I have an EX1 for a weekend. Anyone want me to run tests?

Okay, so here’re my impressions.

First off, they did an admirable job trying to eliminate rolling shutter artifacts, but they’re still there. I recorded part of a basketball game and when a flash came up there was a partial exposure. Also, when I was zooming in it was really easy to see skewed geometry, though wobble wasn’t that bad. The chip seemed to handle fluorescent lights pretty well though, but maybe I just didn’t stress it enough.

The unit I used did show signs of vignetting, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as some of the shots I’ve seen around. It was mostly just the top left hand corner of the frame between the 15mm and 25mm range.

Aside from that, I tried my best to erase footage from the card by ripping it out of the camera during operation. I recorded about three clips and then started recording a fourth. When I pulled it out of the camera and stuffed it into my laptop, I could still see the first three clips I recorded. They all imported fine, without any corruption. When I put the card back into the camera, it asked me if I wanted to restore the card. I assumed that this meant format, but the camera actually rescued the footage that I had recorded immediately prior to ripping the card out! Kinda neat.

The camera itself is a pain in the ass to hand hold. I’m going to have to say it’s probably my least favourite camera in this regard. The whole thing is weighted so far away from your hand and it only takes a few moments for it to get really, really painful. Even when I rotate the handle it doesn’t help much.

I’ll try to elaborate on other things a little more, but there’s some food for thought.
 
I used it at at a soccer game with no problems with skew or shutter.

There will be footage available soon.
 
Stevet said:
I used it at at a soccer game with no problems with skew or shutter.
Click to expand...


Really? I mean, c'mon, it's right there. It's not as bad as you might think but it is there.

Here's the wobble:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_g6cTLzjmc

And here's the partial exposure:

Untitled.jpg



2-1.jpg
 
I wonder what flash unit that is? That's a lot of light when you compare to the normally exposed parts of the frame!


It's also kind of cool to see how much faster the flash "lights up" in the first frame in comparrison to the "fade out" in the 2nd frame.


- Mikko ... could use one of those for night photography.
 
Alex.Mitchell said:
The camera itself is a pain in the ass to hand hold. I’m going to have to say it’s probably my least favourite camera in this regard. The whole thing is weighted so far away from your hand and it only takes a few moments for it to get really, really painful. Even when I rotate the handle it doesn’t help much.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the details, Alex. Not a lot of stuff out there yet so it's great to see specific problems illustrated with screenshots and footage. Much appreciated.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the rolling shutter and all its ramifications in real world shooting...but it doesn't strike me as a deal breaker unless you're shooting a lot of sports and fast-motion. Is that the general consensus?

The thing that worries me the most, honestly, is the ergonomics. I do a lot of handheld and I cannot for the life of me see how you're supposed to hold the camera steady with a grip that's so off-balance and have an extra hand to work the lens and other controls. I'm anxious to check one out.
 
Alex, I think you have a couple of your terms mixed up. The partial exposure is right and is easy to see in the pictures that you provided. Thanks for that. The skew problem(which you are calling wobble) is when you pan side to side and it causes things to look skewed or like they are leaning. If that footage you showed on Youtube is from the EX, then yes, it definitely still exhibits skew. Wobble has to do with vibrations, mainly in the tilt directions up and down. With a CMOS that is not corrected like the HV20, this can cause the footage to "wobble" literally like a bowl full of jello and is quite disturbing and a definite deal-breaker.

The amount of skew in your footage does not bother me because I will never be doing whip pans that fast. Wobble due to vibrations(walking, on vehicles, helicopters, etc) is where my main concern lies and so far nobody has mentioned it yet. Thanks for posting these clips and footage Alex, very much appreciated.
 
Where did the flash come from? It seems odd it lit up the whole stadium.

Also, I'm not sure of your settings on the EX1, but that's the first jerk left to right test was the first thing I testesd and saw NOTHING to what the utube image shows.....hmmmmm. Also there have been a few other who did this test and said if they saw anything at all, it was not much.

I will also post this test. Looks like an HV20 to me.
 
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Man I am not buying that youtube video at all. That looks really bad and something we would have heard about from people who tested the cam. Adam Wilt never mentioned this when he earthquaked the cam. I say bogus. Someone do the same thing and post it so we get the stench from that vid out of here.

Alex thanks for doing the 'pull the card out while recording' test. At least that can be put to rest although I know its no guarantee for this cam as well as others.

Regarding the flash the same thing happens to the RED as a posted music vid showed. I say tests need to be done regarding other shutter speeds and flashes. Even film cameras can miss the flash when not synced.
 
The utube video is bogus alright. I OWN the cam and tried it MYSELF.
Believe me, I would of RETURNED it the first day. Not to mention well qualified people such as Philip Bloom would not of settled for that.

Also, the shots taken at 10Gs spinning in the plane would of been a disaster...
not buying...LOL

As far as the flash..... It's possible, for sure. Although it would be interesting to test at different shutter settings.
That's my plan.
 
It looks like multiple units slaved together .. the shaows of the ref. and the hoop come from the other wall.


Probabaly the stobes of a professional photographer who has powerfull pods triggerd via radio from his camera to light up the place when he wants to snap a fast shutter pic. Not uncommon at all.

- Mikko
 
mikkowilson said:
Oh that's a flash for sure. That's exactly what a "partial exposure" of a rolling shutter looks like.

If you look carefully, you can tell by the shadows that the flash came from the left of the EX1...

EX1_BBall_Flash1.jpg




- Mikko
Click to expand...
Good eye, Mikko, I missed that shadow. Yup, guess it is a flash. I've never seen a frame with camera flash look posterized like that. It threw me off.
 
mikkowilson said:
I wonder what flash unit that is? That's a lot of light when you compare to the normally exposed parts of the frame!

It's also kind of cool to see how much faster the flash "lights up" in the first frame in comparrison to the "fade out" in the 2nd frame.
Click to expand...
The first sentence was my first thought as well, and it seems strange that it is as intense in the foreground as the distance?

If those are consecutive frames, then the assumption mikko makes above seems to imply that it lasts exactly one frame, if we are indeed seeing the beginning and end of it. So 1/60 second? In which case, surely that's far longer than any normal electronic strobe?

I'm also curious to know what that video is like at normal speed.
 
I don't know guys. I hate to say it, but something about this looks odd. From what I know, when pro photographers set up strobes for basketball, they mount them to the catwalks directly above the court at the four corners and point them down towards the court. They usually don't mount them to the side like the way the shadow is showing because it would bug the hell out of the people on the other side of the bleachers facing the strobes. These are very powerful studio strobes, not consumer camera flashes, so they're pretty blinding.

I also tested partial exposure on my HV10 and at least on that camera you don't get the fade out like that. It's a very sharp line between the flash and no flash.

Of course, I could be wrong. Who knows?! We need more EX1 shooters to go to NBA games and check this out.

EDIT: I take it back, sometimes they do cross light from the bleachers. This was a college game so they probably don't have a lighting grid or catwalks on top. Cross lighting is not permitted at a televised game (NBA or NCAA) because it would interfere with the TV coverage.
 
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