Firmware Update Wish List
 

Just in case Sony is looking I'd thought it would be good to include a Firmware Update Wish List. Note this is Firmware Update and not hardware changes (which would be another camera model).

White Balance - ability to dial in a second setting (e.g. 5600°) to a White Balance memory position.

Picture Profile - put picture profile on an Assignable button.

Cache Record - looping record buffer so one can record a few seconds of a shot if one hits record late. XML seems to imply this is a possible feature.

Add two more internal recording options:
4:2:2 50mbps codec & 4:2:2 100mbps codec and ask for $1,500.00 USD for the upgrade.
"IF" this was possible, sign me up!

I believe the data rate would need to be 100 mbps for 4:2:2 using 1920x1080.
Heck, I'd go out on the limb and say ask $2,000.00.

Barry Green brought up a good point that the Convergent Designs XDR flash recorder uses a Sony MPEG encoding chip that allows up to 100mbps 4:2:2 long-GOP, and 160mbps I-frame 4:2:2 encoding as well as 25mbps and 35mbps.

Craig - Good idea!

I'd like to see better grouping of video formats and video recording modes into a single menu. That is, put the interval/frame/SQ recording options together with the video format selections into a single video format menu to make it easier to set (instead of having to go to 2 separate menus now)

50mbps is enough for 422 as new XDCAM something-700 does it. Then EX would truly be compatible with pro line.

And what comes to firmware update wishes... if i understood correctly you can't save audio while overcranking. I'd like to see audio on saved as a separate audio file so there's atleast an option to fasten overcranked material to normal speed and have audio track for it in post.

Audio limiter!

White balance button disable/reassign.

I would think with the 1920x1080 image and increased chroma samples (4:2:2) more than 50mbps would been needed.

"The PDW-700 will take XDCAM HD performance to a new level. It will record stunning quality HD images at up to 50Mb/s ---. The PDW-700 will have ---- full 1920 x 1080 resolution ---, 14 bit A/D conversion, 4:2:2 sampling and recording, and advanced digital signal processing will ensure superb picture quality. "

However, it speaks of 50Mb/s not 50Mbps and if 50Mbps stands for 50Megabits/s where 50Mb/s apparently means 50Megabytes/s then we have a slight problem with bit rate. Now I managed to make myself confused

Usually capital "B" stands for Byte. The spec is in bits, not bytes.
35mb/s = 4.375MB/s = 262.5MB per minute
If the spec were in bytes every minute would equal 2.1GB.

Sony does have a 100mbps 4:2:2 Long GOP codec. We could only PRAY they would offer this (or the 50mbps codec)
as a CASH Upgrade for th EX1. If not, the money goes to Convergent Design XDR, or Cineform for
their future 4:2:2 portable capture solutions.
http://www.convergent-design.com/dow...%20XDR.pdf

http://www.cineform.com/products/CineFormRecorder.htm

Back to the WB Preset.... even my previous JVC HD100, which had many problems had a very elegant solution in WB Preset setting change in the assign button. A single button press. Are you saying that the EX1 cannot do this? That would be the #1 firmware upgrade wish for me!

As stated above, nope. You can change WB preset by changing Picture Profile but you can't put Picture Profile on an Assigned button. You can't have one dialed in WB on Preset and another on a WB Mem position either.

Mem A and Mem B (or ATW) are really just stored "live" white balances.

Yes this is a top firmware update wish . . . but I'd love that record buffer cache too.

Picture Profile save/load
 

Saving Picture Profile/Scenes separate from entire camera setup.

I want to be able to offload my Picture Profiles for future use.

I want to be able to load PP on to another camera in a multicam shoot without loading the entire camera setup.

I'd like to be able to load individual Picture Profiles rather than all or nothing when sharing.

Audio Line In pad
 

Ability to "pad" line in just as one can do with the Mic in settings in the menu. My PD-170 has a -10 switch to pad line in for example. Doing this and having it dial-able like Mic in, might be doable via firmware update.

Assignable OIS, etc.
 

1 - Sony needs to make the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) assignable to one of the user buttons!! Why? Because OIS can often screw up shots when the camera is on a tripod, but is necessary as soon as the camera is taken off and used hand held. This is an absolute must for event videographers who don't have the time to go into the menu every time they switch from tripod to hand held shooting. Hopefully Sony will have the good sense to fix this easily fixable oversight.

2 - Retro record cashe. Preferably user settable between 2 to 10 seconds.

3 - Camera record formats at the top of the menu, not at the very bottom of the very last menu group!

4 - The record review button is a fantastic feature on a tapeless camera such as this, but while reviewing a clip, hitting the record review button a second time should immediately return to standby mode, should an opportunity for a shot suddenly present itself.

5 - When the white balance is set to Preset, hitting the White Balance button on the front of the camera should toggle between 3200 and 5600 settings. This is the way Panasonic's DVX100B works and would probably be the simplest and most logical fix to the current problem users are having with the EX1's white balance.

6 - Faster booting! A digital SLR can go from cold to shooting in less than a second, so the fact that the EX1 take about 10 seconds to turn on and shoot is very disappointing, especially for run & gun shooters. I thought a tapeless camera would inherently be much quicker to turn on. Switching between the record and review modes is also very slow. I wonder if this is something that can be optimized in the firmware. If it can, then here's hoping Sony optimizes the EX1's booting time!

This is all I can think of from spending a couple of hours with the camera in the store. Hopefully a lot of people will pitch in their ideas and Sony will listen. After all, with firmware upgradable equipment, making fixes like this should be very easy for Sony.

A menu option to flip the image, for the benefit of those who use 35 mm lens adapters. (Or at least flip the image in the lcd)