A Few Minor Observations on the F350 XDCam

[Hiding Under Here]

So I used this camera for the better part of an evening last weekend. My assignment was to simply isolate on the head coach of the New England Patriots during a preseason game. He rarely agrees to wearing a radio mic. I had to hand hold the entire thing from a good distance away. The closest you can get is on the 30 yard maker looking back into the team's bench area. So the coach was pacing around pretty actively and there was always people standing between me and him. Big people. Wearing lots of padding. It was difficult to do.

But the camera. I got my best look at it while setting it up before the game. And I didn't have a monitor so I can't really comment on how it looked. What I can say is that it is a well made piece of equipment. One would never know it has 1/2" CCDs from the outside as it is as substantial as any camera in it's price range. The only thing that made it feel different, that compromised the confidence of the photographer, was the lens adapter that allows useage of a 2/3" lens. When you hand hold you tend to put more torque on the lens and I found that the adapter needed constant tightening. That's fine if you know which direction to tighten. If you don't, you run the risk of unscrewing the lens -- and that's disconcerting.

The disks are cool. Hard media is the way to go. There's no doubt in my mind about that. The stadium was nosiy so I couldn't hear whether the disk mechanism made any discernable noise. The camera ran relatively cool. I think the DV7 is unbearably hot to hand hold. I never even thought about the heat as I pressed my head up against the F350.

The menus are fine. Not really any different than what you find on most comparable cameras. What bugs me about SONY is that they haven't standardized the menu scrolling mechanisms. You access the menus one way with one camera and another way with a different camera. That gets confusing. It would be nice to see the same button/thumbwheel configuration on every system they have so that you can do things reflexively. Hell, they're the ones that want you to own all these formats. The least they could do is standardize them for us.

At one point I wanted to change the gain settings. The camera was setup for 0/+9/+12 and I wanted 0/+3/+6 because we would be under bright stadium lights. The gain function wasn't included in the first menu level. The engineer had elected to put it in a secondary level. I opened the manual and searched in vain for clues on how to get to the OPERATION function that had the Gain sub-menu setting. From the manual I at least learned I had to access OPERATION to make the change. But I am not a manual reader. I don't have that kind of patience so I did a few things to the camera that I thought might be intuitive. I soon figured out that holding in the thumbwheel button for five seconds and then pressing the MENU switch allowed me access to the entire Menu selection. And there was OPERATION and inside OPERATION was the Gain setting. A very easy fix. I also assigned the Time Code to
read out in the viewfinder as I shot so that I could tell my sound tech where the best stuff was. Of course I was unable to switch the Control Track off and get Time Code to read instead. We figured out how to do that AFTER the shoot was done. But it can be done. And done easily when you know how.

I looked at some footage very quickly. I must be honest and say it was (I believe) down converted on a Standard Definition monitor. It looked okay. Nothing spectacular. But I didn't worry too much about that because a.) the F350 had not been setup by my engineer, b.) I knew I was looking at SD and c.) I didn't know if the monitor I was looing at had been setup properly. So my quick look at the camera's look really can't be something to critique. I was more worried about how stable I was as a hand-held photographer from such long distances. And I am more of a Maple sappling than Sequoia.

All in all I liked the camera. I think it makes more sense to employ a native 1/2" lens than to adapt a 2/3" version. I like the ergonomics although I think as these cameras get shorter because of reduced architecture, they lose a bit of the balance rigs like the D600 have. They're increasingly back heavy, particularly when working wireless to the sound mixer.

Oh yeah, the flip out screen -- the best thing about the new camera technology. Finally. A quick and easy way to check white balance and other diagnostics. I loved it.

I can see why people like Douglas and Simon are knocked out by these things. They are very very cool. Tape, no doubt, will die at some point. The disk and the digital access it enables is simply the way to fly. All I ask is that someone please make a freakin' camera that will do what my clients need in my lifetime so that I can work a few good years with the damn thing. I can't stand being half-educated on all these F'n formats. I want something that I can burrow into and use in a way that makes me something of an expert. I want to push it and bend it and shake it down for everything its worth. I want to own it, not just BUY it, I want to OWN it on a creative level. And I DO believe that the disk systems (hell it sounds stupid even to say it because it's INEVITABLE) are THE way to go. I'd buy the 1/2" camera if I had demand for it. I'd rather the 2/3" simply because I want to be able to use my lens and to have the camera react the way I am accustomed to. But the 1/2" seems very very cool.

[Canonman]

I soon figured out that holding in the thumbwheel button for five seconds and then pressing the MENU switch allowed me access to the entire Menu selection.

