DEFINITION April 2018

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USER REVIEW SWIT CAMERA TRANSMITTER

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the shoot in a run ’n’ gun style it was ideal for monitoring and checking the focus. Our director actually had peaking on so he could check the ‘sharps’. We also had the clients on set so they could sign everything off. It was quite important that everything was reliable. Although we were shooting with a RED Dragon, the fact that SWIT uses HDMI for connections at both ends will open this unit up for all sorts of cameras, especially cameras that are perhaps more prosumer. Maybe the Canon 5Ds, the Sony A7S and Panasonic’s GH series. They all have HDMI inputs rather than BNCs, so these units would be ideal for production companies who have multiple cameras channels. We have three REDs, from an Epic to an Epic W, so we could use them for those kind of cameras. At the other end of the scale if we wanted to go and shoot something quickly with an A7S, for instance, we could duplicate the usage. The RED was downscaling to 1080 but it still looked great from the original 6K. The ATOMOS recorders have a really bright screen with great colour rendition. CONNECTIONS AND DISTANCE One thing you don’t need in a pressured shooting situation is your wireless video going down. We have had picture outs with a BNC cable unit, which can be a disadvantage of BNCs especially when you end up jiggleing the BNC drum to try and make it work. We’ve got some great HDMI cables which have an immense

AT TIMES WE WERE UP TO 100M AWAY WITH NO PROBLEM. AT ALL. THE PICTURE WAS STILL FANTASTIC

director didn’t really want to get too close and potentially get in shot. So there were times when line of sight between camera and director’s monitor was lost but we didn’t get any signal loss. The specs claim up to 150m; we didn’t take it that far but at times we were up to 100m away with no problem at all. The picture was still fantastic. When we use the ATOMOS we also frequently record the wireless signal just as a backup. Even though we’re only talking HD, it is 4:2:2 up to 60fps. We have had issues before with camera cards and the ATOMOS has definitely saved us on occasions when we’ve had those issues. It is quite important that the wireless signal has a good amount of integrity to it. If there’s a bit of breakup in the picture than your backup becomes pretty useless. Just to conclude, we think the use of HDMI is clever as it will open up the prosumer market for people who have always wanted this type of wireless operation. The wireless systems are an incredible tool to have on set especially if you have clients and directors moving around. This SWIT unit, with the HDMI feature, is interchangeable with a lot of camera systems: a great idea.

amount of strain relief on them, so do invest in good ones; I used a couple of cheaper ones and they didn’t work nearly as well. You need a flexible one that won’t be straining too much. With our good HDMI cable we didn’t have any camera signal breakup. As I mentioned, we were running around a lot in the forest and the

BELOW The unit uses HDMI cables at both ends, which will open it up for a wide range of cameras.

DEFINITION APRIL 2018

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