xdcam/HD

The details...

The Sony PDW-F350L XDCAM HD camcorder features MPEG HD and DVCAM SD switchable recording with three 1/2-inch Power HAD HD (1440x1080) CCDs.  It is capable of recording in 1080/59.94i, 50i, 29.97P, 25P and native 23.98P.  The operator can also select the desired bit rate to record at, either 35 Mbps, 25 Mbps and 18 Mbps depending on the desired picture quality and recording length. Being a dual format camcorder, it can also record in DVCAM mode at 25 Mbps.

It provides four channels of high-quality uncompressed audio.  Down-conversion output to SD is a standard feature in the product, as is instant random access and replay of clips.  IT network capability and proxy data operation offer a choice of new workflow that beats digitizing HDV streams.

In addition to these capabilities, the PDW-F350L also provides numerous features of Quick & Slow Motion, commonly known as overcranking and undercranking, Slow Shutter, Clear Scan and Interval Recording.  It also has an i.LINK interface for File Access Mode and DV stream output (including down-conversion from HD material).

A full explanation of the format and camcorder’s features can be found at Sony’s web site. 

The Canon lens I tested was the HJ40x10B IASD-V.  This “compact” 40X powerhouse is designed to achieve superior optical performance and high specifications at the same time, featuring a built-in Image Stabilizer which adds stability to a shot.  It also offers memory presets for zoom settings and zoom speed.  It’s a very nifty piece of engineering.

Before You Start...

The Canon HJ40X10B lens requires the use of a cradle, which Canon provides as part of the lens package.  At twelve pounds, it’s too heavy to simply secure to the bayonet mount on the camera.  You can mount the camera and lens to the cradle while mounted on a tripod – and then adjust the lens so that it marries up to the camera.  I preferred to do it by placing the camera on end (vertically), attaching the lens – and with no shear pressure on the lens, adjusted the cradle so that everything was tensioned in the right place, with no undue tweaking or twisting.  Yes, it’s a two person job to do it this way but everything aligns perfectly with no fuss.

Also make sure that the battery that maintains time code, time of day etc., is installed.  Otherwise, every time you power down the camera, you’ll have to reset everything.  The battery compartment is located next to the time code and audio switches on the left side of the camera.

Using the Sony PDW-F350L XDCAM-HD camcorder

First: you need to choose which format to record in.  One disc.  One format.  For example, you cannot change from 60i to 24p on the same disc, unless you erase and re-format the disc.  While I was intrigued to see how the system worked in 30p and 24p, I set the camera to 60i.  Allow me to explain why... 

I have shot all of my Z1 footage in 60i – and I wanted to match the emotion of the scenes.  Also, I am not convinced at how good fast panning shots look in 24p.  In windsurfing, the action is what drives the shot.  I have to pan with the action, thus breaking the traditional rules of “acceptable pan speeds”. 

Regarding the operation of the camera, if you’ve worked with Sony Broadcast gear, this camcorder will feel familiar to you right from the get-go.  The manner in which the menus work follow the standard Sony protocol, so I won’t bother going into those details.  There are, however, a few subtle differences...

The biggest difference is that there is that there’s no tape mechanism!  What a concept!  Direct-to-disc recording!  No dropouts!  Random access control!  Very nice.  Easy to back up!  You’ll end up with less than 20GB of data on a disc that contains over an hours worth of footage at 35Mb data rate.  At $32 or so per disc, this falls in line with what you’d expect to pay for this level of media storage.

Speaking of media, I can go through three one-hour discs in a day of shooting.  So to have a box of reliable, re-writeable discs on hand is a wonderful thing – and much more practical than a P2 system running with a couple of 8GB cards.

XDCAM-HD footage can be accessed for playback in the field via standard Sony transport controls located on the top of the camera, or via a clip library accessed by a joystick located on the left side of the camera.  There’s nothing like instant playback of a clip to motivate a windsurfer to go out and do a few more jumps for you!  The joystick also speeds up setting time code and other data.  Once on your hard drive, the clips are ready to edit.  The .mov proxy clips are also handy for e-mailing to clients!

There are four filter settings on the Sony camera, plus one button to switch between 3200K and 5600K.  This button seems to annoy some users, but I was not overly concerned by it.  I also enjoyed the four user definable buttons that were accessible on the side and top of the camera.  The options I chose for my four buttons were cache record on/off, delete last clip, record on/off – and mark clip.

I set the camera up for running at F5.6 or so.  I’d do a dance with the filters, setting them depending on ambient light, if the doubler was in use, etc.  At F11, it seemed as though I was losing some detail, even though I was gaining some depth of field.  I guess that has something to do with how much you can bend light through a narrow aperture and still maintain optimum resolution across the entire area of the pickup elements.  It’s referred to as diffraction limiting.

