blackdogdylan
Active member
hey gang-
just thought I would post a blurb here about my first shoot with the Odyssey, for those with a lot of questions or doubts still.
I received my O7Q on Monday. mid-week, I got a call to shoot a short film/fake commercial for the Conan show (I've done a handful of projects with them over the years.) they usually come up last minute-ish, are pretty crazy, and always hilarious. they're one of my favorite clients, hands down. they also trust me implicitly when it comes to gear, so I always get to suggest how we should do something. I own a pretty kitted-out FS700 and they like the look of it, so I suggested we shoot with it (and a NEX 5N for a specialty shot.) and since I had my shiny new O7Q, I mentioned I'd bring it along.
now, the bad news first:
I can't tell you anything about the content of the shoot (yet) and I only RECORDED ONE SHOT on the O7Q, because their editorial is VERY hectic and they can't be bogged down with uncompressed workflows.
that caveat out of the way, this is what I can tell you:
the O7Q is an exceptional field monitor, right now. the analysis and focus tools are REALLY well implemented. the accuracy of the picture is spot on, and it's quite bright. my 1st AC looked at the picture and exclaimed, "that looks f**king amazing! blows the TV Logic away. I'd love to pull focus on that. I might just NEED to buy one of those." the gaffer, the producers, the lead editor, everyone couldn't look at the image without saying something about how "nice" it was.
I used it on a noga arm attached to the camera, on a WC LCD bracket, or mounted to a C-Stand. it ran the whole shoot day (conserving power on and off) on one of the CD 4-cell bricks (well, almost- it died before the martini shot- but since I was essentially using it as a "client monitor" with tools for me as well, it wasn't a big deal.) when on the cam, I just used velcro to stick the cells onto the FMU door. I also have a larger build-up with V-Mounts and run it off P-Taps, but wasn't using it on this one. the O7Q is VERY lightweight so it's really manageable to have it onboard as a large EVF or mounted on the dumb side of the camera for focus pulling. or just about anywhere you need it.
we only actually recorded one shot on it (one that was going to require a tricky green screen comp.) so far, I think editorial is in love with the pristine DPXs for that.
now for the "criticisms":
I really couldn't propose utilizing it as a recorder for our day because, as I mentioned, they require compressed workflows over there with extremely short editorial timelines. and raw was most definitely off the table. to propose a bleeding edge solution with inverse LUTS etc, wouldn't have been feasible. maybe once it matures a bit. but with such a feverish edit timeline (and a whole bevy of other components of their show to deal with) I opted instead to only record the composite shot on it- and for that, it worked perfectly.
HOWEVER, just for some perspective out there for potential O7Q users/owners, our entire day was recorded onboard (they have no problem with AVCHD and since we did a fair amount of highspeed, I was okay with it as well- ordinarily, I use an external recorder) and amounted to a little over 6GB. the ONE shot recorded in uncompressed DPX on the Odyssey? 14GB. more than double our entire day. the transfer speed off the SSDs is lightning fast though, so, that's great. but, good god these file sizes are big. compressed "popular codec" (you know who you are!) can't come soon enough. and DNxHD as well. that will make all my Avid peeps happy (the majority of my clients.)
there is some video tearing right now while viewing live or recorded images (which has been mentioned in other threads and I know CD is addressing- I'm not worried about it- it is NOT in the recording, so don't worry!)
also, some buggy behavior here and there. for example, when playing back 2K clips, sometimes the first time you press play, the debayer appears to be very low quality. stopping playback and restarting takes care of it.
some other users have discussed utilizing the O7Q as a "passthrough" to get a higher quality 1080p from the 4K (until compressed codecs arrive,) by recording the signal from the SDI or HDMI out.
afraid that's not the case, yet.
while the color (especially gradations) is WAY better on the 12 bit 4K raw stream (as compared to the 8 bit out of cam) the resolution is not quite there yet. something funny happening with the debayer causes a reduction in perceived resolution, in addition to color fringing and moire. I assume this is why CD is saying, "not yet, guys. it will get better." for viewing purposes, it's excellent. I just see no point in recording it when it's clearly a step back in quality from the HD. and same goes for 2K passthrough- only worse. because there, you ALSO have the reduction in resolution from the camera side. so I really WOULD NEVER RECORD THE OUTPUT OF THE 2K SIGNAL FROM THE O7Q. just doesn't look that good. you'll hear otherwise from some users. but I would never use that for broadcast. I would much sooner use the onboard AVCHD, warts and all. I think we should all be patient and wait for compressed codecs rather than try to hotwire the O7Q and get sh*tty results that makes clients say, "we used that thing and it didn't look good." I would only use the raw or uncompressed recordings for now.
to wrap it up, currently, the O7Q is an exceptionally good monitor with superb uncompressed recording capabilities- it is a Gemini 444, but better. I've been a big supporter of CD for years (and bought my nanoflash and O7Q from nanoflash.net- great service from those guys!) for real world, fast-paced broadcast TV workflows, it's not QUITE ready for primetime. if something comes up where I need an external recorder, I'll most likely rent a PIX240. but December is close. and if CD continues to listen to the community (which I know they do) and make it the powerful device I know it is, it's going to become THE de facto recording and monitoring device.
if they can add "popular compressed codec," DNxHD, soon, and perhaps some other flavors down the line, like XAVC and, fingers crossed, 4K raw, there will literally be no reason to ever rent or buy another recorder. this will be the one.
