration (1/100 in 50Hz countries; 1/120 in 60 Hz countries), then every scanline in the image should be able to integrate the color changes over time in the same way. and this sort of banding should not occur. And obviously if the driving frequency of the fluorescents is neither 50Hz nor 60Hz some fine-tuning with ECS will be needed to fix the pix.
The good news is that this sort of thing is immediately visible in the LCD so you can play with shutter speeds to reduce or eliminate it.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/08 at 05:10 PM
Is 35 Mbps VBR peak or average rate? In case it is peak rate, it only improves storage efficiency, but not quality respect an hypotetic 35 Mbps CBR, and only 35/25=1.4 (40%) more than the HDV 25 Mbps CBR mode. And having in account that 1920/1440=1.333, you only have 1.4-1.333=0.067 (6.7%) more information per pixel in the hi mode. Unless I miss something about the algorithms that rule the 35 Mbps codec respect the ordinary 25 Mbps HDV codec.
Posted by Jose Ignacio Simon on 02/09 at 01:52 AM
Adam great review, keep them coming!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/09 at 05:36 PM
Can the EX1 output a 1394 DV down-converted signal in DV NTSC from the sxs card media. I am looking for an easy way to deliver on DV for those customers that need to walk with a tape at day end or next day fed ex, and I am very interested in the EX1 as I have used it with impressive results several times, but never tried to do a DV down convert. My now sold, HVR-Z1u would do and most HDV cameras I have used will do. If not is there a High quality, quick, way to get xdcam EX out to DV with a DV camera or deck without SDI.
I have an 8 core Mac Final cut 6 workstation and a MacBook pro laptop available, but initial test seem like long renders to get proper quality DV without nasty aliasing & jittery artifacts.
Posted by Anthony Miles on 02/10 at 10:46 AM
Here’s a link to a few 8-pin Fujinon lens controllers at B&H;. I assume that one of those would work with the EX1?
Matt Jeppsen
http://www.FreshDV.com
Posted by Matt Jeppsen on 02/10 at 05:46 PM
Jose: I think the 35Mbps is the average rate. And yes, while the aggregate bits-per-sample rate is much the same between SP and HQ modes, recall that HQ is frame-rate-native, so no bits are wasted on repeated fields or frames. Also, even the 25Mbps SP mode seems cleaner on the EX1 than on my old Z1; Sony has improved the codec in general.
Anthony: No, there’s no DV downconversion. Sometimes the older cameras do things the newer cameras can’t. We live in a mixed-up SD/HD world and the EX1 is a pure HD camera—nice if you work entirely in HD, otherwise the EX1 may be a step too far into the future. See also http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/awilt/story/whither_the_hvx200/.
Matt: I haven’t tried any of these, but my understanding from various sources is that standard Fujinon controllers shouldn’t work on the EX1. I’d be very happy to be proven wrong, though.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/10 at 10:39 PM
I find that I don’t need to edit and master in SD anymore, as it’s just as efficient to edit in HD as SD, and with the added advantage that you can output either format from a decent NLE. In the very beginning of my transition to HD, it was nice to have the ability to record HD and capture SD, but our new editing system can handle HD with equal applom, so there is no longer any reason to edit in SD. I don’t miss the SD conversion and in fact, that leaves more room for a better HD camera with fewer design compromises.
I’m also glad to hear the 25mb/S CODEC is cleaner than earlier HDV CODECs. Are the SQ clips fully compatible for drag and drop into Premiere, like HDV? If they are, that would make a good transition format to shoot in until MainConcept and CineForm get their Premiere compatibility issues worked out.
Posted by Mark Weiss on 02/11 at 12:17 AM
Great Review! When it was first released, there were issues with editing the footage in Apple Final Cut Pro. I was just wondering if anyone knows if this has been resolved yet or has had any personal experience with this camera and final cut pro? Thanks!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/11 at 12:19 PM
In terms of Archiving / Delivery, what are the thoughts out there about archiving and or delivering footage on DVD or Blue Ray DVD? In other words, dump the footage from the SXS onto an external hard drive using the Mac Book Pro and then burn a DVD / Blue Ray (using a fire wire blue ray drive). The client could walk away at the end of the day with a DVD instead of a tape. The shooter would keep a backup on the external drive. The real question here, is how easy is it to covert the XDCam footage into regular quicktime files, before putting them onto the disk?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/11 at 12:45 PM
Only trouble with reviews such as yours is that it makes me want to buy a camera that’s unnecessarily good for my needs. I’m a wedding and events man and buying the Z1 a few years ago seemed overkill in some ways. Of course now I see it wasn’t, and now I see the EX1 breathes deep where the Z1 struggles in asthmatic confusion.
