Firmware Update Wish List
 

Just in case Sony is looking I'd thought it would be good to include a Firmware Update Wish List. Note this is Firmware Update and not hardware changes (which would be another camera model).

White Balance - ability to dial in a second setting (e.g. 5600°) to a White Balance memory position.

Picture Profile - put picture profile on an Assignable button.

Cache Record - looping record buffer so one can record a few seconds of a shot if one hits record late. XML seems to imply this is a possible feature.

Add two more internal recording options:
4:2:2 50mbps codec & 4:2:2 100mbps codec and ask for $1,500.00 USD for the upgrade.
"IF" this was possible, sign me up!

I believe the data rate would need to be 100 mbps for 4:2:2 using 1920x1080.
Heck, I'd go out on the limb and say ask $2,000.00.

Barry Green brought up a good point that the Convergent Designs XDR flash recorder uses a Sony MPEG encoding chip that allows up to 100mbps 4:2:2 long-GOP, and 160mbps I-frame 4:2:2 encoding as well as 25mbps and 35mbps.

Craig - Good idea!

I'd like to see better grouping of video formats and video recording modes into a single menu. That is, put the interval/frame/SQ recording options together with the video format selections into a single video format menu to make it easier to set (instead of having to go to 2 separate menus now)

50mbps is enough for 422 as new XDCAM something-700 does it. Then EX would truly be compatible with pro line.

And what comes to firmware update wishes... if i understood correctly you can't save audio while overcranking. I'd like to see audio on saved as a separate audio file so there's atleast an option to fasten overcranked material to normal speed and have audio track for it in post.

Audio limiter!

White balance button disable/reassign.

I would think with the 1920x1080 image and increased chroma samples (4:2:2) more than 50mbps would been needed.

"The PDW-700 will take XDCAM HD performance to a new level. It will record stunning quality HD images at up to 50Mb/s ---. The PDW-700 will have ---- full 1920 x 1080 resolution ---, 14 bit A/D conversion, 4:2:2 sampling and recording, and advanced digital signal processing will ensure superb picture quality. "

However, it speaks of 50Mb/s not 50Mbps and if 50Mbps stands for 50Megabits/s where 50Mb/s apparently means 50Megabytes/s then we have a slight problem with bit rate. Now I managed to make myself confused

Usually capital "B" stands for Byte. The spec is in bits, not bytes.
35mb/s = 4.375MB/s = 262.5MB per minute
If the spec were in bytes every minute would equal 2.1GB.

Sony does have a 100mbps 4:2:2 Long GOP codec. We could only PRAY they would offer this (or the 50mbps codec)
as a CASH Upgrade for th EX1. If not, the money goes to Convergent Design XDR, or Cineform for
their future 4:2:2 portable capture solutions.
http://www.convergent-design.com/dow...%20XDR.pdf

http://www.cineform.com/products/CineFormRecorder.htm

Back to the WB Preset.... even my previous JVC HD100, which had many problems had a very elegant solution in WB Preset setting change in the assign button. A single button press. Are you saying that the EX1 cannot do this? That would be the #1 firmware upgrade wish for me!

As stated above, nope. You can change WB preset by changing Picture Profile but you can't put Picture Profile on an Assigned button. You can't have one dialed in WB on Preset and another on a WB Mem position either.

Mem A and Mem B (or ATW) are really just stored "live" white balances.

Yes this is a top firmware update wish . . . but I'd love that record buffer cache too.

Picture Profile save/load
 

Saving Picture Profile/Scenes separate from entire camera setup.

I want to be able to offload my Picture Profiles for future use.

I want to be able to load PP on to another camera in a multicam shoot without loading the entire camera setup.

I'd like to be able to load individual Picture Profiles rather than all or nothing when sharing.

Audio Line In pad
 

Ability to "pad" line in just as one can do with the Mic in settings in the menu. My PD-170 has a -10 switch to pad line in for example. Doing this and having it dial-able like Mic in, might be doable via firmware update.

Assignable OIS, etc.
 

1 - Sony needs to make the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) assignable to one of the user buttons!! Why? Because OIS can often screw up shots when the camera is on a tripod, but is necessary as soon as the camera is taken off and used hand held. This is an absolute must for event videographers who don't have the time to go into the menu every time they switch from tripod to hand held shooting. Hopefully Sony will have the good sense to fix this easily fixable oversight.

2 - Retro record cashe. Preferably user settable between 2 to 10 seconds.

3 - Camera record formats at the top of the menu, not at the very bottom of the very last menu group!

4 - The record review button is a fantastic feature on a tapeless camera such as this, but while reviewing a clip, hitting the record review button a second time should immediately return to standby mode, should an opportunity for a shot suddenly present itself.

5 - When the white balance is set to Preset, hitting the White Balance button on the front of the camera should toggle between 3200 and 5600 settings. This is the way Panasonic's DVX100B works and would probably be the simplest and most logical fix to the current problem users are having with the EX1's white balance.

