Perrone Ford |
December 9th, 2008 03:17 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marten Dalfors
(Post 975373)
To me the cumbersome white balance setting is an operational weakness.
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How often are you white balancing? When I shoot outdoors, unless I am working in fleeting light, I won't change the balance more than once every hour or two. Indoors it never changes. I don't believe I've ever worked with a video camera that had more than the 2-3 white balance points on a switch the EX1 offers. How do you change the white balance on your still camera?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marten Dalfors
(Post 975373)
Also the that there is no standby mode. This is by comparing to the Canon H1 which has these functions. So these points that I call weaknesses is when I compare to the other video camera Ralph was asking about.
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Standby is terrific to keep the heads on a tape mechanism from wearing out. But it's kind of moot with solid state. My DVX disengages the tape head also and it takes a while to spool back up. But when I shoot it with the firestore, this goes away, and the camera records immediately when I hit record. The EX1 is the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marten Dalfors
(Post 975373)
The rewrapping is taking time in the workflow eating up some of the time I'm supposed to get by not using tape.
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This is an NLE issue. It was the same in the early days of HDV. Eventually, more and more NLEs will support the native codec, and this will become a moot point. It's hard to blame the camera because the NLEs won't read the format though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marten Dalfors
(Post 975373)
Also I find it to be an oprational weakness that it is down into the menu system to change the recording format.
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What are the steps to change from TIFF to RAW or back on a still camera? I know when I shot my friends Nikon we had to use the menu. I've also not seen this as a switch option on any camera I've used. Could you do this on the Canon H1? If so, that's pretty impressive. On the DVX, there was a scene file dial that you could turn, and that always seemed like an awesome idea. The HVX is similar. But there are just so MANY options with the EX1 and similar cameras you'd need a dial with 10 places to get it all. Especially when you consider the S&Q motion options.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marten Dalfors
(Post 975373)
When I need to switch from high quality 1080p to overcranking 720p with glows in freezing weather, using the menu system is the last thing I like to do.
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Yes I can certainly understand that. But honestly, I don't know many people who'd not only change frame rates mid-stream, but also change footage size. Do you do this often? And would you deliver in 720 or 1080? This is very curious to me. I've shot 1080 to extract 720 when I couldn't frame the way I wanted to, but this seems different.
There is certainly something to be said for having switches and dials and not menus to access many functions, but on a camera the size of the EX1/EX3, you really do run out of real estate. On a shoulder mount camera there is lots more room, and consequently more switches and dials. But then we get back to the "operational weakness" of the camera weighing 20+ pounds!
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