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Dave the lens seems ok so far. Not much of a range at 16x8. I will have more input soon since the rig will shoot a few jobs in the next few weeks.
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Nano Flash Feedback
I have been doing some research on the Nano Flash uint and it appears to sound very good in principle. After talking to a cameraman who has just returned from filming camels in the desert, he has discovered a few issues.
Issue one, he unknowingly slightly ejected one of the CF cards just enough to stop recording however to the eye it was still pushed in. This can be avoided by enclosing the eject buttons behind a door. Issue two, recording will have to be started maually if in TC 'Free Run' Issue Three, there is no time or space remaining on the inserted media Issue Four, limited indication that the unit is recording, audio level meters would be useful Issue Five, the unit is exposed to dust rain etc. The conclusion is that the unit works very well however IMO it looks very much like a proto type unit which has been released to gain some feedback, i think the Nano requires some modifications that would make it perfect. Would we be happy with an SLR camera that has no door to cover the CF card or no media door on the PMW-350/PDW700 ? David hart |
Dear David,
1. We have been designing an accessory for the nanoFlash. It protects the two CompactFlash card slot Eject Buttons from being hit accidentally. Also, it prevents the cards from flying out if one presses on the Eject Buttons too hard. We have manufactured 100 of these, so far, and they are about to be powder coated. 2. The camera typically provides us with Timecode. It would be nice if the camera also, via HD-SDI indicated that it wanted us to record. We have tried to obtain this information, but have not been successful so far. It is not from a lack of trying. When the camera is in Free Run or 24 Hour Run, the timecode runs all of the time, so we cannot record on incrementing timecode. 3. I do not know exactly what you mean. At the bottom right of the LCD, we show the number of minutes remaining on the cards currently in the nanoFlash. At the top of the LCD we show a bar graph of each card, showing how much of the card has been used. 4. The nanoFlash has audio level meters. 5. Yes, the nanoFlash is exposed to dust and rain. The nanoFlash does not have a fan, thus does not normally ingest dust. We do expect our users to take reasonable precautions against rain or other moisture. A Zip-Lock sandwich bag would work if you had nothing better. |
Hi Dan
Thanks for the speedy response, I think everyone in the UK has gone to bed! I'm pleased to hear that it does have a time remaining and VU levels display, my friend must have been suffering from sun stroke! Very interested to know more about your nano flash accessory, perhaps you will keep us posted with some photos? Do you have a price yet? I have purchased a PMW-350 and out of principle I plan to purchase a Nano this year as I am reluctant to rely on SxS media, It's like anything you buy theses days, if you wait a while things seem to improve also the price has come down a bit due to the increasing sales. Regards David |
Dear David,
The nanoFlash is an excellent addition to the Sony PMW-350. No, I have not established a price for this accessory. I will try to post pictures later. We are still working with introductory pricing for the nanoFlash. We introduced it at $3,999 (US) a year ago, but reduced the price to $2,995 as an introductory price shortly thereafter. This helped many people obtain the nanoFlash who many not have been able to do so otherwise, due to the economy. This, of course, helped us also, as we sold more units. We just built our 1000th unit. And we have hundreds on backorder at this moment. But, we do build quite a few of these every month. Approximately every month we add significant new features to the nanoFlash. Thus, we regularly provide free updates, adding new features, some of which were quite unexpected to the original owners of the nanoFlashes. In your case, you can significantly enhance your PMW-350 by adding a nanoFlash. All in all, we feel that the nanoFlash is quite a bargain. I hope you will feel the same way if you choose to add a nanoFlash. |
The nanoflash is changing how I feel about CC'ing. Grading mxf 100 mbps 4:2:2 from the PMW350 produces jaw dropping video that is uber clean. It really pays an extra dividend if you have to shoot interlace video. It's won me over.
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That said, cleaner image (due to higher color resolution and more relaxed compression) can sometimes be seen "out of the box" even when compared to the XDCAM EX, SxS recordings (not to mention e.g. HDV from some other cameras). Oh, and on this thread's main topic: I don't have the 350, but I'm using Olof's solution for my EX1 and nanoFlash - ingeniously designed, very well made. Recommended! Piotr |
Hi Dan
Look forward to that, what is your connection with the Nano Flash do you work for them or supply to them? Regards |
Dear David,
I am the Director of Sales and Marketing for Convergent Design. The nanoFlash is our product. |
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Dan, It's good to know that I have been talking to the right person.
David |
I've used my NanoFlashes in sand storms during the Arizona Monsoon season, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle in mid winter and in good old British Winter storms and they have both been 100% reliable. I don't think SxS cards will let you down either, they are incredibly robust and reliable, but the advantage the NanoFlash gives is the ability to record 2 copies at once, plus CF cards are a lot cheaper than SxS cards. As has been said above the NanoFlash footage comes into it's own in post. At 100Mb/s it is so much more resilient, so much so that I use a NanoFlash with my PDW-700 whenever possible as it improves that too.
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