6 - Faster booting! A digital SLR can go from cold to shooting in less than a second, so the fact that the EX1 take about 10 seconds to turn on and shoot is very disappointing, especially for run & gun shooters. I thought a tapeless camera would inherently be much quicker to turn on. Switching between the record and review modes is also very slow. I wonder if this is something that can be optimized in the firmware. If it can, then here's hoping Sony optimizes the EX1's booting time!

This is all I can think of from spending a couple of hours with the camera in the store. Hopefully a lot of people will pitch in their ideas and Sony will listen. After all, with firmware upgradable equipment, making fixes like this should be very easy for Sony.

A menu option to flip the image, for the benefit of those who use 35 mm lens adapters. (Or at least flip the image in the lcd)

-Menu design: ability to jump with down scroll at the bottom of the list back to the first item and from first item to last with up scroll

-Remove lcd flicker from 25P modes

-Remove green mess showing up to lcd when changing modes (it would feel more finished product if the transition were classier)

-Ability to change shutter speed with joystick when direct menu is set to PART. I didn't like much the fact that changing direct menu to ALL disable separate gain and WB switches. Perhaps these could work same time also --> if you touch the separate switches of gain and WB it would change the setting even though direct menu would be set to ALL

I second Tuomas' ideas
 

Excellent ideas Tuomas, I second all of them, especially the first one! There's no logical reason that menus shouldn't loop.

Does anyone know of an official Sony site where we can make our thoughts known?

Perhaps we should let this list live a while and then gather a list of wanted features and someone then emails it to Sony in the name of dvinfo.net community

-The WB issue has been mentioned here already but I'd like to be able to set WB to A or B slot manually trough direct menu. This would then overwrite current saved setting same way as taking white balance from an object with WB button does.

-The assignable buttons have also been mentioned and I fully agree that there should be more options which to assign to them. I don't see any reason why any of the camera's settings couldn't be programmed into assignable buttons. There's need for as many different combinations of customization as there are EX1 users and different shooting conditions

Some of this has been posted before been as I did a "test" shoot yesterday the menu access issues became much more obvious to me.

Assignable Buttons

OIS - HAS to be assignable. It's a real PAIN to have to go into the menu every time you go on/off tripod.

OVER/UNDERCRANK settings - has to go to an assignable button too. Sometimes you want to change quickly to catch something as a slo mo shot.

RECORD MODES - sometimes you want to switch from 720p24,25,30 to 720p50,60 QUICKLY for example.

----------------------
Assignable Buttons or other solution needed

WHITE BALANCE - it's been said before but additionally it needs to be SEPARATE from Picture Profile (ideally). I was shooting in day light and it's a real PAIN having to change the PPs to have a Preset 5600° (or whatever your dialed alternate is to 3200°) each time you change a PP. You may well be faced with having to make 3200° and 5600° for each PP and there's still no easy way going from indoor to sunlight quickly. I could go on and on about this but you all get it I'm sure.

ZEBRAS - I want to toggle between 70 (or whatever low) and 100 (or whatever high). Right now it's one or both depending on how you set things up. I want one or the other in many circumstances.

ZEBRA & PEAKING ON LCD SCREEN DISPLAY - I'd like something that would indicate these buttons are engaged. There are times when they're on and you're not seeing them given a specific shot you're setting up. As a result, going from shot to shot, I get lost as to whether I'm not seeing them because they're off or because nothing is falling into the range it detects.

You can switch the OIS on/off directly from the lcd/viewfinder (without going into any menus), that works quite fast imho.

I would like to see an updated and improved clip browser software as well.


regards,
Erwin

An image flip mode for 35mm adaptors.

Decimal place adjustment of frame rate and the indication of whether the frame rate is 23.976 or 24fps for example. And the ability to shoot a real 24.000 fps (I think this may be possible in PAL area undercrank mode already, but haven't tested it - in any case, an easier way).

Frame accumulation numbers compatible and/or synchronized with the intervalometer time. Right now there is 64 frames of accumulation on the chip, and combined with a 2, 3 or 4 second interval creates a staccato in the time lapse footage.

More options in the "Shutter Angle" mode. 270° and 360° (or however wide it goes) would be nice, as well as shorter ones in 5° or even 1° increments.

That and other functions like PP (and therefore WB preset as part of a PP) are on the LCD but sometimes fiddling with the joystick is too slow.

You have to position the joystick over to correct area and then toggle.

I want to pull the camera off the tripod and simply hit a button. In some run and gun situations even the joystick/LCD method is just too slow and especially awkward if you're already hand holding the camera/beast.

I just want the EX1 to accept other brands of SxS cards that are compatible.

Not a firmware update but hardware update:

How nice would it be to have this camera, but have an interchangeable lens? I think it would be pretty nifty. Maybe they could shave off some money for not having a lens on there so you can purchase a nice quality pro lens and be around the $10k - $12k range?

Would be pretty nice....

Yes, a 5 second Pre-record buffer!!! Im shocked they didnt include this to begin with! A Must have!

I will not buy this camera b/c of this missing feature.

