Video Forum best in show

Phil Rhodes · January 26, 2005

Hi,

Went to the Video Forum show at Earl's Court today. Spoke to Anna "CML Regular" Carrington for the first time, subscribed to Showreel Magazine (first issue including articles from Geoff Boyle, Jeff Kreines, Steven Poster and David Mullen, which made me wonder just how big the world is anyway) and saw perhaps the best idea I've seen in a long time - an HDR-FX1 with a B4 lens mount on it. Yes, some guy has actually hacksawed (well, not literally) the built-in lens off an FX1 and replaced it with a B4 mount - actually with a C-mount, which you can then adapt to whatever you want to use. The new lens visibly outperforms the old, and the only downside is that the poor FX1 was left flashing an error code in its viewfinder, the only reasonable translation of which being the bad-TV-movie standard "My legs! I can't feel my legs!"

See pictures of this hybrid, including output demos, here:

http://www.eidomedia.com/

Apparently this was exactly as difficult to achieve as one would assume, since the highly-integrated design of the FX1, typically of mass-production devices, fuses the CCD mount irretreivably with the back of the lens, requiring a lot of creative milling to make this happen. He couldn't take the lens out for me to have a look without upsetting the backfocus, but still, I thought this was amusing, and had a really positive impact on the performance of the camera.

Phil

January 26, 2005

Out of interest, was it all that good? I was planning on going tommorow, being in London.

Do you get to have a play with the cameras?

I'm kinda excited because panasonic and ARRI are going to be there. (ANYTHING for a go of that SDX-900 :rolleyes: )

Edited January 26, 2005 by Daniel J. Ashley-Smith

Phil Rhodes · January 26, 2005

Hi,

Yes, you do, within reason. Both Sony and Panasonic are there with the representative bits of kit. Should have said, I could have gone tomorrow and we could have met up.

Phil

January 26, 2005

Hi,

Yes, you do, within reason. Both Sony and Panasonic are there with the representative bits of kit. Should have said, I could have gone tomorrow and we could have met up.

Phil

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Ah well never mind, I'm probably not even going to stay there for long it's just that I'm in London for the day for a meeting with Halogen entertainment.

The FX1 is one sweet piece of kit, I have seen uncompressed footage from it and I was amazed by the actual resolution. It's just such a shame it doesn't do progressive. Be good for a documentary though.

January 27, 2005

I just got back from the show. Well it was quite good, had some nice gear there and some good seminars. I think someone once asked what cineframe is here? Apparently it's just field A stretched over field B, so a basic deinterlace effectively.

One thing that I thought was pretty cool was the new keying tools they have, the special material that picks up to the tiny led's and then keys out the background. Basically allowing you to do blue/green screening under almost any light conditions.

Kinda annoyed they didn't have the SDX-900 there, but they did have some other panasonic dvcpro 50's there.

I had a chat with the DP from Holby city, although it was suprising because he didn't know a huge amount technical wise, but then again he had loads of experience which is more than I have.

And damn... I have to get me one of those electronic jibs!

Altogether the highlight of my day was that I got that contract, which, is good because I get paid adults wage for it but it means that I may have to quit college next year.

Edited January 27, 2005 by Daniel J. Ashley-Smith

Jon Allen · January 27, 2005

Does this guy have any plans to do the same to the HVRZ1U once it comes out?

Also, I've heard some rumors that the Z1 will have progressive, what's the deal? What are our options for outputting to fillm from this format?

January 27, 2005

Does this guy have any plans to do the same to the HVRZ1U once it comes out?
Also, I've heard some rumors that the Z1 will have progressive, what's the deal? What are our options for outputting to fillm from this format?

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The Z1 has a progressive mode but it's in cineframe. So the resolution is reduced. Although I think it's better than the standard deinterlacing method because it drops from 1080 to 720, and not 540.

Jon Allen · January 27, 2005

For myself, I wouldn't consider dropping from 1080i to 720p a big deal. What it seems we're looking at is higher actual resolution captured (1440x720) than the varicam (960x720)- which would give us true high definition images- instead of stretching 960pix to 1280.

Do I sound confused?

January 27, 2005

Well pal only had 625 lines of resolution so even when you use cineframe your still obtaining HD.

Personally I'm just going to buy a progressive camera, I don't like the idea of deinterlacing e.t.c.

I've given up the idea of buying an SDX-900 though, something a little cheaper.

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · January 27, 2005

Maybe Sony will get a hint from this guy with the converted lens mount. In fact I wish all the video companies would pick up on the fact that interchangable lens mounts would be a good thing for everybody.

January 28, 2005

Maybe Sony will get a hint from this guy with the converted lens mount. In fact I wish all the video companies would pick up on the fact that interchangable lens mounts would be a good thing for everybody.

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Well the Sony team were talking about it today, if they mention it to the people higher up, hey you never know.

Mike Brennan · February 5, 2005

Maybe Sony will get a hint from this guy with the converted lens mount. In fact I wish all the video companies would pick up on the fact that interchangable lens mounts would be a good thing for everybody.

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Canon may have a HD cam with interchangeable lenses but as the ccds are 1/3 inch their are few high quality wide angle lenses available. Fuji does one designed for the 1/2 inch ikegami.

The X300 is a HD box camera (no recorder) that has interchangeable lenses.(not a huge choice at the moment in 1/2 inch format though)

It has 1440x1080 pixels vs Z1 960 x 1080

Mike Brennan

Rik Andino · February 9, 2005

Canon may have a HD cam with interchangeable lenses but as the ccds are 1/3 inch their are few high quality wide angle lenses available. Fuji does one designed for the 1/2 inch ikegami.

The X300 is a HD box camera (no recorder) that has interchangeable lenses.(not a huge choice at the moment in 1/2 inch format though)

It has 1440x1080 pixels vs Z1 960 x 1080

Mike Brennan

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Who makes the X300?

When did it come out?

I've not heard of this camera, is it any good?

Where can I find out more about this camera?

I hate the fact that digital formats are constantly changing

And new cameras come out every year

Why can't they be more stable like film (and more simple)

Thanks for any info or anything

Take care

Edited February 9, 2005 by Rik Andino

Phil Rhodes · February 9, 2005

Hi,

> Why can't they be more stable like film

Because they'd never improve. Anyway, film stocks, which are a much more relevant comparison, seem to switch over about as often as major revolutions in video cameras.

> (and more simple)

Righto, film cameras are simpler than video cameras? Bwah! Insert tape. Press "VTR".

Phil