Decided on an EX1
 

Having gone back and forth between the Z7, the Z1 and the EX1 I have now decided to buy an EX1 as my main camera.

Before I place my order I would like to hear what you all think:

PMW-EX1
BPU-60 battery
UV- filter
6 SxS cards 16 GB
2 SxS cards 8 GB

I am going to Canada for a week, shooting a documentary. I will be shooting in HDV for now, as the rest of this project has been shot in that codec, and to maximise recording time. Main concern is will I have enough cards? Is there any way I could buy a Lacie rugged and dump my footage on to that as my cards fill up? I do not have a laptop so direct dumping from camera to the Lacie is what I am thinking.

Any suggestions?

By the way, I hope I have made the right choice.

Svein Rune

You won't be able to go directly to Hard Drive. Get a laptop with Express Card port. It'll cost you no more than two 16GB cards and you'll get a lot more storage.

I'd base the choice of codec on the material you're shooting. HDV codec can "break" based on what/how you're shooting. Better to down convert nice footage that have shots with artifacts you can't fix IMHO.

Tripod, monopod, shoulder brace?
Is Audio at all important?

I second that opinion. Save your money on some of the 16GB cards and get a laptop and Lacie Rugged. Much better. Manafrotto make a great monopod with a four leg spread at the base that works really well with the EX1, especially if you are in a run and gun situation in a crowded place.

Thanks for the input guys. You got me wondering about buying a laptop now or Macbook as I am FinalCut based. things is I don`t want to drag to much around when I am travelling.

Audio is important to me and I want to buy a Sennheiser MKH416 later on as money permits. I have a decent Manfrotto Tripod today.

Do you think I am wrong to buy 6 cards? Expensive enough, though! I am getting those two 8 GB cards for free.

I think 6 16GB cards is excessive. It's better to know you have a place to dump footage so you don't stress about using up cards.
Macbook Pro would be good. SxS card goes straight in the slot. Dump it on the Mac and back it up on the Lacie rugged as well.
3 16GB cards, Macbook Pro and Lacie 200GB Rugged.

Honestly 2 x 8Gb and 6 x 16GB cards is overkill. Unless you really, really, really has to shoot uninterrupted for 7 hours or weight is a major factor.

I have 2 x 8Gb and 2 x 16GB and I have decided to sell the two 16Gb cards. I simply don't need them with my shooting style. I have plenty of time to offload a card to my laptop whenever it is full. But it depends on personal style.

If I was you, I would start with 2 x 8 and 2 x 16 and a laptop. That will give you almost 3 hours of HQ footage before you have to worry about backing up your data and the ability to edit/log in the field.

I have two 8GB and one 16 GB and a 15" MacBook Pro. Only 2 cards in the camera at any one time so it's always set. It only takes a few minutes to dump a card and you can screen video for the client too. I can also burn backups to DL-DVD although that's on the slow side. That can happen at the end of the day. Client can walk with the DL-DVDs and I have another set on the hard drive. Laptop offers major flexibility.

Remember that Sony sends you the second 8GB rebate card. That takes time.

If they do in Norway as they (Sony) does in Sweden, the card is taped to the box, check with the supplier! Also, I have to agree with Craig et al, I have 2x8Gb & 1x16Gb cards & MacBookPro, the 16Gb card does not see much action at all, shooting 6x16Gb cards without transfer to laptop would make me very nervous indeed, but that´s me...

Hej svejs!

Magnus

save yourself a lot of money and go with less SxS cards.
as others have suggested, get the apple macbook pro; either with 15" or 17" screens.
the built in SxS readers work so fast you really need not have so many cards.

with the savings, get

1. portable hard drives. usb2 to the macbook pro should be fast enough. they now go to 320gb for under $150 and some up to 500gb for under $200

2. maybe a steadicam pilot for your sony at about $5000 for your outdoor jobs.

3. indoors, get a sachtler system 0650 or 0862 with the savings from not getting the extra SxS cards

4. shotgun mikes, a good one!

enjoy the ex1,

paul