Firmware Updates
 

I would like for recording modes to be usable with the "Assignable Buttons." I tend to shoot the same scene in 1920 and 720 so being able to switch back and forth with just the press of a button would be great. I can also see how being able to assign preset Over and Under crank settings to a button for fast switching would also be good idea.

David Schmerin
www.GotFootageHD.com

I should read more carefully....
 

Seems I am in complete agreement with Craig Seeman

Sorry

David Schmerin
www.GotFootageHD.com

Possibility to "dump" what's on SxSes directly to external hard drive via camera's USB output. This might be bit hard to do since it might require camera to have drivers or something like that for the hard drive. Perhaps there could be small accesory application downloadable from sony site that would be copied to external drive. Then firmware update would simply ask the software on hard drive to copy what's in the SxSes.

Me too. This is very annoying, like not providing an audio limiter!
But didn't someone of the early testers mention a pre-record buffer WOULD be included later (by firmware)?

1080 60p would be nice if firmware could enable.

WB: I find the way the WB switch works to be fine other than it would be nice to be able to select the WB setting on the LCD and dial in a different number manually.

Peaking & Zebra: I agree with the earlier comment, I too often find myself pressing the peaking button and not knowing if it is on or off due to it not having an effect in some situations.

OIS: I can't believe this isn't assignable to a button, it's the same on the Canon A1, I'm not sure why this mistake keeps getting made.

Clip Review: It would be nice if pressing the clip review button a second time would cancel the playback. It's a pain having to hunt around on top of the camera for the stop button mid shoot.

Component out: As this is the only way to connect this camera to a standard HD TV to review footage, it would be nice if it would output the full resolution instead of removing the overscan area. This is especially annoying with most new TV's being able to display the full 1080 image.

Paul, how are you switching between 3200° and 5600°? I simply can not throw up a white card in many situations and ATW is a sure way to not have consistency. Right now I'm switching Picture Profiles but that's a real pane and a waste of a PP IMHO.

Firstly I change the WB settings so that preset B is set to MEM and not ATW, that gives you the ability to store a WB on both preset A and preset B.

I usually leave these on 3200 & 5600 and switch between them as required using the WB switch. If something else is required though, like you want it slightly warmer than the camera decides then it seems PP is the only way to do so. This is where is would be nice to select the WB setting in the LCD and dial in a setting instead, much like you can on the Canon A1.

The way I understand it is that the bottom switch position PRST is set at 3200 anyway (or can be changed in the menu) so in effect you could have 3 stored options.

Paul, only the preset can be dialed in. While MEM A and MEM B can be anything, the only way to get that "anything" is to actually fidel with white balance against whatever (white card). There's no way to SET (dial in) either MEM A or MEM B to a given number unless you're not telling us something.

In other words you can't get a MEM position to be 5600 unless you happen to white balance and store when the light temp happens to be 5600. That's POOR design in my opinion. I SHOULD be able to dial in 5600 (or whatever I want) to ANY MEM position, NOT just Preset.

Preset can be dialed in to ANYTHING. It Defaults to 3200, can be dialed in with Picture Profile. The user has NO control over MEM A or B other than to actually set on white and it'll wind up whatever it is, no necessarily 5600.

I haven't got my EX1 yet, but these WB woes make me wonder: if prosumer cameras (like the Canon A1 or Sony V1) can have it right, why not a professional division product like the EX1?

So, my question to the bigger CineAlta cams' users: what are the WB options on the 350, for instance?

I don't wan't to be a spoilsport, but, as far as my knowledge in electronics reaches, it is not possible to increase the frame rate to reach 1080 60p just with a firmware update.

Why? Because to reach 60p means that the electronic circuits of the camera should handle the double of data than at 30p, and they are not designed for such higher data rates. They can handle less, that's why it's possible to undercrank, but no more. Notice that a video frame in 1080 lines is about 2 MegaPixels, but at 720 lines, it is just the half, 1 MP. That's why the camera can double the frame rate at 720 lines, because the total amount of data per second is the same. Notice that if the hardware could handle 1080 60p, it could also work at 720 120p, and that would be very funny! But that's for a future camera...

However, the MPEG compression data rate is increased when overcranking, so a higher data rate for standard frame rates should be possible. But I don't think the color encoding, which is 4:2:0, could be changed, as this is surely implemented in the MPEG encoding chip, however I can't assure that this can't be changed, neither can confirm that the data rate could be increased.

And, IMHO, I think we must remember that Sony has released a prosumer camera with the same specs as their higher end cameras that cost 2 or 3 times the price of the EX, it reaches the level of the XDCAM HD camcorders, and can even be compared with the HDCAM ones, so who could ask for more?

Of course the full 1080/50(60)p is not viable yet; if not for the imagers than for the media bandwidth limitations.

Back to the wishlist; being CineAlta I wonder why the EX1 doesn't have a more cinematic Aspect Marker available? Paul has given us a beautiful example of cropping at post, which would be much easier should we have the right aspect merker available at shooting time!

I must have just been lucky then. The first time I white balanced outside I used A, the first time inside I used B. The result was 5600 & 3200 so I just left it at that.

I do agree though, you should be able to input them yourself.