Sony XDCAM EX

Can they be any more vague ? sigh.

The official Sony USA press release

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_r...uction/content_create_edit/release/31586.html

SxS Pro Press Release

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_r...uction/content_create_edit/release/31598.html

Notable*

The imaging devices used in the camcorder are three newly designed 1/2-inch type Exmor™ CMOS sensors, each with an effective pixel count of 1920 x 1080. This 1/2-inch type image sensor, allows the camcorder to provide an extremely high sensitivity of F10, a signal-to-noise ratio of 54 dB, and horizontal resolution of 1000 television lines.

The lens offers a wide angle of view of 5.8 mm (equivalent to 31.4 mm on a 35 mm lens), and many convenient features for diverse shooting situations.

To increase interoperability, a range of non-linear editing manufacturers are developing compatible interfaces, including Adobe Systems Incorporated, Adobe Premiere Pro with MainConcept MPEG Pro, Apple Inc. Final Cut Pro Studio, Dayang Technology Development Inc. D3 Edit 3000 Series, Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. Matrox Axio and Matrox RT.X2, MOG Solutions Toboggan MediaTransfer, Newauto Silicon Valley Video Technology CO.,LTD.’s Himaraya 1000/A1200/A1500 series, Sobey Digital Technology Co., Ltd. E7 and E2000, Sony Creative Software Vegas® Pro 8, and Thomson Grass Valley EDIUS™ Pro and Grass Valley EDIUS Broadcast.
The PMW-EX1 camcorder is expected to be available in November at a suggested price of less than $8,000.
 
The exposures are off on these examples.
The article mentions their pre production model had an exposure bug.
Sony is working on it now. It was hard to decode this from Germanglish.

One thing for sure, the last images with both cameras at 0db, the lens set up for the same field composition and both wide open apertures, the EX looks at least a stop or so better. Even thought the image is scaled down, their appears to be decent detail even under that lighting condition.

Also, the DOF is tighter at a given focal length and aperture.
Having said that, it appears they were using the tele end of the lens.

I'd like to see some wider examples. I realize, we're only talking 1/2" so that
kind of improvement may not be all that great, though better than the 1/3".
 
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Stevet said:
One thing for sure, the last images with both cameras at 0db, the lens set up for the same field composition and both wide open apertures, the EX looks at least a stop or so better.
Click to expand...
Unless done scientifically, with control conditions in place, I take these examples with a bit of a pinch of salt - though first impressions of the EX I agree do look very good.

Most particularly, these examples would only truly show the EX to be a stop or so faster IF the S/N ratios of the cameras with 0dB gain are equal.

If cameras A & B gave a given exposure, at 0dB gain, both wide open, but cam A had a S/N ratio 6dB worse than B, they DO NOT have the same sensitivity - cam B should have 6dB of gain switched in to make the test fair!

All that said, the EX spec does quote it to have a very good S/N figure at 0dB, so these examples do bode well for the EX - as would be expected with the 1/2" chips.

I await an authoritative and impartial shoot out between these cameras with great interest.........
 
I, for one welcome any additional stop advantages, especially to compensate with the use of a 35mm adapter like the letus extreme.
 
I hear you harddrive. You make a good point. It's a relative to the noise floor.

I'm fairly familiar with then noise specs on the HVX200.

I am hearing the EX fairs well in the noise department, but you know how that goes.

We have to get our hands on it to tell.
- But if that last image is reasonably clean, which it appears to be though its resized and kind of hard to tell, the EX is going to do well in low light.

One thing I'm happy to see is the posted screen grab of waves hitting a rocky shoreline. The JVC HD100 and Sony HDV codec would show mpeg artifacts.
The EX was clean with no blocky artifacts -just solid freeze motion.
This was posted a while back: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=110306&highlight=dvinfo

I wonder which XDCAM codec was in use, maybe the 35mbit?
 
