Forget about the green light - just put that battery on right now.

Enjoy Jason!

If you have not already, get the Sony 4HR battery BP-U60.

Thanks Steven...The Fed Ex guy should be here this afternoon at some point to drop off the U-60 which will then be placed on the charger as well. I do not think I will be having much under the tree this year as my X-mas has come in March and April, the new Macbook Pro should be here next week and hopefully the Zacuto Letus Extreme setup in April or May. All :)'s here...

No vignette problem here...Just finished testing! Well U-30 charged and now it is time to record U-60 on charger hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow cause right now it is dark and raining...So all indoors for this evening. This camera's lens is a dream...Love it!! The pictures I am getting straight out of the box make me exteremly happy I pulled the trigger on this beast.

I did'nt expect their to be any vignetting issues as that was corrected a while back so no one should really be having that problem at this point. Have you checked your backfocus when you turn your ND filter on?

Dennis, no backfocus issues either just tested it as well. I will say I agree with some others I really am disappointed with the slider for the ND filter. The one on my old VX 2000 and the FX1 is better...It is way to flush mount for me I had quite a few times where it would just slide all the way up to ND 2. I actually think the ND filter slider is of poor quality on a CineAlta line camera. The Camera/Off/Media switch is not has bad as I thought from others comments but it is not the greatest either. The ND filter slider really is my only complaint so far, well that and I can also see that the auto focus is a tad slow as others have mentioned but it seems light related because outside it is hardly noticable (now that the suns out)but I will be manual most of the time...So far no regrets.

I will give you guys my review this weekend as my EX-1 will be arriving today.

-Dennis

I'm excited for you Dennis and keeping my fingers crossed! Get a good one!

Lonnie

...and if your serial number is 1000004, I'll go with you to punch somebody out :)

Allright folks I just got my EX today. I'm at s/n 104700 so i'm pretty satisfied so far. Did some quick test shooting and so far so good. I will report more in the next week or so.

Dennis, when and where did you order yours from? 4700 is 2000 above mine it would be interesting if you got it from B&H...Just means they must have a big stock and send them out any no particular order..

I actually got it from Abel Cine Tech. I liked their customer service and the fact that they could tell me what s/n they had in stock was pretty helpful.

Thats cool! I ordered my U-60 Battery from them, Well my camera is working great so far, so I am not going to let the serial # get into my head...

I don't think there is any problems with s/n over 2,000 to be honest with you. I will be getting that battery soon. Def a good investment

Serial number 3633 arrived from B+H on Thursday - my first serious video camera (I've been shooting stills for 20 years, since high school, but this is my first adventure past the dabbling stage in video). I took it on a hike in some local mountains today (I'm a nature photographer by trade), and the video looks great - no backfocus, no vignetting, and the HD quality sure is nice! I love the fact that it overcranks, too - a lot of nature stuff either needs to be slowed down or speeded up.
I intend to use EX1 video mixed with stills in presentations on natural history topics, and the quality's finally there to do that. Even a year ago, the quality of video as opposed to good DSLR stills was a glaring problem on a big screen (don't try it with DV, or even consumer HDV), but I'm mixing the two today with success. The next step up in quality would be a RED, but that's not practical for what I do, either from a cost standpoint or in terms of what I can handle in the field without a crew (the EX1 and its Sachtler tripod are manageable, but about all I want to carry when I'm working alone).

-Dan

Welcom Dan! Congrats on the new EX1, I am loving mine so far.

Put 'em through the rigors, guys - I'm anxious but will remain patient for some thorough testing on some fresh cams...

Good luck,
Lonnie

Mine should arrive today (from Abel Cine Tech). The sales rep over the phone told me I would receive SO1-0105169-8. Not sure what the dash-8 means.

By the way, I went with Abel Cine Tech because I read in a post that they could tell you the SN before purchase. My sales rep read out a bunch of SNs and I (of course) asked for the highest. He was really helpful.

