Sony XDCAM EX

TimurCivan said:
5 stops lattitude isnt so good..... The DVX100 had around 6....
Click to expand...
I think you may be confusing latitude with dynamic range, and I suspect that what the DVX100 had was 6 stops of dynamic range. And the EX has considerably more, as a CMOS camera should.

Latitude normally means the range of exposure over which the image is "recoverable", whilst dynamic range is the range of iris to turn a "just black" into a "just white". Whilst 5 stops difference may have been demonstrated in the example given, I doubt if especially the overexposed images were truly "recoverable" - "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!"

I read into it that the camera does perform very well in this regard, probably better than any previous similarly sized CCD cameras.
 
harddrive said:
I think you may be confusing latitude with dynamic range, and I suspect that what the DVX100 had was 6 stops of dynamic range. And the EX has considerably more, as a CMOS camera should.
Click to expand...

harddrive is correct!

Exposure Latitude: is the range between overexposure and underexposure within which the camera/media will still produce usable images.

Dynamic Range: is the number of stops of brightness the camera/media can cope with without turning shadows into featureless black and highlights into detailess white.
 
Very very strong probability that the XDCAM EX is going to cost $6499 and comes with 1x free 8 gig card. Also, a special promo for the early adopters, Sony would give out another free 8 gig card for maybe the first-second month.


*Keep in mind, this is just a very probable rumor and not a concrete fact.
 
$ 6499 + 1 free 8 gig card in the box. Get another free 8 gig card with Sony Rebate promo good on all purchases from nov - march 08
 
Hmmm


Just a random thought:

HVX200 + Hydra

2k Resolution
1080p 60p Variable Frame Rates
4:4:4 14-bit (Right?) Uncompressed Image
Uncompressed Audio Feed
Option to use P2 Cards still

Or ... XDCam EX + XDR Portable SDI > Flash Media ( http://www.convergent-design.com/ )

Hard to say when the XDR is around 5k. But still.
 
yea but that thing is still taking HDV and just making it SDI compatible. Also it seems to be converting SDI to HDV.... the EX can do that by itself.... Now if it recorded 422 uncompressed to flash then that wouls be something special...
 
Yeah, actually you're right. There probably wouldn't be much benefit to using that with the EX at all. Guess that nixes that idea!

Didn't bother reading up on the camera until today, but I must say that I am now interested in the image. Wonder how long it'll be before we get to see some footages. October is half-through, as it is.
 
TimurCivan said:
yea but that thing is still taking HDV and just making it SDI compatible. Also it seems to be converting SDI to HDV..
Click to expand...
If you're talking about the EX and the Convergent XDR, that's not true - I think you may be looking at a different device from the XDR.

The XDR takes an input of not HDV, but true, proper HD-SDI, at 10 bit 4:2:2 uncompressed 1920x1080 from the EX. It's then passed to an MPEG2 coder - but whilst HDV is one of the outputs that can give, it can also give long GOP variants up to 100Mbs, and an I-frame only 4:2:2 10 bit version at 160Mbs! That should be better than HDCAM.

Hydra may make sense if you already own an HVX200 and want to squeeze a bit more out of it. An EX plus XDR would seem a better bet if you're starting from scratch - mainly due to 1/2" chips v 1/3".

I got the chance to play with an EX recently (though not under controlled conditions) but have to say I was impressed with what I saw - at least in this price bracket. Most especially, the lowlight performance seemed far superior to what I'd expect from a camera of this size. (And what a treat to have a manual lens.)
 
It's still 6k, though. Although portable.

Hydra will offer 1080p60p 4:4:4 and cost less, albeit not portable though. Yet, I think you can run a 250ft+ Ethernet cable back to the capturing station? Might as well be portable.

I haven't been on one pro shoot yet where HDX's or Varicams weren't tethered to a video village to begin with. Adding another cable (for narrative or commercial, not documentary) isn't really an issue.
 
One point in the XDRs favour is that it should work just as well with ANY camera, as long as it has an HD-SDI output. It could even be hired or borrowed as and when required, and used with ANY stock owned EX (or other suitable camera).

Just imagine you'd spent all that money Hydraizing your HVX200 and it developed a serious fault or got dropped on the lens........... I'd much prefer to keep any expensive "enhancement" as a separate box rather than a mod.
 
But a Hydra-ized HVX is not going to cost that much more than a bone-stock EX1. It's going to be dramatically less money than an EX1 + XDR.

HVX: $5200 at B&H
EX1: $6999 at B&H

HVX + Hydra ($3500) $8700
EX1 + XDR: $12,000-ish, right? Isn't the XDR $5,000?
 
Exactly. The XDR is like 5 or 6k. So a Hydra-Ized HVX setup w/16gb p2 card will be around 9k vs the 12k for an EX w/XDR.

Also, if you own an HVX200 you pretty much should already have the hardware you need to deal with Hydra. An extra expense that I could see being tacked on would be Hard-Drive space, or buying a fast, large Hard-drive.

Which is why I say 9k for HVX+Hydra setup brand new.

And, just imagine if you dropped ANY expensive item at all. It happens, that's not really a reason against Hydra at all.
 
You can buy the Xdcam ex with 2x 8 gig card(1 is after rebate) for $ 6500.

Do not pre-order it from B&H or cine abel though, get it from someone else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top