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thats amazing. if its lowlight is that good thats impressive. though i must admit, the HVX200 image still looked more "pleasing" in the outdoor shots. the contrast was flatter, and the color saturation looked more natural. the EX is probably ALOT sharper, but hey, resolution isnt everything. But this is personal preference. I think sony made a hell of a camera.
 
Tim,
The exposure was incorrect for the EX. It was noted on the site. The pre production model had a bug with the exposure. Sony is working on it.
 
Stevet said:
I hear you harddrive. You make a good point. It's a relative to the noise floor.
..........
I am hearing the EX fairs well in the noise department, but you know how that goes.

We have to get our hands on it to tell.
Click to expand...
Tests on pro cameras are always quoted along the lines of "x lux, f10, S/N ydB". which is fine if you are able to do accurate S/N measurements.

My "quick and dirty" check on relative sensitivities to take account of this is to not even bother with 0dB comparisons, but to take them somewhere with relatively low light levels, open both irises fully, then put gain in to make the same exposure on each. Then compare resulting pictures.

If A is far less noisy than B, it is obviously the more sensitive camera in reality, regardless of 0dB results. This approach also takes account of camera processing to reduce noise with high gain, such as frequently happens with prosumer cameras. Once comparing a DSR500 with a PD150, there wasn't a great difference at 0dB, and both made comparable exposure with 18dB of gain. Big difference was that whilst the dsr500 picture was still usable (albeit noisy), the PD150 looked soft and smeary, and not really usable.

I've only had the briefest of plays with the EX, but it does seem to cope with gain very well. It does look very promising.
 
The Q&A done by Mark Kentfield during Sony Australia RoadShow.


1. Will the camera support a flip system for use with 35mm adapters?

No, there’s no flip system, which is a shame because the EX’s LCD is a beauty (more on that later). However, from what I’ve seen so far of the Letus35 Extreme (which flips the image with only ½ stop of light loss) that’s becoming less of an issue with the latest 35mm adapters.

2. What are the transfer rates from SxS to XDCAM ?

Will depend on your system, but the Sony guys were suggesting approximately 3-6 times fast than real-time download from the cards on to computer.

3. Will it be now possible to preserve the 1920x1080 format to XDCAM Disc instead of 1440?

No, however when the new XDCAM HD 422 disks arrive next year, you will be able to store your footage on those disks (albeit upsampled to 50Mbps). Peter Jefferson suggested that MP4 files could be stored as an archive, but not as an editing format.

4. How many stops of dynamic range the EX has, and how it compares to the 1/2" chip DV models?

Ben Allan ACS shot the EX sample footage for Sony Australia, unfortunately the tech I spoke to said he’d forgotten to ask him about dynamic range when they collected the camera. From the footage we were shown (screened on ruddy data projector – people at the launch up in Sydney got to see it on Sony’s 4K projector) I’d say that the EX’s dynamic range is very good – it looks better than any hand-held HD camera I’ve ever seen. Some of the sample footage had some very tough, contrasty shots in it (person in foreground standing in deep shadows under some trees, with a very bright sunlit house in the background) the detail in the shadows in the foreground looked superb - and this is with the brightly lit house in the background correctly exposed.

5. Are Progressive Segmented Frame modes (25PsF, 30PsF) available through i.LINK

I’m not sure, there was a table in the powerpoint presentation we were shown that had all of the possible output formats through HD-SDI, SDI etc. PsF might have been on there, they might not have – there were a LOT of output options on there, so I wouldn’t be surprised if PsF is one of them.

6. What kind of proprietary adapter is required to use the lens remote controller?

The Sony Australia guys don’t know yet.

7. Is the HD-SDI output live only and/or will it output recorded footage from the SxS cards at both bitrates?

HD-SDI offers output for both live and recorded footage.

8. Can the EX record to card and output SD out of SDI (downconvert) simultaneously and with matching timecode?

I’m not sure about matching timecode, but you can certainly record to card and output SD to a computer/capture device.