We sat side-by-side on the ‘Experts Q & A group’ at the 2007 Video Forum in Earls Court, London, Adam. Remember?
tom.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/12 at 10:55 AM
Hi Adam,
Thanks for a great review of the camera! I’m planning to purchase one shortly after NAB this year. I want to first figure out what additional accessories that I want to get with it so I can do one large bulk purchase all at once. I saw that Varicam might have a remote zoom & soon to be announced remote focus controller for the EX1.
Oh, and I just got my latest copy of DV Magazine - On the cover it mentiones a DV.Com exclusive of ‘Real-World Testing: Sony’s PMW-EX1’. Is your article located here that DV.COM exclusive? (Which has no links to here that I could find on the DV.COM site, but quickly observed on hvxuser.com?) Just curious - Oh, and if you’re at NAB I’ll try to say hello.
~Jonathan Tanner
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/13 at 12:29 AM
Hello Adam and all,
Thank you for the great review Adam. I’ve been a long time reader of your articles and am always appriciate your thoughts.
Question regarding using the EX1 to deliver a Standard Definition DVD. I have found some serious compression artifacts in my final DVD.
My process is (and I will try to be ridiculously detailed):
1)Shoot 1080 30P and import using XDCAM transfer software.
2)Bring clips into FCP. When I lay them into the timeline, FCP asks to change the sequence settings to match my footage - I say “yes”
3) Change my render option to ProRes 422.
4) Edit . . . wow it looks great on the screen.
5) Output using compressors 90 min DVD best settings.
6) Lay that puppy into DVD Studio and burn.
7) Watch it on tv. At this point there are artifacts and it seems almost jittery . . like its had too much coffee.
Any thought from anyone on how you are getting the best picture onto a DVD?
I’ve gone through numerous tests . . . probably 15-20?? This is the best I can find and I’m still not thrilled.
Thank you for your thoughts and ideas.
Eero
http://www.videoonestudio.com
Posted by Eero Johnson on 02/13 at 06:48 PM
Mark: while the SP essence is supposed to be HDV compatible, the wrapper format is MP4, so drag’n'drop into Premiere may not work; I don’t have Premiere so I can’t say for certain. Try Googling “EX1” and “Premiere”; someone is likely to have an answer somewhere—just not here!
Adrian: with the current software versions (as described) there are no issues I’ve encountered with FCP editing (with the possible exception of doubly-listed clips in the browser, which I’m still trying to track down the cause of; doesn’t happen all the time). On Mac, XDCAM Transfer creates QuickTimes, so that part’s easy. Archiving on various flavors of DVD is too big a topic for the comments section; try the EX1 section of the forums: http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/forums/viewforum/4/
Tom: unless you invest heavily in SxS cards, the Z1 may remain the better bet for weddings… those L-O-N-G ceremonies, y’know. Yes, I remember seeing you at Video Forum—great show! Almost a mini-IBC, and certainly worth attending if you’re in the greater London area.
Jonathan: the only DV.com article I’ve written on the EX1 is at http://www.dv.com/reviews/reviews_item.php?articleId=196603659. I don’t have the latest print issue yet so I don’t know what they’re referring to, sorry.
Eero: solving DVD creation problems is too big a topic for the comments section of a camera review (!); best start a thread in the forums: http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/forums/. All I can suggest (and all I’ll say here) is that you probably need to filter the high detail frequencies, especially vertically, to get the picture to look clean and quiescent on a standard-def interlaced display; HD downscaled to SD without prefiltering can alias severely, cause cross-color on composite feeds, and twitter insanely on CRTs.
Everyone: thanks for the great comments, but this conversation is getting too long and involved for a mere comments section! There’s an EX1 forum at http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/forums/viewforum/4/, so please continue the conversation there. We are literally going to run up against the max-comments limit if we keep posting here.
Also, I’m going to prune a couple of off-topic comments (who was at VideoForum, and when); no disrespect intended, I just want to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high. On CML we’d say “take it to chat!’, so if you want to, set up a “chat” topic at http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/forums/ and hold forth at length as you see fit there.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/13 at 07:56 PM
4:2:0 MPEG recording.
