Run & Gun with the EX1

basspig

basspig

Veteran
Hey, it even rhymes. :)

Last Saturday, was the Filipino-American Assoc of Western Connecticut's "Spring Dance", which my wife and I attended. I brought the EX1 along just to fool around and capture anything interesting.

I had my Rode NT4 stereo mic attached and used all manual levels.

Granted, the boxy-sounding Bose disco sound system was horrid, but the EX1/NT4 combination faithfully reproduced all the frequencies, smoothly and without adding any annoying "honkyness".

The lighting in there was dim. Just chandeliers, mainly and I know my HDV cams would be just about borderline useless here. But the EX1 made everything look like it was lit with a hundred kilowatts of lighting.

I used a HiSat matrix setting, and, on a wide-gamut LCD display, the colors--especially the reds and deep blues--really pop!

I put everything on Vimeo.com, keyword FAAWC:
http://www.vimeo.com/videos/search:FAAWC
 
Very nice Basspig!

I really want to learn how you've been able to capture some pretty great audio with that ROde NT4 mic. It seems like your standard mic of choice for live events.

Always appreciate your work and being Filipino I appreciated that you captured this community event as well. Would have been nice to be there in person but I got a pretty good sense with your great footage from the EX1.

As we Filipinos say, "Maramang Salamat!" or Thank you very much!


Gmoe
 
Not bad, for a run 'n gun, eh? :)

Capturing good audio with the Rode is pretty easy, as long as the camera records faithfully what is coming down the mic cable. (The EX1 is about the only camera I've used that does.)

I chose the Rode NT4 as the mic of choice because of its broad, fairly flat frequency response. If it were up to me, I would have a machine shop fabricate a smaller 'body' for the mic that tapers down to 7/8" diameter and is only 4" long, instead of the massive cylinder that is the mic's battery compartment (which I don't use because the EX1 provides phantom power). So.. it's a little bulky, but it works. Ergo-optimization remains an engineering challenge for me to solve:

1209016660.jpg


My wife is Filipino, and we do speak some Tagalog at home but, hindi po ako mashadong maru ng mga Tagalog! (I probably butchered that beyond recognition--it's been ten years since I studied and wrote any Tagalog!)

I enjoyed visiting Baguio when I was in the Philippines and only wish I had the EX1 way back then, and before air travel became such a hassle. They make the BEST strawberry preserves in the world there. Back in the city, we'd often wind up in Pasay, and eat dinner at Kenny Rogers restaurants (love their chicken!). I still have a very interesting photo of a telephone pole in Tarlac, where my brother in law lives. :)

Back in the States, we have the FAAWC which is the CT branch which promotes Philippine culture. I've shot a lot of video over the past 7 years at those events. It was good practice for me and my (then) TRV900/VX2000).

It's amazing who you run into on these forums! Fil-am couples are everywhere these days. And right now my wife and I are petitioning her parents and sister to come live in the US with us. The struggle never ends!
 
Really?

What wre your settings agian please? When I did the same thing the resolution turned to **** with the camera panning but it looked ok on a non hd tv...
 
The video was shot 30P, shutter off, as it was rather dim lighting. Picture profile used a HiSat matrix, not too much out of the ordinary there.

I really had to watch the audio attenuator settings though, to avoid too much compression with the 90dB SPLs. Somewhere in the -32dB range for the attenuators. AGC set to OFF.
 
Since all of our HD TVs are LCDs, none. It's a pixel to pixel direct relationship, so full raster is displayed. XDCam is able to resolve down to the pixel, such that I can walk up to the 47" house display with a magnifying glass and observe the edge of something sharply in focus in a scene and literally note that the next adjacent pixel is the color of the background object--making the transition of a focused edge detail 1 pixel wide.
 
Speaking of 'run & gun' footage, here is a minimalist recording I did a couple Saturdays ago. The NT4 mic was on a 25' extention away from the camera. It was the easiest concert shoot ever, because I needed no separate audio recorder.

The Kent Singers:

http://www.vimeo.com/935424
 
Hey Basspig-

Thanks for that info. both on the Rode NT4 and your Filipino connection. I do a lot of live recordings of community events and performances as well here in Philly so I may have to look into the Rode NT4. The sound on the Kent Singers came out very nice for just hooking up your Rode to the EX1. I was kinda surprised actually.

