XDCAM goes wireless in Tahiti

Filmmaker Nicolas Eveilleau has filmed his latest documentary on a PMW-400, copying his shots onto a PMW-50 and using Sony's CBK-WA100 wireless adapter and Ci: cloud-based service to instantly send proxies to the production team in Paris.

For the solo shoot of his latest documentary, filmed in Tahiti, filmmaker Nicolas Eveilleau carried with him in a single bag all the material he needed to film, record sound, download the data and send the proxies to Paris. He shot with a PMW-400, copied his shots to a PMW-50, and used the CBK-WA100 wireless adapter and the Ci:de cloud-based service. Sony to instantly send the proxies to the production team in Paris.

The combined use of the PMW-400, the PMW-50 recording/playback unit and the CBK-WA100 wireless adapter puts an end to the problems of recording and sending data to other parts of the world, and allows independent operator Nicolas Eveilleau to shoot a documentary in Tahiti alone and without compromising quality.

Shooting a documentary on the other side of the world often requires a lot of logistical planning, especially when the production team needs the footage shot that same day. And it is impossible to carry out this type of logistics when working alone, as Nicolas Eveilleau did when filming his documentary on the Polynesian islands. “I was only able to take the equipment I was capable of carrying,” he said. These equipment limitations mean having to make sacrifices in terms of quality.

New opportunities

Thanks to Sony's new tools, it is now possible to go further, alone and without using high-end XDCAM shoulder camcorders. The CBK-WA100 allows compressed images to be sent over the Internet over the existing telecommunications network, so it is no longer necessary to create and transport your own transmission infrastructure.

"I can carry everything I need for filming, sound, downloading data from my cards and sending proxies in a single bag. Technical limitations have never been a problem for me. What you are looking for in each recording is freedom," says the filmmaker.