Adam Wilts EX1 review.

Steve Shovlar

Steve Shovlar

DVXuser Sponsor
Horray! This is TRULY a sign!

That all the stupid vs. HVX200 posts can stop and people can just get a camera and shoot something.
 
Good review. It sounded very honest and looked at both the pros and cons of the camera. The last few paragraphs that meant a lot to me were...

In 1995, I saw a then-new DCR-VX1000 DV camcorder hooked up to a 32” CRT via Y/C. I stopped dead in my tracks: the pictures looked incredibly sharp and detailed, and when I tried recording a short clip and playing it back, playback looked just as sharp and detailed as the live signal. It was a pivotal moment: color-under analog simply wasn’t good enough any more.

I had a similar experience with the PMW-EX1. The first time I shot a resolution chart, my eyes popped: here for the first time was an affordable 1080-line camera that wasn’t compromising on resolution. Then I recorded and played back some HQ clips… there’s no longer a need to settle for anything less than full HD.

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.
 
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I know its truly is amazing filmaddict! They say in fact that the EX invented democracy and that its resolution is so high that you can see me 'not giving a poop' from out of space...

Adam Wilt, like Barry Greens, is an opinion I appreciate. But do we really need to jump on every review that comes in as if its some form of pornographic self congratulation that puts one cam ahead of the other.

Theres loads who prefer hvxs.... and loads who'll prefer ex's and omg even some who'll prever jvcs etc.

Can't you see how silly it is - can't we do what Kholi suggests here?

I mean 'hello' they used hvx's for cloverfield, so whats with the issue of res now? Its meaningless and completely relative - you know why? because numbers are just numbers and pretty pictures are relative.

So let's just hold hands and pray for peace!
 
I'm sorry that you don't agree with Adam's EX1 assessment. You're entitled to your on thoughts, thats's for sure. Why so defensive. Kholi's point is who really cares. I agree with him 100%.
 
Oops stevet, you've misread my humerous criticism of the very relative vindication folk interpret from product reviews as a disagreement with Adam Wilt! Wherever did you get that interpretation steve? Wilt's expression his review and opinion, many have, so's barry green, if i disagree with any of em' i would specify it :)
 
The HVX200 is the best camera ever and nothing will ever be as good as it is! It is the last camera you will ever need to buy. Comparing it to another camera is insane! Resolution is meaningless. Scrap your HD camera and shoot on VHS!

I'm just messing with you. I pulled a quote out of a review that meant something to me that I thought I would share. If that came across as my camera is better than yours, I'm sorry. I don't think I compared the EX1 to the HVX200 in that post. I am sincerely sorry. Can we all be friends now?
 
word...
I'd say our biggest problem is that it's to dang hard to convey your thoughts in a couple sentences. If we all lived a bit closer we could get together for a couple brews and talk about all this crap. :)
 
thefilmaddict said:
The HVX200 is the best camera ever and nothing will ever be as good as it is! It is the last camera you will ever need to buy. Comparing it to another camera is insane! Resolution is meaningless. Scrap your HD camera and shoot on VHS!

I'm just messing with you. I pulled a quote out of a review that meant something to me that I thought I would share. If that came across as my camera is better than yours, I'm sorry. I don't think I compared the EX1 to the HVX200 in that post. I am sincerely sorry. Can we all be friends now?
Click to expand...

You're right. And hardwork and talent are everything.

Trust me, I know you were being sarcastic? You've nailed it. Resolution is pretty meaningless at this point in the game. So is dynamic range, yadda, and more yadda.

From the point the DVX was released we had enough to use to make something really good. When the XL-H1, A1, HVX200, HD100/250, and all the other cameras in this class hit + 35mm Adapters got better, we have MORE than enough.

So yeah, it truly doesn't matter. EX-1 or HVX200 or a Nokia N90 (exaggeratin' here)... the point is that there's plenty and everyone on both sides of this stupid cam war should realize that.

These cameras? They aren't gonna make or break you unless you make your living off of them. I'm keepin' my HVX200 because it's asked for by name. If the EX-1 gets to that point I'll have to go where the market wants me to go.

Yeah, when NAB rolls around I'll be flipped out about another Camera and probably upgrading if there's one worth it. I also make money with my rig. The same thing will apply.

But, if you're not out to put bread on the table, more so to make your short or feature film look good? Please, mosey on over to www.starwaypictures.com or see: THE SIGNAL.


The Toys, at this point, are pretty meaningless. The Talent and the Content are really king.
 
Some people do go on and on and on. There are people who shoot and like to read these things.

Thanks for posting Steve. Aside from the things we already knew, the 10 stops of dynamic range is a nice step forward, though I was disappointed by the lack of variable framerate playback in cam.
 
I was wondering the same thing....
It plays back in the camera - do it all the time.

Walt mentioned on page 5 it works just like the HVX200 and HVX500:

"As on the HVX200 and HPX500, you shoot your undercranked or overcranked footage, and you can play it right back without any post-processing necessary. See if the speed was correct, ensure you caught the action; move on to the next setup without worries or questions. Hooray for solid-state recording! "
 
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Agreed - this is another one of those misunderstood issues.

The EX1 will play back at whatever the "Video Format" frame rate is. So if you set it to 24p and overcrank to 60, it will play back at 24 - slo-mo.

If set the format to 60p and record at 60p it will play back at 60 - there's no way to get it to play back (in the camera) at 24 to do slo-mo. But that's not the correct way to shoot slo-mo anyway on the EX1, because the data rate is compromised.

I think people are judging the camera through the established "goggles" of the HVX, and there are some fundamental differences between the two, as well as many similarities.
 
The thing I am most perplexed about is that Adam didn't even mention what was probably Barry's biggest gripe: how slow SxS is. 14 seconds to switch from shooting to viewing clips, and 12 seconds to switch back again. Did Adam mention it and I just missed it, or is it just not that big of a deal in practice?

For those of you already shooting with the EX1, is it really that slow? Counting out 14 seconds seems like an eternity.
 
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