Alister Chapman and his nanoFlash at DVinfo.net

Dan Keaton · August 26th, 2009, 01:38 PM

Dear Friends,

Alister Chapman is a well-respected free-lance professional filmmaker who specializes in shooting severe / extreme weather, aviation and science programs.

Alister is a member of Sony Europe's ICE team (Independent Certified Experts).

He received his nanoFlash last Friday and immediately put it to good use. He was shooting with a Sony EX1 and a Sony PDW-700 camera.

He tested the nanoFlash with both cameras.

Alister typically shot using our 100 Mbps 4:2:2 Long-GOP mode.

Alister's blog, with a mini-review of the nanoFlash is here:

XDCAM-USER.com Alister’s Blog

Alister also made a couple of videos discussing the nanoFlash.

YouTube - nanoFlash 1

YouTube - nanoFlash Dual Recording Technique

We wish to publicly thank Alister for his review and his kind words about our nanoFlash.

I have included a couple of frames recorded by the nanoFlash.

Alister Chapman · August 26th, 2009, 03:16 PM

Hi Dan, Hi all.

Since writing the first part of my review I have been able to look more closely at the footage from the NanoFlash. I recorded at 100Mb/s Long GoP from both the XDCAM EX and PDW-700. The improvement in picture quality over the in-built recordings is noticeable straight away before you do anything to the material such as grading. To be honest I didn't think I would be able to see a difference between the 50Mb/s PDW-700 recordings and the 100Mb/s NanoFlash recording, but I can. Now, don't get me wrong, I am still perfectly happy with the quality of both the 35Mb and 50Mb recordings the cameras produce, and there will be many jobs where that is what I use. The 100Mb/s NanoFlash recordings just look a little cleaner with a little less noise and jitter in areas of high detail, this in turn makes the images look a little "clearer" for want of a better word. The images I got from the PDW-700 with the NanoFlash are spectacular. I hope to get them projected on a big screen at 4K sometime soon. The EX footage is also extremely good, looking no different to what I see directly out of the HDSDI output. I am also using it with my HXR-MC1P (AVCHD) mini-cam via HDMI and the improvement there is quite dramatic. I still can't get over how simple it is to use.

Dan Keaton · August 27th, 2009, 04:01 AM

Dear Alister,

Your experience, reviews, and comments are greatly appreciated.

Alister Chapman · August 28th, 2009, 04:20 AM

As promised I have posted part 2 of my NanoFlash review on my blog. This part concentrates on the picture quality differences, which in some cases are quite striking.

XDCAM-USER.com Convergent Design NanoFlash Review Part 2 – Picture Quality

As I said in my post above the difference is clear to see, first generation on a large monitor. But when you start t grade or do any post production work that's when the difference really starts to show. In my test clips the EX footage showed noticeable blocking following heavy grading, while the 100 Mb/s NanoFlash footage remained clean and crisp.

Dan Keaton · August 28th, 2009, 04:39 AM

Dear Alister,

Thank you.

We greatly appreciate your detailed analysis and the time and effort it takes to create and post a thorough review such as yours.

I found the differences between the "Frame grab from 35 Mb/s graded EX Footage", and the "Frame grab from 100 Mb/s graded nanoFlash footage", to be quite significant. These are the last two images in your post.

August 26th, 2009, 01:38 PM	#1
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Alister Chapman and his nanoFlash Dear Friends, Alister Chapman is a well-respected free-lance professional filmmaker who specializes in shooting severe / extreme weather, aviation and science programs. Alister is a member of Sony Europe's ICE team (Independent Certified Experts). He received his nanoFlash last Friday and immediately put it to good use. He was shooting with a Sony EX1 and a Sony PDW-700 camera. He tested the nanoFlash with both cameras. Alister typically shot using our 100 Mbps 4:2:2 Long-GOP mode. Alister's blog, with a mini-review of the nanoFlash is here: XDCAM-USER.com Alister’s Blog Alister also made a couple of videos discussing the nanoFlash. YouTube - nanoFlash 1 YouTube - nanoFlash Dual Recording Technique We wish to publicly thank Alister for his review and his kind words about our nanoFlash. I have included a couple of frames recorded by the nanoFlash. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

August 26th, 2009, 03:16 PM	#2
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Hi Dan, Hi all. Since writing the first part of my review I have been able to look more closely at the footage from the NanoFlash. I recorded at 100Mb/s Long GoP from both the XDCAM EX and PDW-700. The improvement in picture quality over the in-built recordings is noticeable straight away before you do anything to the material such as grading. To be honest I didn't think I would be able to see a difference between the 50Mb/s PDW-700 recordings and the 100Mb/s NanoFlash recording, but I can. Now, don't get me wrong, I am still perfectly happy with the quality of both the 35Mb and 50Mb recordings the cameras produce, and there will be many jobs where that is what I use. The 100Mb/s NanoFlash recordings just look a little cleaner with a little less noise and jitter in areas of high detail, this in turn makes the images look a little "clearer" for want of a better word. The images I got from the PDW-700 with the NanoFlash are spectacular. I hope to get them projected on a big screen at 4K sometime soon. The EX footage is also extremely good, looking no different to what I see directly out of the HDSDI output. I am also using it with my HXR-MC1P (AVCHD) mini-cam via HDMI and the improvement there is quite dramatic. I still can't get over how simple it is to use. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

August 27th, 2009, 04:01 AM	#3
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Alister, Your experience, reviews, and comments are greatly appreciated. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

August 28th, 2009, 04:20 AM	#4
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	As promised I have posted part 2 of my NanoFlash review on my blog. This part concentrates on the picture quality differences, which in some cases are quite striking. XDCAM-USER.com Convergent Design NanoFlash Review Part 2 – Picture Quality As I said in my post above the difference is clear to see, first generation on a large monitor. But when you start t grade or do any post production work that's when the difference really starts to show. In my test clips the EX footage showed noticeable blocking following heavy grading, while the 100 Mb/s NanoFlash footage remained clean and crisp. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

August 28th, 2009, 04:39 AM	#5
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Alister, Thank you. We greatly appreciate your detailed analysis and the time and effort it takes to create and post a thorough review such as yours. I found the differences between the "Frame grab from 35 Mb/s graded EX Footage", and the "Frame grab from 100 Mb/s graded nanoFlash footage", to be quite significant. These are the last two images in your post. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia