Anyone here planning on using EX1 for wedding coverage? If so, how do you plan to deal with the 1hr/16GB data-rate? Are there any products out there that will allow speedy data dumps to a portable HD?

16X2- Remember you can run 2 cards at once and they're hot swappable.
As for dumping to a drive I read somewhere (I believe it was Spot actually that ran some tests and found) that a decent computer would dump the card at 2 to 3 times speed so an hour of footage dumped in about 20 to 30 minutes but I can't find the post he had about it. Maybe it was someone else but I could have sworn that's what I read.
As far as using it for weddings, if I was to get the camera (maybe, might, thinking about it) I would most certainly use it for weddings. 1/2,HD,great lens, why not?
Don

Anyone here planning on using EX1 for wedding coverage? If so, how do you plan to deal with the 1hr/16GB data-rate? Are there any products out there that will allow speedy data dumps to a portable HD?

Most definitely. I specialize in doing onsite edits that I show at the reception so this cam is a no brainer as half the 3 hours time I usually spend editing is spent importing.

With my Mac Book Pro's Express Card slot, this will significantly reduce "importing" time.

The speed to a laptop with Express port can be 10x real time. I'm hearing 3x to 5x via USB port.

Hmmm that sounds like it "might" be doable.. I work by myself and many weddings are rushed from location to location... I'm thinking 4x16GB cards would be the safest.. but that would get very expensive..

Why can't they just accept normal CF cards like the RED camera does?

Or another ques, what is so special about the SxS memory that makes them so expensive?


I'm thinking this would be a great feature: A dedicated button located close to the record button where when pressed and holded, it immediately deletes everything recorded during the current take and waits for the user to release it to start recording again. In wedding videography, too often a shot is ruined by a pan that goes jerky at the end, or a wedding guest unexpectedly walking into the shot. This feature will allow us to maximize the space on the card and have even less footage to sift-thru afterwards.

Sick, that boton would help for every filming situation, is a wicked idea, call the guys you have to call.

I have read here that there is an easy way to delete clips in the menu area of the cam. Personally I got a bad feeling in my stomach just thinking of deleting the wrong clip and think that will take some getting accustomed to.

I (God willing) will buy two EX for my jobs. We shoot from basic 1 hour jobs to multiple day events. I feel this cam will save us quite a bit of time in post in a few areas.

I was leaning towards the 8 gig cards and get a label system down. That way if you lose one it won't hurt quite so bad and then wait for the 16-32 gigi cards to come down some.

I think they are expensive because they are so new. When more and more of these cams go out critical mass will be met and the price should come down.

Have fun I really like Chicago.

Mike

I definitely plan on purchasing this camera for event type work. Low light is one of the key points of this camera (and is a big thing with clients) and it's what I've been waiting for in the prosumer HD models. That coupled with its unbeatable image quality and you're gold. I'll do what I do with digital SLR memory cards sometimes...offload onsite to a laptop or probably sometime next year a hard drive of sorts (ala Firestore) may be released for under $1,000 or maybe less.

I just read an interesting bit of trivia: SxS is pronounced "S by S", not "ess ex ess".

I am looking at getting two of these babies for wedding work primarily in Feb 2008. Ideally I'm thinking I will buy an extra 2 * 16gb cards per camera, plus the bonus 2 * 8b cards. I really only want to have to download once, one the way to the reception.

Ideal situation would be to then get a one or two 32gbs when they come down. After a few months of jobs I would like to be able to download the entire day at the end of the day (unless I'm doing an SDE).

Its a sick camera though. If I dont' get this I will get the V7.

I found a nice review of the EX1 by a wedding videographer..

Looks like this is not the holy grail..

http://www.videouniversity.com/forums/gforum.cgi?post=402951;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;guest=

I wouldn't think it ideal for weddings because you need another complicated finicky piece of gear to make it work: a laptop. Right now, my 6 month old Dell randomly shuts down every 10 minutes for no reason whatsoever. Before that I had some spyware problems. Wedding you usually get on shot, they won't do take two. Maybe with a firestore? Dunno.

Initially I thought the EX1 would be the holy grail for weddings, but concerns about security of data once moved to a laptop at the venue and time/cost of archiving is pushing me towards the Z7. Yes, the shallower DOF would have been nice but how well will it match my Z1 2nd camera in low light?

