Today was my last day at IBC, this is catch-up day, the day when I make sure I have visited all the stands or get extra cutaways I feel I did not get during my two day marathon.
On my way to Genustech I bumped into Philip Bloom who told me about the JVC 4K mini camcorder, I told Phil I was heading over to JVC to interview Semir Nouri from JVC.
The camcorder is a GY-HM150 with a 4K badge stuck on the side, the LSI chip enables processing, encoding and recording of 4K2K images, which have four times the resolution of full HD. The final version will record onto 4 SDHC cards and talking to Phil it will be a workflow nightmare, but JVC are talking to various NLE developers before we see the final version sometime next year.
Genustech is the new name for Genus and they were displaying a great range of matte boxes and a very new and innovative GMB-HP Hotplate.
This is a cracking baseplate for camcorders like the Sony FS100 and the innovative part is it’s tool-less in other words no allan keys or screwdrivers needed to attach your camera to this baseplate.
On my way back to Sony to find out more info on the NX70 rocker switch I had a look at Sony’s new innovative 3D HD recordable binoculars, I have to say I was very impressed and if any twitchers are reading this it’s the most impressive tool you could wish to have on your bird hunting frolics.
Sony are looking into the rocker switch problem in fact I learned only today the problem lies with a resistor that had to be replaced due to the waterproofing which takes away the normal variability of the switch. I told them if there is little they can do to give us variability then slow down the speed as it is useless as it stands.
This little device was for me the star of the show at £219 it’s going to be a clear winner with Sony FS100 owners who missed out not having HD-SDI out of our cameras. Connect from Atomos will allow HD-SDI to HDMI or HDMI to HD-SDI video conversion and using a Sony L-ion battery will last up to 12 hours in the field…so simple yet so needed !
Lastly I noticed an increase in Chinese stands this year showing off everything from DSLR rigs to LED lighting and the quality of workmanship is very good indeed.
The main gripe with UK suppliers is the cost of manufacture, no one can compete with the Chinese on price so maybe we need to be one or two steps ahead. The Chinese are certainly welcome by the end users who are now affording good quality LED lighting at a fraction of the cost of some of the more well known LED lighting companies.
So there you have it, I have had a great time over here in Amsterdam at IBC 2011, once again well attended but my main gripe with the organisers is the floor plan they hand out, there is no indication which hall is which, I kid you not.
I look forward to editing my video report which will be slotted in next week as I have a pressing corporate edit to produce when I get back on Thursday and remember if you stay in Glasgow there is a UK Final Cut Users group meeting on Thursday the 22nd of September which I will be speaking at with Rick Young.
Details here : http://www.macvideo.tv/ukfcug/Glasgow
Thanks for the great reviews. A couple of questions- Coupling an NX70 with the Atomos HDMI to HDSDI connector, would it be possible to use the camera for live broadcast Standard Definition television?
Any moire or aliasing problems with the NX70?
Still unsure about buying the NX70 vs something like the Canon XF105. If the zoom rocker is so bad – please let me know if the zoom ring on the lens is operable for smooth start finish zooming.
Moire and aliasing are not a fault seen on most video camcorders except the Sony VG-10 because it uses a DSLR chip. The rocker is being felt with by Japan but if you use a Manfrotto 521 zoom control you get a very smooth variable zoom.
Thanks for that. Just tried a Canon XF105 and found the zoom rocker and the viewfinder unusable. The specs for the NX70 viewfinder sound better but for me it’s a non-starter after Sony just confirmed via email that the NX70 has no ND filter system either optical or electronic. Even my Canon HV20 has auto ND built in.
Reference to your comment on the NX70 rocker, please dont encourage SONY to fix it by just slowing it down. I hope most owners would prefer a proportional zoom rocker control like the Canon XF100 & XF105 then the NX70 would be acceptable.
If it comes down to the fact that with the modifications the rocker switch has such a low range of variability that we have to accept that I’d agree with Philip I’d rather that range was biased towards the creep end. I hardly ever need to use crash zooms except when re framing between shots in live situations, where as a live creep zoom I use all the time.
I Agree! Minimum fix should be creep zoom!