Posted by Bill Nelson on 02/14 at 04:03 PM
I was planing on capure on several camaras (sonys hzr z1u, a canon hxal(pLUS TELO)AND USE and a newer handheld like the new sony Hdr Sr 12. Question , new sony ex1 captures in 4:2:0. WERE i WAS GOING FOR 4;2;2 or 4;4;4 BLACKMAGIC ON CAPTURE?EDITING. Can I still capure my other camaras at 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 TO AND EDIT TOGETHER FINAL PRODUCT THAT LOOKS GOOD. which edit software? Thanks Robert
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/15 at 04:13 PM
I saw a demo in Milwaukee last Wed. Seems there is no iris check button on the lens. This button is tandard on broadcast setups..guess it’s not part of the non-bayonet crowd.
Posted by Rich Reilly on 02/18 at 11:00 PM
Greetings from Oz!
Adam: About Warranty on the very expensive SxS cards. How many “uses” should one provide before it gives up? 100? 500? Shouldn’t they come with a FIVE year warranty, not ONE?
I’m yet another invested in weddings (yes, yes, I know…), often two, sometimes three a weekend. Not a huge fan on the thought of getting home at midnight on a Saturday, down-loading the day’s footage, doing a back-up, checking the whole lot thoroughly before (nervously and hesitantly) erasing the footage on the two SxS’s - then try and get a good night’s sleep in preparation for Sunday’s job.
Just won’t do, seems a little dodgy. So I’ll need at least FOUR 2-hour cards when they become available. But over here, 2-hour cards will be initially sold for in excess of $2000 EACH! Love the thought of going tapeless, even do a little culling as I tuck into the salmon at the reception to keep busy. But, hmmm…
As to camera options: Have been using for some time a DSR-250 with a 16:9 lens adaptor (shock, horror I know - fiddly, but better in low-light than Z1’s and the like; and with a 3-hour recording time). I’m well aware I need decent widescreen images that look sharper on those ever-improving displays… Unfortunately also, my 250’s replacement, the 270 (the camera I’ve really been waiting for!), is 2 kilos heavier! Ten-hour wedding days! Oh my back!
In short, need: Wide-screen; 2 lux or better low-light; long recording time; not-too-heavy; cheap, achival back-up (I still re-use 184DVCAM tapes after ten years!); great on-board sound; with acceptable standard DVD product at the end (for 90%+ couples and their parents, Blueray and HD-DVD ain’t gonna happen), even though they look a little crappy on OK plasmas and LCDs.
Asking too much?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/19 at 04:42 PM
Hi Adam,
With reference to my post here on Feb 2nd, I wonder if you have had an opinion to test in depth the audio side of the EX1. Sofar all info in this area has been a bit vague and a serious hands-on opinion would be very useful to low budget free-lancers like myself. With much thanks in advance. John
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/21 at 08:55 AM
Hi John,
I think I can answer that question, as I too am very critical of camera audio.
I tested it and it is DAT-quality.
Here’s the results charts:
http://www.basspig.com/Sony PMW-EX1 Line In Audio Test 2.htm
Posted by Mark Weiss on 02/21 at 11:22 AM
Why we won’t be getting the EX1.
The folks at Snader were kind enough to loan me the EX1 for a day, and I ran a number tests to compare it to the Z1s we are currently using. I shot identical scenes with both cameras. First, all the accolades concerning the image quality of the EX1 are well deserved. In my judgement, it’s a little more than a stop faster (at 1080i), with a greater dynamic range. In SP mode (the mode we are most likely to use), it was visibly sharper than the Z1 (but not hugely sharper). I found the knee settings to greatly enhance the image quality in the high-contrast, uncontrollable lighting situations we often encounter. Despite all of this, we will not be buying EX1s (and we would have bought 3).
Our shooting days typically run 10-16 hours and seventy percent of our work is handheld. I shot the EX1 handheld for about an hour and my hand was sore for two days, especially the inner side of the thumb knuckle. My hands are not large (9” span) and I was constantly stretching and adjusting my grip to keep in contact with the record button. What was worse, my partner (female), with smaller hands, could not reach the record button at all (at least not with any sort of non-contortionist grip). For us, this camera is unusable. The much ballyhooed grip is an ergonomic disaster. I find myself wondering “What was Sony THINKING?”!
Posted by Chuck Savadelis on 02/22 at 09:01 PM
Does anyone know if the EX1 demo footage DVD sent out by Sony was shot entirely with the EX1? I mean, were the testimonial interviews done with the EX?