Actually HUH, you need only push in on the thumbwheel just before toggling the menu switch. No 5 second delay needed. You can create a custom user menu that would put all your most needed fuctions on a single page.

As for the 2/3 adapter, did you move the rubber piece from the top to bottom post to help hold it in place?

cm

[Hiding Under Here]

I took the camera as given. Found the adapter to be a pain while working with it. Never anticipated it as a problem. It became a minor irritant.

[Douglas]

Tom,

I’m glad to hear that you had a good experience with the camera. I really do like mine. If you know anyone who might be interested in my HL59, HL43, or DV7, have them call me because I can’t imagine ever shooting with those cameras again.

One big complaint is that while you’re shooting, there is absolutely no way identify shots by clip name, number, or anything else except plain old time code? Why???? That’s the stupidest thing about the camera. Why can’t they put a display in the VF that shows the current clip number?

Another thing that I've suggested is to allow the user to start a new clip on the fly without actually pausing the camera. For example, suppose you are shooting a one hour interview and you do not want to pause the camera during the interview. Wouldn’t it be great if you could press one of the programmable function buttons “live” at the end of every question to start a new clip? What you’d end up with is a series of clips on the disk that each start with the interviewer’s question and end with the answer to that question. Imagine how great that would be to edit!! And that’s just one example of many ways that feature could be used.

The camera does have this bull___t essence mark function that is virtually useless. Sometimes Sony can’t really see the vision of what people actually need out in the field in the real world.

All of my experience has been with a very nice Fujinon ½” lens so I can’t say how the 2/3” adapter performs. I just got one yesterday but haven’t had time to try it yet. I’m shooting in Yellowstone in September and the 37% magnification factor of using one of my old 2/3” lenses seemed like a good excuse to get the adapter.

I like the idea of the flip out LCD but the execution is poor. Sony should have used the much nicer LCD found on the Z1 and FX1 cameras. Now that's a very nice monitor. Why does a $22,000 camera have a lower quality monitor than a $3500 camera?

Doug

PS. If your DV7 gets that hot, I'll bet it's got a problem (from day one?) because mine does not get hot enough to even notice.

[SimonW]

Another thing that I've suggested is to allow the user to start a new clip on the fly without actually pausing the camera.

Using the cache function on the SD cameras someone on the XDCAM forum came up with a way of pausing and then carrying on recording without a break in the picture.

The camera does have this bull___t essence mark function that is virtually useless.

Actually I find essence marks useful since I also edit the footage that I shoot. I can quickly identify peaked sound by way of an automatic marker so I don't have to manually scrub the audio to find those points, as well as marking interesting points. Essence markers are only useless if the editors don't make an effort to use them.

Lastly, there is a new firmware coming out soon for all XD equipment. There are some very nice features in it. Clive over on the XD forums has mentioned one or two. But the rest are much needed and will push XD even further ahead.

[Douglas]

Actually I find essence marks useful since I also edit the footage that I shoot. I can quickly identify peaked sound by way of an automatic marker so I don't have to manually scrub the audio to find those points, as well as marking interesting points. Essence markers are only useless if the editors don't make an effort to use them.

Hi Simon, I promise to keep an open mind. Give me an example or two of how you would use essence marks and convince me I'm missing something. I do shoot and edit my own footage, but I do not want to be bothered with marking 30-50 shots on a disk as being important. It's ALL important and or I wouldn't be rolling in the first place. Choosing the best footage, with proper Ins & Outs, comes later in post -- not in the field. I'm not shooting news where I've got to find a particular soundbite in a 2 hour news conference and then cut a package together in 5 minutes.

Sell me on the essence marks and I will listen with an open mind. Maybe I'm missing something.

Doug

[SimonW]

Okay. Now in my workflow I use PDZ-1 to log my footage and then perform a partial transfer of files. But this will apply to any software that can actually read the essence marks correctly.

Say I have a good take I think is particularly interesting. Before the shot is finished I can add, say, Shotmark 1. Then when the proxy files are ingested into PDZ-1 I can immediately see all footage that has Shotmark 1 applied to it.

Mostly I use the automatic essence mark that adds a mark when audio peaks. Sometimes it can be difficult with a small crew (interviewer with a mic, and myself with the camera), and shooting from the shoulder, to keep as close an eye on audio as I would like. Even with headphones. And since the viewfinder audio level meters seem to be constantly near the top of the scale even with quiet sounds, it is nice to have this automatic essence mark. That way, while I am shooting if the audio peaks "EM" will flash at the top of the viewfinder confirming that there was peaked sound. There's no guessing involved.