Simultaneous recording to tape, cheaper CF, improved LCD resolution for focussing cf the Z1 and similar low light footage means I hope there are no real flaws exposed when the Z7 is tested in the field. Oh, and a LANC input...

I wouldn't think it ideal for weddings because you need another complicated finicky piece of gear to make it work: a laptop.

Not trying to sound like a Mac snob but I never have any of those problems with my Mac Book Pro. I have no qualms whatsoever taking that to dump footage onto.

My field is practically weddings and event videos. I have always used shoulder mounted cameras up till now - for these last 10 years I've been shooting weddings with a Sony DSR-300 DVCAM. I love this camera as it is extremely low light (f11@2000 lux) with a very good picture. Last Friday I was given an EX1 to try out with the possibility of buying it out. I've tried it out in 2 seperate weddings - an evening one and a morning one. These are the comments so far (keeping in mind that I had to "steal" time to be able to shoot with the EX1 and I could only see the output on a 21 inch TFT PC monitor)

For:

1)Low-light capability - YES this is a low light capable camera! It is the same as my DSR-300. I always film indoor shots without any on-camera light and this camera was able to do so very well. It is true that I used both 6 & 9 dB gain but even on the DSR300 I do the same. Grain level seems to be the same as the DVCAM. One has to keep in mind that in wedding and event videos practicality has an edge on quality - a bit of grain would not be noticed by the couple but a bright light will be!!

2)DOF is IMHO slightly better than my DSR-300, which also have 0.5inch CCD sensors.

3)Picture quality in general: I've used the 1080/50i setting and the picture quality (with all the camera settings at default) is awesome. I know that this is subjective but believe me the general look is more film like than video

4)Recording is instant. In DVCAM or DV when one records then pauses and then press the rec button immediately again there is a short delay due to tape mechanism. Not anymore on card recording! Hence no lost shots.

5)LCD monitor - just awesome. Extremely reliable for manual focusing. Also performs very well in bright sunlight.

6)Manual WB - setting of WB is very quick. The DSR300 used to take maybe 2-3 seconds - the EX much much less.


Against:

1)The camera body - after filming many years with shoulder mounted cameras I was in for a shock. I guess I'll get used to it but it is slightly heavy for hand held filming. An accessory such as the Sony shoulder brace for the Z1 would help tremendously.

2)ATW - I rarely use it but if you do and if you do like I did - assigning it to an assignable button, pls note that when you switch off and on the camera it will not return to ATW but to whatever position the WB switch is - whether A or B or Preset. OK you will see the result in the monitor but pls beware.

3)Zoom lever a bit loose - in fact if it is in the manual zoom mode and you point the camera to the ceiling on wide setting you will see that the zoom starts to drift slightly backwards - just lock it with your thumb or put it on servo

4)The postion of the connectors (below the hand grip) is a joke! ...and the flap covering them!! I've also misplaced the SDI cap 3 times up till now - won't be long before it's gone forever.

5)Auto-focus (I've never used one but was tempted with the EX) seems to be slow and would definetely not be good for wedding and event videos

Other comments:

1)I've read in other threads some concern on audio. I didn't test the audio specifically - but I did shove the camera in between 2 drums of the band that was playing during the wedding. The setting was on AGC and the sound was acceptable - with no distortion. However I have yet to test the audio out properly.

2)The flash syndrome - since I saw the output on a 21 inch I cannot really comment. But from what I saw there is nothing worse than my CCD DSR 300. In the 300 I used to get a full frame heavily overexposed whilst in the EX I got a full frame overexposed (but less than the 300) with alternating horizontal black lines. During playback the end result is just the same as the DSR300 CCD camera. However maybe it is still too early to comment - I need to examine more footage in different scenarios.

3)I've still no idea as to what shall I buy as an edit suite. I went to my SONY dealer and tried to edit the captured clips on Premiere CS3 together with Matrox RT2. Clips were imported but had to be rendered - a definitely no go! Will try this week to edit on PP CS3 together with Prospect HD trial demo and see if I'm in luck. I need a system like I'm used to - Premiere 1.5 - just capture the footage and edit like a breeze for a fast turnover (before the couple decides to divorce each other!!)

