Good things for HMC-XXX Sonys new NXCAM!

On the spec sheet it hints it can also swtich audio from PCM to AC3 - I think it was on that video with them 2 men chattin about the cam - in the audio column it says pcm/AC3 hinting its selectable

I hope so..
 
Barry_Green said:
Neither one is on the market yet.

However, I think the comparison will likely be pretty close -- Adam Wilt says the Z5 is about 400 ISO, the EX1 is 400 ISO (in 1080p mode). The EX1 is 800 ISO in 1080i mode, so if shooting 1080i it'd be twice as sensitive).

The codec, if Sony implemented it properly, should actually be superior on the NXCAM.

The recording media will of course be cheaper, you don't need SxS cards or adapters or whatever.

For noise, the EX1 should be 3dB to 6dB cleaner than the NXCAM.

For sharpness, they'll probably be pretty close; perhaps an edge to the EX1.

For lens control, the EX1 wins, even though both have three rings, the EX1 has a pure manual feel to it.

The EX1 has variable frame rates, the NXCAM that we've heard of so far doesn't (although who knows, since it's not due until next year, maybe there'll be more features announced?)

The 1/2" chips will give a small DOF advantage to the EX1, but the NX has a 20x zoom, so pick your poison there.

And of course the EX1 will cost more. So its main advantages appear to be cleaner images and variable frame rates and the feel of the manual controls on the lens. The NX is less expensive, probably competitive in many ways, and has stuff like GPS and whatever.

But, again, it's all speculation since you're looking at comparing spec sheets against spec sheets and neither product is actually on the market.
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Great response as usual, Barry. Now to further belabor the point: I know you've been extensivley testing the Canon 7D.

If you wanted a camera for DVD and Projection, possible film out, robust codec for color correction, and high ISO for low light scenarios, with a slew of lens options, the winner would be?
 
Barry_Green said:
You just answered your own question. Ever since Sony bought Vegas, its universal support has weakened significantly. Sony Vegas supports Sony products, and they don't prioritize anything else. Which is probably the primary reason I've quit relying on Vegas, it's no longer a universal editor, it almost seems to be more of a tool to push & promote Sony camcorder sales. Can't say as I blame them for their selfish interest, but on behalf of those of us who bought and learned it long before it was SONY Vegas, it sucks that they went that way.
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I can't go with you there on this one. I can drop native footage into Vegas from:

1. RED
2. EX1
3. 5D/7D
4. GH1
6. HF-S10 and other consumer variants
7. DVX100 and other miniDV cams.


What I cannot do is drop in AVC-Intra or DVCProHD. I don't know if that's Sony's fault or Panasonics. However, since Raylight makes a decoder to play P2 for Windoes (regardless of NLE), makes a converter for Premiere, and for FCP, I am guessing that it's Panasonic who's not done due diligence to get the format into various NLEs. At present only FCP and Edius support AVC-Intra natively. So again, that doesn't seem like a Sony or Vegas problem.

It seems like the Vegas team has been going out of their way to support the popular indie cams. Of course it doesn't ingest Arriraw or filmstream, but the addition of DPX support is the next best thing for working with cams at that level.
 
Gotta revise my statements. It appears that over the last 9-12 months AVC Intra native support has been added to Avid, FCP, and Premiere. Edius was already there. So perhaps it is now only a Sony v Panasonic deal rather like P2 in general has been. I still wonder if this is Sony or Panasonic's failing as Vegas can ingest footage from the GH1, the HMC150, etc. just fine. Does Sony not want to support P2, or does Panasonic not want to let Vegas have the keys to it.
 
bill totolo said:
What are the cons against the memory stick?
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It's Sony only. And on a Panasonic board Sony = THE DEVIL! :)

Seriously, it's just a Sony proprietary media and really Sony need to just support industry standards like SDHC and CompactFlash. I think ultimately, this decision will hurt them yet again. Nice camera, but users are a bit too savvy these days to go for proprietary media for a camera that really isn't all that big a leap from it's competitiors.
 
What doesn't make sense is Sony makes a CF writer DTE device... so why not just incorporate that into this new cam? Why make it Memory stick when they already have CF?
 
I would take the new sony, if it only had a CCD sensor...
Memory stick is not bad, i rather have to deal with buying "sticks" than having the crappy LCD's panasonic is using on it's cameras! and GOD do i miss the battery life i had on my sony days. the batteries we have on the HMC150 are horrible, miss those days of shooting a day's worth of stuff and having juice to spare!
 
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CMOS just sucks for event work. rolling shutter with photographers is terrible.
i have never been more glad to be rid of my EX1 after watching the horrid footage
i got from it with flash.
 
PerroneFord said:
I hear this quite a bit. What is it that you feel the CCD brings to the table, that the CMOS does not?
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The rolling shutter/banding with photography flashes looks horrible. until they fix that problem with some kind of algorithm (by deleting the frame and replacing it with a composition of the previous and post frames) or by having a global shutter (don't think is possible, but I'm not a video engineer)...

for most users is not a big deal, but for event videography where you have multiple photographers that get trigger happy is a big deal. I'm talking about several thousand flashes in a days worth! :violin:
 
apparrently sony took care of it, but you have to run your footage through a software application on your computer, not in camera.
 
Whether CMOS a deal-breaker or not, I bet that successors to Panasonic's 200/170/150 and to Canon's A1/G1 will have CMOS sensors.
 
KnoxHotch said:
apparrently sony took care of it, but you have to run your footage through a software application on your computer, not in camera.
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Sony has a post "flash band" fix offered in the latest version of the XDCAM EX browser/transfer software. I don't know if that would apply to the NXCAM series or not.
 
I hope they do, of course; I'm just saying that it may not be an option yet so the post-option that Sony offers may not apply to this particular camera. But that would be silly, and I certainly hope they make it available either in-camera or with some sort of post-transfer software.
 
Superfresa66 said:
The rolling shutter/banding with photography flashes looks horrible. until they fix that problem with some kind of algorithm (by deleting the frame and replacing it with a composition of the previous and post frames) or by having a global shutter (don't think is possible, but I'm not a video engineer)...

for most users is not a big deal, but for event videography where you have multiple photographers that get trigger happy is a big deal. I'm talking about several thousand flashes in a days worth! :violin:
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Yeah the photography flashes just murder the cmos footage sometimes.
 
Barry_Green said:
I hope they do, of course; I'm just saying that it may not be an option yet so the post-option that Sony offers may not apply to this particular camera. But that would be silly, and I certainly hope they make it available either in-camera or with some sort of post-transfer software.
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Don't panasonic have an in camera fix on the HPX300? That seems like a much better fix than having to run 8 hours of footage through some Sony botched together software 3 times a week!

As cranky said, the 150a etc will presumably have the 3MOS sensor from the HPX or something similar so hopefully it will get the fix as well.
 
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