Where to get a spare FMU connector cover plate?
 

...you know, the plastic "blank" that goes where the FMU would go if you had one? I'm wondering what my chances are of trying to buy a spare cover through a repair outfit somewhere. Reason: I'm contemplating "accidentally" putting a few holes in mine to mount a nanoFlash on it. "Whoops." ;-)

Best,
Aaron

Your first stop might be here: https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/

It may take a bit of digging but you can usually come up with an exploded view and the part number here, which you can then use either to order direct from Sony or do a web search and possibly find it cheaper at Partstore.com or some place like that.

The parts website is actually down for upgrades until Wednesday but you may be able to find some info in the meantime.

Thanks, Adam! I think ServicePLUS might be falling behind or otherwise having problems, as I was unable to find a single match (in any search) for hxr-nx5, nx5u, nxcam, etc. Shoot! Looks like the place to go, otherwise. I'll see about getting somebody on the phone in the morning, perhaps.

Best,
Aaron

Yeah, their "Model Search" function is laughably broken, and always has been. No matter how you enter the model name, it always comes up with "No Models Found." But if you go over to the other search box and enter the prefix, i.e. "HXR" it shows everything. Problem is you get a million hits and no pictures, and the titles like CAB ASSY aren't very descriptive. But it's a start.

Ah! I see that now. Yes, I've got my work cut out for me! The only writing on the little cover is "PC+ABS 1" Not a part number. That would have been too much to ask, I guess!

Hey Aaron,

I'm assuming its safe to say you already own a Nanoflash? Can you give us any insight as to how much better an image you are getting from the NXCAM now that you've upped the bitrate to + 50/mbs? Also can you shed any light on the different formats that you can now record to as well as the workflow you now have as a result? I'm thinking about purchasing a NanoFlash from convergeant designs but i cannot justify spending 2000$ for something that i cannot see the before and end result. Is it worthy getting at all?

My reasoning is that i would rather spend that same 2000$ on something like a Canon7D or a T2i as it seems i would get more out of having a Bcam with a huge sensor rather then spending money to up a bitrate on my existing cam that cant easily achieve shallow depth of field. Can you perhaps post some footage that you've obtained with the NanoFlash compared to some recorded without it? I'm sure many of us are wondering the same thing.
Thanks sorry to PiggyBack on this one

Hi there, Chris!

I certainly wouldn't presume to advise you; I'm a video hobbyist only, so I get to make up all my own silly reasons for doing this stuff. BTW, the nano comes this week, so nope! Don't have it yet, but I'll absolutely put up some footage to share when I've got things set up!

I have multiple reasons for getting one. The main ones are:

1) Getting all of my video sources into a single workflow. I have multiple HD cameras, PCs, game systems, and others that I'd like to record with high quality. The nano will work well for these.

2) I mostly output to Blu-ray, and it's been my observation that even a straight-up re-render of the NX5's output at 40Mbit/s is a significant step down from the quality straight out of the camera, which is profoundly annoying to me. Several weeks spent playing with various sample nanoFlash footage at 100Mbit/s leads me to believe that the high-bitrate XDCAM HD422 is much more durable.

Several folks have commented, "Why get a nano with the NX5U? It hasn't even got full-res sensors!" As it turns out I only shoot in 720p60 on the NX5U, so full-res would mostly translate to higher effective sensitivity. Not that I'd mind that! :-)

Best,
Aaron

Aaron has your nanoflash arrived?
If so, when do you think that you will be able to post some footage taken at various bitrates?
Do you have a server to upload to?

Thanks
Yannick

Hi, Yannick. Nope, not yet. My order wasn't filled by B&H before they went on holiday, so it's looking like next week. I was sooooo hoping to be playing with it this weekend! :-(

Indeed, I have my own server with a few Gb of free space, so I will post a URL to this thread as soon as I have some raw clips to share.

Best,
Aaron

It will be good to know what a spare FMU cover costs as I'd like to hack mine about internally to store my spare / fully recorded SDHC cards. Why wasn't this part of the original design spec I wonder? It's an ideal little storage cabinet for something so valuable and so easily lost as a tiny 32gig card.

Aaron, do you really think that the quality will be better? I know that the camera has an HDSDI output but the avchd compression isn't that bad!

That would be cool, yes! But, of course, then you might think twice about paying them an extra grand for the FMU! :-) I was unable to figure out for certain what the part number of the FMU blank was via the ServicePLUS site, so I'll have to get somebody on the phone, unfortunately!

Indeed, the image quality as-is with this camera is terrific, IMO. Will the image quality be a lot better with the nano? It will certainly depend a lot on the shot. I'm not expecting miracles. However, my experience putting the NXCAM footage on Blu-ray has been that those compression artifacts that are nearly invisible in the original beget some very visible damage (on a 50" TV anyway!) when the footage is recompressed, even when nearly doubling the bandwidth to exploit the full potential of Blu-ray.

...however the nano is not just for the NX5. I have other cameras, game systems, and computers from which I intend to record video, so the nano will further enable me to do some things I've been unable to do so far with any kind of quality at all, and I'm looking very much forward to that. One workflow for everything!

Best,
Aaron

Hi Aaron.
Any signs of your NanoFlash?

Re: Where to get a spare FMU connector cover plate?
 

Resurrecting an old thread in case someone else is in the same situation:

For the NEX-FS100 and FS700, the dummy FMU cover plate part number is: 4-284-136-01
description: COVER (945) EXT DUMMY

Order:
https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.co...428413601.aspx

Not sure if this also fits the NX5U, but I can't see why it wouldn't.