Well today was a bit of a let down. I did get some more lightning footage, but it wasn’t really anything to write home about. The Monsoon this year has been a bit of a Non-Soon.
What I did set up though was the EX1 shooting timelapse with the NanoFlash on the back. That way if there were any good lightning bolts I could hit the record button on the nanoflash to capture the previous 4 seconds (thanks to the pre-record memory) in real time while the EX continues to do timelapse. Very neat, perhaps in the future I’ll only need to take one camera instead of 2. I did some codec stress test shots today at 35, 50 and 100Mb/s. When I get home I’ll post the results. Bags all packed now ready for the long flight home tomorrow.
Well the storms came and the storms went! But along with the storms came lots of wind and lots of rain. I know.. that’s generally what happens with a storm, but normally monsoon storms stay isolated and you can stay out of the rain to get good lightning shots. Well not today. It just seemed that no matter which way I pointed the camera I got a lens full of rain. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. Anyway today was a good shake down for all the gear. The NanoFlash is so simple to use it’s great. One small thing I found is that if you use the cache record function on the PDW-700 the timecode runs continuously no matter which mode you have it in. As a result you can’t use timecode to control the NanoFlash if your using cache record. Oh well, the record button is big enough! Will post more tomorrow, hopefully the storms won’t be quite so wet!
Landed in Tucson last night with lightning striking the ground to the south. The forecast for the next few days is pretty wild. There should be lots of opportunities for some great lightning shots. When I got to my hotel my Convergent Design NanoFlash was waiting for me. This little box will be great for this shoot as it has a pre record function that records the 4 seconds or so prior to pressing the record button. By using that I will be able to set the camera up facing the storm and as soon as I see a lightning bolt I can press record and instead of filling up the cards with hours of junk all I’ll have is short clips each containing a lightning bolt! I have a PDW-700 and an EX1 with me and I’ll be using the NanoFlash with both. I’m looking forward to seeing lightning at 100Mb/s. Lightning is quite challenging for any codec due to it’s very short transient nature. The XDCAM codecs have always done a good job, but Im expecting something special from the NanoFlash.
The plan for today is to head out to the west of Tucson this afternoon, maybe to Kitt Peak to catch the storms as soon as they get going. I’ll post later and get some frame grabs or clips online as soon as I can.
I’m off to Arizona on Thursday for a long weekend to shoot the monsoon thunderstorms. I had postponed this trip from earlier in the month when the weather just wasn’t right. This tim around the forecast is really good (for storms that is). I will be shooting with my PDW-700 and my EX1. I will also be giving the Nanoflash a shake down making good use of the cache function to capture what I hope will be some great lightning storms.
Anyone want to join me? I have a couple of spare seats in the car and motel rooms are peanuts.
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