So it isn't always about merely selecting which is the best shot. It can be about alerting you in the viewfinder as to an issue. You are right that editing decisions come later. But on a very long take, of a game or something, being able to mark when something interesting happens gives you a graphic display in editing as to exactly that point. After all, why scrub through 40 mins of footage to find a particular point when you can just identify it by the marker and jump straight there? Remember, you can put as many Shotmarks into a clip as you like, and its just a matter of hitting the Ret button.

But if you don't have a use for them, thats okay. But they are there if you need them.

[SandRat]

Tom,


Wouldn’t it be great if you could press one of the programmable function buttons “live” at the end of every question to start a new clip? What you’d end up with is a series of clips on the disk that each start with the interviewer’s question and end with the answer to that question. Imagine how great that would be to edit!! And that’s just one example of many ways that feature could be used.




One way to accomplish this is to assign a shotmark to one of your user buttons. At the start of each question, you mark the point and when you are logging, just call up all the shotmarks in the thumbnails.

[SimonW]

Yep, another use for essence marks. These clips can then be split up easily with PDZ-1 and the new clips transferred using the partial file transfer.

[Douglas]

That way, while I am shooting if the audio peaks "EM" will flash at the top of the viewfinder confirming that there was peaked sound. There's no guessing involved.

Simon, that's a good shooting tip and I think I'll use it myself. But that's just really using the shotmark as a Peak Alarm in the viewfinder. After shooting, there is no possible reason why I'd want to have that particular point in the video brought to my attention. In fact, just the opposite. If the audio was bad, then I would have shot another take and that will be the one I want to find.

I think it's great that you, Sandrat and others have found a use for the shotmarks, but I still find them utterly useless. Maybe if they had IN and OUT marks it would make more sense. What's the point of throwing a shotmark in the middle of lengthy clip? You still have to log it. And isn't the last take the best take 99% of the time anyway? I don't need to set a shotmark to tell me that. And if you're shooting for a client, are YOU going to decide what's important and not important? Hell, I have trouble even staying awake during most interviews.

The PDZ-1 logging software and the XDCAM transfer utility on the Mac is just a wasted step, in my opinion. If I'm going to log my footage, then I'd rather use FCP so I have genuine control over clip naming and other features. The bottom line is that I just want to get the clips into the computer as fast I can and those intermediate steps are a complete waste of my time. If I want to sit and log so I only load in the good stuff, then I'll log with something else.

What I really want, and more sure most people would agree, is a way to create new clips "live". That way I can break the clips up as I want to without pausing, and the shoot would be neatly segmented into a sort of rough cut when I loaded the clips onto the hard drive.

Time is money, and anything that speeds up production is good. But anything that is just a "cool" feature but doesn't improve efficiency is not necessarily worth using.

One of my mottos regarding technology is: "Just because it can be done, doesn't mean there's any good reason to do it."

Doug

[Canonman]

Actually I find essence marks useful since I also edit the footage that I shoot. I can quickly identify peaked sound by way of an automatic marker so I don't have to manually scrub the audio to find those points,

Near as I can tell, Simon, the HD cameras don't have the automatic mark function. The only three essence marks available are rec start, shot mark 1, and shot mark 2. The latter 2 can be erased after the fact if desired.

Maybe we'll get that in a future update.

cm

[SandRat]

I think it's great that you, Sandrat and others have found a use for the shotmarks, but I still find them utterly useless. Maybe if they had IN and OUT marks it would make more sense. What's the point of throwing a shotmark in the middle of lengthy clip? You still have to log it. And isn't the last take the best take 99% of the time anyway? I don't need to set a shotmark to tell me that. And if you're shooting for a client, are YOU going to decide what's important and not important? Hell, I have trouble even staying awake during most interviews.



I'm sorry you haven't found a way to make them work for you, but the shotmarks are essentially what you are asking for, a way to break one lengthy clip into an organized clip list. If you're trying to avoid having to drag-and-drop a long clip just to get the one sot that's contained within, use the HDSDI out and enter the individual sots into your NLE in realtime.

If none of these work for you, just wait till after IBC where hopefully the buffering ability will be part of an update, then you'll have what you're looking for.

[SimonW]

Near as I can tell, Simon, the HD cameras don't have the automatic mark function. The only three essence marks available are rec start, shot mark 1, and shot mark 2. The latter 2 can be erased after the fact if desired.

Maybe we'll get that in a future update.

Yep, you are correct (that the function isn't there). Hopefully it will be in the new firmware. When the SD cameras first came out they didn't have the timelapse function or the cache. These and many of the other features the system are known for came out with the first firmware update. Then subsequent ones added even more features. So I wouldn't be surprised if many of these things were added to XDCAM HD with the forthcoming update.

