All posts by alisterchapman

ODA and Archive

Sony’s Optical Disc Archive. My Story Starts Here!

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Sony ODS-D77U Optical Disc Archive drive.
Sony ODS-D77U Optical Disc Archive drive.

So a new but extremely important toy has arrived in the shape of a Sony ODS-D77U optical disc archive drive.  Until now I have been using pairs of hard drives to backup my data and video clips. This is not an ideal solution, but it is cheap and easy. I’ve been following the development of ODA (Optical Disc Archive) since it’s inception. As it uses the same optical discs as the XDCAM optical disc cameras I know this to be an extremely secure and robust way to store footage having both dish-washed optical discs and performed other tests on their reliability (click here to see the original dish-washer test and the “challenge Alister” clip).

The drive comes with Sonys Media Browser software utility that allows you to easily select which files to copy to the disc cartridges either manually or through the use of watch folders (anything you place in the watch folders is archived to the ODA drive). As this happens Media Browser builds a compact searchable data base of what is stored on your archive cartridges complete with thumbnails and proxy files. The database resides on your computer so you can search your entire archive quickly whenever you want. When you find the files you want to retrieve it tells you which cartridge they are on, you pop the cartridge in the drive and then the files can be pulled off more or less instantly using Content Manager or your normal file browser. It’s all very simple and very easy, you can even play 4K content directly from the discs.

As the cartridges behave much like hard drives you have near instant access to files and don’t have to wait to de-compress them or shuttle through a load of tape to get to the desired files. And unlike tape you don’t need to be to fussy about how you store the disc packs. They should be largely immune to the effects of damp and temperature. They are designed to last at least 50 years.

There are two types of cartridge: Write once (the cheapest) that can only be written to once (you don’t have to use the entire disc at once) and writable.  A 600GB write once disc cartridge costs approx $75USD so not much more than a high quality hard drive, but certainly a lot, lot safer and more robust. You can currently get cartridges up to 1.5TB write once and 1.2TB rewritable with larger capacities planned for the future.

The next step for me will be to setup a server for Sony’s new Media Navigator software that will help me better manage the many, many hours of media I own and I’ll be writing a diary on how ODA and Media Navigator fits into my workflow as I get the system up and running so watch this space. In addition I have opened a dedicated ODA/Navigator forum in the XDCAM-User forum.

For more information on ODA click here.

Sony Europe are currently running a promotion for ODA that includes a discounted price for the drive unit as well as 24 month 0% finance. Click here for details of this offer.

cameras, Technology

Sony PMW-F55 to get 4K raw at 120fps.

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F554K HFRMore good news for Sony PMW-F55 owners. A rather obscure announcement over on the official Sony user group states that the PMW-F55 will gain the ability to record 4K raw at up to 120fps via an optional future accessory.

This is great news for F55 owners. We can hope that perhaps this option will get extended to the F5 as well (after all the FS700 and  can do it for short bursts and possibly the FS5 will be able to do it too using their internal memory caches to cache 4 seconds of the 4K HFR before copying it to the R5 or Odyssey).  I do hope that the F55 4K raw isn’t limited to a 4 second burst and that it’s the full 16 bit raw that you get at up to 60fps.

Quite what the optional accessory will be I don’t know, but my guess would be a new raw recorder or new faster AXS media, but it could also be an internal upgrade allow the high speed raw to be passed to the existing R5 and AXS media.

cameras

New Sony A6300 shoots 4K XAVC-S

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A6300Damn, I just purchased a Sony A6000 to take to Norway next week and this pops up. It’s the latest camera in the compact camera range from Sony that started with the NEX-5 and NEX-3, great little cameras that take great photos and have been timelapse work-horses for me.

The A6300 specs are beyond impressive. It has a new 25MP sensor with an improved type of construction that improves sensitivity. It’s only APS-C so I’m not expecting A7 MK2 performance, but it should do very well when the light levels are low.

One of the headline features for me though is it’s ability to shoot 4K XAVC-S that is originated from a 6K image coming off the sensor. On top of that this truly pocket sized camera has what appear to be the full compliment of cinegammas as well as S-log2 and S-log3. Now before everyone gets too excited, do remember that XAVC-S is 8 bit whether in HD or SD, but even so this is an amazing feature set for this kind of camera.

