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Zaxcom Nomad - operating questions, plus tips & shortcuts


Jack Norflus

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I just got an anti-glare film made by Zagg applied to my screen. It cuts down on the "mirror" effect and helps in the bright sunlight. Potentially a flag is still needed but at least I can see the white peak line on the meter in direct sun. The best part is my meter was getting minor scratches in it from working in dusty spaces, and the film fills those in and protects it from further scratching. For $20 it seemed like a good investment considering its $100 at the factory to replace a scratched screen. Zagg has a variety of films so you have to be sure to get the most glare resistant one. Bernie

Was this something you did yourself or did you have it done. I've only tried an anti glare screen for my ipod and it didn't work. Which one did you get if there are alot of options from Zagg?

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Would it be possible to use LiFePo4 AA batteries inside the Nomad? I tried AA Lithiums but was lucky to get an hour out of them. My NiMH rechargeables didn't do so hot either.

I've been looking into LiFePo4 batteries for a BDS and came across some 3.2V AA batteries but wasn't sure if they would fry the Nomad. If they work then it would be the cheapest battery powered solution thus far.

I've never seen or tried these batts, but if they are actually 3.2 volts, it would be a bad idea to use them as the resulting voltage would be too high.

Zaxcom recommends only using nimh or lithium aa's internally. Don't use alkalines!

You should get a lot more than an hour out of lithiums though. You might want to check that the batts were fresh and test again.

I'm in the camp where I use np1s and treat the internals as backups in case my external dies during a take.

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I've never seen or tried these batts, but if they are actually 3.2 volts, it would be a bad idea to use them as the resulting voltage would be too high.

Zaxcom recommends only using nimh or lithium aa's internally. Don't use alkalines!

You should get a lot more than an hour out of lithiums though. You might want to check that the batts were fresh and test again.

I'm in the camp where I use np1s and treat the internals as backups in case my external dies during a take.

Yep, if you used all 3.2V Lifepo4 batts inside the nomad, you'd probably damage it. However, you can find dummy AA batteries that just pass the voltage at the negative terminal to the positive one. Using 3 of these dummy batteries and 3 Lifepo4 cells you'd get near to the voltage that 3 lithium AA's would put out. Now it just depends on the voltage of the in-built charger and whether that would damage the cells or not.

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Was this something you did yourself or did you have it done. I've only tried an anti glare screen for my ipod and it didn't work. Which one did you get if there are alot of options from Zagg?

I had it applied at a kiosk at our local mall. I'm not familiar with all the Zagg products but we tried one first that didn't do much and I think that was a standard protective screen with just a bit of glare protection. The guy who applied it offered to replace the first screen with one that had better anti-glare properties. I took him up on it and he said the one he put on was the max glare protection Zagg made.

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Does anyone know if the current crop of Nomads have resolved the phantom power issue. I just receive my Nomad last week and read on page 40 of the user manual that I need to turn off phantom power before plugging in a mic. I've also read on the forum that some people have had a mod done to their unit to resolve the issue. Should I assume that the latest Nomads being built don't have this problem? I don't know if mine already has the mod built in, and I'm hesitant now to plug in a mic with phantom power turned on.

...btw, I did see a topic on the Zaxcom forum entitled "phantom power issue", but after registering myself on the forum today, logging in and clicking on the topic, I am told I don't have permission to access the page. So I'm posting here in the hopes that someone can give me a quick answer.

thx

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would hope that anything that has recently come out of the factory will have had the phantom mod done.

easiest way to check is to plug and unplug a phantom mic without toggling the phantom power. if the channel doesnt lock up, youre all good.

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I just bought a Nomad 6, and I see its immediate application, but.I'm just not sure of its long term benefit. When I do docs and ENG four or less channels is perfect, but if I were to do a reality show I would definitely need more than 6 channels. So there is this gap that the Nomad sits in that I'm not sure if I will reap the benefits. I bought it only because there were no more 4 channels...and that the 6 is supposedly the best seller. In your opinion am I wrong in this regard?

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Is anyone using rec. run and autoload on their nomad? I have a rec run shoot coming up in two days, and I won't have a chance to test. Anyone run into issues?

I know the mp3 recording isn't implimented yet, which is a bummer because I need it sunday.

The manual shows the ability to route tc to card tracks, but it doesn't show up on my nomad. Is that a future feature?

Nomad 8 v3.07

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if you have a slate, a sync box or any other TC source you could test the auto-load...

Or, you could record some TC (using a cable from Nomad's TC output into one of Nomad's tracks), mirror, and use a player's output (computer, iPod, etc) into your Nomad's TC input to make the same test... You'll have to guess the right level though

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if you have a slate, a sync box or any other TC source you could test the auto-load...

Or, you could record some TC (using a cable from Nomad's TC output into one of Nomad's tracks) and use any way of playing it (computer, iPod, etc) into your Nomad's TC input to make the same test...

That's true, I may do it this afternoon.

I suppose I could run a cable from the tc output into an input and use that to get tc to one of my tracks for transcription. hmmm.

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Then what's the difference between rec run and auto load

Regards

Chris

Two complete different things; rec run is about time code; when camera (or recorder) goes into record mode, time code will continue. Instead of free run, where time code will go continuously, therefore gaps in time code between takes. Auto load is as described above.

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Is anyone using rec. run and autoload on their nomad? I have a rec run shoot coming up in two days, and I won't have a chance to test. Anyone run into issues?

Yes I have used it - it worked fine. Just go into the mode menu and set TC transport to auto-load. And set the TC to record run and you will be fine.

I know the mp3 recording isn't implimented yet, which is a bummer because I need it sunday.

The manual shows the ability to route tc to card tracks, but it doesn't show up on my nomad. Is that a future feature?

MP3 recording should be implemented soon. Routing TC to a record track will be for MP3 recording. When you record a .WAV file Nomad already does a TC stamp in the meta data so there is no reason to have TC recorded on a track in a .WAV file.

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