Good news is that unlike previous firmware upgrades, these new ones can be done in the field from a Memory Stick and will be downloadable from the Sony websites (if previous experience is anything to go by).

[Star Video]

SimonW,

I went to your XDCAM website. Your demo reel is awesome! Did you shoot all that with your SD XDCAM? It still looks great, I would say better than BetaSP. XDCAM kicks butt. Your time lapse stuff is nice, SD XDCAM? Great job on your lighting, too.

[SimonW]

Hi Jacques, thanks for the kind comments! :)

Yes, all of the shots on the demo reel were shot using my PDW-510P.

[Stoney]

The production I am shooting for just went HD with the F350. I went through the manual yesterday. There are many settings in there and I am sure that I will never know them all.

Some of the ergonomics of the camera seem weird to me. The viewfinder is in an aweful place... the audio folks hate the fact that the levels are covered by my head while I shoot. The stock viewfinder eyecup feels like it digs into my nose (the rubber edges are quite sharp).

Still, I like the overall layout. One major difference is one filter wheel. ND filters are all you get, no color correction. So, here we used to shoot preset colors for the most common lighting we encountered, but now its back to white balancing more often. There is a button that gives you a 5600k preset in addition to the white balance settings switch.

I have yet to work much with the camera... so we shall see how it goes. I do like the disks better tha tape though!

[Canonman]

There is a button that gives you a 5600k preset in addition to the white balance settings switch.

When you put the W/B toggle on Preset, you get 3200K. The round, lighted button under the handle changes it to 5600K when lit. However, in the menu, offsets can be stored to the preset W/B settings to warm or cool it a bit. You can also apply w/b offsets to each of the ND wheel settings.

BTW, the vf has two mounting positions but that's for vertical offset so it won't help with the covered up level controls.

cm

[SandRat]

The way they come from the factory, the white balance follows the filter. If you get a 3600K on filter-1 and then flip it to filter-4, the white balance follows.

In the menu, you can set it up so the individual filters remember the last white balance on each filter ... basically, like you're used to with color correction filters.

[Stoney]

The way they come from the factory, the white balance follows the filter. If you get a 3600K on filter-1 and then flip it to filter-4, the white balance follows.

In the menu, you can set it up so the individual filters remember the last white balance on each filter ... basically, like you're used to with color correction filters.

Really! That is something I might try and mess with. I keep checking and rechecking my WB as I shoot just to be sure I ain't screwing it up.

Also there was a Sony rep showing the 350 at a Avid user group meeting in San Fran Tuesday night. Some interesting things I learned... the proxy file is what you see when you shuttle through footage (that's why there is no video breakup) and the last firmware upgrade is on the website somewhere (I think it is very recent). Also, he showed off some video with the camera on glass HD monitors (LCD HD monitors create artifacts, glass does not... at least most) and it was stunningly good... the 1/2" chips were more than impressive.

[NeverSummer]

With the XD HD I know you loose 30% of your lens, on the wide side, when using the 1/2" to 2/3" adapter. Do you also loose some of your lens when shooting in 4:3 mode? Does it compound?

[Stoney]

With the XD HD I know you loose 30% of your lens, on the wide side, when using the 1/2" to 2/3" adapter. Do you also loose some of your lens when shooting in 4:3 mode? Does it compound?

I would think that the conversion is the same no matter 4/3 or 16/9. Reason being that the camera just chops the sides off the chip to see in 4/3 mode. The sensors, chips, are native 16/9. That is how my digibeta works, same with my d35ws.

[Run&Gun]

If you're doing 4:3, then lop of another 20% on top of the 30% or so that you have already lost with the adapter... and you have essentially an expensive, useless lens. i.e, that expensive Fuji HA 13x4.5 2/3" lens with that amazing filed of view of 93 plus degrees in 16:9, with the 2/3" to 1/2" adapter becomes 6.16 and then in 4:3 becomes 7.39, basically, no wider on the backend than a long lens(roughly 60 degrees or so in 4:3), but without the zoom range.

[Freelance in Florida]

Does the HD versions of the XD camera have the same cache fuction as the SD version? I believe it is a 6 or 8 second pre-roll. Just wondering.

[Flaca Productions]

the f350 manual is available here:
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/markets/10014/docs/PDW-F330-350OpManualE1R1_3990971111.pdf

[ISDV]

Does the HD versions of the XD camera have the same cache fuction as the SD version? I believe it is a 6 or 8 second pre-roll. Just wondering.

No, they have no cache memory fuction yet. It's coming with the new firmware upgrade.