Odyssey7 & Odyssey7Q Status Update

John Foundas said:
How are folks managing the use of the O7 in an active shooting environment (hand held)?
All the rigging looks very cumbersome...

Thoughts?
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I've tried two configurations, using the Odyssey in place of my EVF on a standard monitor arm, or putting the Odyssey on back mounted rails and then looping the signal to go a my normal EVF. Both work, although I wouldn't want to do too much using the Odyssey as the EVF if there was a lot of shoulder mount going on.
 
Others have pretty much answered all of this, but let me try to sum it up.

- SDI output of the FS700 is either HD video or RAW data. The Alphatron can only accept HD video.

- The Odyssey7Q will accept and record RAW data (if you have purchased the FS700 record option), and will convert the signal to HD video to feed out over the SDI video outputs.

- Right Angle BNC adapters all suck. I have never found one that cut less than 3db of signal. And in time they all fail. Cables with right angle connectors, such as the Cine Coils, are better, but there is a ton of variation in quality. When you push 2K at 240fps through that little pipe any fault in quality can lead to dropped frames and other issues. It is imperative that you use top flight cables between the camera and the Odyssey7Q. The HD video output from the Odyssey7q is not nearly so critical as the signal is far smaller. Convergent Design makes Ultra-thin lightweight BNC cables.

- BNC splitters are awful and you should never use one with an SDI signal. The only kind I would ever trust is one with a powered circuit attached to it, otherwise it will degrade the signal, possibly to the point of complete failure.

- There is no need to split an HD video output from the Odyssey7Q. There are already three of them, two SDI and one HDMI, and they are all active at all times.
 
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Thanks, Mitch! For the shoots I had the last two days, I used the 7Q instead of my Alphatron EVF. I think it will be great once the firmware addresses the flicker. But in the meantime, the waveform functions fantastically and the screen is nice and sharp.

I recorded the first day to both the 7Q and the internal SD card... I think I'm going to have to wait until "popular codec" is available. One test shot I did was 61MB on the SD card... 4.17GB from the 7Q. Over 68 times the size, crazy.

I only did one test shot of 240fps (since it required swapping my drives, formatting, switching camera modes, etc) but it worked flawlessly and playback on the 7Q worked great as well.

In the future, to use the 7Q as a director/client monitor, I have ordered two 25ft 3G-SDI cables that I will run through some Techflex to wrap the two together so I don't have two cables to manage across the floor. Ordered a couple cable clamps for my 15mm rods to secure them to my rig and not strain any connectors. I think this should be a solid solution.
 
VERY SOON is very nice.
I guess, 4K for our Sony FS700 is still one firmware release more to go (scheduled Q1/2014).

Any news about shipping a next wave of units (and L-Series battery plates) to the E.U., Mitch?
 
I might have some info for Aussies. I contacted my seller here in Australia and he thinks the distributer is getting the first batch of 7q's in on the 17th which should start hitting stores a few days later. Although I'm 4th in line at my store, every indication is that I probably won't get my 7q in this first batch and hence not this year. :(

Convergent designs battery plate is also strangely absent from all the major retailers websites too which is strange. Not even B&H lists it yet. My 2x 256gb ssd's arrived yesterday though! I'll stare at them fondly while I wait for the 7q to arrive, lol.
 
rheinturmblau said:
VERY SOON is very nice.
I guess, 4K for our Sony FS700 is still one firmware release more to go (scheduled Q1/2014).

Any news about shipping a next wave of units (and L-Series battery plates) to the E.U., Mitch?
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Should have some info to share soon. I'm off to Toronto for a few days to demo the Odyssey7Q at the Vistek "Lights. Camera. Action." event, so the updates will likely not come until the beginning of next week.
 
Kyron said:
I might have some info for Aussies. I contacted my seller here in Australia and he thinks the distributer is getting the first batch of 7q's in on the 17th which should start hitting stores a few days later. Although I'm 4th in line at my store, every indication is that I probably won't get my 7q in this first batch and hence not this year. :(

Convergent designs battery plate is also strangely absent from all the major retailers websites too which is strange. Not even B&H lists it yet. My 2x 256gb ssd's arrived yesterday though! I'll stare at them fondly while I wait for the 7q to arrive, lol.
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As stated above, we will update soon.

As for the battery plate, this product was added rather recently and we need to introduce it better to our dealers. Thanks for pointing that out.
 
So I made my dual 3G-SDI cable. I ordered 25ft 1505F high-flex SDI cables from Blue Jeans Cables and 25 ft of TechFlex. I opted for one red (camera out to RECORDER) cable and one black (recorder out to EVF) Now, the TechFlex stretched JUST enough to get the cables through. I offset them an inch (so the two BNC connectors weren't both trying to go through at the same time) and slid them through together.

I used a couple zip ties at the ends of the TechFlex and I'm really happy with the result. The are super flexible, but obviously less flexible if you are trying to bend along the width of the two side-by-side cables. The Techflex not only manages them to make it less of a safety hazard but it makes them more abrasion resistant. This will work great for sending the signal to/from the 7Q when it needs to be away from the camera.

I also bought a couple 15mm cable clamps for my shoulder rig so if there is a tug then it is on the rails and not on the SDI jacks.
IMG_5512.jpg
 
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Hey Mitch,

One small feature I miss from my Canons DSLRs is an electronic leveler. When working really fast on stuff like B-Roll, the electronic leveler gave me a quick visual aid tell me if the horizon was straight (GUI line would go from red to green).The FS700 doesn't have this and I miss it for handheld run-and-gun type stuff. Can this be added to the 7Q?
 
gene_can_sing said:
Hey Mitch,

One small feature I miss from my Canons DSLRs is an electronic leveler. When working really fast on stuff like B-Roll, the electronic leveler gave me a quick visual aid tell me if the horizon was straight (GUI line would go from red to green).The FS700 doesn't have this and I miss it for handheld run-and-gun type stuff. Can this be added to the 7Q?
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It would be very easy to put a small bubble level on top of the Odyssey. Or even an iPhone with a level app. The analog level is much lighter though. Just make sure to level the Odyssey with your Camera first. I made my bracket system so that it would be easy to stay level, instead of a Noga Arm that is always slipping when changing SSDs etc.

Just a thought. I doubt the Odyssey has a micro level/gyro installed like most smartphones or cameras these days. Maybe I am wrong!
 
The bubble solution is very smart thinking Olof. Thanks! Analog and a cheap solution. I notice sometimes when I'm shooting lifestyle type shots where I'm really rushed, the horizon line is crooked because I'm just reacting to the talent. Unfortunately, I usually notice in post. The leveler was a useful little aid on my Canons that I miss.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Maybe you are wrong ...

;-D
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Hmm, yes I remember discussing this with Dan when he was here a while ago and I showed him the Canon 7D leveling function. And I seem to remember talking about what would be a good horizon indicator on the Odyssey.

I have been wrong before!
 
No espresso machine, but when I first joined the company I was handed a list of functions the engineers were working on or considering and buried deep in there was "make pizza". The mind boggles.

BTW, the list was two pages long of single spaced type. Not everything will be enabled over the life of the Odyssey and some may not be possible, but we certainly do have a lot up our sleeves.
 
Hi Mitch,

Do you have any idea when you're likely to fulfil all the pre-orders? Before the latest round of production delays you had said by end of December. I'm assuming it'll be mid January now. I ask because my supplier only received 2 units in the last delivery (1st to the UK by the sounds of it!) and I'm number six on the list, so I'm guessing I have a bit of a wait ahead of me :(
 
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