Has anyone here gone to the training that Sony provides (like $2,000 USD) for the XDCAM or any other sony product. Would you recommend this?

Hello HD shooters,

Does anyone have experience with using the skindetail settings on Sony camcorders? I never took the time to do some thorough testing and never met anyone who used it.

Recently we started shooting progressive and it seems that the image looks a little softer than interlaced. That got me thinking on maybe compensating with detail settings.

What is your opinion?

If i use the standard gamma setting with auto-exposure, i can see the zebra 70% on the white skin and the picture is correctly exposed. If then i apply, for example, the cinegamma 2, the picture get darker and the zebra disappear from the skin. The autoexposure does not compensate it: should i manually open the iris til i get again the 70% zebra on the skin to get the correct picture?

Hi all,

This may well be a dumb question but I keep reading about Firmware updates for the F350 and I wondered if anyone knows of any firmware updates for the F355 yet?

Cheers

Jon Essex
DSR570 - PDW F355 - FCP Studio 2

the F350 firmware brought in many features that the F355 has. Am sure there will be something in the near future.

Hello,

I'm looking for some technical details and descriptions for the XDCAM system (regarded as a carrier for storing the data, but the cameras themself as well) for an extensive university paper I have to prepare. There are not so many materials on the internet that I've found.

Any help, guys?

Exactly what kind of info do you need?

Have you looked at the Sony Biz web site? A number of links that may be useful:

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowContent.action?logicalname=RME%20PRO%20HUB

http://www.sony.co.uk/res/attachment/file/33/1167924780833.pdf

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowProductCategory.action?site=biz_en_GB&category=XDCAMCamcorders

Also look at the links at the top of this forum - lots of info there:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=62598


Paul.

Saw some concert footage recently of 2 350's intercut with HVX-200. Interesting. HVX made decent pictures but couldn't handle the saturated highlights AT ALL while the 350's had no problem with them. Not a very scientific comparison I realize (no info yet on exposure and other settings between the cameras- BJ, if you're lurking out there be sure to chime in) but it made me want to see the EX-1 in the same situation replacing the 200 and see what the results would be.

I would chalk most of that up to the 1/3 vs. 1/2 sensor. More dynamic range for the F350 (and for the price difference, there darn well better be).

The EX-1 will also exhibit a wider dynamic range than the HVX200 based on sensor size alone. It's just the nature of the beast.

-gb-

I seem to be having a signal drop out every now and again when playing from the camera via firewire. It looses the signal for a second and then finds it again. PDW-F355 and a DSR11 DVCAM.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Jon Essex
DSR570, PDW F355, FCP

Jon, there are a couple things that I can think of. First, and most obvious thing that came to mind was to try a different cable.

Can you attach camera directly to a computer via FW and see how the capture process goes?

As in all troubleshooting, it's a process of elimination via substitution when substitute items are available.

With the F-355 being fairly new, it may have a bug in the firmware so it's important that you let Sony know if you can't resolve the issue by other means.

BTW, does the deck have a setting for DF/NDF? It might be irrelevant in this case, but making sure both sides match settings is generally a good practice.

-gb-

I have an old JVC rear focus/servo zoom controller that I use with my 570. The focus controller works fine on the F350 but the zoom controller has an incompatible pin arrangement.

I can get a converter cable but it's quite expensive at around £200 ish.

So I was just wondering what other kit people use for remote zoom/focus for conference work etc?

I'm aware of the Manfrotto 524CFi zoom controller which is meant to be quite good and also quite cheap at around £200 (certainly cheaper than the Fuji controller kit at around $3,700!!!)

Any ideas/recommendations?

Paul.

Anyone know the link to download an instruction manual?

I'm unsure of how to transfer logging data from one computer to another? The client wants to view the proxies on his Mac laptop and then pass that data on to the edit suite for ingesting etc.
Please could someone talk me through the process which I'm guessing is very simple!

Many thanks,

Jon Essex
Lighting Cameraman / Editor
DSR570 PDW-F355 FCP

Are they any F350 owners in the SF area? Please, reply to thumeau@telecamfilms.com

Thanks.

Thierry.

