Decision? NX5 or used EX1

[Les Wilson]

@Mark: The way I look at it is this. If you are serious about not wanting to risk loss of data, you avoid buying cheap media. When you start looking at better media, you start climbing in price for better reliability. The camera you choose determines how far up that climb you can go. The EX1 lets you use the most reliable media out there, so at least for anything critical, you have the option to do that whereas other cameras other than perhaps P2, you don't. You will have to pay for it. No magic there.

That said, I have a top Hoodman Raw that I thoroughly tested but use only an emergency backup. YMMV

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Mark Chafe

Just wondering about the SxS adapters to sdhc/xc. Are they as reliable or worth using? If so, any adapters and cards work best?

I'm increasingly getting the impression that it's far less hardware reliability that has given problems with any solid state system, but all sorts of other issues.

Sometimes it's difficult to tie down, but one potential sort of corruption of cards seems to be cards being ejected whilst still being written to, and this can apply in the computer as well as in camera. There have also been reports of it happening to such as P2 cards, not just SDHC - NO system should be considered 100% reliable.

But by far the biggest single source of error seems to be finger trouble. I've now heard many accounts (some first hand) of mistakes being made in the offload, and typically a card being reformatted by mistake. That's more likely to happen if it's neccessary to download in the field in less than ideal conditions, and even if SxS or P2 cards may be a little more reliable in hardware terms, then IMO if the use of SDHC means not having to field download it's makes for a more reliable overall workflow.

It's also worth mentioning again that with SDHC/adaptor you can shoot on SxS in camera for absolute max reliability, then dub to SDHC in camera as cheap backup or as a copy for production.

Real point about such as the EX is that it gives the choice and flexibility. I'll also second the comments about it being a more user friendly codec than AVC-HD for a not too much bigger file size, and better quality as well.

The EX1 gives full 1920x1080. Go to a 1/3" CMOS camera and something has to compromise - with Sony (NX5) it's resolution (1 megapixel chips, v 2 of the EX - the design does keep the symmetry and expect about 1440x810). With Panasonic they keep the resolution but that inevitably means the sensitivity is compromised.

[Jack Zhang]

Originally Posted by Mark Chafe

The ex1 and even the nx5 are probably overkill for my uses but as this is a hobby and I have some disposable cash I would like to have the best I can afford.

It's half hobby, half trying to learn ENG for me as I got the EX1R Open Box and it still cost me around $6000. And then came the Nanoflash... another $2000 on top of that.

I'm using a Sony SDHC adapter and I haven't encountered an issue yet. Though it limits throughput to around 12MB/s. Try looking into the MxR Extreme, since that has better throughput than the Sony one.

Since you did mention you're working on a Macbook Pro, I see no reason to add complexity to your workflow with AVCHD. XDCAM allows you to natively edit with no transcoding, and that saves on disk space requirements. Not to mention that the file management software for the NX5 I believe only exists on Windows. (unless I am corrected)

[Richard Cavell]

Has anyone tried using the SDHC method with slow-motion? I've been recording 60 frames per second in 720p mode (ie 1280/25) onto SxS cards recently, and obviously it uses more bandwidth than regular footage. Slow-mo is really important to my project. Sony's official documents say that the SDHC option and the hard disk option are not guaranteed to deal with slow-mo.

Richard

[Chris Medico]

It has not been a problem with the ATP branded memory cards that I have been using.

If you check out the many existing threads on the subject anything you could ask is answered in great detail there.

[Jack Zhang]

I recorded 40 seconds of 60p actual/24p record S&Q fine, but it did take a while to write the remaining video to the card after I stopped.

Class 10 cards and the MxR Extreme might be better for this kind of thing, since there is that throughput limit on the Sony MEAD adapters.

[Richard Cavell]

I just recorded 40 seconds of 60p footage (1280 x 720 @ 60p/25p) and at the end it took maybe 1 second to finish writing the data to the 32 gig SxS-1 card. So the SxS card is demonstrably faster, but you don't actually lose any functionality by using SDHC. *shrug*

I wish the camera could do 1080i @ 60 fps, or even 1080p @ 60fps, or higher frame rates.