Do you use a mixer like say a SD 302 for larger concert events and record separately or do you still use the EX1 to record all your audio? Just curious...

Thanks again for sharing your work and your knowledge,

Gmoe
 
How's your wrist feel after extended handheld shooting. When I demoed the EX I felt the pain pretty quickly.
 
For large symphonies, I do full surround sound with 7 recording microphones, five of which are in a patent-pending array that I designed last year and is flown over the fourth row about 18' off the deck. Two more in the balcony. These feed an 8-channel 24/96 A/D converter with phantom power, which feeds a laptop-based DAW. No mixing. Ever.


The weight of the EX1 doesn't bother me, although my wife can't handle it at all. That said, I probably would not want to hold it up for six hours straight, but for a couple of wedding vow segments it's not an issue. Anyway, at most events, we use tripods and dollies for smooth pans and tracking shots, so it becomes a non-issue there. For parades and events like the above, it's not a bad little combo, but I find the NT4 to be cuimbersome when it comes to putting the whole rig in my bag--it sticks out and puts more stress on the Sony mic holder than I would like.
 
Another shoot/edit/publish in a day job

Another shoot/edit/publish in a day job

basspig said:
I really had to watch the audio attenuator settings though, to avoid too much compression with the 90dB SPLs. Somewhere in the -32dB range for the attenuators. AGC set to OFF.
Click to expand...

Mark, thanks so-o much for your audio guidance. It paid off on a recent shoot:

http://www.vimeo.com/919847

This edit currently does NOT include location sound, but I hope to twiddle it so that it does. Lots of blustery wind, lots of straight-thru exhaust pipes, I could call the soundtrack 'visceral' but that won't really do it justice.

FWIW, that shoot required 2x offloads of both 16GB and 8 GB cards. My Mac setup is cursed in that when I try to import clips using the Sony XDCAM-HD Transfer app, 1 in 4 clips don't import first time. It can take from 8 to 27 attempts to get each clip to import, which meant the time saving of shooting to SxS is absolutely lost, and instead I get huge amounts of stress as a quarter of clip imports halt with an error.

Not lost a clip yet, but it can require copious amounts of Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon to get through ingest phase. Hopefully will upgrade from Tiger to Leopard which will fix it, maybe will invest in petit cave du vin instead, but would prefer Leopard to Liver Damage.

I shot the hand-held stuff in a FigRig, but the wind was such that it was extremely unstable and wobblesome. The lens requires so much fettling that I'm feeling that the FigRig is not right for this camera, even with a Bebob zoom controller. A shame.

It is interesting, though, that a committed FigRig user should prefer a nude EX1 over a FigRig mounted version. The OIS isn't a patch on the Z1's HARD setting. I really REALLY want to switch to a Steadicam Pilot soon.

But yes - the EX1 is an excellent Run & Gun camera and can even deliver SD DVD under pressure. I've appreciated the slickness of the Z1 on the last few jobs, but missed the quality of sharpness and image. Now, if the ingest issue could be sorted, I'd probably not shoot tape again on candids....
 
Last edited:
Matt, for those closeup engine scenes, you may have to go to -11dB attenuator setting (assuming external condenser mic--are you using the NT4?)

One thing that may surprise a lot of people is that applause can have a very high peak SPL--which will trigger the limiter in the EX1.

But on the track, you could be looking at dB levels of 135-145dB when those engines are at full throttle and screaming down the track. You'll want pretty close to maximum attenuation for such circumstances. Of course it's cumbersome to switch to less attenuation when you want to do an interview, but that's the nature of the way the EX1 is designed--there is not much headroom on the front end and you have to guard it carefully.

Looks like a fun event!
 
basspig said:
Not bad, for a run 'n gun, eh? :)

Capturing good audio with the Rode is pretty easy, as long as the camera records faithfully what is coming down the mic cable. (The EX1 is about the only camera I've used that does.)