I am posting here as well just in case an F330 or F350 owner has had to do this. I am doing a 2 camera shoot with my F330 and a hired EX1. I have looked through the posts on the EX1 Scene files but can't find an answer. I am a great fan of the Sony LBEACHC scene file on the F330. Can I match an EX1 to this scene file? What would someone who has done a 2 camera shoot using this combo recommend? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I am working for a national broadcaster and we have recently bought few pieces of 355 ans 335 camcorders. We noticed that when Low Noise Mode is switched on, something like BLACK compress is visible in the picture (the level of BLACK is lower and also the contrast in lower part of the signal is smaller). We do not like this at normal light conditions, because it reduces visibility of details in dark areas of a picture and also reduces overall resolution of a picture (a little bit). The best solution is when you switch on GAIN (3 dB or more) that Low Noise Mode is switched on automatically. Does anybody know how to set up a camcorder to get such a functionality? It is also possible to change M. BLACK level and BLACK GAMMA to get back details in dark area of a picture with switched on the Low Noise Mode, but with much less noise. It will be intertesting to store all this (including Low Noise Mode) under one set up of the camera (like sceen file). Does anybody know how to do that? And second question: Is sensitivity F9 (XDCAM HD camcorders) against F11 (IMX camcorders) rally such a big limitations of a XDCAM camcorder that it is difficult to use it for documetaries (up to now most of documentaries were shot with IMX camcorders)?

if u suspect any problem in the blacks, do an ABB first then recheck the problem.

i've encountered times seeing black over-crunched or even a little greenish, etc. Even at all default settings.

Solved after a ABB.

We have 3 PDW-F350's all with the same menu setups. Our most common setup is shooting at 24p with 1/48th shutter. 1 of the three has an issue whereby the Zebra pattern in the viewfinder, LCD or outboard HD-SDI monitor will not work when the shutter is at 1/48th or faster. It works with the shutter off and with the shutter at 1/32nd but not 1/48th or faster. Any ideas?

My background is purely 60i, where I normally use 1/60 shutter for most of my work.

I want to explore working with 30p and 24p, but especially 30p, since film out isn't my objective.

I notice with my F335, as expected, the default shutter with 60i is 1/60, and when you turn the shutter switch on, the first speed higher is 1/100.

When I switch to 30p, the default shutter appears to be 1/30, and that gives me identical exposure to 60i at 1/60 shutter. The first speed higher from the shutter switch is 1/40.

When I switch to 24p, the default shutter appears to be 1/32, based on my exposure not changing at all when I turn on the shutter switch, and its first setting being 1/32. I guess a default of 1/24 is just too slow to be useful. Anyway, the 24p with the default 1/32 shutter looks to be about 1/3 stop brighter than the 60i-1/60 or 30p-1/30 setting.

So my question is, what shutter speeds does one normally use with the 30p and 24p progressive modes? I thought I'd read somewhere that for 24p, you shouldn't use a shutter slower than 1/48. And that for 30p you would still want to use a 1/60 shutter.

So, is this correct, and therefore shooting in 30p mode with a 1/60 shutter is one stop slower than in 60i mode with a 1/60 shutter?

Thanks.

Keep in mind, that with the shutter switch in the off position, your frame rate is essentially your shutter speed.

When shooting 24P, you often want to use 1/48, mainly to emulate the motion blur characteristic of film shot at 24fps with a 180 degree shutter (each frame is exposed twice at double whatever the frame rate is). When film is projected in the theater, a shutter shows each frame twice at 1/48 second.

In 30P, shutter off, you essentially have 1/30 second shutter. I personally feel that 1/30 could give more motion blur than I want, and will often switch to 1/60. This gives me cleaner frame grabs.

In 60i, shutter off, you have a 1/60 shutter, but that's for each field of the frame. If you add the two fields together, you'd have a total of 2/60 of shutter time per blended frame. Those frames occur at roughly 30 fps. And 2/60 reduces to 1/30. That's why your exposure is equal between 60i and 30p with the default shutter.

I think in the not too distant future, when 60P becomes viable, interlaced scanning will take its place in history with the CRT.

-gb-

Never mind. I just read the post below.

Thought to 1st put a shout out here -- we've got a shoot in Urbana on 05.15-16.08. We'll bring x1 F350 w/ us, but need a 2nd one for interviews on the 16th. Anyone in the area/interested? For both days we will need a grip/gaffer + 3-4 pt. lighting + tripod; on the 15th we'll also need a small dolly + PA. On the 16th we'll need the 2nd XDCAM HD + shooter + 2nd tripod and a sound recordist.

If anyone's in the Urbana hood and interested please contact privately....infoATsector550DOTcom. Thanks.