I adjusted the peaking on the viewfinder to a low setting.  I was able to get a better feel for spot-on focus with it set this way.  The black and white viewfinder was bright and crisp (given the price point for the camera).  That being said, viewfinders can never be crisp enough, so keep working at it Sony ;-) .  The color display on the left side of the camera is useful for confirming that you were in the ballpark regarding color balance – and is great for setting time code.   But don’t use it for framing, since the monitor overscans the image.

Also don’t use the color display on the side of the camera for critical color correction or camera calibration.  It’s just not that type of monitor.  Speaking of which, the camera has a broad array of options for adjusting image color, contrast, levels and tones.  Since I did not have access in the field to calibration grade monitors, I used a set-up that Band Pro had uploaded - and went with it.

The time lapse function works like a dream.  Pick your delay and frame rate – and kick back and let it go to work.  It even offers a pre-light feature to turn on or off a light, useful for recording a flower blooming at night.  

One minor quirk (or maybe it’s just me going senile) is the end of tape warning.  On occasion, it seemed as though I’d run out of storage a couple of minutes after the three minute warning light came on.  Where did that last minute go???

Speaking of time, for location work, take lots of batteries with you.  By the time you’ve got the LCD monitor, the image stabilizer and whatever else powered up, you’ll need up to six Anton Bauer Hytron 120 batteries to get you through the day.  I was getting two hours per battery, give or take, depending on zoom usage, etc.

And finally, when the power runs low, don’t physically disconnect or shut down the power source while the blue “access” light is illuminated.  Doing so is not such a hot idea.  Wait until the disc drive is not in use, power the camcorder down via the power switch - and then remove the battery or unplug the AC adapter.  It’s actually OK to hit the camcorder’s power switch while the access light is on, but don’t disconnect the actual power source until the access light goes off.

Using the Canon HJ40X10B lens

The first reaction to this lens was WOW!  I’ve used telescopes with less power!  The second reaction was WOW – how do you tame this beast on a windy beach?  Even sporting an image stabilizer, the smallest physical movement results in a major on-screen move.  I quickly learned where to hide from the wind and how to hold my breath while taking a shot!  After using this lens, going back to a 22X lens with a doubler is a snooze both in terms of ease of focus and ease of panning at full zoom, but you just don’t get that awesome lens power!  This is a lens which takes extraordinary shots.  It’s also one of the quickest ways to reveal your shortcomings as a sports cameraman.

In the old Betacam days, I’d put doublers on top of doublers on top of doublers just to push the limits – and to get a different shot.  This lens goes way beyond in every sense...

Once you start to get a grip on this lens, you’ll quickly appreciate how you can get shots that you could not get any other way.  Sure, a wide angle shot of a windsurfer from a low flying helicopter is awesome.  But a smooth pan of sailors moving perpendicular to you at 40mph while you shoot at 800mm creates a completely different, yet equally stimulating shot.  Simply stated, the lens allows you to express yourself and see things in a way that is impossible without such power.  And even though the lens is big and heavy compared to a regular EFP lens, it is way small compared to studio configuration lenses.  This is critical for windy field production applications, where traditional operator grip and viewfinder placement hampers (in my mind) optimal shooting potential.

As you can see in this photograph, I prefer to use an EFP style viewfinder – and then adjust the left arm so that I can stand where I want to stand – and not be whacking the focus control all day long!  I also place the zoom grip as close to the tripod head as possible.  With this sort of lens power, placing your controls further away from the head tends to increase your odds of getting a shaky shot... less leverage on the tripod arm is a desirable thing for me. 

It’s hard to overstress how critical a good tripod and head are when using this lens.  While shooting sunsets on Maui (with a Sacthler 25), my shot could be effected by people walking heavily ten feet away from me – on solid ground!   When the image stabilizer was turned off, a 10mph head breeze blowing on the camcorder made the shot look like I was standing in a 40 knot gale.

The sunsets presented other challenges.  As mentioned, we were shooting in breezy locations, so I had to decide when framing some locked-off shots, whether to suffer with non-stabilizer camera shake or to possibly see the subtle movement associated with the image stabilizer doing its thing in a hypercritical situation.  In every situation, I chose to use the stabilizer.  It does a great job in turning an unusable shot into one that is well useable.  BTW – with the 2X extender on, I was filling the frame with sun, nothing but sun.  The same was true with the lunar shots I took.  If I backed off from full zoom, or disabled the doubler, I would turn off the stabilizer once camera shake stopped being an issue.

I also used the stabilizer extensively when shooting action at full zoom.  It took a while to adjust to the very subtle idiosyncrasies of the lens, but I have to say that it allowed me to take shots that I would not have been able to pull off without the aid of the stabilizer.  High frequency jitter induced by the wind on the rig would have killed the shots.  But with the stabilizer enabled, the shots were smooth and free of high frequency vibration.  The biggest challenge was transitioning from a right pan to a left pan at full zoom without any sort of visual ‘knock’, but after a few misses, I found the move to be possible - and rather pleasing!