I order a bunch of accessories from B&H but not the Ex1 as I read that they weren't very helpful with regard to SNs and also had recently been shipping older units with v. 1.03 firmware.

cheers,
-sutton

I'm going to buy an EX1 this week from either B&H or Abel Cintech. Is there chance that B&H is still shipping older stock with 1.03 firmware, or do you guys think that all of the cameras sold now have the latest firmware? I'm curious what some recent serial numbers from B&H are--not specific numbers, but if they're in the 4000 to 5000 range on the last four digits

Got 200925 in my country.

I bought two from B&H on 5/2/08. One was in the 3000's and the other in the 4000's.

jenny,

did you check the time stamp on the battery included with your new EX1's?
i got mine last week and the battery was stamped 3/28/2008.

paul

Mine are 2-07-2008 and 12-19-2007. I assume I am safe since my serial numbers are over 2000, or do I need to update my cameras?

b&h only sells authorized sony pro gear.
should be good.

i heard the latest firmware is 1.0.3, not sure if this is correct.


paul

I checked my cam for the vignetting issue and also the backfocus, and could not find a problem with either.

Until just now, I did not know how to access the service menu to read the firmware version. But now I do, and it shipped with V1.05_0405. I picked it up from a local distributor, I do not know how long they had it. If anyone really wants to know, I could try the Fed-Ex tracking number on the label.

The serial number is XXX313X.

So as far as I know, the cam was updated already although the packaging was sealed.

On the backfocus issue, I tried to duplicate the problem reported by others by checking at all 3 ND filter positions, to no avail it seems correct.

to see the firmware and confirm the serial number, just press all 3 buttons in the back together, namely menu, select, and cancel.

this also allows you to get into some of the internal service manual functions, like fixing some stuck pixels if you have some.

the sony xdcam pro support at 800-883-6817 is very thorough and will walk you through anything you need with our EX1.

yes, tom, the latest firmware is 1.05_0405 and my serial # is in the 57xx with battery stamped 3/28/2008.

paul

...it does seem like the battery is draining fast though, while on the cam not in use.

tom

i have not seen this with the u60 battery. after a job of 2 hours and 4 days, i still get 3 lights on the battery.
are you using the same battery and are you using it at high altitudes?

paul

I'm using the battery that came with the cam, at Denver's elevation 5280 ft, yes.

Thanks Paul! I felt stupid asking and have been trying to find that out on my own before asking. You saved me lots of time.

Received mine last week. S/N is in the 5000 range.

John

I received my EX1 about 10 days ago from Abel, and I was able to get a 70xx s/n. Looks like there's a real range of stock out there, as they first told me that the most recent unit in stock in their LA branch was 55xx. After checking with the NY branch, I was able to get the newer unit. NY branch said they recently sold a ton of cameras, some of them to Columbia University- I assume that's for the film program. Firmware is v1.05_0405, and battery stamp is 08/05/09 (May 9th 2008, I guess).

I've been traveling and haven't had a chance to use the camera for more than a few minutes, but when I get some time I'll check to see what the status is on the various production bugs. I can confirm that the battery drain issue has been fixed- after leaving the fully charged BP-U60 on the camera for 24 hrs, readout went from 279 min to 263.

so!
this is where my annual fund contribution is going....
good grief.

paul

you're way off on that. your contribution actually bought a small part of an sxs card.

I've tested the backfocus, vignetting, and battery drain issues, and everything looks good. I did an IR contamination test, and it's not perfect. Not sure if this is improved over previous units or not. The attached image shows the test, shot with tungsten light.

Pardon me if this is a stupid question but how do you update your firmware to the most current version? Mine is currently V1.03_0351 and I got my EX1 at B&H May 19, 2008.

Many Thanks,
Tony

you need to contact sony pro services and send your ex1 to them for upgrade.
as of now, you cannot upgrade the firmware yourself.

B&H purchase
 

Hi guys,

Just got my EX1 from B&H yesterday. S/N is 106785, I can confirm there's no battery drain, and firmware is 1.05_0405

Cheers,
Nick