9. Will the EX accept a standard fujinon remote lens controller?

No

10. Will the EX be able to adapt (in any way) previous Lanc controllers such as the Manfrotto 523P?

Not sure yet, no one knows quite what Sony are planning for the lens controller.

11. Will the live HD-SDI output offer real 10bits and not 8 bits stuffed into a 10bit SDI stream?

I was told “real” 10 bits.

12. What requirements are for mobile workstations ( PC laptop clock speed, current MacBookPro or MacBook, Vista and Leopard compatibility), RAM size, Hard disk speed requirements?

Just about any current computer should manage just fine. They said they’d used a basic dual-core PC with 2Gb of RAM and Vista Ultimate, and that ran fine. If your computer can handle capturing and editing HDV you’ll probably be okay.

13. Can you copy HQ footage directly to FCS5or6 timeline without capturing or rendering?

Not sure about FCP5, but FCP6 will support XDCAM EX footage natively, just drag your footage straight off the SxS card and into the timeline and off you go! All you’ll need is download Sony’s codec for FCP6 (it’ll be available after they release the camera next month)

14. What are the best software options on PC?

Grass Valley’s Edius (Broadcast v4.6 – due soon) will support XDCAM footage via some software from Canopus (which unwraps the .MP4 files for you) workflow looked fast and simple, unwrap the .MP4s and throw them straight on the timeline.

Sony’s Vegas 8 requires you to unwrap the .MP4 files using the software that comes with the EX (looks quick and painless) and then you drop your footage straight on the timeline and start editing.

The workflows on all three of the NLEs we were shown (Edius, FCP6 and Vegas) looked quick and hassle free.

15. How does it perform against green or blue (or other color) screen?

No blue/green screen sample footage had been shot. I was told that someone had tried changing the colour of a t-shirt with some of the footage, and had pulled it off with some minimal colour fringing around the edges of the t-shirt. That’s as much as they knew I’m afraid.

16. How flexible is footage for coloring in native format?

The first footage we were shown was a short video of a woman painting, at first I was quite horrified by the blue tinting in all of the shadows, fortunately we were then shown that the footage had been colour-graded to look bluish (the native footage looked fine). I didn’t think it was a pleasing grade for that footage, but handled differently maybe it would have looked okay, that’s the only example of colouring I can give you.

17. Will there be a firmware upgrade in the future so that one can store 1920x1080 at 35 mbs from the iLink/firewire port on for example a new FIRESTORE model?

No word on whether firmware is being developed for Firestore, however 25Mbps 1080i should store on Firestore drives just fine.

18. Why no HDMI out?

Because they have HD-SDI? To my knowledge HDMI is a consumer format. The Sony guys sounded pretty adamant about this being a “Pro” camera. The camera has a LOT of output options, it would be hard to find a fault with the camera on that front IMO.

19. Can we use the bundled XDCAM Transfer tool on a PPC Mac, or is it only for Intel Macs?

I didn’t get to ask this question. But the good news is that FCP6 will support XDCAM EX footage natively, so you won’t need the software anyway… unless of course you’re running Vegas or Edius on a PPC Mac (do people run Vegas/Edius on PPC Macs?).

20. Can the EX1 record to DR60 (in SP mode, of course) without any SxS card inserted (or with them both 100% full)?

Good news here – the EX can both communicate with and record to the DR60 (in SP mode only) without any SxS cards inserted. And can record when both SxS cards are full, or as a backup whilst they’re recorded to.

21. What is the bit depth of the internal processing circuitry?

No official word on the internal processing circuitry. The images are captured off the CMOS chips at 14 bit A/D, the tech today told me that Sony’s internal processing is often twice the bitrate of the captured image - so 28 bit, assuming the EX follows this philosophy.

22. Will the cameras allow use of less expensive SSD cards or actively block them, even if they have sufficient throughput?