If that isn’t enough it can even shoot in HD at upto 120fps!

The price? Well the body only is $999 USD. It’s E-Mount so as usual you can put all kinds of lenses on it from Sony power zooms to PL mount primes and everything in between. For more information on what on paper at least appears to be a remarkable little camera click here.

cameras, Technology

Sony make official statement regarding PXW-FS5 image artefacts.

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I have been given an official statement from Sony about the image artefacts that some people are seeing from the PXW-FS5:

“Sony has investigated the PXW-FS5 image artifact issues reported by users. Our engineers have been able to duplicate these issues and identify their root cause. Sony plans to provide a firmware update. Our goal is to issue this revised firmware toward February/end.

 To ensure that users achieve the best results from the FS5, Sony is also preparing guidelines to help professional shooters take full advantage of the FS5’s features, including S-Log and S-Gamut.”

My understanding is that this primarily relates to the edge tearing issue as well as the blocking type artefacts that can be seen, particularly at higher gain levels. It’s great to see solid proof that Sony do listen to us. They always have done, but often simply went away and investigated and fixed the issue without actually saying anything.

It does still need to be remembered that in UHD the camera is an 8 bit camera and this firmware update will not change that. Nor will it change the recording bit rate.  I also do not expect to see a change of the cameras base ISO, so don’t expect to see any significant difference to the cameras noise levels. So while I am sure the firmware will bring a useful and welcome improvement to the image quality, you will still need to be careful how you shoot with the camera, especially in low light or with S-log in UHD. The user guides that are being prepared will hopefully address these areas.

Sony are making a very big effort to become more customer focussed. On Monday I was asked by Sony Europe to present a free webinar for customers that have registered their cameras with Sony Prime Support. Over the coming weeks and months there is going to be a lot of new content in the form of user guides, webinars, tutorials, videos etc on the Sony website. So if you haven’t bothered to register your camera with Sony Prime Support, now is the time to do it as this will give you free access to all this new content as it becomes available.

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PMW-F55 and PMW-F5 Firmware V7.01 Released

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f5-firmware7A busy day for Sony because as well as the version 3 firmware for the FS7 Sony have also released firmware version 7.01 for the PMW-F55 and F5. No, you didn’t miss version 7.0. Sony chose not to release version 7.0 as they wanted to incorporate some bug fixes into the first release of the generation 7 firmware.

This is another significant release as it include a whole new way of operating and controlling the camera from the side panel. The new menu system called “quick menu” includes 6 pages of key camera functions laid out in a simple and logical manner. It really does make the F5 and F55 cameras much simpler and faster to use.

The F55 camera also gains the ability to record Rec-2020 color in custom mode for compatibility with future TV standards. This gives baked in rec-2020 color in the same was as you have rec-709 color when you shoot with the camera set to rec-709. In Cine EI both the F5 and F55 can be set to S-Gamut or S-Gamut3 to record color ranges compatible with rec-2020 .

Both cameras gain an increased zebra range with zebras now going all the way down to 0% and the ability to record an interlaced HD proxy when shooting at 50p or 60p in 4K.

For more details and the download links please go to the official Sony F5/F55 forum.

cameras

PXW-FS7 Firmware Version 3.0 Released

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fs7-firmware3Good news. Firmware version 3.0 has just been released for the PXW-FS7. This is a major update for the FS7 and adds some important new features such as a 2K center scan mode that can be used to allow you to use super16 lenses or more importantly eliminate aliasing and moire when shooting above 60fps.

For users of the Cine-EI mode there are major improvements to the usability of the waveform display as this now works with most LUT combinations (but not in S&Q or when outputting 4K). In addition you can now enable noise reduction in Cine EI, although be aware that this may introduce banding artefacts in some situations.

Zebras now go all the way down to 0% so if you want you can use zebras to measure white or grey cards when shooting log or to measure the recommended skin tone levels for S-log (40-55%) and hypergamma (55-60%) recordings.

