Tomorrow (Tuesday) will see the editing done then some tweeks and some interesting findings…low light issues against the EX-3. Only here will you be able to make your mind up wether to add this camera as a good second partner to your EX-3. Come back on Wednesday afternoon (8th April 09) to find out.
Sony recently brought out the second generation “Z” camcorder and added a 20x wide angle zoom and an option to record to compact flash card. I have one of these camcorders for a couple of days plus some user testimonials. As usual I will compare this camera against the EX-3.
A range of accessories useful when shooting with the HXR-MC1P have been assembled into a single accessories kit. Contents:
If I had shown this to you yesterday (April fools day) you may have seen the photoshop work… EX-3 viewfinder and slots x 2. The main thing would have been the XDCAM EX logo… time was against me and I had to make the logo look convincing without spending time looking for it in my fonts collection so I decided to make the picture smaller. The camera as you will have noticed is in fact a PDW-700. Just after I put this up I emailed Philip Bloom who came in on it which had a remarkable effect, I wasn’t prepared for Philip to then post this into two forums. Thats when the site went wild we even got posted in Japan so no doubt good old Sony got to see a new camera they weren’t expecting to see…! If Sony would like to take my idea and produce such a camera I and many others would be delighted.
Finally it’s here just in time for NAB 2009 the all new Sony EX-7 here are a few specs from Sonys pre NAB press release…
The PMW-EX7 camcorder is equipped with three 1/2-inch CCDs – using newly developed “Power HAD™ FX” progressive CCD technology with 1920 x 1080 effective pixels. Breathtaking HD images can be captured by these high-resolution CCDs and the 14-bit A/D conversion and advanced digital signal processing incorporated into the PMW-EX-7.
The PMW-EX7 comes with 4 SxS slots (Please note. This camera will not take MxR or MxM cards) and records from 50Mb/s 4:2:2 through to DVCAM.
The superb picture quality of the PMW-EX7 will increase the appeal for applications such as documentary, European TV drama and mainstream entertainment programmes that require a high quality look. File-based acquisition, with thumbnail and proxy operation is also ideal for fast-turnaround news and live applications where speed of production is a critical requirement.
The suggested price will be around £8700
A new deck the PDW-U75D will have 4 slots and a disc insert allowing you to archive from SxS onto 50Gb discs. Recording onto Dual Layer discs (50GB) is a feature of a range of new Sony products, including the PDW-F335 XDCAM HD camcorders and full range of XDCAM EX camcorders. (Picture & price coming soon).
Panasonic P2 cards are nothing other than 4 SD cards side by side plus a raid controller chip…! So if you take four 16G SD (64G) class 6 cards at £31 each = £124 then add PCB, raid chip etc, £40 plus the P2 casing and tooling £60 you are looking at a total of £224 top’s add 100% profit you are looking at £448 .
So where do we get 64G P2 cards for £1708 !!!
In my early days I was part of a design team producing double sided printed circuit boards for the audio broadcast industry so I have a good inside knowledge of what PCBs & components cost.
The link below to Panasonic’s P2 explanation and make up…
https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/sales_o/p2/p2card/index.html
I bought this just after purchasing my Sony EX-1 to allow my clients to see what I was filming and to give me peace of mind that my colour balance was correct. It runs of a 12v power supply that slips onto the back using a V connection.
I bought two 14.4 volt Lion batteries and a charger which seem to run the monitor all day. It has various connections… Composite (BNC), S-Video, component (3 x BNCs) and HD-SDI (BNC). I was a bit miffed at the 4:3 screen but if you are inserting footage into an older 4:3 edit you do have the option to view it. I have not filmed or edited 4:3 for over two years now and the screen shows 16:9 with the press of a button.
So why did I go for the 9050 when most cameramen plum for the 9030? Practicality and better screen resolution; I needed to view the HD-SDI signal coming out of the camera. Before I bought this monitor I used an LCD monitor using the cameras component-out lead and, take it from me, that’s a messy way to monitor your pictures. The camera takes an SDI lead out of the HD-SDI BNC into the HD-SDI input of the 9050 which is the only one of three models to have this input, the other reason was the screen resolution — 1024 x 768 — the 9030 being 640 x 480.
The top-of-the-line LMD-9050 further provides a variety of digital progressive SD and HD formats through its HD-SDI interface. These include 480/60P and 576/50P and high-definition 1080/60i, 1080/50i, 720/50P, 720/60P as well as 1080/24PsF. You can buy the Sony LMD-9050 from Preston Media for £2242 (Tell John the HD Warrior sent you and you will get a further discount) www.videokit.co.uk
I love the new Panasonic HPX-301E but my main concern and it wont be the first time I have been down the P2 route is the cost and dated technology of the P2 cards themselves. If I were to produce work for television on HD the camera I would like to plum for is the 301 but Panasonic make this road very difficult with the price of the cards 32GB P2 card = £960 and the new 64GB card is £1708.
I would need two 64GB cards which would set me back a whopping £3416 ! If I sold the camera at a later date no one would pay any where near that price for the cards and I would take a big hit on it’s second hand value. I have always stated we only get these inflated prices because P2 is mainly Panasonic’s flagship broadcast kit, therefore we get inflated broadcast pricing !
DV brought a lot of manufacturers to book in fact DV in my opinion killed of M2 and JVC’s D9, Sony’s betacam had a hand in this in fact the broadcasters were intrenched with betacam so much so they would not buy anything else giving Sony a great hold for many years. I remember years ago when I was at a trade show and Panasonic was showing off M2 and beside them was Sony with early DV footage and it blew M2 out of the water.
Sorry I digress, I find it very refreshing that Panasonic have brought out the 301 at a price of £8832 which is only £1589 dearer than the EX-3 but now the SxS cards are being sidelined by the MxM/SDHC card it’s takes the EX-3 to a new level of affordability. Knowing the video junkies as I am one of them we rook ourselves to get the best we can afford and forget about the ongoing cost of extra 16GB SxS cards putting us further into debt and sale close to the wind with our partners.
If Panasonic seriously want to make a dent in the EX-3 market they will have to re price the P2 card remembering that Sony will be on their heals with a 50mbs EX-5 full shoulder mount, 4 slot, broadcast 2/3 inch lens camera at a price of £8500…in my dreams.
Many of us with Sony EX-3s are contemplating jumping ship to the new JVC GY-HM700…why ? This will depend on a few factors but one of my sore points with the EX-3 has been solved with the introduction of the MxM (previously the MxR) SD-HC insert.
It makes what was previously a major hole in your budget having to buy a 16Gb Sony SxS card into a joy with the advent of the MxM card. Cost all in is about £70 per 16Gb against £500 for the Sony SxS card. So with the storage issue solved is it worth jumping ship the answer is not yet. Only a small handful of people have so called reviewed this camcorder but left us all with the same questions… how does the JVC perform against the EX-3 in low light and image performance? I hope to answer these questions and more as soon as I get my hands on one.
User review of the Sony EX-3, a week with the Panasonic HPX-301E, review of the Sony HRV-Z5E and a user review of the new JVC GY-HM700 and how it performs in low light and it’s user friendliness in Final Cut Pro.