The above are just my observations which might be disputed by others. However if there are others like me in need of a camera change for weddings that needs to be filmed on the fly without any hassles - I think this is the camera.

Thanks for that Brian. I'm glad you mentioned the zoom being loose, that was one of my first comments too but as everyone has been talking about the lens feeling like a pro lens I assumed it must have just been me.

Same goes for the connectors and cover - I think Sony would struggle to find a worse place for them :)

It's great to see the ex1 is faring so well in light gathering against such a high end DVCAM too, that's certainly ground breaking for a handheld HD camera.

regards

Paul.

Brian,
Like you, I shoot with DSR 300 cameras, and I think I've been waiting for just such a report. I'm just about completely sold on the EX, but it will be a tough switch from the shoulder mount. I'm thinking of laying out more cash to get a full size XDCAM HD as well as an EX1.
I've heard that PremierPro with an Axio LE card will handle the clips without any render needed. Anyone know if this is true? I'm still using the very old SpeedRazor 5.51 with a Digisuite card. It's old, but I know it well, and it does all I need (with my boris RED). I assume I'll need a new BorisRED copy as well....

Thomas, the good old Speed Razor + Digisuite was a fantastic package - it was a robust edit suite but I had to exchange it for an RT100 extreme + Premiere for faster DVD encodes (I also got free with this bundle a 1001 crashes of all different sorts!!!) I too was actively considering the XDCAM HD but was concerned that it might not be as low light as the 300. In fact the 300 is stated as f11 @ 2000lux whilst the 330 and 350 are stated as f9. Also the 1hr 25 min recording time of a single layer XDCAM disc does put me a bit off. The EX can have a 100min recording time (with x2 16GB) and double that in the near future even though the cards are very expensive. Another negative thing on the EX that I didn't mention in my post but is quite important for persons like you Thomas, since you are familiar with the 300, is that Sony did not include a D-Tap output. This output allows one to switch on and off the on-board light with the trigger switch (and the lamp also draws power directly from the camera battery - hence no extra batteries to carry and no wires!). I still have to configure what I am going to do!

I've tested the clips shot at 1080/50i with the Matrox RT2 and CS3 and found that one have to render the clips. I've also tested the clips with CS3 + Main Concept - the clips do not need to be rendered but since the RT2 hardware is not used all transitions and slow motion has to be rendered! I'm presently in constant discussion with my Sony dealer who happens to be a Matrox dealer as well. He will be tesing out the Axio tomorrow becasue he is suspecting that the rendering issue with the RT2 is due to the fact that the RT2 does not support 1920x1080. I suspect that if I film at 1440x1080 the RT2 would not render the clips as it supports such resolution.

Brian,
As soon as you get the news on the AXIO test, please post it here. I'm anxious to see if it will handle the footage without render.
Your observation about the d-tap issue is very important. I love my ultralight.
Here's my company www.gregoryfilms.com

Also, The XDCAM HD I am considering is the 50gb/disc model. I think that camera, coupled along with an EX (or 2?) would make a killer multi cam wedding setup. Sony has a great 0% finance offer right now that is very tempting.....

I was able to borrow an EX1 for testing purposes this weekend and used it to record two wedding ceremonies in dark churches, using both the SxS cards and a Firestore FS4 with the EX1 running in SP mode. The EX1 images were a bit grainier than I'd hoped but other videographers present thought the low-light response was good. Some of the EX1 controls are cumbersome compared to typical event video cameras, especially the shutter speed controls. Transfer of SxS footage to my Dell laptop ran at about 8:1 speed and I was able to view the first wedding ceremony on screen while the couple was still getting their photos taken afterwards. When I got home I made a duplicate of the footage on a bus-powered USB2 hard drive which I'm now using as my master copy.

I have mixed feelings about using an EX1 for weddings but the low-light image quality is better than any other HD camera under $10K. If you can afford it and get the footage to work in your editing software it's worth considering.

Kevin: what SD camera has you used to shoot wedding? How do you compare the low light performance of the EX1 to those?

what SD camera has you used to shoot wedding? How do you compare the low light performance of the EX1 to those?

