What is the best method to shoot SD with the Sony EX1

T

Tim Kay

Well-known member
Hi all,

Like many others here I have many times with paid jobs that shooting HD just isn't necessary. Clients are happy with SD delivery (heck, it goes right up to youtube half the time). Shooting a 5 hour talking head event with a 70gig file at the end is just to consuming and takes forever with my MBP. I would like to be able to record in SD (which I know this camera doesn't do) so what are some of the options I have. Is buying an AJA one of the better solutions ?

Thanks
 
Assuming you have an EX1 and not an EX1-R which does SD natively...

Quick and (not so) dirty method: output SD from FireWire and use your Editor to record it as a non-controlable FW deck source, or use one of the many FW recording apps for PC and Mac. I used Final Cut Pro's 'Capture Now' function. Miles better than SD off of DV tape from a Z1, anyway.

For the best quality, like you, I've shot 720p25 or (if interlaced is required) 720p50 and downconverted to either AVI or QT flavours of DV afterwards. Spooled it to tape if strictly necessary, but usually delivered on DVD-ROM DL as a file for their edit. Horribly time consuming.

I did consider an AJA box to convert, but the economics made me buy an EX1R - and then the bottom fell out of the SD market. :-)
 
That's correct, I don't have the (r). Lets see if I understand you right, in the field you'd bring out your laptop and record it directly into FCP ? How is the reliability of that ? If FCP crashes, is all the data lost ? Aja is an expensive alternative, one i'm not ready just yet to invest in.
 
You understand correctly. I attach the EX1 to my laptop, recording to a bus powered FW800 drive using FCP. I've not had a problem yet, and I've been doing this for (OMG) 6+ years. Did it with PD150, Z1 and EX1. Done it through decks from vision mixers too. All with a MacBook Pro. And a PowerBook before that. All the bad mojo that people talk of - sharing FireWire buses, using laptops - that's not the problem. The problems I've faced are sudden lack of power, which is why I like battery powered cameras with phantom powered mics on a spare channel, feeding a laptop with bus powered hard disks. Crashing FCP during a record has not happened yet.

Come to think of it, I almost lost a record as a delegate leaned back, broke through my 'exclusion zone' and could have pulled a cable out, but hey. Somebody could be shipping elephants by helicopter nearby. Accidents can happen.
 
@Matt - Thanks, I like this idea. What compression do you use for SD ? Also, can you back up record in the camera at the same time ?


@nosys - i though about something like this. All it is to shoot SD is a software update, but guess Sony only wants you to buy the latest & greatest (even though EX1's are far from the latest).
 
From what I've read the EX-1R in-camera SD looks like crap anyway.

I wish this thread were made a sticky - http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...s-better-for-interlaced-downconverting-to-SD&

I did a bunch of test and came to the conclusion that 720/60p or 720/50p (depending on what country you're in) is best for SD interlaced conversion. But if you're going the 24p route 1080/24p HQ mode is your best bet. That thread is a bit more involved though so I recommend reading it.

EDIT: Didn't read your whole thread. 720/60p is the way to set the camera, even if you're just outputting from the RCA. Thing is 1080/60i SP files are equal in data rate to DV files. So, how are you currently delivering your SD footage to clients? As files or tape? Is your issue that transferring the cards to the computer and then downconverting (yeah, this does take a long time) the problem?

EX1 doesn't do firewire SD out. You can do RCA or SDI out to a computer or deck that can take one of those signals.
 
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I think in the BBC whitepaper tests they said the 720p modes were best for SD output/downconversion in post. Search for BBC Ex1 whitepaper.
 
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