Odyssey7Q February 2014 Firmware Update

txdp said:
Good info. I use them on my 7" ac7 oled and they work great and last a while using 2, but sound like not a good choice for the odyssey. What's the general consensus on runtime with the sony batteries?
Click to expand...

Here's my experience with L-Series Sony batteries. I did my first real shoot about 3 weeks ago using 2K RAW. It was a pretty large size shoot for Disney Jr. I believe we had about 40 on crew, 30 on talent, 12 hours total, about 10 hours of shoot time. Filled up 2 x 256gig SSDs of 2K RAW. I DP'd and operated and shot around 100 minutes of total footage most of it at 24fps, with a little bit of slow motion here and there.

For the day, I almost went through 3 Sony 770s (the mediums sized batteries) on the 7Q. I actually switched the batteries when they hit 7v, so it probably could have went a little longer. For the FS700, I went through less than two Sony 970s (the bigger batteries).

I was turning the 7Q off between longer takes though, so that probably conserved a bit. But yeah, I was fine with three 770s on the 7Q. If you had four 770's, you probably would not stress at all.

I was pretty happy that the 7Q did not guzzle batteries. I've been hearing stories about how the BM Pocket Cam needs 12+ batteries for a one day shoot. That would be crazy.
 
The math is pretty easy. Look on the little label on any battery and it will tell you how many milliamps and what voltage the battery is. Amps times Volts equals Watts. Depending on the mode the Odysseyis set to, it can draw between 8-15 watts. It tells you what it is drawing on the upper tool bar. For most modes you will be using it is between 9-10w.

The NP-F970 battery is 47.5w. If the Odyssey7Q is drawing 10w, then it should last four and 3/4 hours. Call it four hours to be safe. Of course battery life and condition can change this. As your batteries age they will not perform as well. But I have several 9 year-old NP-F970 batteries from my old Z1U kit that I use on the Odyssey and they're still kicking it just fine. The NP-F770 is 31.7w.

Using the little Canon DSLR batteries is not a good idea. They may work at first but you'll burn them out really quick. A good rule of thumb is to never pull more than 50% of capacity from a Li-Ion battery at any given time, unless it is specifically a high draw formulation. In this case if the Odyssey7Q is drawing 10w, the battery needs to have a capacity greater than 20w. If you do not do this you wil find that you likely will not get the expected runtime out of the batteries and within a few months you will have destroyed them, so that they give almost no effective use at all.
 
Ordered one of the stocked units at B&H now. Do not dare to make this a march update now you hear? =) I need it for a shoot in mid-march.
 
Talking about power and batteries, I'm still waiting on my sony L battery plate. How does the O7Q warn of low power or does it just die? I seem to remember some discussion a while back about this but can't remember what the outcome was. Possibly was going to be improved in a future firmware update?
 
Pgale said:
Talking about power and batteries, I'm still waiting on my sony L battery plate. How does the O7Q warn of low power or does it just die? I seem to remember some discussion a while back about this but can't remember what the outcome was. Possibly was going to be improved in a future firmware update?
Click to expand...

It's pretty clear actually. It flashes something like: "Low Voltage" or something like that, and around the 6.8v mark, the voltage interface box turns into this ominous looking yellow. You get plenty of warning.
 
From page 14 in the Odyssey manual, available for download on our website, noting the indicator in the System Status box on the Upper Tool Bar:

6.7v
Yellow Text
No change to operation

6.5v
Red text & flashing warning
New recordings prevented

6.0v
Red text & flashing warning
Current recording stopped
 
gene_can_sing said:
It's pretty clear actually. It flashes something like: "Low Voltage" or something like that, and around the 6.8v mark, the voltage interface box turns into this ominous looking yellow. You get plenty of warning.
Click to expand...

That's good to know - thanks :
 
rejdmast said:
Are they really hitting February 28th 23:59pm? :D

What time zone?
Click to expand...

I'd guess the firmware is ready but always being tweaked so maybe they are taking all the time they have to meet the deadline but also squash as many bugs as they can in this release build of the firmware. It's always a trade off of features released quickly versus stability, but I imagine the best release build will be several test builds past the one where they made the big changes. The more time they take the more stable it will be, and they only get to release so many firmware builds so they should be as stable as possible even if there are many iterations of test builds.
 
we are waiting for the ear-battering DING DONG ;-)

(take your time, Mitch. I have a all day shooting tomorrow. So Friday will be fine for me ---- just kidding..)
 
Anyone know if CD help desk is available during the weekend?

Looks like im getting my unit on 28th.

If the update launches on 28th, id like to shoot during the weekend :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
From Dan Keaton:

"Late yesterday, in our testing of this feature, we detected some high-frequency noise in the HD image.
Thus our team is working to resolve this quickly. We wanted this feature to be included in the February release, and we still do, so if we fix this in time, it will be."

Anymore information on this?
 
rejdmast said:
From Dan Keaton:

"Late yesterday, in our testing of this feature, we detected some high-frequency noise in the HD image.
Thus our team is working to resolve this quickly. We wanted this feature to be included in the February release, and we still do, so if we fix this in time, it will be."

Anymore information on this?
Click to expand...
We believe we will have it in this update.

You have no idea how many little things need to get tracked down. Functions can work fine on their own, but freak one another out when integrated. Sometimes one function completely breaks another due to an odd coincidence in code. Only way to know is to stick them all together and test everything. It's a massive bug hunt. Fix one thing, break two more. Like a big game of Whack-A-Mole.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top