F35 and the Codex M Recorder

Y

yachacha

Well-known member
I thought I should start a new topic on this incase anyone was also interested in this option and wanted info. I haven't even shot footage yet because I'm waiting on parts to come in. Hopefully it gets up and running and proves to be as great as it's promised. Right now I have been hunting around for a few weeks for parts, I have found a few deals on all the parts so I had a little gauge on what the "street value" was on the components. It certainly is no $800 Hyperdeck package (yes it's ~ $800 with all the parts), but it looks like a good deal on a SRR1 seems to have settled around the 3k mark with 1 drive included and this is comparable.

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So Far my costs for all the components:

Codex Arriraw M Recorder - Ebay auction $520 - This is the version made for D-21 and Alexa, only difference is the side design is slightly altered and on it is printed "Arriraw". The lighter grey material actually matches the F35.

Codex F35 Interface Plate - BandPro used item $750 - They actually have a large stock of Codex M recorders, they had a few used F35/23 Interface plates for sale.

Codex Remote Control - Old show unit from Codex $300 - Codex had some parts still in stock for the F35, they did not have any F35 plates and would be looking into using one.

Codex set of 256gb drives - Ebay Buy It Now $499 - seems to be the going "dirt cheap" rate for these drives are $250 per 256gb.

Codex License for F35 - here's the catch, because it's an Arriraw recorder, the previous owner only ever bought the Arri codecs, the Retail price of these licenses : $3000, what they were willing to give to me: $750.

Total Buy in so far : $2820

Not cheap but if we compare the value of the F35, it's about right. We are talking about unlocking the features of the camera.

I must say dealing with Codex so far has shown incredible customer support. I explained that I wasn't a rental house, just an individual who had tracked down an older rare camera, and they have been very helpful. I'm sure like the F35, there is little reason to keep supporting these products, but they care enough about there product and company image to give out the same outstanding support that they give to the people who buy $80,000 products from them. They emailed me on a sunday! Who does that for their customers?

So hopefully I'll get it all together and working without too many problems. From what I've read and a few round about answers from Codex, I am fairly certain I can transfer footage through the ethernet on the unit, this is another biggie I am relying on to not spend more $$ right now. Once i get everything up and running I will shoot some good images onto the Hyperdeck and Codex at the same time and then post for comparison:

422 10bit vs 444 12 bit. Only reasonable way to test 12 bit is to shoot dual system and compare the same exact images in each format.
 
That sounds amazing, if I could get a codex bundle for that money I'd do it in a heartbeat.

My main question is obviously how are you offloading data.

The codex is uncompressed only right? Is it DPXs?
 
Unfortunately, I've gotten into the drone game for work and have been spending my gear cash on that. If anyone is interested in the codex recorder send me a PM, I'm more than willing to pass off the recorder to another F35 user at cost who wants to finish the project. I have the contacts lined up for all the parts, I just couldn't pull the trigger on the $750 F35 plate and $750 F35 recording option for the recorder. The hyper deck is just too damn cheap and reliable right now to spend a couple thousand on the 12 bit option.
 
well here we are months later and still no codex footage from the F35. I'd like to share some contacts I have made in my codex searches.

First of all, I have never even powered my Codex due to the need for a $750 dock, Visual Products referred to it as a "wet dock" to make it really useful to the F35. They seem to still be available.

Some of you might of noticed a seller on ebay listed over 10 Codex M recorders. They are 2k a piece. I contacted the seller, which is Visual Products I believe, and they told me they did have a few of the "Wet Docks" for the F35. Price was 5K for Codex M with all licenses, 512gb drive, and F35 dock.

Too pricey for my taste, but I figured someone here might be interested in getting this combo. Probably won't be that many chances to get the full kit.

I have read the codex M recorder can use ethernet to offload footage, this would be a big thing we would have to bank on otherwise you are hunting down an expensive reader to add to the combo price.

Like SJX and Mac before has said, the Hyperdeck is so damn cheap and easy, it is hard to think about 5k to get most of what I have now from the Hyperdeck.
 
Sadly after pricing up one of these it was another factor that made me upgrade to the F65 - not an easy thing to transfer, but a neater solution in any case
 
I did chat with the fellow on eBay with the Codex units. It's Systems Associates I think, representing Otto Nemenz I beleive. The problem is they don't have transfer stations for sale. And the media is proprietary, so you need the transfer station. I was offered a better price than $5k, but the transfer station is unavailable at discount... and at retail it's over $10k last I saw.

The codex is one of the only devices that docks and handles all flavors of the F35, including ramping, but the price tag is high.
 
The Codex, like a lot of things F35-related, is priced for the customers who could afford the thing new, not us.

I've sold a couple of ARRIFLEX 35mm cameras for £3,000... a new ground glass is still £500
 
yachacha said:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Codex-Digit...297?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5af15ba749

would this giant work?
Click to expand...

That's a wholly separate Codex recorder. It's big, fat, and heavy. Also, it's a linux based computer, with some trickiness to the operation.

If you're seriously interested in it, read up here:
http://www.codexdigital.com/assets/downloads/Codex_Technical_Manual_r030111.pdf

It has offload capabilities over ethernet, USB, SCSI/Fiber and even supports LTO tape exports.

It uses a different shape data packs than the Onboard M, so I don't think it would be practical to use for offloading from the onboard.

I might be wrong about that, you could always call Codex and ask. That said, as a pure offload station it's damned huge in today's market.

Also, I expect it's only dual link as a recorder, and that it may not support the F35 varispeed and ramping fuctions... this is from the early days of digital recording.
 
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