Various EX1 Test Videos for Potential Buyers
 

I made a series of videos to test the "bad things" about the EX1. It truly is a beauty of a prosumer camera and it's unfortunate that so many people have piled on about its minor issues.

Thanks to Vimeo for existing and allowing hosting of these files in HD as I would otherwise have to put them up on YouTube. All of my test videos are available for download of their original files.

Skew and Wobble Test

http://www.vimeo.com/1451404


Nikon Flash Strobe Test

http://www.vimeo.com/1451532


Sanken COS-11s Lavalier Audio Test

http://www.vimeo.com/1408795


My camera was purchased in early July 2008 and has the latest firmware installed.


More tests to come!

Interesting tests. I would like to point out that the 'audio quality' test is unsynced on my computer.

Not for long. Free, high quality video hosting is currently in the works right here at DV Info Net.

Thanks Chris for the nice update! Looking fwd to that.

Wow.. sounds good.

Adam, thanks for the test and especially the Nikon flash test. I always shoot with shutter off but still find the half frame effect very obvious. so what do you think is the best shutter speed on Nikon flash that will have least impact on EX1?

Response and a Little Math/HVX200A comparison
 

Roger,

I'm not sure why that occurred. If you download the original WMV file (lower-right corner of the page) it is synched but Vimeo's encoding step messed it up somehow. I'm not sure if it's the way online encoding schemes handle WMV files or what (it happens to my stuff on YouTube all the time) but I will definitely be switching to a better encoding program that does nice H.264 in the near future (I hear Sorenson Squeeze 5 rocks...)

John Woo,

The flash issue bears its ugly head due to the fast nature of the light. So the long the duration of the flash to me the less problematic and more CCD-like the flash looks to a non-global CMOS like the EXMor chip. Therefore larger fractions such as 1/4 and 1/2 (settings on the Nikon SB-800) look better than 1/128 or 1/64.

Of course a photographer in event situations will more than likely be using an automatic flash setting so this is really just something we will have to live with. To me it's a small price to pay for the excellent picture, sound and functionality of the EX1.

If I had $20,000 to spend you bet your bottom dollar I'd buy a Sony XDCam camera with 1/2" CCDs with a decent piece of glass in front of it. But then again I don't have the money nor the clients who demand such quality (yet.) What they do demand (I do mostly documentary and event work) is that I have a camera that can work well in a variety of situations and low lighting is a MAJOR situation in which a lot of prosumer HD cams just can't muster.

The new HVX200A comes close to the EX1 in noise and light performance but I just can't see myself changing memory cards so frequently. That plus I would need to buy more external hard drives than I do with the EX1. A typical wedding video is about 3 or 4 hours of raw footage. 180-240 minutes = 180-240 GB with the HVX. If you use 720/24p native mode it's less but let's assume we want 1080/60i or 1080/24p footage. With the Sony it's 42-55 GB or so (using SP mode). At the most (240 minutes or 4 hours of raw footage) that's fourteen memory card offloads. That's assuming two 16 GB cards With the EX1 you only have to change out/offload two 16 GB memory cards once each and you get 280 minutes (16GB = 70 minutes x 4 = 280 min.)

Now yes you can buy a Firestore recorder and get longer recording times but it's more expensive than two 16 GB SxS cards and being tethered to a hard drive clipped to your belt is a mishap waiting to happen. The Firestore is fine for interviews and indy movies but in crowded reception halls or galas on the dance floor with kids running around, drunk guests, etc. I don't want someone potentially snagging (that someone includes me) that little firewire cable.

And if you want to record in HQ mode it isn't much more at 50 minutes per 16GB card. I think that's one extra offload to get 250 minutes (16GB = 50 minutes x 5 = 250 minutes.) No dropouts, reusable cards, instant switching from one card to the next so you don't skip a frame...I love it!