I will be at InterBEE everyday.
 

If anyone coming to InterBEE in Tokyo, please feel free to stop by and say hello to me at HONJO booth. I'm asked to demonstrate their Reflecmedia, so we are taking our Final Cut Pro HD with PowerBook G4 17inch, Sony HDR-FX1 and Lumiere HD to show hot it works.

Fx-1 Demo @ Showcase Photo Atlanta
 

Took a long lunch break today from work and went down to seee the new FX-1 at Showcase Photo in ATlanta.
BEEFY!
Very slick, nice button config's. Didn't have time to do a shoot-out comparison between all the cameras hey have. Fondled the DVX-100A, XL2, JVC HD cam, and the Sony FX-1. If size matters (dont go there), the Sony is impressive in that aspect alone. It will go on rental soon I'm told. I might have to cough up the rental rate to see what can be done in the field with this thing. Reports I hear from users here are exciting.

http://www.showcaseinc.com/site/

Jeff Patnaude

Is the XL2 avaliable for rental from Showcase?

FX1 au francais
 

Brush up on your French with some light reading: FX1 review by Michel Rempenaux and Sébastien Gaillard:

http://www.repaire.net/site/tournage/hdv_sony/

Hi Chris

Yes an excellent site and vibrant forum... for those who read French.

also some really neat tutorials for Premiere Pro animated in WMV.

The hands on review gives good feedback on the new camera..

Regards

Gareth

Different FX1 models and prices?
 

So does anyone know what are the models that will be released, the price difference between then and what are the actual functional differences?

I'm working on another chart to cover this. Should have it ready over the weekend.

Does HD need 'better' converter lenses?
 

A lot of stuff that appears to be logical (HD will require 'better' converter lenses than SD) doesn't become the truth simply because it's been written down. 'Show me, and I shall see' is not even a valid argument as many magicians have proved.

Zoom-through converters are made for those people where convienience rates more highly that picture quality, and there's no
getting away from that. There are good solid arguments for leaving a w/a converter on the Sony PD/VX at all times, and Panasonic (with their DVX100A) have recognised this and responded to the market forces. Sony have admitted their choice of focal lengths was wrong on the VX/PD and the new FX1 follows the Panasonic lead.

Take the case of a single element wide-angle converter. They're made by countless manufacturers - Red Eye, Century, Raynox, Kenko, Schneider and so on. In its simplest form this is just a negative element (the reverse of a {positive} close-up lens). This bends the light that's about to enter the front element of the camcorder's zoom lens. This is all it does, and apart from making the lens surfaces uneven or having the two concave surfaces
miss-centred from one face to the other, there's little that can be changed to make the element perform better for hi-def applications.

The multi-element zoom-through variety come into the same category. But build tolerances and inspection weigh heavily in
the argument, yet the lens is doing exactly the same job as the single element converter. If they produce soft images on SD (as my Cavision 0.5x did) then this would simply be more obvious on HD pictures. Sharp, beautifully made optics like the Century 0.65x I tested should do just as well on HD footage. It's just bending the light before the zoom gets hold of it. The more you bend it, the greater the opportunity to distort (blur) it.

The camcorders fixed zoom lens does all the work and you can hold up anything in front of it. Double-glazed and tinted bus
windows, underwater housings, electrically heated car windscreens, multiple, stacked filters and misty mornings.

tom.

HD doesn't need better lenses due to its increased resolution or anything like that. However, what you get (with any camera system) by using higher quality glass is just that -- higher quality glass.

Cheaper glass can lead to color fringing, haze, image distortion, etc.. Going from SD to HD resolution with the same quality of glass is essentially going to give the same results between the two formats. If you have a mediocre lens that gives purple fringes on highlights in SD, you will have them in HD as well.

To some extent, HD may show the flaws in your glass a bit more than SD will simply due to the increased detail available to the format, but it can work the other way too. The increased resolution of HD can create more variation within the details captured through a lens so it could help to smooth out undesired lense effects or tone them down a bit. I guess the differences between DV and HD are about like film vs. DV, but not necessarily as extreme -- as HD still only provides about 1/4 of the detail available with a quality 35mm film system and HD still relies on much of the same tech as DV. New superHD or digital film cameras that shoot at resolutions higher than HD close that gap, but that's a different matter.

What it all comes down to is higher quality lenses are available for higher quality camera systems. Sony chose a certain grade of lens for the FX1/Z1 as it fit within the price and quality parameters for this level of camera.