Richard

[Chris Medico]

Originally Posted by Richard Cavell

I wish the camera could do 1080i @ 60 fps, or even 1080p @ 60fps, or higher frame rates.

Richard

You and many of the rest of us EX1 owners.

[Jack Zhang]

A new codec based on AVC needs to be developed for broadcast quality 1080p60. Panasonic's almost vaporware AVC-Ultra mentions 2K recording at 24p, but no official mention of 1080p60.

And I don't believe Sony has a new codec coming soon. AVCHD 2.0 simply is not enough for 1080p60 at 28mbps.

Closest thing could be the Gemini 4:4:4 + the FS700 with DNxHD. (if the Gemini has enough encode power to do that)

[Richard Cavell]

Why do we even need codecs? Why can't we just edit raw files? A modern good high-def codec contains the same amount of data as a raw stream from standard definition days gone by. SxS cards are rated at 800 megabits/second and hold hours of footage, while the highest quality normal speed recording uses 35 megabits/second. There's plenty of wiggle room there.

Richard

[Jack Zhang]

It's how much uncompressed can be recorded and card life span. SRMemory is 1TB of solid state and that is used for 2K to 4K (possibly uncompressed) recording.

a 200+mbps I-frame AVC codec would be better for 1080p60, it's about whether a company other than Panasonic implementing it.

[Mark Chafe]

Hi everyone,

Just an update to this thread.

I just received my used Sony PMW-EX1. From just using it a short time, I know it was the better decision. It feels very well built and picture is outstanding. Totally blown away. Some of the ergonomics I don't like that some of them were updated in the EX1R but that would have been another $2000+. I can deal with them for now.

The only thing now is I have to look at a new tripod and shoulder support for it. It is noticeably heavier than my PD-150s and Z1U. I have the 701 HDV Manfrotto head and I had a cheap shoulder brace. Any particular head worth getting for this camera? Also anyone recommend a shoulder brace for it as well. I would like something I could leave on the camera even when its on the tripod. One thing i hated about my cheaper brace was that you needed to use its own plate (which was cheap plastic) every time you wanted to put it on your shoulder.

Thanks again
Mark

[Les Wilson]

Mark, one nice thing about buying into a venerable camera is that there are so many OEM accessories. Westside AV is a DV Sponsor that specializes in EX camera shoulder mounts and custom built accessories. Do a search here on DVInfo on "EX1 shoulder" and you'll find many threads by people who've been down the same road you are now on.

I use a 701 HDV on my slider and travel tripod. It's adequate for lock down shots but the EX1 is a big camera for it. Something like a Sachtler FSB-4 is about the smallest for a functional tripod. There are others. There's nothing special about the EX1 that you have to have a special feature in a tripod. You can go by the load as you would normally choosing a tripod. I prefer side mount ones. After you experience one, you may as well.

Some highly recommended accessories in my book are:
Any of the various replacement bottom plates
Vortex DVD
DMAccessories replacement shotgun mount
Swit 8u62 or other battery with D-tap
Dolgin Dual battery charger

[Andrew James]

Hi! In my own opinion I prefer EX1 because it has a great features such as:

Compatible with ExpressCard3/4 interface slot which is common on modern Windows PCs and Macs

Highly reliable: can resist shocks (up to 1500 G) and vibrations (up to 15 G)

Uses PCI Express interface and achieves an extremely high "read" speed of 800 Mb/s*

Large storage capacity: SBP-8 (8 GB) and SBP-16 (16 GB) memory cards are available. One SBP-8 (8 GB) memory card is supplied with the PMW-EX1

Low power consumption

Can record up to 70 minutes of HD video and audio (using one 16-GB memory card)

Compact size: approx. 75 × 34 × 5 mm (excluding the projecting parts) - half the size of the older PC Card standard