So how does the stabilizer work?  According to Canon, “when the lens moves, the light rays from the subject are bent relative to the optical axis, resulting in an unsteady image because the light rays are deflected. By shifting the IS (image stabilizer) lens group on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis to counter the degree of image shake, the light rays reaching the image plane can be steadied.  Since image shake occurs in both horizontal and vertical directions, two shake detecting sensors for yaw and pitch, detect the angle and speed of movement and send this information to a high-speed 32-bit microcomputer, which converts the information into drive signals for the IS lens group. 

Then the actuator moves the IS lens group horizontally and vertically thus counteracting the image shake and maintaining the stable picture.  The Shift-IS component is located within the lens group and is most effective for lower frequency movements caused by platform vibration or wind effect without increasing the overall size and weight of the master lens.”

As a side note, I did try shooting windsurfing with the Canon HJ40X10B using the 30p setting on the camera – and found that it was more challenging to focus while panning. Compared to focusing in 60i, it was tougher to do.  Running with such a narrow depth of field made this rather awkward, so I returned to using the 60i frame rate on the next disc.  That being said, running in 30p and overcranking the frame rate to 60fps was fun – and yielded some beautiful results!  You can’t do that in 60i.

Switching lenses – Using an HJ22ex7.6B 22X lens

Next, it was time to use the camera in a slightly more maneuverable configuration.   So I removed the 40X lens – and replaced it with a Canon HJ22ex7.6B. 22X lens.  With this lens, I could use the camera in a handheld configuration – useful for handheld undercranked shots and other applications I had in mind.  I was also keen to see how much power this little lens had compared to the 40X.  Note: this is not an image stabilized lens.  Note #2: it also does not cost $90,000.  But it is a 2/3’’ lens, so when mated to the 1/2” CCDs, has less wide angle than it would if it were married to a 2/3” camera – but gives you more power on your long shots...

As I mentioned earlier in this review, compared to the 40X, this lens is a breeze to focus.  With way more (apparent) depth of field (due to the lack of 40X power), for use at Hookipa (filming surfers), I could pretty much set it and forget it.

The focus ring is very sensitive and reacts to the lightest touch.  When zoomed all the way in to a distant object, it is particularly sensitive to the smallest move.  Personally, I would enjoy a bit more resistance on the focus ring, but this is a personal choice...

The HJ22ex7.6B is a great lens – one that I would suggest (that for many situations) is a good choice for this camera.  Not only does it give you an excellent zoom range, but can also be used on 2/3” cameras.  For really wide angle shots, grab another lens such as the HJ11ex4.7B.  You’d want to do this even if your primary lens was a 1/2” lens.

As a test, I did throw on a second doubler on the lens to see how it would work (sorry Canon – I couldn’t resist!).  I have yet to view the results of this particular disc on a 1080X1920 monitor, so I cannot be  certain how much resolution I may have lost (and where it may be most noticeable). Update coming!!!

In conclusion

As an old time Betacam user, I enjoy the balance and feel of this camcorder.  If you are shooting from the shoulder (with a lens designed for handheld operation), it just feels right.  When strapped to a huge lens on a big tripod, the camera performs as you’d expect from a high-end product from Sony.  Small handheld cameras have their time and place, but for someone trying to do production work that requires the use of a big zoom and sweet image stabilization, then this is one system worthy of consideration.  Unlike Panavision’s 300X lens, the comparative compact design and ease that the Canon offers makes it a truly practical and powerful solution for long-lens HD content acquisition in a wide range of conditions.

Even with the 22X lens, there is still plenty of grunt to get you out where the action is happening on the reef... or shooting at the moon!

For someone looking for a professional camcorder that has some of the most innovative features currently available on a camcorder for under $26K (excluding lens), this is a camera to check out.  With features including undercranking, overcranking, timelapse, clip based recording, random access playback in the field, long recording abilities (1hr+ in HQ mode), freedom from the constraints of P2 cards or videotape, there’s much to be said for the system.  Of course, if you need higher quality than XDCAM-HD offers, you can always step up to an HDCAM camcorder - and still use the same Canon lens(es).

To comment on the article, or for advice about how to slice raw fish or open a coconut, please e-mail me at robert@bestmedia.com.  For product information regarding Canon Broadcast lenses and Sony high-definition cameras and recorders, contact Michael Bravin at Band Pro, (818) 841-9655 or visit bandprodigital.com.

Robert Masters windsurf videos have won numerous awards, including an Emmy for Best Editing in a sports show.  He’s also been nominated twice for a National Emmy Award for Best Electronic Sports Cameraman.

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