When you start looking at add-on converter lenses like the wide angle and teleconverters - zoom-through or not, you're adding another set of variables into this equation. As you said, some may produce a soft image and others a sharper image. I doubt the effect of the soft image would be magnified in HD, but the same general softness would occur.

Z1 Dallas when?
 

When will the Z1 be in or near Dallas so I can see it with my own eyes? Can't make a judgment until then.

ECI will have it but of course not until Feb. when it's released.

Your best bet until then is a trade show... DV Expo (L.A.) or CES (Las Vegas).

Sony HDV Deck - Full Size DVCAM playback?
 

Does anyone know if the new deck accepts full size DVCAM tapes as well as mini DV. I'm asking because if it does I have no reason to keep my DSR40, and that would easily fund the purchase of the new HDV deck.

Comments, suggestions...

DBK

It accepts the Mini cassettes only.

A few questions on Sony HDR-FX1
 

Hi,

I recently started reading some info on this camera..And maybe these questions are redundant.. So forgive me if so..

Can the camera use the Cine Mode (or Psuedo 24p or whatever it is) in the normal DV mode ?? Can it shoot 16:9 in normal DV mode ??
And lastly is there any sample footage online to look at ?? If so link please..

Thanks to all..

Mike M.

Please do a search, as this is a topic we've covered extensively.

Hope this helps,

heath

Im gonna buy an FX1, any great deals?
 

So far the best price ive found is for

$3,399.00 from http://www.us1camera.com

or

$3,499.00 from B&H photo

any better deals?

Try someone from our official sponsors.

They provide excellent service and support and you will help
this community by buying from them as well. Chris has hand
picked our sponsors, they are the best in the business.

Thank you!

heath

Forbes likes the FX1
 

Forbes (12/13/04)'s article, "Def High" by Stephen Manes. They talk all about it, say the Z1 is a "$4900" pro camera, the FX1 is 1440x1080 vs. 1920x1080 (like most 1080i HD cameras) and "cheats" by this:

"...each of the camera's three sensors offers only about 1.1 million pixels, not the 1.5 million in the final image, Sony extrapolates the difference by shifting one of the sensors out of alignment from the others and computing the results."

Of course, the author then says, "But if this is cheat, it's an exquisite one." And details how great the camera is with colors, image, etc. He also says there's a shoulder mount one can buy.

heath

I've got all sorts of charts shot on the FX1: macbeth, EIA, CamAlign, and high-def res charts. On an HDTV the FX1 looks like it resolves about 800-900 lines of horizontal resolution, which is a lot.

Keep in mind that the FX1 *excels* at still shots. Motion is a different thing, but when shooting stills the FX1 is at its best. And charts look pretty good on it. I'll try to get something together and posted over the course of this week.

Comparison DVD is cancelled
 

Guys,

Thanks for the interest in the DVD, but unfortunately, we will not be getting it out on a timely basis.

I'm embarrassed about it, and decided the right thing to do was to come clean and simply refund your money.

If you paid with paypal, you will have received a full refund. If you sent me a money order (1 person) you will receive it back.

We are working on the JumpStart Guide to the FX1 and the JumpStart Guide to the XL2, which will be released in January. I hope you will consider one of those titles.

I'll post more info when I'm closer to shipping and all the DV Info Community will get preferential pricing.

Cheers

DBK

Hey, no sweat! We all get bogged down with projects! I was supposed to have a little book with my scripts out now, but between hurricanes, work, my next film and more, it's on hold...

heath

who's seeing Z1 at DV Expo?
 

Hi folks...

There's interest in cf25 and 50i most possibly offering a distinct advantage over 1080/60i... hope some of our members can get close enough to a real Z1 to "flick the switch" and get a sense if there's an appreciable difference between the formats when hooked up to a big HD monitor...

Er, Good Luck!

Have fun!

Pls. find out about "black stretch" - are the new and improved features reall worth all that extra moolah?

lux rating and resolution on the FX1?
 

I was just wondering if the lux rating and the resolution of the camera are related, specifically when addressing the FX1 light performance to DV cameras.

It seems to me that the FX1 is sampling at roughly 4.5x the resolution of DV camera. Basic signal averaging tells me if I have a device (CCD) with a given sensitivity and gain, that when I bundle groups of the pixels together, not only am I downsampling, but signal averaging. In which case I would expect the noise of the downsampled image to be smaller by a factor of ~2.1 (i.e., sqrt(4.5))

When people are comparing the low-light performance of the FX1 with other cameras, are they taking this into consideration and comparing noise levels at similar resolution or not?

