Report in EX users!

Fohdeesha

Fohdeesha

Well-known member
With the advent of the new fs100, f3, af100, all the DSLRs, etc, this section has gotten pretty quiet. Understandably so, our new camera brethren have gotten quite good looking for the price.

However, I thought it'd be fun for all of us still loving and shooting with our EX cams to stop in and share our recent experiences with these excellent cameras, even some tips and tricks we've learned now that we've had a couple years to get to know every little thing about them. (basically I want to know I'm not the only one left not shooting on an f3/af100, LOL)


A buddy of mine recently took his Chevron b19 out for a track day and had me document it. The sharp, high resolving power of these cameras and the ability to open up aperture without having to worry about a small DOF was critical to shooting this run-n-gun as these things tend to be and as always it performed perfectly. This is going on my third year shooting with an EX (ex1, then an ex1r), and I love the thing to death!



here's a quick framegrab and a gif:





ICn4I.jpg



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What have you guys been working on!?
 
Well as has been proven in my recent thread coyly asking if DSLRs have caught up yet, I would say that the EX1 is as good as it gets under 10,000.00 (save for tee EX3). Every time I use it I get a happy feeling in my soul. So crisp and clear! The EX1R is so sweet! I have the ex1, and it's a bummer about the IR contamination, but that hasn't ruined anything to the point of it not being usable. I have IR filters, but rarely pull them out. By the time I get some MBL on there it all goes away. Or just some adjustment of the lows in the old 3-Way color corrector.

All in all I am so stoked with this camera. I still want a GH2, and have had one on loan for the last 2 weeks. It's so much more fiddly to deal with. In comparison it's like a toy camera app you get for your iPhone. It forces a shallow DOF. That's a cool look, sure, but it's always there to some extent. Not to take anything away from the GH2! But man, I loves me some EX1!
 
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Having taken delivery of an FS100, I was whisked off to Bermuda to film a little jolly which involved filming lots of activities in candid style, editing together for on-site presentation of video. Deep sea fishing, cycling, kayaking, that sort of thing.

Absolutely had to be EX1 over FS100 - couldn't be hassling with 'ooh, just need to change lenses', needed to be pretty robust thrown about in fishing boat, had to deal with condensation and being hammered with a hair dryer, hot sunlight, freezing hotel rooms...

Love the FS100, but love my EX1s just as much. Bright, sharp, colourful pictures full of detail - it's the zingy look my clients want. All wrapped up in a sturdy body and with good controls. It's also great as a simple Talking Head Chromakey acquisition machine. Faultless there. Then there's the 'direct to hard disk' recorder for conferences, the A/B rolling slots and CineGamma 4...

Having said that, mic pre-amps are a bit noisy, a buzz when screen flipped to front causes problems, and I've smashed yet another mic holder (weakest bit on it).

Absolutely no desire to sell the EX1s, and a couple of months into FS100 ownership, I'd still own an EX1 first.
 
You guys are getting me pumped, too. I've been using a Canon XH-A1 for about 2½ years, tried the DSLR route for about 5 months, then went back to the A1. After months of research, I bought an EX1r which is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. Can;'t tell you how excited I am.

I've been reading EVERYTHING I can find to learn about the camera so anything you folks can share would really be appreciated.

Actually using the camera is far less a concern than the EDCAM workflow that I'm facing, I think I've got an idea what I'm heading for, but am I being naive? I'll be working with Premiere Pro 5.5. Should it be a reasonable learning curve going from HDV to XDCAM as long as I keep things simple at first?
 
MattDavis said:
Having said that, mic pre-amps are a bit noisy
Click to expand...

Really? Are you using auto-gain? If you set the audio circuitry up correctly, it's the best sounding on any camera under 10k.

Follow this - http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?259526-Should-I-use-my-702-with-our-EX1 and you should be golden. Don't ever use auto-gain and always leave the side-knobs at 5 and a half and you should be perfect. I've never had a problem with noise, someone here actually forgot to turn on phantom power to one of their mics. The whole recording was super quiet, around -55db. He gained it up in post and found it totally acceptable.


Phil Murray said:
I think I've got an idea what I'm heading for, but am I being naive? I'll be working with Premiere Pro 5.5. Should it be a reasonable learning curve going from HDV to XDCAM as long as I keep things simple at first?
Click to expand...


First let me say - you're going to love the EX! Especially the ex1r, the small improvements really help out. I remember my excitement waiting for my ex1 to get to my local dealer then first month they were all released, probably some of the biggest anticipation ever.

