Accessory Questions for the EX 3

[Roger Akers]

Getting ready to pull the trigger on purchasing one of these bad boys. Couple questions.

1. Can you mix and match a 16gb card with an 8 gb card?

2. Are the accessories for the EX 1 completely compatible with the ex 3? For example this package from BHphoto.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._for_Sony.html

3. Does the PHU-60k optional hard drive work seamlessly with the Card readers?

Basic questions, but I have been nervous to goto a tapeless workflow. The reviews on the EX 1 and EX 3 are changing that.

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Roger Akers

1. Can you mix and match a 16gb card with an 8 gb card?

Absolutely - this was my original setup.

Originally Posted by Roger Akers

2. Are the accessories for the EX 1 completely compatible with the ex 3?.

The SxS cards, readers, etc - yes. Bag? Not sure, because the EX-3 is a way-different shape. If you want a wide angle adaptor and you're happy with that, then lean towards an EX-1. If you want 'a real wide angle' then the EX-3 is the way to go. No point getting an EX-3 and a Wide Angle Adaptor - it's like buying a dog and a megaphone so you can shout 'woof'.

So sorry I can't help you with 3. Not shipping in UK yet. Cool toy, though.

Tapeless workflow is just another diving board. First time, you chicken out. Second time, you dangle and drop. Third time, you get a belly flop and it hurts and want to pack it in. Fourth time is good. Fifth time is better. But that's just the first day shooting your kids or whatever. Within a week, you'll want to hang up the phone on a 'tape' job.

FWIW, I had what I thought was going to be a 'career changing event' when somebody snatched my bag containing rushes at an airport. Now I have rushes x3 when I travel. I can tell you about the evening I spent with a toothpick and a PDX-10 pulling tape out of it when an ingest was interrupted by hotel staff pulling the taped-in card from my hotel room. Or a friend's tale of opening his Z1's tape mechanism with a screw driver after his Z1 was blown over and hit the deck. Or the three drop-outs I had with HDV that thankfully happened on fluff takes. Or the amount of beer I demanded for a head cleaning cassette by an obnoxious (broadcast) camera crew. Or the shame I felt waiting for the condensation to clear in my PD150 outside a Singapore hotel whilst the 'talent' and the client sat in the shade and fumed.

No. I don't miss tape. It's quaint, and I can still earn money laying off to tape, but my clients LOVE tapeless. Or D2E or solid state or whatever.

Tapless Workflow is a low diving board, not a dentist.

[Ned Soltz]

Originally Posted by Roger Akers

Getting ready to pull the trigger on purchasing one of these bad boys. Couple questions.

1. Can you mix and match a 16gb card with an 8 gb card?

2. Are the accessories for the EX 1 completely compatible with the ex 3? For example this package from BHphoto.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._for_Sony.html

3. Does the PHU-60k optional hard drive work seamlessly with the Card readers?

Basic questions, but I have been nervous to goto a tapeless workflow. The reviews on the EX 1 and EX 3 are changing that.

We've covered the tapeless workflow question extensively on the boards, in print and in conversation. On the one level, I consider tapeless to be a major relief. Now the real question, though, still remains how to archive all of that original footage. Putting a tape in a fireproof box is simple and inexpensive. My bottom line-- short term storage on Raid 5 or 6; long term on DLT or LTO.

PHU-60K is just a hard drive and you would ingest from it via USB. I am not buying one (at the moment). I am liberated from tape as well as the insecurities of hard drives. I sold my Firestore with my HVX and had absolutely no problems. The poor fellow who bought the Firestore broke it within a day. At $1K, it is reasonable enough, but this fall we should see 32gb SxS cards. I'd rather spend a little more on a card and have the dependability of solid state rather than the constant worries of crashing a hard drive (even with all of the shock resistant fail safe's built into that 1.8" drive that Sony uses). But that's just my own rant and should not be construed as "avoid this product".

BTW, the PHU-60K mounts on the back of the EX-3 and must also carry a battery. This adds a pound or so to a camera already weighing 8 pounds.

[Roger Akers]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm pretty excited about going tapeless indeed! I've still got the Sony Z1U and I've been getting increasing drop outs that are killing me. It would be nice if the Ex-3 supported the Z1u's batteries because I have a truck load of them.