While ultimately the absolute noise levels at the HDV resolution will be of most interest to people, when comparing across cameras (and codecs) this kind of information seems essential to me... especially if someone were to choose one camera over another on this specification.

-Steve

I am not sure if the effect you bring up is the reason but with my FX1, on automatic shots in a theatre lighting ( read dark ) the HDV image is a lot better( cleaner, image stands out somehow) than the DV image both viewed on my 4x3 i'Art 24" TV via the composite output from the FX1 ( the FX1 is downconverting the HDV image for output as is the DV image converted to composite). The difference is even more on my Sony 27HS420, HiScan 4x3 1080i TV ( again composite input, with component input of course the TV will switch to 1080i then there is no comparison as the HDV image is startly). DV was also shot in 16x9 so that the images were the same size on the screens.

Ron Evans

More HDV for you to download
 

If you'd like to download some high-action surfing in NTSC, we've uploaded a few files. We've got a lot more, but the PAL footage taught us we need to be bandwidth-prudent.
So, some FX1 footage in various modes, is up there now.
http://www.vasst.com/HDV/FX-1_images-Surfers.htm

The PAL footage is there too, on the same page as before.
We'll put up Z1 footage as soon as Sony gives us the go-ahead.

That looks amazing!

thanks for that link.

lightcompensating Fx1
 

Have anyone with the FX1 had any problems with the manual iris.On my camera it has a tendency to switch to auto even though it is on manual.I haave checked that the auto gain is turned of.I dont know what to do about this. At some occations the autofocus is not working when I want it to work.Any ideas?

You will need to also put the shutter on manual, and gain on manual in order for full iris control.

Will the HVR-Z1 Match The HDR-FX1?
 

well,

i am either buying another HDR-FX1 or I will Wait it out untill the HVR-Z1 is released. but my concern is if the two cameras will match during a shoot? it will be a waste if i cant use the two together. so, should i get a second HDR-FX1 or go pro?



thanks,



joel

See my FX1 - Z1U comparison chart at http://www.hdvinfo.net/articles/sonyhdrfx1/compare.php.

They share the same CCD block, lens and DSP. There's no reason why they wouldn't match each other perfectly.

FX1/Z1 and filters
 

Admittedly to my uneducated eyes, I'm looking at the available pictures of the FX1 and the Z1 and wondering if there's room for at least a simple UV filter behind the lens hood/cover contraption. Can anyone who has had hands-on experience share the love? Thanks!

Yes, there's room for 1 filter with the hood installed. I leave a UV filter on it most of the time. I've also used a polarizer.

Could somebody shoot a resolution chart with slow shutter speeds?
 

Without and with CF, please!

Z1 info. on this link
 

Hey all, I got this link from another site.....it's Z1 info. translated from French. This guy apparently got a Z1 in the mail.

http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools

Murph

FX1 50i Nikon-lens movie clips
 

I have added some very short movie to my page

www.eidomedia.com/hdv

You can download them until the hosting site doesn't close for too bandwith used... If someone want to offer a bigger Bandwith/diskspace I'll appreciate a lot.. Feel free to copy

Matteo

I have only seen the first short clip, it seems very sharp!

FX1 review (French)
 

Dunno if this has been posted already but I just found another FX1 review with some fairly good full size screen grabs.

http://www.repaire.net/site/tournage/hdv_sony/index.php

Adam Wilt's CineFrame article now online
 

From the legendary Adam Wilt (the original "DV Guru" for all of us):

CF24, CF25, CF30: How the Sony HDV cameras fake 24, 25, and 30 fps

This is a "must read" for all those who are interested in how CineFrame modes work!

Z1 DVCAM PAL to 720p NTSC possible?
 

I read in the Z1 brochure that the camera can record video at a resolution of 720 x 576 pixels in PAL format in the DVCAM setting, native 16:9 widescreen.

Would it be possible to convert this to 720p PAL and then to 720p NTSC? Would this also approximate the look of 24 fps?

Dealer tells me he is swimming in FX1's
 

Told me as soon as the Z1 was talked about, sales basically stopped on the FX1. He is not sure when he will get the Z1, or final price, but, he will call me when he gets, or I will call him when when I see someone else says they have in their hand.

I told him I have up to 4 folks who may be ready to buy the Z1 if we can get a good bulk buy.

I also want to wait a week or two after folks get them to see if they have any bugs.

Dave