Sony CX7 I bought one...

[DSE 5]

Stratostar and others have provided the recipe for an indicator for your record function.
I jumped an XTi for 500 jumps before adding a 40D. XTi is still in great shape, and you can buy an armor covering for it if you want one.

I don't wear my DSLR on top right now, but am experimenting with different mounting methods. I tried the SharkFin from Bonehead as a starting point, and didn't like how it set with my HDV camcorder, so am still working on getting it to where/how I want it. Your camcorder needs to sit on the left side of the helmet if you want to use the preview screen (with the CX7 you have no eyepiece) so that is a concern for me with a tape-based camcorder. The HC7 works better for this, IMO, as it's got all connections on the left side, rather than iLink and LANC on the right.
Overall, I'll likely be jumping the CX and 40D for most jumps next season.

[Trevor 0]

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I know I'm repeating myself, but... Has anyone had any problem with fluttering while using their Sony cx6 or cx7 in freefall?

I've got the same question....does the CX-7 shudder and shake when you sitfly...or is it comparable to an HC-3?

[DSE 5]

Best answer I can give is this:
I've done 5 sitfly jumps with it, and while my sitfly sucks, I've not had stabilization issues with it at all.
However....my sit is so poor, fall rate issues keep me from keeping the subject in the frame throughout the skydive. Worked on it today and did the best I've done, but still not good enough to share. Maybe after another half-dozen skydives....
I wear an FTP, so the burble may affect my helmet differently than others.

[johnboy 0]

Thanks for the pointers. I'm not worried about the record indicator all that much. I just suck with soldering irons!

I will probably just get the 40D anyway, btw. In the long run it will most likely be cheaper to just buy the camera I really want than go through several other cameras before I get to it. My cameras get used for lots of other projects aside from skydiving.

Now which of the kids to sell....

[Trevor 0]

DSE- Thanks much! I've been gunshy after getting burned by the OIS shakety-shake of the HV-10.

Have you tried a century .3x fisheye on the CX-7 yet? When I use other low profile wide angle lenses on my HC-3, the left and right thirds of my video are blurry and fringed in either red or blue. I assume it's because the lenses are designed for a 4:3 imager vs. a 16:9 one. I was hoping the more expensive century one might have better results as they claim to be made for HD. Thanks again, Trevor

[DSE 5]

The fringing is color timing, and it's exacerbated by AVCHD. You'll barely see it using the same lens on an HDV camcorder, due to differences in compression.
Haven't tried the Century, but do have a Raynox. Other than experimenting in the air, I've mostly used the CX7 as a crash cam for an ATV project we shoot, and as a "keep in the car" camcorder.

[AHoyThere 0]

Any idea if the software from http://www.elecard.com/ will allow editing of CX7 footage in Adobe Premiere? I've heard mixed results.
-mh.

[DSE 5]

In PP3, there are hardware issues that vary from machine to machine. Both my laptop and desktop edit the Elecard-transcode just fine from AVCHD. However, this is a *silly* *silly* workflow, IMO, if speed is a need.
Shoot, transfer, transcode (takes ten times longer than the transfer) then edit with the app not natively dealing with the footage very well on some systems. This all adds up to ten times the edit length if PP3 handled AVCHD natively.
BTW, you can also use Main Concept's new decoder as a plugin to Premiere, and it will decode the MTS file to an M2T file, same as Elecard, except you're doing the process 'inside' Premiere Pro3

I wish I had the answer to the "wrong" hardware configs, so I could better tell folks what to avoid.
If you can manage HDV without issue, you *should* be able to manage Elecard transcodes without issue.

[skydiveoc 0]

Any chance this cam is possible with hand cam? ive got a bunch with a PC 330 so Im used to the weight. Also, Im still stuck in Panasonic AVE 5 analogue mode of editing technology recording to a dvd recorder. Am I wasting my money with this camera? I currently jump a PC 1000 but I am looking for a camera to replace that one (handy). I am a fan of keeping image quality high vs buying budget.

josh

[PhreeZone 20]

If you want to store the video long term you still need to go get a computer to download it all to either external hard drives or to burn it to DVD's.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[parachutist 2]

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I posted a skydiving video on Youtube a couple months back when we were testing it.
Search under VASSTTRAINING.
Audio in the pre-production model wasn't working correctly, in the shipping model the audio must be attenuated. It's always 5.1 mode, which makes it different than what you're used to.

DSE,

Could you explain the attenuation you're describing?

When I drag a CX7 .MTS video clip into the timeline, the audio track looks like a flatline with occasional really small bumps indicating sound. Is there a way to adjust the sensitivity in VegasMS so the flatline becomes sound level indications like I see with other audio tracks?