The workflow for XDCAM in premiere pro is a dream, by far the best out of any software. If you for some reason require heavy datalogging for mass cataloging of all your footage, you can choose to use sony xdcam software to import, tag, and transcode everything.

However, I've never touched sony's xdcam software other than to test it. Here's my workflow - What you'll find is when you put an sxs card in the camera and record to it, it creates a main BPAV folder on the card, with subfolders containing the actual footage plus metadata. When I'm done shooting I copy this entire BPAV folder to my pc. Then, open premiere, pick the correct xdcam ex project preset, and literally click and drag the BPAV folder into premiere's project window. That's it. All your footage is right there ready to be dragged on the timeline, no transcoding or dealing with sony software. You also still have a complete copy of the BPAV folder so if for some reason you want to run it though sonys software in the future you can.

I have some old test footage here if you want to drag it into premiere and play around (1080p 23.976 XDCAM EX) -http://fohdeesha.com/data/other/Airport Footage.zip (it was re-wrapped to .mxf for compatibility with avid, however the data and codec is untouched xdcam ex, same as you'd get in a .mp4 right off the camera. If it would help you I can upload a full BPAV folder right off the cam)

Nice to hear from all you guys :)
 
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Fohdeesha said:
Really? Are you using auto-gain? If you set the audio circuitry up correctly, it's the best sounding on any camera under 10k.
Click to expand...

Yes, really! And no, not using auto-gain, using a Sound Engineer with SQN on cam's line input compared to COS-11 straight in. I upgraded my sound monitoring in the edit suite and went on a bit of a crusade (especially after getting glorious results from Zoom H4n at 24/48 with same mics). Now use a FEThead phantom powered Mic-preamp when doing audio solo.

But then not everyone hears the buzz when you flip the screen to the front.
 
That buzz sounds like a problem with your camera specifically. I shoot my own on cams in a studio with the LCD pointed out often and hear nothing - on either of my EX1s. And I get no noticeable noise when recording. I don't even use my MixPre for most things. The key is to have your trim set to -41db as a starting place, and never go above 6 with your recording volume. It's the trim that is key... I use an NTG-3, NT4, AT4053b, or COS11D through a Senn G3. All get awesome results with no noticeable noise.
 
Still love using the EX3, have a DSLR as well and it's a great tool but the EX3 is just so much easier. Been having fun using the Redrock M3 on it too.
 
Chadfish said:
That buzz sounds like a problem with your camera specifically.
Click to expand...

Well, took it into Sony Authorised Repair Centre (TopTeks) in the UK. They were initially skeptical, but simple demo showed it up. They had two other EX1Rs in the show room, sure enough, they do it too.

Will, in due course, cook up a little demo and post.
 
Are you sure it's not through the monitoring circuit only (headphones)? It sounds like it's an issue specific to your camera. I have a couple pieces of footage in which I know for a fact and can pinpoint when I flipped the lcd around. Just went over it a bunch of times and stared at a giant waveform and there is definitely no type of buzz or noise at all. the cam is an ex1r that's about a year old, with the latest firmware.

Your buzz issue might somehow tie into the noise your experiencing, as I have really gained these things up and they sound great. If you search around here that seems to be the general consensus.
 
Absolutely, utterly and beyond all reasonable doubt.

It is gain related, and Craig from TopTeks will confirm it's not just my camera.

Craig wil also confirm that I am fussy, picky and a PITA, but I've had a couple of shoots where... lets say... I'm very glad I had a Zoom H4n recording an overhead CS1 whilst I recorded the COS-11 to the EX1.

I don't twist the screen forward on my EX1R whilst recording any more, and I boost dynamic mics and my COS-11 with the FEThead Mic-Pre. The CS1 is okay. Yes, use the Audio settings and the dials at 5 and trim from there. But Rick Sarson (sound guy) delivers audio that requires a miner's helmet and diving gear to explore the noise floor with Line In on the EX1.

Hey, who knows... maybe it's a PAL thing. Dunno. Right now, have to get some edits out. Happy to record a little demo when I have time.
 
That's very unfortunate Matt, that you have to deal with this. Your complaint is the first I've heard, and I've been all over anything EX1 related for years. I don't doubt your experience. It's probably some ground that comes unsoldiered somewhere in there. I am a PITA too about my audio signal, and I am happy to not have ay complaints. Is it possible you are working under fluorescent lights with a bad ballast? I'm just grasping at straws there....
 