Hi all,

We just started using an XDCAM 335 and a PDW U1 optical disc drive. Our old workflow with tape was for the producer to create an Avid log and we would batch capture from that. We would like to continue to work this way. Our problem is, although the producer can subclip the XDCAM files and create an Avid log, how do we bring in the files and retain this info. We have saved the clip info to the disc and I can import the Avid log with subclip in/out info, I can see the subclip titles but when I batch import the XDCAM files they come into my bin with different clip titles so that they do not match the Avid log the producer created Basically we do not understand the workflow at all. Right now I basically stare at his Avid log and try to match it up with the clips I imported. This gets the work done but is not efficient by any means. Any and all help is welcome, thanks in advance.

Am I right in thinking that the EX3 mount is totally new, and not used on any other camera? I ask because if I got one I'd want to get an adapter for using stills and/or PL lenses, and ideally would get one made up now, but if the camera engineers don't have access to the camera's mount or at least it's dimensions and FFD they can't make an adapter.
Steve

It is different, but they include an adapter with the camera to allow mounting the standard 1/2 XDCAM HD lenses. I know, that's not what you are looking to mount on the camera. But yes, it's different.

-gb-

Taken care of, though surprisingly little response from the list here.

Looking at a follow focus add on, anyone know the gear pitch for a Canon KH21ex5.7? I've looked in the manual and all over the web, can't find it.

Canon lenses are designated .50m.

Hi,
Anyone using a F70 to do slow motion in a linear setup?
Or can anyone tell me if I can do slow motion with a F70?
Thanks in advance,

Gérson Becker

I've got an F330 with the F350 viewfinder and after the 1.93 update the viewfinder seems to be in an underscan mode - I have a black frame around all the edges of the picture in the viewfinder. I can't find anything in the menu that would scale the picture in the viewfinder back up to full screen. Any suggestions on how to get the full screen video back?

I have an F355 which I bought at the end of last year. I have noticed there is a software update now available. I have printed off the instructions which I must be honest fill me with fear! Nothing ever works like they say it should and It would be a real pain to have my F355 out of action whilst I try to get it working.

Finally my question is, has anyone made this software upgrade and what are the benefits of doing so.

Many Thanks!!

Jon Essex
F355 - DSR570 - FCP - AVID

I have an F350 and there is (as with most Pro Camcorders) a very thin black edge around the display. May be this was a bug fix in the firmware that made the F350 VF work correctly on the F330.

The file accompanying the firmware often details what bug fixes/feature updates are a part of the upgrade. That's where I'd start looking for answers.

If you carefully follow the instructions for doing the upgrade, you should be okay.

-gb-

Is there anything else I should look out for that the All file doesn't actually save on the F335?

I was surprised that it doesn't save the scene files I have loaded in the camera's five memories when I save an All file. It doesn't save the title presets that I had loaded, either.

I realize I can just save the full block of 5 scene files at once to the stick, and the titles are already on the stick, but I was surprised that All isn't really "all".

Has anyone recorded directly to an uncompressed disk recorder from the HD-SDI port on the 350? How do your results compare to recording via the XDCam HD codecs to optical disk?

so far, in order to get that 422 color space some favors, it mostly requires a hard wired connection with a computer loaded with one of several black magic capture cards from the PMW-EX1 hd-sdi to the black magic card in a mac pro desktop.

if you want to use the macbook pro, then you'll need to get the aja iohd that sits between the ex1 and the mbp.

the top is the cheapest method and the aja cost over $3000

now, i understand there is a wireless solution where you can use any mac, desktop or mbp.

it's the CW-5HD from IDX.

http://www.idxtek.com/products/trans_sys.html

at a cost of around $6000 and you'll get full 422 and almost live broadcast functionality.

anyone already seen this work?

paul

I'm looking for feedback from those who have shot with either of the Zeiss Digizoom's (6-24mm or 17-112mm), 2/3" to 1/2" adapter on the F350 XDCam HD. I currently have a Fuji HS18x5.5 lens on my F350, which I love, but I have a documentary beginning in the fall which might benefit from a higher quality lens. Were you pleased with the images from the DigiZoom, especially compared to the DigiPrimes? Was light loss too much of a factor with this lens, especially when shooting in 24P? Lastly, does it perform well in the run and gun documentary style that follows the action as it happens or is it a bit too cumbersome and better suited for more controlled setups?

I appreciate your feedback.

Ray Ellis
Director
Footpath Pictures
www.footpathpictures.com
Raleigh, NC USA

Anybody know if the Sony F350/F355 variable frame rates will work on the Flash XDR? I suppose it depends upon what comes out of the HDSDI, and if the VFR are made as they are laid to tape then maybe they won't?
Cheers,
Steve

I suppose it depends upon what comes out of the HDSDI


Dear Steve,

I agree with your assessment.

