Sony PMW-X70

[ATL Media Group]

totally agree - it looke terrible - about as sharp as the nex5n - completely consumer - which is a shame as I thought it was gonna be a great little cam.

maube the 4k will make ok 1080!

Yeah, it's not near as sharp as my AX100 but I assumed that was because it was at 1080 instead of 4K... Looked pretty good to me for 1080 but I suppose I was giving it too much of an excuse for only being 1080 and not 4K.

 

[ddixon]

With FCPX the .mxf is the factor. FCPX will not import *any* .mxf without a plugin. The Canon XF Series cameras require a free plugin from Canon AND the entire original complete folder structure to import their mxfs. Bare mxfs won't work, even with the plugin. I'm sure Sony will take care of this very soon by creating a plugin as Canon has.

There is an app called EditReady - $49 from Divergent Media, the company that also does ClipWrap. EditReady will convert lots of files, including bare .mxf, to several ProRes flavors, h.264, etc. or will just rewrap them for FCPX. It came out at NAB but just recently added mxf compatibility. I assume (but do not know for sure) that it will also convert the Sony mxfs.

I think this camera is going to be like my Canon XF100 in that it has a very bland look until you dig into the wide range of picture adjustments. Almost all the footage to date looks like it was done in Auto with no tweaks or grading, so I'm not judging yet. It's also disappointing that the X70 doesn't include the AX100's 720p120fps.

 

[Vultch]

Why is this Apples fault, its a Sony codec. Surely Sony should be offering a developers pack to all NLE coders allowing them to modify their NLE's to use it.
Is there a licensing issue? have Apple had the info and sat in it, more info is needed.

Also does it work flawlessly with other NLE's?

 

[ATL Media Group]

Why is this Apples fault, its a Sony codec. Surely Sony should be offering a developers pack to all NLE coders allowing them to modify their NLE's to use it.
Is there a licensing issue? have Apple had the info and sat in it, more info is needed.

Also does it work flawlessly with other NLE's?

Because it works with all the other NLE's? Read the post right above yours.. "With FCPX the .mxf is the factor. FCPX will not import *any* .mxf without a plugin" So YES... it's Apples fault.

 

[demoboy]

Here's the thing...

The AX100 already shoots at 4K. As of now it's already about 300 bucks cheaper than the PMW70. When the PMW70 adds the 4K upgrade (as a Pro camera category) who knows what the price will be. Aside from the XLR and Phantom advantages, I have no idea how quiet or clean those preamps are. I use a couple Rode NTG3 mics for my operators with Olympus LS100 recorders. The preamps from the LS100 have better gain and eq controls than the onboard IO from the small format pro cams provided from Sony, Panny, or Canon. This is all referring to external / run gun shooting. However for static interior shooting I use the mics with the Sound Devices USBPre 2... I am very picky about audio quality for indie.

Just having a hard time to justify the AX100 vs the PMW70...

From several reviews I've heard the AX100 has a nice clean uncompressed output, but I'm sure it's only 8-bit. I was thinking of adding 2 new Atomos Ninja Stars if I purchase 2 AX100's. I could use the Ninja Stars for other cameras or rental persuasion. However, as far as the AX100 and the Ninja Stars it would be pointless to record an 8-bit uncompressed signal to a 10-bit ProRes HQ file. PMW70 is already 10bit! $ AX100 + Ninja Star = $ PMW70 (minus 4K) Sony with their spec trickery of an identical looking cam is comedy!

Any thoughts?

 

[Vultch]

Its not just FCPX I have just been on a AVID forum and it needs a plugin to import .mxf files or the Premiere forums it suggests converting the .mxf files to another format for use.

EDIT - funny enough as I type this here is a new plug in for FCPX
http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/new...th-final-cut-pro-x-will-support-meta-graphics

 

[ddixon]

Well, for the Canon cameras, Canon provided the solution, so Canon obviously didn't consider it Apple's responsibility to make the import work.