If you haven’t seen it, get one. It’s worth a few minutes to check out the test pilot ftg shot from the interior.
Posted by Rich Reilly on 02/27 at 06:04 PM
Hi Adam , great review, just bought the ex1 and immediately fly out to bolivia and brazil for a documentary, ive been noticing a jittery effect on pans and motion shots, shooting at hq 1080 24 p . i dont have an hd monitor , only review clips on a sony laptop in the clip browers. is this a correctable problem, any suggestions, change the frame rate etc….it would a disater if this is what the pan and motion clips would look like.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/04 at 06:15 PM
Eero was asking about Outputting Standard Definition in FCP from the Sony XDCam EX1
Looks like Rick Young has figured out the ideal work flow:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/ex1_sd_output_young.html
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/15 at 11:05 PM
Do the same HD tpo SD issues/workflows apply to other editing systems? For instance, Vegas?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/16 at 02:49 AM
I would like to thank Adam for his unstinting efforts to move Pro Video Camera reviewing out of the hands of the manufacturers.
They approach what I consider to be the current gold standard for reviews although they are for still cameras at http://www.dpreview.com/.
Thanks for all the effort.
If you’re ever in Atlanta I owe you I Belgian ale.
David Hudson
PS Now all we need are cracked case reviews so we can see what they’re really up to.
Posted by davhud on 03/20 at 07:54 AM
Great review Adam. Thanks for your unstinting efforts to take the reviews of Pro and Semi pro video cameras to the next level.
Now all we need are cracked case reviews so we can compare build quality between manufacturers.
My personal gold standard for camera reviews is currently dpreview.com. It’s for still cameras but the amount of detail and testing is staggering.
If you’re ever in Atlanta I owe you a Belgian Ale!
Thanks
Posted by David Hudson on 03/20 at 10:03 AM
I have verified that the EX1’s HD-SDI output is 10 bits, and that the live signal from the camera uses all 10 bits.
I haven’t seen any unusual jitteriness on pans and motion shots.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 03/23 at 12:01 AM
Shameless self-promotion but we’re a PVC sponsor so what the heck. If you have an EX1 and would like tips and tricks for using it along with Final Cut Studio- check out our training disc:
http://www.callboxlive.com/store/sony-guidebook-p-39.html
-Noah
Posted by Noah Kadner on 04/21 at 08:47 PM
Thanks Adam, Great review, found out you can’t use all kinds of cameras and not have a editting nightmare. Can’t afford two sonys EX1 cameras on our budget. Nor the $13.000 new EX3. This company that makes the Letus Extreme, for using other lenses, I read great review but my more experience partner says it is mickymouse way to shoot a movie. He has held camera but doesn’t think the shots would be easy nor look better. But just a 14x lense? What to do? Its my money.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/22 at 09:38 AM
Robert, your partner says using a Letus Extreme is a mickey mouse way to shoot movie? Sure shooting film would be more pro but it looks amazing as long as you have someone shooting who knows how to use it.
Philip
Posted by Philip Bloom on 04/22 at 09:55 AM
For John Eldon and anyone with critical audio needs, I’ve been shooting a lot of outdoor concerts this month, with the EX1 and an external microphone (Rode NT4) or pair of studio condenser mics when I can use a tripod and am not limited to on-foot shooting.
I can now state, with confidence, that in the real world shooting situation, with care given to avoid maximum levels (allow no peak to exceed the 4th bar below the redline on the EX1’s meters) and thus avoid dynamic limiter action, the audio is totally transparent and sounds as if I brought my costly and bulky dedicated DAW hardware to the shoot.
I have examples posted on my XR homepage:
http://exposureroom.com/members/Basspig.aspx/videos/
Any of the Sonny Carroll clips, or the Troll rock clips will send shivers down your spine on a high end audio system. This audio was entirely captured with the EX1 in manual gain settings. Attenuators set to -14dB for the loud rock music segments and normalized in post. If you have any doubt about the EX1 audio, here is demonstrable proof that it’s up to the task.
Posted by Mark Weiss on 07/22 at 06:31 PM
In SP mode the mode we are most likely to use, it was visibly sharper than the Z1 but not hugely sharper.
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Posted by mini free games on 09/09 at 04:47 AM
Thanks for the great review! We purchased a pd170 a while ago so a move up maybe in order..
TallCat Video
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/01 at 12:19 AM
