Durability
Film students are encouraged to get out of the classroom,
with some even traveling across the globe to tell their
stories. Marcus is one of many students who are taking their
XDCAM EX camcorders into the field. This past summer,
Marcus shot his thesis project on location in the moun-
tains of Trinidad. "The EX is small enough for me to take as
my carryon. This camera is light enough to travel with, and
it held up well despite the changing climate conditions I
encountered." The XDCAM EX series is an invaluable asset
to students shooting on location, as the cameras have
been proven to stand up to rigorous environments.
Young Cheong, Brooklyn College's Education Coordinator
for New Media and Digital Technology, discusses the
importance. "Durability when out in the field is very
important. With these cameras, students can focus on
telling their stories, and not whether the camera can
stand up to the environment. With Sony's EX series, we trust
the camera." Bill Gentile, Director of the Backpack
Journalism Project at American University agrees. "My EX
camera held up wonderfully in extreme conditions: heat
upwards of 120 degrees, and around sand and dust as
fine as talcum powder. I used it on rough terrain, in a
helicopter, and on a Humvee, and there was no diminish-
ing of quality whatsoever."
footage onto their solid state SxS card (optional 32 GB
SxS cards are available). Even better, the XDCAM EX series
cameras have two SxS slots, offering a student a recording
time of 240 minutes of high quality video without having to
change cards. With 2 64GB cards the max record time is
400 minutes/over 6.5 hrs (@ 35Mbs HQ mode).
The largest benefit of utilizing the SxS Memory Card
technology is in the time it saves students and teachers
when ingesting the footage. "Digitizing tape used to be an
entire lab that took us lots of time. With the workflow on
Sony's EX series, we no longer need the lab. Within minutes,
their footage is ready to deliver and distribute. It's a real
time saver, as now they can dedicate more class time to
increasing their educational assets," says Ramsey. Anthony
Artis agrees. "Getting information off your card couldn't be
easier. What used to take upwards of 45 minutes can now
be downloaded in less than 15. In addition, students can
instantly view their clips, instead of having to digitize." In
fact, SxS offers faster real time file based workflow among
major non-linear editing system platforms and software
(Apple Final Cut Pro
, Avid Media Composer
®
Edius
, Adobe Premiere Pro
®
For years, professors have looked for a viable alternative to
the tape format. What SxS card technology provides them
is a way of reducing the footprint that tape often leaves
behind. Young Cheung says, "The SxS media is durable.
Since we provide the students with SxS cards, students
are saving money because they don't have to go out and
buy tapes. Typically students reused their tapes until the
point of picture degradation." Anthony Artis also agrees.
"Students are no longer required to buy and store tapes.
When you have four classes with 24 students in them, tape
libraries fill up really quick. With SxS, everything gets stored
on a hard drive." In addition, the Sony XDCAM EX series
allows for greater memory choices not limited to SxS,
including SanDisk's SDHC class 10 cards as well as
Memory Stick PRO Duo HG
Workflow
The Sony XDCAM EX series
are the first camcorders to
record on Sony and
SanDisk's SxS
Memory
™
Card format. Using a
16GB card, students can
record approximately 50
minutes of high quality
, Grass Valley
®
, and Sony Vegas
software).
®
®
HX cards via adapters.
™
3