F3 PIX240 Users

Just got my PIX240 last week and gave it a few days road test on some shoots. Both days were fairly quick paced and though we had a proper client monitor, the director often stood by camera and was happy
to readjust the Zamerican arm I had hooked to the PIX in order to use it as his own monitor. I did not buy any Sony batteries for it, but have since ordered 4 since the thing cut my Dionic 90 life in half when powering
the F3 and the PIX. I usually also power my TVLogic from the Dionic as well which I think would really sap the juice.

I really like not having to transcode to ProRes (really it saves three extra steps- backup SxS cards + Convert to XDCAM EX Quicktime + Convert to ProRes).

The director/editor was impressed at the workflow (I bought two caddies with 128Gb drives- since 256Gb on one drive makes me nervous + a backup 32Gb CF).
The extra weight takes getting used to and when the PIX was armed off to the sized of the F3, it came close to leaning to the right when just sitting on the floor.

All in all its really well made, extremely easy menu and priced for what I can afford.
 
I dont recommend using sony l batteries with the pix. Runtime is very low. The pix has a high power consumption
 
eddavid said:
I dont recommend using sony l batteries with the pix. Runtime is very low. The pix has a high power consumption
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Just out of curiosity which Sony (or like sized) batteries have you tried? NPF770 or NPF970. When I can, I turn the LCD off. Are you using most Anton Bauers or V-Lock batts?
 
I used Sony L type batteries on the PIX240 for a shoot last week. The two batteries lasted the entire day of shooting.
 
I had a chance to check one out yesterday, it was pretty quiet! The fan looks like it will make a loud Whirl, but it didn't.
 
eddavid said:
Didnt figure out how to shut off the lcd. How do you do that? That could help a lot
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Hold down the LCD button. Tapping it once turns off on-screen display. Holding it turns off LCD. Also, by default, I believe Audio phantom power
is turned on. This should be powered down if not in use.
 
Recommend Sony NP-F970 batteries

Recommend Sony NP-F970 batteries

For the Pix 240, I would recommend the Sony NP-F970 7.2V. You can mess around with similar voltage or generic batteries, but I found that a pair of these batteries lasts for a very long time, at least a day's worth before needing charging. Also, you can save battery life by turning off the LCD screen. To turn it off you hold the LCD button for a second and it will switch off. To make things even more convenient, I attached a BNC cable to the timecode (TC I/O) and used my camera to trigger the record button.

It is such a luxury to be able to save files directly as ProRes422 @ 10bit @ 220mbps. Then, in Final Cut Pro X there's no rendering or other messing around, and I don't have any really quality DVD programs, so I just use iDVD for the final output. The end result looks quite excellent, compared with footage from the SxS cards (MPEG @ 4:2:0 @ 35mbps.) What were Sony $thinking$ at the time???? PMW-F4????
 
Err, currently:
PDW-510, PDW-530, PDW-700, PDW-F800, PMW-320, PMW-350, PMW-500, PMW-DT300, HDC-1500, HDW-650, HDW-F900R, SRW-9000, HVR-HD1000U, HVR-S270U, DVW970, DSR-400, DSR450… I'm sure there's more?
 
Olivier Biron said:
PMW-F4 !!!!!!! have you often see a sony camera with a even number they always use odd number, Go figure!
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In Japan the number 4 represents death, they prefer to buy things in 3 or 5 over 4. It is a bit like the number 13 in the west.
 
for those of you who own the pix caddy and hard drive, can you send me the dimensions of both of them put together, i have them coming and wanted to order some sort of
protective case.

Thank you in advance!
 
3.25" x 4.75" x 1.125" thick - but the drive itself is much thinner than the caddy so it's sort of a strange shape. You may need to cut some custom padding to prevent it from moving around in whatever case you buy.
 
I store mine in a Pelican Storm im2050. Probably should have gone to the next size up, but it is a nice compact case for my use and to send out as a rental.
 
Pix owners: what is the recording time on the SSD or cf cards you use in your selected resolution set up?
Thanks.
 
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Just checking with everyone on the Sony F3 / PIX 240 thread of the DVX Forums......I've a question. I just updated the firmware on my PIX 240 last week and since then I am having a problem with the 240 playing back the recorded files. On pressing Play the clip plays for just 10-15 seconds then quits switching back to the main window. It does this if you select the file to playback via the file menu and / or just pressing play for the last recorded take. I am in touch with SD on this but I wondered if anyone else is having this problem. It didn't happen prior to the firmware upgrade. The recorded files are ok, they transfer to FCP 7 just fine and are complete as far as I can tell right now, it's just that the 240 will not playback complete clips, just the first few seconds or so......and again, this didn't happen prior to the firmware upgrade.
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I get just over two and a quarter hours of record time on a 256 gig Samsung SSD at ProRes 422 HQ 1080i 59.94, ( HQ 1920 59.94i setting on F3 ).
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