Since the Flash XDR will be able to do time-lapse recording (in I-Frame Only modes), it will be interesting to see if this will be useful to generate certain frame rates by dropping the undesired frames.

I have read the following in a review of the F350: "Variable frame rate settings above 30p halve the bitrate in HQ mode."

The above makes sense to me, in that if you have more frames of data that are being recorded to tape, and a fixed maximum variable bit rate for Long-GOP recordings, then something will have to give in order to capture the higher frame rate.

But, we will have to determine what is output on the HD-SDI port for frame rates above 30p.

Once we get a Flash XDR and a F350/F355 in the same room, we should be able to tell fairly quickly.

Looked through the PDW700 manual and there doesn't seem to be any way to change the shooting mode from 1080 to 720 etc. I understood that it could shoot 1080 25/30P and 720 50P/60P. Any ideas?
Steve

You have to wait for october. Then there will be a first firmware update for the PDW-700 that adds more shooting modes and the MPEG-HD420 codec. This firmware update is free.

I'll apologize in advance for asking this question here because it references the PMW-EX1, BUT, the nature of my question forces me here.

In browsing Sony's XDCam site, I noticed that they have released several Scene for the larger format XDCams. They are apparently intended for download and install via memory stick.

I was wondering if any of you who have the larger cams have parsed any of these scene files and also wondered their applicability to the baby of the family. Some of the scene files seem very interesting for my intended uses.

Anyone willing to download these and and offer a breakdown of their settings?

(Not sure of the forum rules about posting links, so Mods delete if it breaks the TOS)
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-xdcamscenefiles.shtml

I've shot some tests with the Sony F350 and must say that while the overcranking is smooth there is a definitely noticeable drop in resolution (as expected really). I assume that the camera is just doing a straightforward de-interlace as you would do in post - is this correct? If so, apart from saving time, would it be just as good to do it in post (maybe even better if there are programs with better algorythms than the camera's one)? In this way, would it then be just as good to have the cheaper F335, one of the main feature benefits of the F355 being over and undercranking.
Steve

Steve,

This post should give you the info you need:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=64638

Hi,

I recorded a concert with various cameras;
Sony F350 (1080/50i VBR)
Sony Ex1 (1080/50i HQ)
Sony Ex1 (10801/501 SP)... borrowed camera didn't notice the setting at the time...
3 x Sony Z1 (1080/50i HDV)

I've since captured all the material in their respective native formats and am ready to begin editing. In order to use FCP's multicam function however, all footage must be in the same CODEC. Any suggestion how I would go about converting everything into perhaps ProRes422?

thanks

Our Editors are looking for a way to do a batch ingest of XDCAM material based on an EDL made by a Producer(with Sony PDZ1 software). We have Final Cut Studio2/KONA and PDW-F70 decks that can be accessed via network, firewire or thru their video I/O. The options for EDL export with the PDZ-1 software are:
BVE-9100 EDL
XML for Newsbase
ALE
Editlist
convert to ASF

Has anyone had any success in Final Cut with this?

Was able to test this with an Editor on Final Cut Studio2. If you export your cliplist(EDL) as a BVE9100 EDL, Final Cut can import the EDL and it will setup your timeline without the media(media offline) .Then we did a batch ingest into that sequence with 9 pin(422) control and the HD-SDI(out of PDW-F70) into a Kona card. Final Cut brought in only the subclips created in PDZ-1...hi-res of course. This worked well and should be huge timesaver for us. Producers make a fat rough cut and Editor brings in only the footage needed.
The other options for EDL out of the PDZ-1 software were greyed out and not selectable by Final Cut.

Hi,

I have a shoot next week with the F350. Filming a silver car on snow roads in full sun. Blue sky. Contrasty bright New Zealand light.

I have shot the F350 before, and not been happy with the results. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right set up direction.

NTSC HD 59.94i.

Handing disc's over at the end of the job, so I would like to get a clean look in camera, as I have no idea if the image will be graded.

I will have Panasonic HD monitor on the day, but I only get the camera the night before.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

Ben Ruffell (http://www.ruff.co.nz)

Do we know if the PDW700 chip is progressive or interlaced and generated the progressive by de-interlacing (as with the F350 etc.)?
I assumed it was a native progressive (like the HDCams?) but now not so sure, especially as it shipped with just 50i to begin with, seemed to hint that that was what the chip was doing.
Steve