Very unusual…Sony letting a cat out of the bag that’s not due out till 2011…no doubt about it, this looks the business though my first impressions it looks to be a tad front heavy, the lens must weigh a ton yet it’s sitting on a very small body but one things for sure it looks the part unlike Panasonics cine camera effort.
UPDATE : The camera has a 35mm sensor and records video on SxS. It seems that the camera has an Alpha Mount and you will be able to use current Sony Alpha Lenses though the lens on this prototype looks nothing like an Alpha lens…thank goodness. On sourcing a blow up of this picture we can see it is using a 65mm prime lens this is fantastic news for the film boys although I do think this will come at a price.
Once again we are seeing a video manufacturer coming out with a film like camera with SDoF, proper video Hi-Rez swivel viewfinder and XLR sound, I reckon the HDSLR has had a good run for it’s money…but the boys who know how to design proper cine like camcorders will take over…not before time !
Sony – New Small Prototype Digital Cinema Camera – NAB 2010 – Playback from camera department on Vimeo.
Everything looks great except the arcane focusing dial!
That’s a follow-focus. Nothing arcane about it. All pro camera rigs use them to achieve smooth and repeatable focusing.
VF in the old Z1U position in the canterline of the camera… needs a side mount like EX3, with even more adjustment range. Must be able to take Canon and Nikon glass too.
Thanks for sharing. I’m glad they came out early. This gives time for planning future purchases. I see Panasonic got a jump on this, but it’s nice to see more manufacturer’s are listening to our needs.
Agreed, much accept Canon and Nikon glass, even if it makes it fully manual.
Is it SLR 35mm sensor size, or Film 35mm (Super35, about the same as RED and APS-C sensor).
Both used 35mm film, but SLR shoots frames along strip, Film shoots across it so each frame isn’t as ‘wide’.
Not exactly a leap forward, more a flinching side step.
Sony are reacting (smartly) to the growth in popularity of DSLRs.
Camera looks like an EX with all those fiddly buttons to knock and a VF in stuck in the wrong place, needs to be mounted around the front of the handle, where you can keep one eye on the action and the other on the lens. Call me old fashioned 🙂
Please tell me it doesn’t shoot on tape.
No, you are not old fashioned, but some of the people in the pro-camcorder market always insisted on 3CCDs. That IS old fashioned! That means putting smaller CCDs in, also they used to be very expensive to make. So DSLRs had a crop factor and video cameras had a massive crop factor. Times have changed, I guess we can thank the D90 and 5D Mk2 for going there. I do not want to shoot video on a camera that is designed for still photos though.
As far as will it be true 36×24 or S35? I would say 36×24, and cropping the top and bottom for 16×9 video. Sony is introducing APS-C/S35 sensor to consumer Handycams – see the new NEX-VG10
You can bet it will take any of the Zeiss cinema lenses.
In any case Alpha lenses are generally as good if not better than Nikon and Canon.