Maxell XDCAM discs
 

Yet more competition, which should be good for prices :-)

http://www.inphase-technologies.com/...llExhibit.html

Thanks for the reply! Very inciteful.

1.5x would be extremely useful for us, and the fact i can transfer the files in the background while editing the first race say, is actually a bonus i never thought would be possible.

The main concept sounds good, ill do a bit of a google on that one later tomorrow when I get back from todays filming session. Does it crash the system or something? Hope they get it fixed soon.

When you talk about a slow HD autofocus, would it still be the same if i was capturing in 25mb DVCAM? Sorry if thats a stupid question...

What is the advantage of recording HDSDi? If you can transfer the full 35mb files from the camera to computer in 1.5x realtime, then how is having to playback at 1x an advantage?

So would you recommend the F330 camera at all? If i got the F350 viewfinder or a studio VF or something like that? I need someone's professional oppinion on this so that I can make a more informed choice!

When you say 'certainly useable' this seems to me like a real negative view on the lenses. Would this still be good enough for TV? Would it be noticable to someone who watches TV and has no knowlegde of cameras/lenses etc.

As you can tell i'm a newbie to HD also! So thanks for your help, and understanding.

Regards
Martin

Random XDCAM HD Spotting in my neighborhood
 

Barely worth a post, but just a weird little bit of a story.

Returning home around noon from Burbank just 45 minutes ago, and realized 2 cars ahead of me is a black Tahoe with a rear facing stabilizer mount and remote head. Not that noteworthy, as you see production vehicles on their way to shoots all the time in my neighborhood, sometimes the cameras are mounted on the pictures cars already, etc etc.

Anyway, as I pull up to get a better look, I realized it was a 350 on the remote head! Kinda odd I thought, as XDCAM HD is still very much a "wha?" to most production people, even in Los Angeles. THEN I realized the tally light was on and he was rolling on me. Yow.

I have no idea what they were doing...my neighborhood is pretty but all they were was driving down the street rolling and following cars passing them, etc.

For the curious, the mount is something Chapman makes called the Super VI. It operates like a single section of steadicam arm, except it's motion is limited to strictly up and down. On top of that, there's another stage that slides laterally. Both together do a pretty good job of smoothing out a vehicle.

IBC ... where's the update?
 

Haven't heard anything about the XDCAM HD update. No buffering yet?

Also, has anyone had any success in getting the front mic pot to function correctly. I've set mine in the menu to adjust channel-1 from the first side pot and the front pot, but the front pot doesn't do anything.

edit---sorry missed the USB drive thread

Works okay for me. I like having it set up to control 1 and 2 from side and front. That way, the 1 and 2 pots allow me to mix, while the front serves as a master fader.

-gb-

Front pot works for me too.

F350 viewfinder soft
 

I have a PDW-510 and PDW-F350 and I found the viewfinder picture of the F350 to be quite soft and grainy compare to the PDW-510. Both cameras have the same viewfinder, only the cable differs. It makes it a bit hard to work on the F350 as you are always wondering if you are in focus or not. This is not a good thing when working with HD...

I played with the peaking adjustment a bit but that does not help much. I checked an other F350 and found its viewfinder quite soft too. I think the problem actually lies in the quality of the downconverted signal sent to the viewfinder on the F350. I hope there is room for improvement in the firmware for this.

Anyone had a chance to compare both cameras?

Thierry.

I've found my F350 VF to be one of the better viewfinders I've had. Maybe Simon will comment on this as he has used the 510 as well.

I have to confess that I didn't really have too much trouble with the 350 I had. I didn't find it to be too different in use to the 510.

Although having said that I think that with the high def cameras they could do with better, higher res viewfinders.

Lens Protection
 

Hi there. We were looking for a good basic UV/lens protector to screw on the top of our Fuji HD lens. Does anyone have any recommendations? In the past we've just used Tiffen stuff, but maybe not for this quality lens.

Thanks,
Max

Just make sure you have a slim line filter on there.

-gb-

Motion Tests in After Effects
 

Can anyone provide me with some short clips to compare shooting slow motion with the 350 versus the 330? I guess H.264 would be ideal. Basically, I'd like to have short identical clips, one shot in 60p with the 350 and another shot in 60i. Then I'd do some processing in After Effects to compare the two slowed down 50%.

This is my thinking. Almost all overcranked footage will be shot at 60p (we actually want higher than 60). So, being able to do single frame increments isn't a huge advantage. Since the overcranked footage is half vertical res anyways, you wouldn't loose much resolution by shooting in 60i. You would have to deal with interlaced jitter, especially in cases where there are fine horizontal lines in the image. However, I'm not convinced that it's $8000 worth of quality for that one application. Undercranking isn't hard to do in post since you are essentially throwing out frames, you just have to get the speed right.

Anyone Used These Monitors?
 

Hearing good things about these:

http://www.tvlogic.co.kr/eng/product...d/ml_index.php

Any opinions from those who have seen them?