I'm currently shooting with two Sony FX1s and an HC1. The EX1 is clearly better than either of these in low light but not as much better than the FX1 as I'd hoped. With the FX1 I can push gain all the way to 18db and still get a usable image, but the EX1 images look poor above 6-9db gain and have a more pronounced type of noise similar to the HC1. The end result is that the EX1 is useful in slightly dimmer light than the FX1 and with much better image quality, provided you limit the gain accordingly. Biggest difference is in the ability to resolve details in shadow areas in poor light, which the EX1 does well where the FX1 looks bad. But I would have liked to see a little more sensitivity on the EX1 or be able to boost the gain more without having the noise take over, so it's not quite the 'see in the dark' camera I'd hoped it would be.

Thomas I've had a look at your website and I've noticed that your 300 is equipped with 2 cordless mics receivers - no fat chance of having those on the EX! That's another issue - the body is so small and roundish that I can find no place were to velcro attach any receiver - except maybe at the base of the camera. Or else I'm thinking of buying this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/126229-REG/Cool_Lux_MD3000_MD_3000_Light_and_Sound.html

or this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/303528-REG/Frezzolini_96316_FDSA_Dual_Camera_Shoe.html

I had two wireless receivers on an EX1 this past weekend using a "Bracket1" mount: see http://www.bracket1.com/brackets.php

Kevin many thanks for sharing this bit of info - I assume that you have the Bracket 1 HD? It looks fantastic. Can you still be able to turn the hand grip in any position needed? Does the bracket limits you in any way?

I assume that you have the Bracket 1 HD? It looks fantastic. Can you still be able to turn the hand grip in any position needed? Does the bracket limits you in any way?

Actually I have a Bracket 1A and a 1C I've been using with my Sony FX1s. The 1A won't work with the EX1 because it blocks the XLR inputs, while the 1C positions the receivers to the right of the lens hood (sticking out slightly forward of the front of the camera). Good point that the 1HD might interfere with the EX1 grip so I'd ask the company about that before buying one, or see if they're planning a new version specifically for this camera.

In any case, the 1C works with one receiver screwed to the main position at the top of the bracket and a second receiver clipped sideways below that. This gets a little crowded but I was able to get some hand-held shots with all that plus a Firestore FS4 mounted on the other side of the camera on a MiniRover bracket. (By the time I was done you could barely see the camera under all the other gear.)

I have a dsr 300 rigth now and I love it. I want to do some multicam stuff. So I was thinking of getting a bunch of ex1's. Or I could by used dsr 300's which go for like 3 grand. How much better would the EX1 be than the dsr 300 in an SD aplication. Is the price differnce worth the money for an SD broadcast.

Another negative thing on the EX that I didn't mention in my post but is quite important for persons like you Thomas, since you are familiar with the 300, is that Sony did not include a D-Tap output. This output allows one to switch on and off the on-board light with the trigger switch (and the lamp also draws power directly from the camera battery - hence no extra batteries to carry and no wires!). I still have to configure what I am going to do!

I guess it will not sync with the trigger, but Bebob in Germany makes a battery adapter for the EX1 called Coco-EX.

http://www.bebob.de/international/coco-EX_e.html

I see our favourite NY superstore does not stock this as of this date, but this is probably a new product.

This nice gadget will provide you with 2 hirose and one AB D-Tap.

Just to give you one alternative to power camera, light and maybe an LCD screen even though the oncam LCD is very good due to reports. Or wathever extra equipment you would like to power.

Yes Ronny, I've seen the product on their site - the only thing is that it's ugly and the battery seems to be reversed - i.e the contacts are outermost and not innermost as in all other cameras. This is slightly worrying me as it means that the contacts can be more prone for exposure to dew/rain showers. Has anyone bought such product? I'm waiting for Hawk Woods (a UK company that makes some really cool stuff) to issue out their product - I was told by one of their sales team that they are looking into it right now.

By the way, Kevin, I've bought the Bracket 1 HD - http://www.bracket1.com/brackets.php#01 - whoever might be interested to know on possible accessories for this camera.

It's really good to attach stuff to it like cordless mics and hard drives. They even have specific attachments to different mics. It can be used by the EX1 and the grip does rotate (just) without any trouble. It even gives better stability/safety to the camera when placed on the floor / tables...