Goodwood Revival NanoFlash Footage at DVinfo.net

Alister Chapman · October 5th, 2009, 10:28 AM

I have uploaded a short sequence of footage shot using an EX3 with NanoFlash. All the ground based footage was shoot at 100Mb/s with my EX3 and NanoFlash at the Goodwood Revival historic racing and flying event.

SORRY BUT I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO REMOVE THE CLIP FOR THE TIME BEING. I WILL RE POST WHEN IT'S BACK UP.

Dan Keaton · October 5th, 2009, 10:34 AM

Dear Alister,

Wow!

That was very interesting, and very enjoyable to watch!

Aaron Newsome · October 5th, 2009, 10:55 AM

Good stuff Alister. Very nice work indeed.

Alister Chapman · October 5th, 2009, 11:02 AM

Just wish you could see the full glory of the raw NanoFlash footage. The amount of rich colour I am able to pull out footage is wonderful. H264 web clips just don't do it justice.

Alister Chapman · October 5th, 2009, 11:10 AM

OK, here's some full resolution frame grabs. Got to love the rich colours.

Mark Job · October 5th, 2009, 11:25 AM

Hi Alister:
This is excellent work ! Your footage and editing looks great ! Well done !

P.S. I thoroughly enjoyed the tornado near death experience you shot a couple of years back as well ;-)

Dan Keaton · October 5th, 2009, 11:25 AM

Dear Alister,

What mode where you using, Interlaced or Progressive?

If progressive, what was the frame rate?

I have a customer, who wants to mount the nanoFlash on a plane, using a POV camera.

He wants great video footage and excellent still images (to be extracted in post).

I feel that progressive is the way to go, but I wonder what POV camera to recommend.

Alister Chapman · October 5th, 2009, 11:40 AM

Dan, everything in that clip sequence was shot interlace and then de-interlaced in post. I normally shoot progressive where possible, but for this shoot the client wanted interlace. The minicams I am currently using are the Sony HXR-MC1's and these produce beautiful pictures and are some of the best minicams I have used to date. They are however interlace only. I'm still waiting for someone to bring out a good, compact, progressive capable minicam with the kind of image quality the MC1 offers at a similar price. The good news is that the MC1 has HDMI output (full size) and is easy to use with the Nano as the control boxes are of a very similar size. I hope to shoot some rather special minicam footage on the Nano next weekend :)

Chris Li · October 5th, 2009, 12:53 PM

Excellent work.

Alister Chapman · October 5th, 2009, 02:08 PM

Sorry all but I have been asked to remove the clip for the moment. As soon as I can I will re-post it.

Aaron Newsome · October 5th, 2009, 05:05 PM

We've still got the stills!

Gints Klimanis · October 12th, 2009, 03:17 PM

Beautiful stills. It's not clear if they're from the EX1 or the Sony HXR-MC1's .

Alistair, thank you for posting the frame grabs. I'm considering the Nanoflash. I'm a little confused by your general enthusiasm for the Nanoflash. Yet, in your two part review, you made a note that there was a slight difference between the Nanoflash and your EX1. Is your enthusiasm from your use of the HXR-MC1's ?

We would all really enjoy seeing some frame grabs from your EX1 recorded in parallel with the Nanoflash.

Alister Chapman · October 13th, 2009, 12:46 PM

The stills are from the EX1 with the NanoFlash.

At first glance there is not a massive difference between first generation NanoFlash @100Mb/s and the EX files at 35Mb/s. However if you do any grading or post production work then the difference gets much bigger very quickly. There is a lot less mosquito noise in the NanoFlash footage. When you grade or colour correct clips mosquito noise causes banding in uniform parts of the image such as the sky, clouds or walls. By dramatically reducing the mosquito noise through the use of the NanoFlash you can push the clips much harder in the grade without seeing any artifacts. it also means that the footage will look better after dubbing to different formats or after multiple generations.

In my opinion the NanoFlash has been an excellent investment. Even if I upgrade or change my camera I can still use it. It even makes my PDW-700 footage look better. I can use it as a recorder for many applications including the mini-cams and as a player to show clients stunning HD footage. At trade shows and demo events I can set it up to loop footage. I can't recommend it enough.

Aaron Newsome · October 13th, 2009, 01:28 PM

I'll second that Allister. Especially the part about color grading. If you're using a codec like HDV, which throws away so much of the sensor data from your camera, you'll have a hard time grading the footage.

I've tried. HDV footage, pushed even a little bit in grading just falls apart. Not so with the XDR (or nanoFlash I suppose).

Having that extra data really helps keep your footage together through a difficult grade.

I also always mention the keying advantages of the 4:2:2.

Gints Klimanis · October 13th, 2009, 02:54 PM

Thank you for your comments, Aaron and Alister. While I'm convinced that HDV would be improved, Alister's multiple comments in comparing EX1 at 35 MBps and Nanoflash at 100 MBs. Perhaps this explains why there is so little material comparing the two. Convergent should have more comparisons on their site. All I've been able to find are some relatively unimpressive Quicktime files with no alternate recording as a reference.