They dodged this question like true professionals! They wouldn’t say “no” but they also wouldn’t confirm if any non-SxS cards would actually work. Assuming that the read/write speed of a non-SxS card was compatible with the camera, it should work. But there’s no confirmation on whether any such cards actually exist. On the plus side – they didn’t say that camera would actively block such cards!

23. Will HD-SDI output live footage when over/under-cranking?

There’s been some concern about this, particularly for people using steadicam rigs on a regular basis. The bad news is that HD-SDI won’t output live footage for the majority of over/under-cranked framerates. The good news is that it will output the important ones. 1-23, 26-29, 31-49 and 51-59fps can not be outputted live via HD-SDI, however 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60fps (i.e. the regular framerates) are all supported.
 
More report here: http://xdcam.com.au/modules/news/article.php?storyid=303

Last night I attended the Australian launch of the EX-1, together with some highly critical DOPs from the ACS (Australian Cinematographer's Society).

On display were four EX-1 units, with their Japanese 'minders' answering operational questions. I did glean from one that there would be no 'memory cache' recording (well at least for this model).
Cinematographer Ben Allan ACS, provided an operational overview of the camera.

Firstly an edited sequence demonstrating its qualities in 'tight' quarters, this being a small room with an artist painting frantically on canvas with basic 'bounce' lighting.

To view this from Sony's 4k projector on a cinema screen - the results were exceptional to say the least.
Ben then demonstrated the colour correction he had made in FCP on the clip with split screen effect. A marked contrast from an overly warm to colder look - but no noticeable degradation of the graded image.

To prove the physical 'invisibility' of the camera, he shot amongst tourists around Sydney, to the point where he filmed them! All without reaction - and this within weeks of Sydney's highest security alert during the APEC conference, he even managed to hand the camera over to a security guard to shoot a shot of himself against one of Sydney's historic buildings, proving the camera not only looked like a prosumer camera it could also be operated by an amateur albeit when auto functions were enabled.

You may think this as being a funny exercise, but with security so absurdly stringent and permissions just an authoritarian nightmare, you can see where he is coming from, particularly from the 'documentary' camera side of things.

Next came exposure latitudes - now I think it was around 5 stops. The under exposed -2 seemed ok at some ridiculous ASA rating of 1600. I wasn't taking notes at this point but all looked good till he got to about +2 or 3 stops over exposed. Mind you the images still held up despite the lack of chroma! Ben commented favorably with the camera's latitude given the high compression ratios of the format.

The conclusion of this experiment was the fact 1 maybe 2 stops under is fine and you can probably rate it at 800ASA - point being, night shoots become an added bonus at this rating and worth experimenting.

Slowmo was also demonstrated @ 60fps with 720p. On the BIG screen at 4K imaging one could not see the difference between the 720p or the 1920 @ 25P.

Depth Of Field was also discussed - but owners of the 350 know soft b/g focus can be pleasantly achieved to some degree on 1/2 chips.

Congratulations to Ben Allan ACS for a very thorough run down of the camera in less than 3 days exposure to it.

I think this camera is going to have a lot of ramifications for both the broadcast and freelance industry. For one the camera compares very well with the PDW 350 / 355 in fact in many ways the CMOS chip outperforms the 1/2 CCD, but don't quote me.
For the first time in my life as a freelance cameraman, I'm now wondering if 'small' is better, here's a camera now on par with its larger counterparts.

For many freelancers this camera will fulfill most projects normally shot on high end SD or mid range HD (and then some). And to that end, for current owners of XDCAM, it will be more than just a second camera!

The camera is feature rich and as we all know here at www.xdcam.com.au the XDCAM *worklfow really works!
Particularly when you consider it will take about 3 minutes to download 1 hour of footage from an SxS Card.

The PMW-EX1 is expected to be available this November. The suggested price: In Australian $ will be $9,490 ex GST and will include two 8GB SxS PRO media cards.

Oops, and the 32GB cards will be available in 2008.
*The 1920x1080 HD can't be stored on an XDCAM Pro Disc. One of the few negatives.
 
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