Well my original one, serial number 3 is finally going in for service to have a few things fixed. The dreaded paintwork, the backfocus check and also I broke the microphone holder whilst in the states and had to glue it back on as I was unable to get a replacement quickly, so now that means the whole top of the mic input/ handle cover needs replacing. I expect I will have to pay for it. At least it will get the new firmware and be as good as new. My other EX1 has already gone in and come back and had about 6 things fixed on it!

It is precisely these situations that put me off buying the EX3 cheap in the states where you get just one year warranty and a whole heap of nightmare forms and expensive shipping to send it back for repair.

Anyway, the main reason I miss my EX1 is I am currently in a lovely hotel called the Ritz-Carlton in Wolfsburg, Germany. I am working for Discovery Channel HD on a film called “Future Life: Urban Transportation”. It’s pretty cool stuff. The director is a nice guy called Lee Hirsch from NY. We are filming some really interesting stuff and meeting interesting people.

The reason I miss my EX1 is we are shooting on an HDX-900 DVC PRO HD camera. Now, this is a lovely camera. The pictures are beautiful, the lenses we have are lovely….but it is tape and I hate tape now. So
many limitations.

First off, no proper timelapse. It records minimum 5 frames at a time, so you get a slight jerkiness. Obviously no under/overcrank as it isn’t a Varicam and no quick ingest into the computer to check out the rushes. It feels like 2 years ago to me. Despite it being HD (it also doesn’t shoot native progressive, it is 1080i with 24p embedded into the 59.97) it reminds me of my old Sony Beta SX.

I was doing some beautiful shots of a rainbow across this amazing car tower, they looked great and I certainly got in closer with my J17 than I would with the EX1 lens but I just really missed the flexibility of the EX1, the weight of the EX1 (walking through endless Heathrow corridors with the camera hurt my back!) and the just downright stunning images of the EX1. Amazing that such a cheap little camera can compare so favourably to the HDX-900.

I would love to try out one of the newer Panasonic P2 Varicams. I miss tapeless. A lot. It takes getting used to, but once you have, going back to tape is like going back to watching TV without a remote control!

Oh, one last thing…I will talk more about this later. But I am now confirmed to go on a Sony XDCAM roadshow around Britain and Ireland in July. I will be talking about how wonderful I am and how you should all hire me for the best projects out there and pay me obscenely large amounts of spondoolicks. I also might have to talk about the EX1/ EX3 too I guess . I think there will be some workshops as well. As soon as I know more I will blog you about it. I will be signing autographs for £5 a pop, that is if you come up to me when I am surrounded by gullible beautiful women I will give you a fiver if you ask for my autograph! Not a bad deal is it!?

I do really need a break though, a holiday or something! It is just relentless! Am obviously working really hard on all my pay jobs, then there is the forum, my website, my company website www.somelikeitshot.com that I have left looking awful for months, only now (I hope) is it vaguely presentable, my films for Mitcorp take up a lot of time and I REALLY have got to make a new showreel.

I hope all you forum members are finding it useful. I think it seems to be taking off and some really useful information is in there and easily found. Any suggestions don’t hesitate to let me know. The open day will happen around mid July now by the way.

As well as making the somelikeitshot.com website better (still need to work on the content, just tidied it up) I have done some work on the main philipbloom.co.uk site. I am still working out the best layout but it is getting there. I am still getting some errors coming up, after all I am just using iweb for the whole lot. So if you do have errors come up or something isn’t working please let me know!

I have redone the “If I were PM” page too. I have uploaded 11 of the 18 shorts to Vimeo and embedded them on the redone page. The embeds work well, I have done the same with my five news stuff. It is so fascinating to look back at my work from 3 years ago. It was these 18 shorts that changed everything for me. I worked with a supremely talented producer called Julie Weight, easily the best producer I have ever worked with. Patient (I need someone patient to work and deal with me!), clever, creative, journalistically brilliant but also willing to try different things and to trust me.

Sky News had never seen anything like what we gave them. We had such a sense of freedom, something I have rarely experienced since. They just let us get on with it. It was hugely challenging making 18 shorts in a very short space of time, and make them visually different. But we did it and it was hugely successful. I learnt to cut on Avid to do them and the more I did, the faster and more experimental I got. Now when I look back there is so much I would change. I have improved 10 fold since then but without these I wouldn’t be writing this blog right now, sitting on my bed in my penthouse room in Wolfsburg Germany, sipping a Dirty Martini whilst having a back rub from my lovely Masseuse (she tells me she used to shot put for East Germany). Oh the glamourous life that I live!

Oh, don’t forget to sign up to www.exposureroom.com. All my proper embeds are from there. It’s a superb site. Still evolving fast, everyday something has changed. Today they had a massive makeover and it is much cleaner. Some way to go, but I applaud what they are doing and you couldn’t ask for a friendlier and more helpful bunch of guys!

Better go now. It is gone late O’clock. I think the sun is coming up soon. My HDX-900 is out on my terrace doing timelapse waiting for the sun to come up, hope it doesn’t rain!