Well, there was a sneaking suspicion that the noise was due to the COS-11, but it's been absolutely faultless with the FS100 and Zoom H4n. It IS low level, so I'm having to wind up gain in the EX1 for it. CS-1 is - as I mentioned - fine. But I also have to wind up the gain for Dynamic mics (I do a lot of voxpops with people who CANNOT handle the CS-1 or anything that's directional - this is why Sound Guys need more rep points, it's like they don't just keep the car on the track, they keep it on the racing line because that's where the difference is made.

So, Dynamic mics need help - more help than the EX1R can give it, so stick a +18dB phantom powered FET mic pre in the chain. 416 and the beefier M600 just kick out so much that 'we're done'. But the COS-11 just needs one step more help than the EX1R can give justice to, and I see and hear noise. Use the FEThead mic-pre, wind down the internal EX1R pre-amps, and everything is rosy and clean.

A few chums also have COS-11s and ECM-77s and they say they're fine on their EX1Rs. I hear noise (but not from you, Marcus).

A £2k SQN is eye-wateringly cool/expensive/quiet, I just hope to convince agencies going on that a Sound Guy is a very very good investment on shoots.

And as for the buzz when the screen is pointing forward, stand by your beds: I'm going to make a movie about this!
 
Sorry if it seemed like I was doubting you, I definitely believe you're experiencing what you describe and like Chad said that is pretty unfortunate.

You bring up a good point regarding gain, if your mic is quiet, which is what you're describing, it sounds like you're trimming up more than I, or, the average user probably would, and living in an SNR land that most of us never reach. "normal" gain and snr land seems to be absolutely fantastic, as everyone says. I've had to trim up decently far and didn't have any noise problems, but then again if anything the pair of mics I use are hot.

About the lcd flip - looking forward to it! It's odd you said two ex1r's on the floor exhibited the same problem. I definitely ran through my footage and found no trace. Are you running the latest firmware? I'm at the latest, 1.15. That's all I can really think of that would make a difference besides hardware itself working incorrectly.

(Lovely racing analogy by the way :) )
 
I use the Senn G3 wireless with my COS11d, rather than going straight in, and I have more than enough signal due to the G3 pumping up the gain, and honestly I think the audio sounds great. In this recent video I'm going - Cos11d - to - G3 - To Ex1. -41db trim, 6 on the record volume. I was pushing it a little too hard, especially in the latter part of the vid (sunny footage) where the guy was speaking up. I had to turn down the audio in post -2db.


EDIT}}}}}}} No post processing on this. Just straight to the camera, and straight to the timeline.
 
Sony 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo

Sony 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo

hello im a sony ex1 user and i got a couple of questions, im planing to get this for my camcorder:
Sony 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Sony+32GB+Memory+Stick+PRO-HG+Duo&N=0&InitialSearch=yes
Sony MEAD-MS01 Memory Stick Adapter
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Sony+MEAD-MS01+Memory+Stick+Adapter&N=0&InitialSearch=yes
Kingston MobileLiteG2 Memory Card Reader
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Kingston+++MobileLiteG2+Memory+Card+Reader&N=0&InitialSearch=yes
 will these work out for my camcorder sony ex1?

and does my camcorder need an upgrade or not to use the memo stick with adapter and memo card reader?
and if it needs an upgrade were can i find on the info so i could get one.


thanks.

 
You need to upgrade your firmware if its not yet updated from the original firmware so that you can use adapter. Go to your nearest sony service center for the upgrade.
 
You do not need to go to a service center for a firmware upgrade. If your camera is an ex1r, the earliest firmware it comes with already supports memory adapters if I recall correctly

If you have the original ex1, you can find the firmware updates here - http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-...dcamex-downloads-XDCAMEXFirmwareUpgrade.shtml

if your ex1 is running the very first firmware release, you need to upgrade to 1.10/1.11 before using any of those. I can send you the 1.11 upgrade if you need it.

Also, people seem to have had better experience with the original, (and cheaper) hoodman adapters and much more common SDHC cards

http://www.hoodmanusa.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SXSXSDXC

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Class-Flash-Memory-TS32GSDHC10E/dp/B003VNKNF0

Full overcranking for hours with no problems. Also if you have a laptop chances are it already has an SD card reader built in.
 
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The EX1 never ceases to surprise me. First I have never before (over 40 odd years) had a cine or video camera of any make where the switch idents printing has worn off! Second The EX1 gives absolutely fantastic pictures that exceed all expectations. Yes there has been the odd problem such as tripod mount breaking off and lens gave up the ghost but overall a fantastic camera. I regularly intercut EX1 material from SxS and sometimes from Nanoflash 50mbits with HDCAM tape and most cannot see the difference. The camera has paid for itself many times over another good reason to love it.
 
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