Back to the camera - I think the deep picture controls, 10 bit 4:2:2, the better codec, and the SDI for those who need it are worth the extra cost over the AX100. If you don't need those things, fine. For those of us on a budget, I even like the option to get the camera for only $2300, then add another $500 (just guessing) or so later for the 4K if desired. I also like that it has the sensor zoom and a removable handle for times the XLRs are not needed.

But, I'm still waiting to see if the image and XLRs live up to the specs.

 

[ATL Media Group]

Agreed ddixon.. It could very well be a Sony issue, if so maybe they'll release an update/importer for all NLEs. I also agree on the rest.. I'm patiently waiting for raw video upload to test 422 10 bit grading in Speedgrade and to see what other users think of the camera. Especially users of the AX100... I own the AX and it's a great little prosumer grade camera so I'd like to see a review/comparison between it and the X70.

 

[ATL Media Group]

Over at DVInfo a guy uploaded some clips for us to test... VLC media player won't play the video part of the clips, but WMP does just fine and Premiere CC 2014 sees them correctly.

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

All the 10-bit 422 data doesn't matter if the camera can't do proper 1000 lines of resolution. Once you've worked with high resolved 1080p cameras like the EX3 or F3 there's really no justification to have less. If the 4k looks good enough? Well then we have to wait until 4k is in the X70 to know. I urge anyone to consider this when there's already the AX100 for less.

 

[ATL Media Group]

All the 10-bit 422 data doesn't matter if the camera can't do proper 1000 lines of resolution. Once you've worked with high resolved 1080p cameras like the EX3 or F3 there's really no justification to have less. If the 4k looks good enough? Well then we have to wait until 4k is in the X70 to know. I urge anyone to consider this when there's already the AX100 for less.

Download the clips yourself... Looks like proper 1080P to me... very clear to my eye.
http://we.tl/XlxyCMBi6U

 

[zeke]

I thought the still looked great. The color was excellent. The dogs weren't staying still either. This camera has a great future for low budget indie work and docs.

 

[ATL Media Group]

I thought the still looked great. The color was excellent. The dogs weren't staying still either. This camera has a great future for low budget indie work and docs.

That's what I thought... Playing with the footage, it's easy to see this is a more professional codec with 422 10 bit easy to push for grading... really nice sharp footage.

 

[demoboy]

Don't worry about Sony's PMW-X70 for Final Cut Pro. Sony's about to release (in October) Catalyst Browse for free. You should be apple to transcode your footage to ProRes HQ considering their software marketing has Apple notebooks using the software.

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

Thanks for letting me see the native clips. But to they still look mushy.

 

[frantick]

I didn't think it looked mushy, but many shots, ie ducks, were out of focus. Will wait to see more. -cp

 

[TheDingo]

Thanks for letting me see the native clips. But to they still look mushy.

I think it all depends on proper focus. Some of those native shots looked absolutely crisp, while others were horribly out of focus.

Overall I thought the in focus footage looked great.

 

[ATL Media Group]

I think it all depends on proper focus. Some of those native shots looked absolutely crisp, while others were horribly out of focus.

Overall I thought the in focus footage looked great.

Exactly... Obviously the out of focus stuff will look.. out of focus.. the shots in focus were easily as sharp as the sharpest 1080P to me. Very crisp. I've even gone into Premiere and scaled it up to almost 200% and it's clear and sharp.

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

I didn't see out of focus as that is easy to identify. But I did saw a rough image in the many clips, probably when the camera was used at greater than the optical zoom. I saw lots of noise and in general a lack of detail. What I found on many cameras is that straight lines and high contrast stuff can look fine on even a compact camera shooting video but when it comes to resolving real detail like human faces there's a huge difference between cameras that do resolve and cameras that does not.

Sorry but this camera ain't my cup of tea. It reminds me of my RX100 and I don't like video from that camera.

With that said I found UHD video from the AX100 to look very nice.

 

[Josh Bass]

to those complaining about the footage...are you looking at raw footage or recompressed clips? to me raw is the only thing worth judging, not something thats been through the youtube or vimeo wringer.