David Williams

Steve, you couldn't possibly understand what a T-Stop is, or you would not have asked this question. I wouldn't classify my response as an attack, I was just dumbfounded by such a 2+2=? cinematography question by a working cinematographer, and simply could not work out if you were serious.

This is what we've come too? A self proclaimed cinematographer who doesn't know what a T-Stop is? Please tell me this is tongue in cheek, please...

It's technically "far red", not IR, but yes, same as the Alexa and EX1/3. The same filters that work for them, work for the F3.

Do you know what stop the S16 was shot at? It's only about 2/3 of a stop between the two formats, so if you can get a fast lens on the EX3 and run it 2/3 more open that the S16 was shot at it will match depth at the same field of view. Much easier that clamping a Letus on it, weight, light loss, etc. The other way around FF35 to S16 is 3 stops closed to match too. Other than that, Cine Gamma 1 hold highlights best, turn off detail, Cine colour matrix, and grade to match it in post.

I haven't heard any stories of bad latency yet, hopefully that stays true. I also dislike the dew claw view finder, which worse yet, is unremovable. You can remove the diopter, and then it's flush with the rear end. Someone might make a few bucks with a clip on cap in place of the diopter. Or gaffa... The camera itself is quite sturdy, much like the EX series, looks plasticy, but quite strong. Not a die cast shell, but a good compromise for light/cheap/strong. Mine's coming in a few weeks hopefully. The new Convergent Design Gemini looks to be a nice partner for it.

You don't think those problems are easily addressed with accessories? Much like almost every other digital camera? You can put an Alexa on your shoulder out of the box and shoot all day, but most others have the same problem. Not saying that's OK, just it's very simply addressable in the grand scheme. Then you have the advantage of small size, you won't be hold a RED for long with one hand in a tight space. And Steadicam?

A 25mm focal length on S35 sized sensor is the same as on an EX3. Lenses are lenses, as long as they cover the sensor fully. You mean field of view. The field of view of a 25mm on S35 is about 51 deg, that's about 7mm on a 1/2" sensor. Dividing by 3.5 is close enough. Conveniently, IF you could stop down by 3.5 stops on the 1/2", you would also get the same depth of field on the S35. So, a 7mm length at F2 on the EX3 would look pretty much like 25mm at about F6.7 on the Red. Field of view and depth of field looking much the same.

Just guessing here, but I'd reckon it's a progressive sensor at 29.97P in NTSC or 25P in PAL, but gets recorded in 59.54i or 50i. If you deinterlace it will give perfect progressive images. No doubt a progressive version will arrive soonish. Sony are well know for their market segmentation, using basically the same hardware targeting different users.

In the context of film and video cameras, resolution has always meant resolved lines. With video, removing variables like lens resolution, debayering, etc, you need four times the pixels to gain two times the resolution. You can't redefine common terms just to suit a better marketing line. This in my mind is one of the major causes of antipathy with Red amongst many cinematographers I know. Changing the rules to suit yourself doesn't come across very well in any context.

1/5 the resolution is another of Reds efforts to redefine common terms to suit themselves. There's a whole thread at reduser with Jim justifying it. Resolution at reduser now means total pixels, not resolved lines as the rest of the world understands it. 5 times sounds far better than the 1.5 or so you might be able to resolve on a resolution chart.

My EX3 is nearly two years old, used daily, and has barely a scratch on it. Some parts and panels are plastic, but much more is actually very light alloys which may seem to feel a bit plastic like but are actually quite rugged. Not as tough as broadcast, but far lighter and cheaper. Kind of an obvious trade off there.

This isn't the Genesis, it's a new sensor not yet in a production camera.

Hiya Josh :) There was an interview with John Galt from PV sometime ago, and he mentioned the Dynamax HDR mode. He used the term exposure when he described it, so you'd think that means shutter speed. The Dynamax has up to six sets of RGB per pixel, so that's six exposures combined into one frame.

An EX3 has around 2 stop greater dynamic range over a 5D. An EX3 will leave the 5D for dead in everything except shallow DoF and low light sensitivity.

So you can support neither assertion then. Thanks.

1) Please point out the commercial broadcast or distribution standard which defines 1080/60P. 2) Please show us examples of an EX displaying scaling artefacts in 720P. Bet you can't do either. Your making them both up. Neither Blu-Ray or DTB does 1080/60P, so they must not be full HD I guess. I have _never_ heard or read about a single person ever complaining about the EX series 720P. Baseless assertion.

I've read Juan Martinez from Sony confirm 10bit from HD-SDI, full 10bit, not padded 8bit. You also have to really try very hard to intentionally break the XDCAM EX mpeg2 codec in acquisition. Generational edits and heavy post will produce quantisation banding and build on the inherent mosquito noise though of course, so transcode to something more suitable.

A v640 gets 2700fps and a HS-2 gets 2000 at 1920*1080. I think your maths is faulty.

You can't really blame Sony for Apple OS bugs and insistence on not supporting industry open standard file types.

First, never rely the view finder brightness to set exposure. You have the built in spot meter, histogram and your own eyeballs. The viewfinder is generally for framing, information and focus. Using it to set exposure is not a good idea, as you have discovered, because it doesn't provide a fixed target. To many unfixed variables between it and your eyes. That said, I personally set contrast and brightness at about 1 o'clock on the dials, not because it's right, simply to stay consistent.

The EX1 is terrible if you try to use it as a shoulder mount, which is not surprising, because it's not shoulder mount. On the other hand, it's brilliant for holding by the top handle at chest height for run and gun stuff. Try that with a shoulder mount. Horses for courses.

The IR issue will bite you one day with the old EX1. You can fix it with the Tiffen T1 filter, but at 1/2 stop loss and a green tint requiring a custom colour balance. The new EX1R also overcranks to 60fps using the SDHC adapters with good cards. Better ergo for hand holding too, and a usable view finder. If you plan to keep it long term, get the EX1R.

You should probably use hypergamma4 if you want nice highlights. Sony have a whole stack of scene files premade too- http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/r...cenefiles.shtml

The are a few companies about that sell matched and modified used sets like http://www.rplens.com/ and Zeiss flog some new through http://www.cinevate.com

Another method is to simply retime the material to play 16.666* slower at 25fps. Depends greatly on what you've shot, audio, etc, but sometimes it can work really well. No lost or interpolated frames.