I'll pop a link up when this airs and then I can share more details and maybe some onset pics.
just thought I would post a blurb here about my first shoot with the Odyssey, for those with a lot of questions or doubts still.
I received my O7Q on Monday. mid-week, I got a call to shoot a short film/fake commercial for the Conan show (I've done a handful of projects with them over the years.) they usually come up last minute-ish, are pretty crazy, and always hilarious. they're one of my favorite clients, hands down. they also trust me implicitly when it comes to gear, so I always get to suggest how we should do something. I own a pretty kitted-out FS700 and they like the look of it, so I suggested we shoot with it (and a NEX 5N for a specialty shot.) and since I had my shiny new O7Q, I mentioned I'd bring it along.
now, the bad news first:
I can't tell you anything about the content of the shoot (yet) and I only RECORDED ONE SHOT on the O7Q, because their editorial is VERY hectic and they can't be bogged down with uncompressed workflows.
that caveat out of the way, this is what I can tell you:
the O7Q is an exceptional field monitor, right now. the analysis and focus tools are REALLY well implemented. the accuracy of the picture is spot on, and it's quite bright. my 1st AC looked at the picture and exclaimed, "that looks f**king amazing! blows the TV Logic away. I'd love to pull focus on that. I might just NEED to buy one of those." the gaffer, the producers, the lead editor, everyone couldn't look at the image without saying something about how "nice" it was.
I used it on a noga arm attached to the camera, on a WC LCD bracket, or mounted to a C-Stand. it ran the whole shoot day (conserving power on and off) on one of the CD 4-cell bricks (well, almost- it died before the martini shot- but since I was essentially using it as a "client monitor" with tools for me as well, it wasn't a big deal.) when on the cam, I just used velcro to stick the cells onto the FMU door. I also have a larger build-up with V-Mounts and run it off P-Taps, but wasn't using it on this one. the O7Q is VERY lightweight so it's really manageable to have it onboard as a large EVF or mounted on the dumb side of the camera for focus pulling. or just about anywhere you need it.
we only actually recorded one shot on it (one that was going to require a tricky green screen comp.) so far, I think editorial is in love with the pristine DPXs for that.
now for the "criticisms":
I really couldn't propose utilizing it as a recorder for our day because, as I mentioned, they require compressed workflows over there with extremely short editorial timelines. and raw was most definitely off the table. to propose a bleeding edge solution with inverse LUTS etc, wouldn't have been feasible. maybe once it matures a bit. but with such a feverish edit timeline (and a whole bevy of other components of their show to deal with) I opted instead to only record the composite shot on it- and for that, it worked perfectly.
HOWEVER, just for some perspective out there for potential O7Q users/owners, our entire day was recorded onboard (they have no problem with AVCHD and since we did a fair amount of highspeed, I was okay with it as well- ordinarily, I use an external recorder) and amounted to a little over 6GB. the ONE shot recorded in uncompressed DPX on the Odyssey? 14GB. more than double our entire day. the transfer speed off the SSDs is lightning fast though, so, that's great. but, good god these file sizes are big. compressed "popular codec" (you know who you are!) can't come soon enough. and DNxHD as well. that will make all my Avid peeps happy (the majority of my clients.)
there is some video tearing right now while viewing live or recorded images (which has been mentioned in other threads and I know CD is addressing- I'm not worried about it- it is NOT in the recording, so don't worry!)
also, some buggy behavior here and there. for example, when playing back 2K clips, sometimes the first time you press play, the debayer appears to be very low quality. stopping playback and restarting takes care of it.
some other users have discussed utilizing the O7Q as a "passthrough" to get a higher quality 1080p from the 4K (until compressed codecs arrive,) by recording the signal from the SDI or HDMI out.
afraid that's not the case, yet.
while the color (especially gradations) is WAY better on the 12 bit 4K raw stream (as compared to the 8 bit out of cam) the resolution is not quite there yet. something funny happening with the debayer causes a reduction in perceived resolution, in addition to color fringing and moire. I assume this is why CD is saying, "not yet, guys. it will get better." for viewing purposes, it's excellent. I just see no point in recording it when it's clearly a step back in quality from the HD. and same goes for 2K passthrough- only worse. because there, you ALSO have the reduction in resolution from the camera side. so I really WOULD NEVER RECORD THE OUTPUT OF THE 2K SIGNAL FROM THE O7Q. just doesn't look that good. you'll hear otherwise from some users. but I would never use that for broadcast. I would much sooner use the onboard AVCHD, warts and all. I think we should all be patient and wait for compressed codecs rather than try to hotwire the O7Q and get sh*tty results that makes clients say, "we used that thing and it didn't look good." I would only use the raw or uncompressed recordings for now.
to wrap it up, currently, the O7Q is an exceptionally good monitor with superb uncompressed recording capabilities- it is a Gemini 444, but better. I've been a big supporter of CD for years (and bought my nanoflash and O7Q from nanoflash.net- great service from those guys!) for real world, fast-paced broadcast TV workflows, it's not QUITE ready for primetime. if something comes up where I need an external recorder, I'll most likely rent a PIX240. but December is close. and if CD continues to listen to the community (which I know they do) and make it the powerful device I know it is, it's going to become THE de facto recording and monitoring device.
if they can add "popular compressed codec," DNxHD, soon, and perhaps some other flavors down the line, like XAVC and, fingers crossed, 4K raw, there will literally be no reason to ever rent or buy another recorder. this will be the one.
I'll pop a link up when this airs and then I can share more details and maybe some onset pics.