If I use the "Vol" slider to turn the volume up for that track, then I can hear it, but it's still fainter than it should be. I'm having to turn down my music track to -5db and CX7 audio track to +12 to equalize them. The sound quality appears to be pretty clear (indoors), but I just can't seem to make it loud enough to match what seems like standard sound level.

Chris

[DSE 5]

Right click audio track, choose Properties, then check the "Normalize" option, and rescan level/volume (going from memory here)

[parachutist 2]

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Right click audio track, choose Properties, then check the "Normalize" option, and rescan level/volume (going from memory here)

Thanks for the explanation. That helped with the volume for my voice track.

When I'm recording indoors (interviewing a student) I can get some good audio from this CX7. Anywhere else, however, (such as outdoors when there's 10mph winds) I pick up all sorts of noise that drowns out the student's voice. Or the noise will cause pops and clicks in the recording. I can use filters to squash the peaks in these tracks, but it takes too much tweaking time for my liking. The cheap HC42 I had would record audio at consistent levels without much distortion. I'm probably going to be putting my CX7 up on ebay for this reason & go back to miniDV until a more suitable flash-memory camcorder proves itself.

It seems that Sony is aware of the audio problem and made an attempt to compensate for it: In the menus there's a selection for Sound "Normal" or "Low". Normal is supposed to record sound within fixed level, and Low is supposed to record all sounds at actual level. I can't tell much of a difference using eiether mode when recording inside a King Air though... it all sounds like crackles, pops, and muffled speech to me. This past weekend I tried foam zip-tied over the mic, double gaffer's tape over the mic. Neither worked well.

The cx7 could improve my workflow if the microphone processing were up to par. The good thing about shooting in high quality SD mode: each time I hit 'record' on the camera, a new MPEG file is created. When I get to the ground I can copy those MPEGs to the hard drive, then drag them into Vegas for auto overlap, then put in some slow-mo, some music with fades, and render fast for standard DVD. If there were a skydiving-friendly hot shoe mic that would solve this mic problem, I'd get one and keep the cx7. All the ones I've seen look like they'd get broken off though

Chris

[DSE 5]

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The good thing about shooting in high quality SD mode: each time I hit 'record' on the camera, a new MPEG file is created. When I get to the ground I can copy those MPEGs to the hard drive, then drag them into Vegas for auto overlap, then put in some slow-mo, some music with fades, and render fast for standard DVD. If there were a skydiving-friendly hot shoe mic that would solve this mic problem, I'd get one and keep the cx7. All the ones I've seen look like they'd get broken off though

Chris

Ain't no such thing as a "fast" render from AVCHD to SD DVD....but there will be.
Put a bandaid on the back half of the microphone.
Seriously.

[parachutist 2]

Ain't no such thing as a "fast" render from AVCHD to SD DVD....but there will be.
Put a bandaid on the back half of the microphone.
Seriously.

[Cookie 0]

I think our hard work has paid off and here it is.

Our new Blackbox for the CX6/7 Sony camera.

http://www.cookiecomposites.com/shop/blackbox/58/index.htm

Cookie

[skydiveoc 0]

how about a glove for it?

josh

[Cookie 0]

Yes we have built a glove for this camera also.


Cookie

[parachutist 2]

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I think our hard work has paid off and here it is.

Our new Blackbox for the CX6/7 Sony camera.

http://www.cookiecomposites.com/shop/blackbox/58/index.htm

Cookie

Can you remove the memory stick from camera without removing camera from this box?

Chris

[sbhesq 0]

I just bought the camera as well. When I downloaded the files (recorded in SD) in Vegas (older version) the video shows up but there is no audio at all. However, when I play the clips on windows media player the audio is there. Does anybody have any idea why this is? Please help!

[DSE 5]

You need Vegas 8a to fully support AVCHD camcorders.

[parachutist 2]

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Put a bandaid on the back half of the microphone.
Seriously.

The band-aid helped, but the noise factor was still present to enough of a degree that I really wanted an external mic. So I ordered one of Sony's own mic adapters, the VMCK100, which is made for the active interface shoe:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/479976-REG/Sony_VMCK100_VMC_K100_Microphone_Adapter_Cable.html

I figured for $20 it was worth it to get some good sound. The VMCK100 arrived today and I plugged it into the hot shoe. Sony must be doing whatever they can to foil my intentions... the 1/8" plug in this adapter points directly left... directly at the plastic hot shoe cover. (see attached image).

I can't decide whether to remove the hot shoe cover permanently, or to hack into this adapter and point the 1/8" plug a different direction.

[Cookie 0]

No you can not.

We certainly tried however it is to hard to get your fingers in to remove it.

Cookie

[ggay 0]

Perhaps you could drill a 1/8" hole through the cover in line with the plug-in?

[DSE 5]

can you put a tandem stoe around it to hold the cover in place? I'd probably remove it were it mine. but I'm good with the bandaid.