I recently had a chance to test the Sony NIPROS studio package, courtesy of Z Systems here in Minnesota. The verdict? It does what it says on the tin.

So, what is the NIPROS package? Well, NIPROS is actually a company in Japan, which manufactures a fiber multiplexer/demultiplexer rig. Sony takes this, pairs it with an XDCam EX3 camera and some accessories, and sells the whole thing as a bundle for $29k. One end of the NIPROS gear essentially takes all of the various inputs and outputs from the camera (HD-SDI, genlock, remote, power, etc) and spits them down a standard SMTPE fiber cable (two copper + two single mode fiber strands). The other end breaks them back out. The NIPROS gear also adds tally and intercom, not normally found on the EX3.

You can use your choice of either a Sony RMB-150 or RMB-750 remote (not included) to do remote control of the camera.

The whole setup is essentially plug and play. Hook up all the connectors, following the clear and concise diagram, and turn it on. No need to tweak settings on the NIPROS gear. It really seems like the sort of rig that you can setup once and then forget about. Because the NIPROS pieces are essentially “dumb” – just multiplexing/demultiplexing, with no regard for the signals being passed – you don’t have to worry about SDI formats being passed, etc.

Sony is pushing this as a package – while they will sell you just the NIPROS gear, they’d much rather sell it with an EX3. So, how does the EX3 work as a studio camera? Surprisingly well in most areas. I put it up against a Sony D50WSL with a Fujinon 17×7.6BERM lens. This wasn’t a fully scientific test – I just pointed them at a gray chip chart in a variety of lighting conditions and compared them on a Videotek VTM-440HD/SD scope. I checked the EX3 in both 1080i60 and downconverted SD modes, to get a more direct comparison.

Results? The EX3 did as well or better than the 2/3″ D50. When I put both cameras wide open and dimmed the lights till I was at 10 foot candles on the chart, the whites were hitting about 63IRE on the EX3 and 55 on the D50 – essentially equal. That was pretty shocking, when you consider the cost difference and sensor size difference. That’s progress for you though.

Other folks have done more extensive reviews of the EX3, so I won’t dig into that further. It’s a great camera. For studio use, I think I’d be inclined to go with a more traditional lens, like the Fujinon 18×5.5BERM.

Downsides? Well, it’d be nice if the camera unit didn’t have a fan, but it’s a very quiet fan. I’d like some option for a push-to-talk from the lens remote for the intercom. A tally breakout connector would be nice, since the tally on the front of the NIPROS will be hidden behind a prompter, and is in kind of a funny place in general. That’s about it.

For small studios, educational uses and anyone looking for HD studio capabilities for well under $50k, this is by far the best solution I’m aware of. I think it’s pretty slick for portable multicamera production as well. Because you don’t need a particularly beefy tripod to support the camera, and the “CCU” is relatively small, you could easily carry this in to just about any location. I wouldn’t be surprised to see units like this pushing into markets that would have traditionally gone with much more expensive rigs – the EX line has proven that it can compete with much more expensive cameras, and in an era in which the whole world is out of money, a $29,000 1080p studio rig is tough to beat.

I’ll have my full thoughts up tomorrow. But for now, this grab from the manual made me chuckle:

While trying to troubleshoot my “freakin ears” problem, I discovered how to enter the service menu on the Zi6. Simple really – hold both buttons (“stop” and “play”) and then power the camera on.

From there you can access a bunch of menus that don’t seem to do much without special SD cards, but conveniently, you can format the SD card.

Matt Jeppsen over at ProVideoCoalition has a post about Ikonoskop’s new camera, launched at IBC, which fits into the “16mm-equivolent” space (a-la SI-2K and Scarlet).

His post compares the camera to the Scarlet, and is worth a read. I just wanted to post because I really dig the form factor. It’s so wacky! Crazy cameras, Koenigseggs, what can’t the Swedes do?

FreshDV is covering the launch of the Sony FX1000 and Z5J. They are bumps to the Z1U and FX1, which bring exmor CMOS chips and better lenses to the existing feature-set.

Nothing earth shattering here, but since these cameras have been around for a while, it’s nice to see a bump.

Silicon Studios has launched a number of iPhone apps that tie into their small desktop stub to provide MIDI control from the iPhone. Basically, you run an app on your iPhone, which connects to your desktop over wifi, which creates a MIDI interface on your computer and pipes in control from the phone.

So, get the desktop app from iTouchMidi.com, get the free demo app from the iTunes store, and start playing. Launch Motion, add a filter to a layer, then right click on any filter control and select “midi” – now you can control that setting from the phone. This is highly entertaining.

Confused? This video might help (large one here):

I love my Plantronics USB headset mic, but the quality of the audio isn’t good enough to make them my full time headphones, and the microphone tends to get in the way. Steelseries has come up with a clever solution, the 5Hv2, which combines over-the-ear headphones with a retractable microphone boom.

Now, I’m not sure these are the end-all-be-all – I’d rather they were USB and from a higher end manufacturer, but the day Sennheiser makes a set like this, I’ll be the first in line. Thanks to MacNN for pointing me to them.

Mike has put up a blog post about a new application he’s working on called ClipWrap.

Essentially, it takes an M2T file from an HDV camera and turns it into a Final Cut Pro compatible Quicktime, without transcoding. So, instead of taking forever and costing you a generation, it takes a few seconds and preserves all the quality.

I’ve been bugging Mike to create this application for years, because the support for Quicktime on devices like the firestore has been so lackluster. This also allows cross-platform editing of HDV. Woo!

The website for clipwrap will be www.clipwrap.com. Mike is obsessed with the animation…

Sanyo launched the Xacti HD800 in Japan this week, and it’s hopefully headed for the United States before too long. Electronista has an article with some hands on shots, or you can read a translated version of the japanese page via google.

It’s essentially an update to the HD700, which is the evolution of the HD2 and HD1. It maintains of the smaller form factor of the bulk of the Xacti line, rather than going with the bulky look of the HD1000. You get 720p with an 8 megapixel sensor, and much improved noise reduction.

I’m a big fan of the quality of the HD1000, but I’ve missed the smaller form factor of the HD1. This looks like the perfect balance.

Freshdv has a fantastic series of videos presented by some guys from Panavision about the really low level stuff involved in digital image reproduction. Four parts are up now, with 3 more coming.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4