If there's no gear ring and no electronic control for the servo then maybe the solution is a clamp-on gear ring and a motor on matte box rails. That's if there's clearanc for such a ring.

Rob

No focus control?

Correct. I didn't read accurately in my quick survey (I did say it was quick!). The remote focus control is a motor drive to the focus gear ring, as in http://www.varizoom.com/new/instructions/vz-efc.pdfremote focus control[/link]

PS: I'm not asserting that the unit will fit to the lens on the EX

Manual focus is much better when you can see what is in focus, as you can with a film camera with TTL viewing . The problem for prosumer cameras is the softness of the viewfinder/LCD, which make it it very difficult to see whether or not focus is correct.

Agreed. Ever look through the viewfinder of a medium format camera? It's gorgeous!

I've always been disappointed with prosumer viewfinders for the reasons you mentioned. Why can't they put a nice 2 inch B/W CRT on cameras like the EX1? If you've ever looked into the viewfinder of a Betacam, it's so big and detailed. I know those types of viewfinders are expensive, but why? It's just a little bitty CRT screen.

"Manual focus is much better when you can see what is in focus, as you can with a film camera with TTL viewing . The problem for prosumer cameras is the softness of the viewfinder/LCD, which make it it very difficult to see whether or not focus is correct. "-----------------------
I painfully agree when this!

Also, those missing a full-featured LANC controller on the EX1 have probabaly never really tried such a controller's focusing capabilities on prosumer cameras. I have the Manfrotto 523Pro and 521Pro, and while the zoom works great and the Push Auto Focus is fully functional, as well - using the focussing button(s)/rocker is very, very cumbersome. The thing simply lacks the precision required! At least with the V1E, that is...

You make a good point. I use the Manfrotto as well, and the focus part offers the least precision. It's those little pressure-sensitive buttons, and it's hard to determine the proper level of adjustment.

This is why I prefer the little 521Pro over the handle-integrated 523Pro - it uses the same rocker for zoom and focus (after switching its function with a button), and the rocker is far more precise that the buttons - but still not precise enough.

yeah, Bob, you're right. I missed the point. After looking at the features of the EX, which I should have done first, I see that it has a very nicely designed autofocus system. Considering that the 1/2 inch sensor block will bring with it a larger aperture lens, and the attendant narrower DOF at full aperture, focus becomes much more critical. The only reason I get away with manual focus on my HD110 is because the small lens apertures at 1/3 inch sensors allows so much DOF. Too much, for my tastes, but the only alternative is heavy and cumbersome spinning/vibrating focus screens.

I have also read that there is no built in audio limiter. Is that the case?

It has audio AGC in auto, but no separate audio limiter/peak compressor in manual mode. I'm not much in favour of limiters, anyway.

...built in audio limiter

Is there any pro camera with this built-in?

Handy, I agree (I use a mic-pre with a high quality optical limiter whenever I can), but this requires one more switch on a camera where space is tight already, and of course the extra circuitry.

The EX allows use of the center blow-up focus assist while shooting, which is good for continuous assurance.

HD110 has a built in audio limiter...works pretty good.

OK, FUD aside, let's say I buy an EX and put it on tripod plate that lets you switch between a shoulder mount and a tripod, can I have a little box that works the controls like a LANC controller on one of the arms of my Spiderbrace or do I have to reach over and jiggle the camera to work the controls? That or am I missing some very obvious better way to work?

There are a whole bunch of wired remote controllers coming from the usual companies that don't tend to mess up.

For now it looks like zoom and start/stop only though.

Good to see that the EX is getting such high praise for low light performance also. That was certainly my impression from checking it out at the DV Expo too.

Is anyone using it as an HDV camera in SD mode, capturing from the firewire port with HDV Split, etc? It seems like that would be how I would be using it at least in the beginning.

That'd totally negate the whole purpose of XDCAM. The video files are already split in the SxS cards. And why capture in RT when you can simply drag the files off the cards?

Bob.

It looks like SP mode is 1440 x 1080i at 25mbps. Is this still mpeg4 encoding or is it mpeg2 similar to HDV?

The EX doesn't have an SD mode. If your computer doesn't have the appropriate Xpress card slot then you can download from the cards in camera using the USB port. As Bob points out, clips are split and indexed in recording. If you want to work in 1440 x 1080i (SP mode) into a laptop for monitoring (and recording to HDD) then you can do that through the firewire port (into OnLocation, or even HDVSplit).

EDIT: is the SP mode output in mp4? Not certain, but the manual says output from the iLink connection is in HDV format..

Now the SxS cards: they are the same format as the accessory slots in a lot of the newer laptops right? So transferring footage could be as easy as sliding a card into a laptop. Is that correct?

Now you're 'getting it'!
Yes, the just plug straight into almost all the latest laptops. You could even use the SxS cards as uber fast data storage devices.

PS. Why not take a trip over to DVInfo, you'll find links to the brochure and the entire manual.

Bob.

"You could even use the SxS cards as uber fast data storage devices."

See? What was I saying some time back?

You wait: SOLID state HDs! ! ! !

No more spindle speed debates.

No more limitations of storage 'cos you just filled the spaces in your PC.

No more . . . . well, think about it and it CAN be done!!

And I bet somewhere, there is a solid state 100TB storage facility with cross parity quality correction going on .. . but what do I know??

When I saw my 1gb USB keyring thingie powering my 7" demo screen I read the writing on the wall.

Currently I am in contact with a group of people who ARE keeping their collective eyes and ears open for such "consumer" options.

Bottom line? If you can THINK or DREAM the impossible - it's been done - somewhere!!!! I just wish I knew where?

Personally, I can wait to get rid of those external drives and all that solid state nonsense. And please, DON'T get me started on DVDs and burning stuff onto that flimsy plastic laser burnt degrading platter!! Bob's had THAT one from me - and I is just plain, real UGLY when I get talking about the delay and the nonsense, we as content creators are presently having to but up with.

Hey!! Just think about the reduction of Global Warming with the worldwide usage of solid state storage and all those stupid drives spinning down for the last time. .. . and, dear hearts, if you listen very carefully .. you might just hear .. . in some R&D facility, the same HDs slowing down for the last time . .. weeeeeeeeoooooooooooahhhhhhhh .. see? you heard it too! "Back in the early 21st Century you had 500 watt power supplies? Really!??!? Were you powering a whole STREET!!??"

Can't wait. Be bold! If you can think of it - yeah? The Gennie is OUT of the bottle, and no mater what we do to squeeze the bugger back in, it ain't going to.

Grazie

Then this should really get you excited:

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/35202/135/

As for power consumption, HDDs use relatively small amounts of power. 1000W power supplies aren't unusual for modern PCs and all that energy isn't going into spinning disks, it's now the GPUs that are gobbling energy at some fearsome rate.

Costs of SSDs will need to drop dramatically relative to HDDs to become serious competition.

SSD $15 / GB
HDD $0.30 /GB
DVD $0.20/GB

Would SSDs or thumb drives ever replace optical media. Never but not for techincal reasons. I'd love to download all the kiddie football and concerts onto thumb drives instead of burning DVDs, Printing DVDs, printing DVD slick and stuffing it all together. Unfortunately human nature is what it is and we like things that look valuable and a little rubbery thing that we plug into a port doesn't feel valuable. That's a not uncommon complaint about the switch from vinyl to CD also. Nuts I know but I doubt we'll change human nature anytime soon.

If we do, it will not be to physical media. We'll ditch it altogether and rely on offsite databanks to hold our stuff. All that's holding that back is faster internet connections and the Luddites in Hollywood.

Bob.