Wildlife clip - EX3 with long telephoto lenses
 

Hi all,
Here is a short clip (Ospreys at sunrise) I got a few days ago. Used my Sony PMW EX3, captured to Flash XDR, with the following Nikon lenses mounted on the EX3 via Mike Tapa's adaptors: Nikon 200-400 f4 G VR, Nikon 600 ED f5.6 and Nikon 800 ED f8 (both good old manual focus lenses).
Resizing and uploading the clip on the website really hurts the quality which is very high in the original. Please note that the signal was captured to CF cards of the Flash XDR at 4:2:2 colour space and 100 Mb/s as opposed to the native 4:2:0 and max 35Mb/s the EX3 is capable of. The difference in quality is quite dramatic.
A major issue I got when shooting from such distances (60-100 meters) is the haze. I realise there are a few factors determining the occurrence and magnitude of this phenomena. Some days it is so bad that I can't get any decent footage and in others I see very little of it.
Would appreciate input from people with some experience in long telephoto video work regarding this phenomena.

The clip can be found in here: http://www.oferlevyphotography.com/Videos.aspx

Thanks,
Ofer Levy Photography

Ofer the link does not work.

Dave

Sorry Dave, fixed it thanks!

That clip was absolutely amazing. When you're changing lenses on the EX3 is there any extra fiddling around that has to be done, like back focus adjustment or whatever? Or is the process straightforward; just swap the lens and shoot? When you're using the old Nikon lens' do the histogram and zebras still function? I'm thinking of moving from the EX1 to EX3 in order to be able to use a longer lens and am trying to get a sense of just what's involved. Thanks.

Thanks for your comment Mark!
Everything works when you are changing lenses to the Nikon lenses (only manual of course).
Zebra, histogram, peaking - all works perfectly well.
It is not the easiest procedure in the world to keep changing these monster lenses and I am sure it won't take long before I will drop the camera/lens or (God forbid) camera+lens....)-:
However, I don't see any alternative to this setup keeping in mind I am working with up to 800mm lenses. As far as I know here is no very good zoom lens that will cover this range. I have heard about the Canon 130-600 and would love to buy one if somebody wants to sell - if I can mount it on my EX3.
Cheers,
Ofer