Also there is a proper time-lapse mode and some improvements to the quality of the raw recordings when using an external recorder raw such as the 7Q.

https://www.sony.co.uk/pro/support/software/SET_BPE-SS-1238

 

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There are some ungrateful people out there!

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Rant time, so ignore this if you are not interested.

I run xdcam-user.com for free. I provide a wealth of guides, LUT’s documentation and articles for free. It costs readers of the site absolutely nothing.

All I ask in return is for those that want to say thank you to buy me a coffee or a beer in the form of a small paypal payment for a coffee or beer.

But sadly there are some people out there that either don’t read what it says immediately above and below the PayPal button or pay any attention to what is stated on the PayPal transaction page. It clearly states “buy Alister a coffee (beer etc)”.

They make the payment and then open a PayPal dispute when they don’t receive whatever it is they are expecting to receive and I have to go through the whole rigmarole of refunding them etc.

Come on people, READ what it says you are buying, you are buying me a coffee or a beer as a token of your appreciation for the time and effort that goes in to running this site and providing a free resource. The LUT packs, PDF’s and other downloads are all under free links.

And finally I do appreciate the coffee’s and beer’s, I really do. I’m sorry that I don’t get around to thanking everyone that makes a contribution but I only have a limited amount of time that I can spend on the website and I often have to spend that time answering questions, responding to comments, preparing new articles and moderating the forum to keep the thousands of spammers and hackers that target the site every day at bay.

So a big thanks to all that have made a contribution of any size, but a suggestion to READ THROUGH THE TRANSACTION DETAILS to those that then open a dispute.

Rant over. Normal service shall be resumed.

cameras, Technology

Now’s the time to buy a 7Q!

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Odyssey-Plus-Discount-Billboard-01

 

I love my Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q! It’s a fantastic piece of kit. A first rate monitor, highly capable video recorder and a toolbox full of useful tools for the digital cinematographer. I can use it simply as a high grade OLED monitor to check my pictures or I can use it to record at higher quality levels than many internal recorders and then add LUT’s, cross convert from HDMI/SDI, down convert, superimpose a waveform display or zebras on the output and much more. One of my favourite functions is being able to connect it to both the A & B SDI outputs on the FS7 or F5/F55 and view BOTH the LUT’d output from the camera as well as the clean S-Log signal via the picture in picture function.

Right now Convergent Design are offering $500 off the base price and throwing in a free 256GB SSD. Thats really an impressive deal for a really great piece of kit.

Business, Everything Else

Try Before You Buy.

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In the last few days I have received a lot of questions along the lines of “which camera is going to be best for me” or “which monitor should I buy”? These are very common questions.

Before the internet, when you wanted a new camera you would either try one belonging to someone else or go to a camera store and try out the camera you were interested in for yourself. That way you could hold it in your hand (or on your shoulder), look through the viewfinder, take some clips and look at the picture quality. Today however it appears that a lot of very important purchasing decisions are being entirely based on online reviews and opinions. I can write a review and say “look how wonderful this camera is” because I think it is great. But just because I think it’s great doesn’t mean it’s going to be great for everyone else (I do try to consider other peoples needs and wishes, but I’m only human). Likewise someone else might say “this camera is rubbish” and of course they are completely entitled to express that view and if they think it’s rubbish, well….  then they think it’s rubbish. But those views and opinions are just that, opinions…. and yours may differ.

Once upon a time equipment dealers used to make quite respectable profit margins on the sale of an expensive video camera. Today however margins are very slim (often less than 5%) as online price cutting forces dealers into ever deeper discounts. As a result dealers are now often not able to lend you a camera to test. Many will still have demo units in their showrooms for you to play with, so support your local dealer, go to them and take a look at the camera (or whatever it is you are buying). Then buy from the dealer, that way you can build up a relationship with your dealer that can help when you need spares or accessories in a hurry. But what if the dealer doesn’t have a demo unit, what’s the solution in that case?

Hire a camera before you buy it. If you purchase a camera and then decide you don’t like it, sure you can sell it, but you’ll loose a lot more money than a days hire charge.  Renting a camera for even just one day will allow you to put it’s through it’s paces. To hold it, shoot with it, test the workflow and look at the image quality. A days rental isn’t going to break the bank.