FS7: XDCA Extension Unit

Liam Hall

Liam Hall

Veteran
I've got a client who wants to shoot ProRes, so I'm looking at getting the XDCA Extension. For those of you that have this unit can you share your experience with it? What is the performance like? What batteries are you powering it with? Is the ProRes recording consistent and accurate?

Thanks,

Liam.
 
Standard ebay chinese v locks working without a hitch and pro res is working perfectly. Adds a nice balance if shooting handheld too.
 
Liam Hall said:
I've got a client who wants to shoot ProRes, so I'm looking at getting the XDCA Extension. For those of you that have this unit can you share your experience with it? What is the performance like? What batteries are you powering it with? Is the ProRes recording consistent and accurate?

Thanks,

Liam.
Click to expand...

I own one... but I haven't really needed it much yet. I could rent it to you if you're interested. I have a gold mount plate adapter for it. I haven't seen any faults with the ProRes.
 
You may want to consider renting an Odyssey 7Q for the shoot.

XQD Cards fill up fast with ProRes, and the internal ProRes maxes out at HD. If you want HD ProRes, the Odyssey can do that without the Extension Back (just pull out of SDI 1), if you want 4k ProRes, the Odyssey 7Q+ can do that with HDMI.

Assuming you want the highest possible quality, you'd want to get both the XDCA and the Odyssey and generate 4k ProRes from the FS7's 4k RAW feed.
 
Yeah, if you want 4K ProRes, 7Q+ from HDMI is the most affordable route. But I'd take XDCA RAW Out + 7Q(+) over the HDMI.
 
I haven't shot in ProRes, but I do have the XDCA Extension Unit and have paired it with 2 Switronix XP-L90S V-Mount batteries. One battery lasts between four and five hours. I've never had a hick-up when using them, and, as others have said, they do provide a decent counterbalance for the camera despite the additional weight.
 
I second Doug's education suggestion. The big advantage of the FS7 is a internal high quality recording. For ProRes 4K you have to attach the XDCA chunk plus V mount plus 7Q/+ What a huge and expensive setup.

I always advice to respect and fulfill a client's wish because he pays for his wishes and native 4K should always be paid well. So if he's immune to your XAVC advice and he wants 4k ProRes on a regular basis I would think about a FS700/7Q combo as a B-cam. Both are available as used a bargain and since firmware 2015.8 this combo is a no-brainer
 
Problem is a Producer or Director invariably spends a lot more time with an editor than a DOP, and if the editor is sitting there the whole time saying 'this would be so much faster if we had pro res instead of this crazy codec' it can be quite hard to fight against.
 
The irony is Ben, I am Director/DoP and Editor on this job. Of course, I've advised XAVC, and my producer was happy to go that route, but the production company has it's own (very busy) post-house and they're the one's demanding ProRes. Their reasoning behind that decision is perfectly valid, so it's the least I can do to look into it.

Another couple of questions; what SSD media are people using? How much does the RAW license cost?

Thanks again guys.
 
^ shooting xavc and overnight converting to prores afterwards is not an option? would be the cheaper option, and probably nobody will notice.
 
Not an option in the long run, as this is such a long shoot involving a lot of traveling, but I might have to do that for the first week of production.
 
Can't remember where you're based Liam, but if you're around lovely London town I'm happy to meet for a coffee and bring 7Q and extension unit so you can test it out in exchange for sweet caffeine.
 
That's a great offer Ben, and I'd love to compare notes with you sometime soon - I feel I owe you a beer for all the great advice you've shared on here! Looks like we're going the full Odyssey/XDCA route, just trying to sort out the gear now as I'm jumping on a plane Monday evening. Hoping it's a simple learning curve... nothing like a last minute spanner in the works.
 
Ha, no idea what advice I've shared except enjoying telling people on the internet they are doing camera-ating wrong :)

I don't have it, but I can definitely recommend the sunshade if you are working outside. Portabrace do a nice one with a weather guard for the back but to be honest the Convergent Design one should be plenty good enough. I power mine via the D-Tap on the v locks so that's a £70 cable to grab from them too. A 90wh v lock gives me 3hrs of FS7 and 7Q so I have 2 of those as they are much lighter for handheld, and one large 160wh to get me through a day. Or you can grab one of the various battery plates they sell.
 
To answer your questions, the Odyssey7Q+ can use Convergent Design's Odyssey SSDs or these Qualified SSDs from Samsung:

850 PRO 2.5" SSD: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
850 EVO 2.5" SSD: 1TB

The Samsung SSDs are considerably less expensive than ours and we encourage their use. The difference is that we Certify and Warranty our own SSDs because, well we make them. We will always try to aide our clients should something go wrong (and that is very, very rare), but at a certain point if the failure is due to someone else's product we have to say that you should talk to them. That said, the Samsung SSDs are great and we wouldn't qualify them if we didn't believe in them. To use the Samsung SSDs you need to buy our SSD handles so that they can be mounted properly in the Odyssey. These are sold for $25 for a 5-pack in the US, although I'm not sure the going rate in your territory after import fees.

The Odyssey RAW Bundle is $995 and is purchased via our website. Once you buy your Odyssey7Q+ you register on our website and then can purchase the option. You will be provided an activation code that will unlock the functions on the Odyssey7Q+. Since we did just release a new firmware update last week, it is quite possible that whatever unit you purchase from a local dealer will have an earlier firmware on it. You will want to update that right away, which takes about 30 minutes. The Odyssey comes with an AC power supply, SDI and HDMI cables, as well as one Odyssey 256GB SSD. If you're lucky enough to get one from the promotion we were running for the first half of the year then it will include TWO 256GB SSDs. Not included is a SATA to USB3 or SATA to Thunderbolt adapter to offload from your SSDs. We sell one and there are numerous others available as standard consumer items. Also not included is a battery mount or battery cable or a mounting arm, as most people have preferences on these. I would suggest you buy V-mount bricks that include a D-Tap port right on them. That way one battery will power your camera with XDCA extension as well as your Odyssey7Q+ (with the use of our accessory Odyssey D-Tap power cable).

Please let me know if you have any other questions in setting up your kit.
 
I shot a short and converted it all to prores when it was done - simply line up the cards in resolve and then hit go.

considering the data load you will have on the trip - the extra links in the chain that can fail - the extra download and backup time and and and..

I just don't think it stacks up - especially at this late moment - you don't have time to become intuitive with the oddy or rig it properly

seriously I'd give it a second thought

4k prores is 880 mbs - you will need DIt with you just to do the overnight and dumps and back ups - that 60 odd percent more data for no visible gain!

ok we had crap computers but on NN - bmc 4k they were struggling to keep up even when I doed to DIt at lunch - hitting a hotel at 1900 with 1tb to Dl and Bu will be sketchy
 
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