Sony PDW-EX1

[Forever Endeavor]

http://www.sony.com.au/objects/PDF/PDWEX1_Brochure.pdf


Um...I want one...Bad.

Seriously, what more could a wedding videographer want in a camera (or 3)?

The low light capability has yet to be seen but with 1/2" CMOSs it's got to be good.

[On a Roll]

If they used CCD chips, I would probably feel more comfortable, but that's just me. Other than that, it should be great.

My very first studio I worked in (where I began walking this path of enlightenment :lol: ) had these big Sony's (Similar to the BVP550) that had 2/3 or 3/4" CCD's in them. They were simply awesome. Those cameras didn't have, or need, gain booster on them. You could record without almost any light and they were still clear and crisp. And don't get me started on the Depth of field you could get!

Ah, how I wish I could afford a few $25,000 cameras! :lol:

[Forever Endeavor]

Yeah, the CMOS made me wonder a bit too but There's no way Sony would let such an amazing camera go to pot because of CMOS. It's gotta be good. Can't wait to try one.

[kwshaw1]

I agree this camera will likely be a hot item for event videographers, but it appears the cost of the memory cards will be an issue and there is no tape deck in it for less expensive recording. I could see buying one of these to use as a primary cam with backup from some cheaper HDV cameras, but two of them plus memory cards would cost around $20K. There's speculation Sony may release a less expensive version of this camera in the future and that's what I'll be waiting for, since I can't afford one of these no matter how great it sounds.

[Forever Endeavor]

There's speculation Sony may release a less expensive version of this camera in the future and that's what I'll be waiting for, since I can't afford one of these no matter how great it sounds.

That makes sense. I hope they do because I won't be able to afford this one for at least 30 years  :lol:

[kwshaw1]

So I got to test an EX1 this past weekend and would say it's easily the best HD camera under $10K today, but I did have some reservations about it. The low-light response is good but has more noise than I had hoped in dark situations, with noise characteristics typical of other CMOS cameras. I've posted a more thorough review on the Video University forums for those who are interested.

P.S. If you were going to videotape your sister's wedding, this is the camera to have. Anyone still shooting in DV needs to give that up now and get with the 21st century...

[Superfly]

Well Kevin,

I am tossing DV myeslf but with much reservation.  Frankly I just can't live with the guilt of tossing people DV product anymore.

Currently well over 30% of homes in the US have HDTV and it's moving fast so delivering 4:3 video in particular is very distasteful.

I just created my last one.  That said, I'm not going to leave tape for a good long while.  Where are you going to store all this data?  I've crashed a bunch of hard drives and seen a lot of DVDs go through chemical breakdown.

I guess you could dump it back to HDV?

Cheers,

TR

[osbornes5]

Of course this camera is all the rage but it has been noted in many places, here included, that the cost makes it out of reach. The fact that it takes a proprietary media that is astronomically expensive, of course makes the cost factor even worse, but for me it's just kinda aggravating. I'm pretty much a Sony guy for the most part, though I'm not dogmatic about it. However, you can't tell me that Sony couldn't have made this thing work just as well with common media. Boo Sony on this one.

[kwshaw1]

However, you can't tell me that Sony couldn't have made this thing work just as well with common media.

Sony reps have reportedly said publicly that the EX1 will eventually be certified to work with some standard-issue SSD memory cards, presumably for a limited subset of the camera's recording modes (i.e. no over/under cranking). Meanwhile, the Z7U works with standard CompactFlash memory which is getting quite affordable, and a growing number of video cameras work with SD memory cards. You still need somewhere to archive your footage until the memory cards get as cheap per hour as tape, but we're moving in the right direction.

The EX1 was obviously designed to compete with the Panasonic HVX200, and the Sony SxS memory costs ~1/3 per hour of recording capacity compared to P2.