Mark Job has volunteered some Canon XL H1 HDV files and parallel Nanoflash recordings. I'll host those files for download on my server for a while and post the announcement to this group.

October 5th, 2009, 10:28 AM	#1
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Goodwood Revival NanoFlash Footage I have uploaded a short sequence of footage shot using an EX3 with NanoFlash. All the ground based footage was shoot at 100Mb/s with my EX3 and NanoFlash at the Goodwood Revival historic racing and flying event. SORRY BUT I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO REMOVE THE CLIP FOR THE TIME BEING. I WILL RE POST WHEN IT'S BACK UP. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com Last edited by Alister Chapman; October 5th, 2009 at 02:09 PM.

October 5th, 2009, 10:34 AM	#2
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Alister, Wow! That was very interesting, and very enjoyable to watch! __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 5th, 2009, 11:02 AM	#4
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Just wish you could see the full glory of the raw NanoFlash footage. The amount of rich colour I am able to pull out footage is wonderful. H264 web clips just don't do it justice. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

October 5th, 2009, 11:10 AM	#5
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	OK, here's some full resolution frame grabs. Got to love the rich colours. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

October 5th, 2009, 11:25 AM	#6
Mark Job Trustee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada Posts: 1,138	Good Work ! Hi Alister: This is excellent work ! Your footage and editing looks great ! Well done ! P.S. I thoroughly enjoyed the tornado near death experience you shot a couple of years back as well ;-)

October 5th, 2009, 10:55 AM	#3
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	Good stuff Alister. Very nice work indeed.

October 5th, 2009, 11:40 AM	#8
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Dan, everything in that clip sequence was shot interlace and then de-interlaced in post. I normally shoot progressive where possible, but for this shoot the client wanted interlace. The minicams I am currently using are the Sony HXR-MC1's and these produce beautiful pictures and are some of the best minicams I have used to date. They are however interlace only. I'm still waiting for someone to bring out a good, compact, progressive capable minicam with the kind of image quality the MC1 offers at a similar price. The good news is that the MC1 has HDMI output (full size) and is easy to use with the Nano as the control boxes are of a very similar size. I hope to shoot some rather special minicam footage on the Nano next weekend :) __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

October 5th, 2009, 12:53 PM	#9
Chris Li Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wash. DC area Posts: 154	Excellent work.

October 5th, 2009, 02:08 PM	#10
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Sorry all but I have been asked to remove the clip for the moment. As soon as I can I will re-post it. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

October 5th, 2009, 05:05 PM	#11
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	We've still got the stills!

October 12th, 2009, 03:17 PM	#12
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Beautiful stills. It's not clear if they're from the EX1 or the Sony HXR-MC1's . Alistair, thank you for posting the frame grabs. I'm considering the Nanoflash. I'm a little confused by your general enthusiasm for the Nanoflash. Yet, in your two part review, you made a note that there was a slight difference between the Nanoflash and your EX1. Is your enthusiasm from your use of the HXR-MC1's ? We would all really enjoy seeing some frame grabs from your EX1 recorded in parallel with the Nanoflash.

October 13th, 2009, 12:46 PM	#13
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	The stills are from the EX1 with the NanoFlash. At first glance there is not a massive difference between first generation NanoFlash @100Mb/s and the EX files at 35Mb/s. However if you do any grading or post production work then the difference gets much bigger very quickly. There is a lot less mosquito noise in the NanoFlash footage. When you grade or colour correct clips mosquito noise causes banding in uniform parts of the image such as the sky, clouds or walls. By dramatically reducing the mosquito noise through the use of the NanoFlash you can push the clips much harder in the grade without seeing any artifacts. it also means that the footage will look better after dubbing to different formats or after multiple generations. In my opinion the NanoFlash has been an excellent investment. Even if I upgrade or change my camera I can still use it. It even makes my PDW-700 footage look better. I can use it as a recorder for many applications including the mini-cams and as a player to show clients stunning HD footage. At trade shows and demo events I can set it up to loop footage. I can't recommend it enough. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

October 13th, 2009, 01:28 PM	#14
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	I'll second that Allister. Especially the part about color grading. If you're using a codec like HDV, which throws away so much of the sensor data from your camera, you'll have a hard time grading the footage. I've tried. HDV footage, pushed even a little bit in grading just falls apart. Not so with the XDR (or nanoFlash I suppose). Having that extra data really helps keep your footage together through a difficult grade. I also always mention the keying advantages of the 4:2:2.

October 13th, 2009, 02:54 PM	#15
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Thank you for your comments, Aaron and Alister. While I'm convinced that HDV would be improved, Alister's multiple comments in comparing EX1 at 35 MBps and Nanoflash at 100 MBs. Perhaps this explains why there is so little material comparing the two. Convergent should have more comparisons on their site. All I've been able to find are some relatively unimpressive Quicktime files with no alternate recording as a reference. Mark Job has volunteered some Canon XL H1 HDV files and parallel Nanoflash recordings. I'll host those files for download on my server for a while and post the announcement to this group.