I chose the Rode NT4 as the mic of choice because of its broad, fairly flat frequency response. If it were up to me, I would have a machine shop fabricate a smaller 'body' for the mic that tapers down to 7/8" diameter and is only 4" long, instead of the massive cylinder that is the mic's battery compartment (which I don't use because the EX1 provides phantom power). So.. it's a little bulky, but it works. Ergo-optimization remains an engineering challenge for me to solve:

1209016660.jpg


My wife is Filipino, and we do speak some Tagalog at home but, hindi po ako mashadong maru ng mga Tagalog! (I probably butchered that beyond recognition--it's been ten years since I studied and wrote any Tagalog!)

I enjoyed visiting Baguio when I was in the Philippines and only wish I had the EX1 way back then, and before air travel became such a hassle. They make the BEST strawberry preserves in the world there. Back in the city, we'd often wind up in Pasay, and eat dinner at Kenny Rogers restaurants (love their chicken!). I still have a very interesting photo of a telephone pole in Tarlac, where my brother in law lives. :)

Back in the States, we have the FAAWC which is the CT branch which promotes Philippine culture. I've shot a lot of video over the past 7 years at those events. It was good practice for me and my (then) TRV900/VX2000).

It's amazing who you run into on these forums! Fil-am couples are everywhere these days. And right now my wife and I are petitioning her parents and sister to come live in the US with us. The struggle never ends!
Click to expand...

Hi there,

Can you tell me where did you get the extension for your mic.
I really dig it. It adds height and allows you to tilt.

Never seen it before.
 
I built that extention from a piece of 1/2" I.D. schedule 40 PVC plastic pipe, 4" long. I drilled a 3/8" dia hole in one end and installed a 3/8" x 1-1/2" bolt. Using the 3/8" Euro adapter from the Rode NT4, I completed the assembly. The mic holder came with the mic, so about $5 worth of parts. I also primed and painted it with epoxy paint so it matches the camera finish.
 
MattDavis said:
Mark, thanks so-o much for your audio guidance. It paid off on a recent shoot:

http://www.vimeo.com/919847

This edit currently does NOT include location sound, but I hope to twiddle it so that it does. Lots of blustery wind, lots of straight-thru exhaust pipes, I could call the soundtrack 'visceral' but that won't really do it justice.

FWIW, that shoot required 2x offloads of both 16GB and 8 GB cards. My Mac setup is cursed in that when I try to import clips using the Sony XDCAM-HD Transfer app, 1 in 4 clips don't import first time. It can take from 8 to 27 attempts to get each clip to import, which meant the time saving of shooting to SxS is absolutely lost, and instead I get huge amounts of stress as a quarter of clip imports halt with an error.

Not lost a clip yet, but it can require copious amounts of Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon to get through ingest phase. Hopefully will upgrade from Tiger to Leopard which will fix it, maybe will invest in petit cave du vin instead, but would prefer Leopard to Liver Damage.

I shot the hand-held stuff in a FigRig, but the wind was such that it was extremely unstable and wobblesome. The lens requires so much fettling that I'm feeling that the FigRig is not right for this camera, even with a Bebob zoom controller. A shame.

It is interesting, though, that a committed FigRig user should prefer a nude EX1 over a FigRig mounted version. The OIS isn't a patch on the Z1's HARD setting. I really REALLY want to switch to a Steadicam Pilot soon.

But yes - the EX1 is an excellent Run & Gun camera and can even deliver SD DVD under pressure. I've appreciated the slickness of the Z1 on the last few jobs, but missed the quality of sharpness and image. Now, if the ingest issue could be sorted, I'd probably not shoot tape again on candids....
Click to expand...

nice stuff, i like the clip but what was happening in the pan along the cars between 0:!2 and 0:16? was that jellocam or did you run a smoothcam filter?
 
doofalot said:
nice stuff, i like the clip but what was happening in the pan along the cars between 0:!2 and 0:16? was that jellocam or did you run a smoothcam filter?
Click to expand...

It had the SmoothCam filter applied. Only now am I making my peace with this curious filter. Have recently used it on a handheld shot at 720p25 for SD delivery which looked like the camera was on rails. However the initial temptation was to use it to save shots that should have been binned. (blush)
 
MattDavis said:
It had the SmoothCam filter applied. Only now am I making my peace with this curious filter. Have recently used it on a handheld shot at 720p25 for SD delivery which looked like the camera was on rails. However the initial temptation was to use it to save shots that should have been binned. (blush)
Click to expand...

heh, it's all good, keep up the good work
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top