Sony unveils the EX3 successor: PMW-300

[Gary Nattrass]

A dual channel integrated slot in receiver for a camera such as this would be a real bonus and a first, if they can keep the cost sub $1k too that will make this an ideal camera for news and sport pres.

If they can also do it like the HPX371 I have so you can assign the radio channels to tracks 1+2 but still have the XLR inputs to tracks 3+4 that would be one hell of a set-up for the money.

[Jack Zhang]

And hopefully they don't firmware lock it into only Sony receivers, using a Lectrosonics UHF would be nice.

[Alister Chapman]

BSI suffers from significantly more dark noise and crosstalk compared to normal front illumination which more than negates any sensitivity improvement if the pixel is larger than 2 microns. A 4K half inch sensor would have pixels around 1.7 microns so is would be a borderline case for BSI. In a 3 chip design the extra dark noise would be an issue. I'm not sure that a global shutter will work with BSI as the same substrate layer as the image well layer is used for the read out memory in most of the better performance sensors. The read out cell is basically an image well divided in two, one to capture light the other to store the charge and this must be on the same substrate layer.

In addition with such small pixels diffraction effects would be significant, so your useable aperture range would be small, I estimate diffraction limiting being significant from f4 so you'll only likely see a useable aperture range of 2 or 3. stops. 4K really needs a bigger sensor if you want the kind of performance and flexibility that an EX or PMW cameras offers today.

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

In addition with such small pixels diffraction effects would be significant, so your useable aperture range would be small, I estimate diffraction limiting being significant from f4 so you'll only likely see a useable aperture range of 2 or 3. stops.

I hadn't considered that, but of course you are absolutely correct

Alister, I earlier wondered "Move to 4k and how possible will it be to align 3 1/2" chips?" - do you have any thoughts on that? If it was feasible, it may at least lessen some of the sensitivity disadvantages that 1/2" single chip 4k would otherwise bring.

4K really needs a bigger sensor if you want the kind of performance and flexibility that an EX or PMW cameras offers today.

And really, that's probably the bottom line. It begs the question "how big?" Bearing in mind Alisters point about diffraction limiting alone, then for current HD 1/3" is barely good enough, it really needs to be 1/2", or even more.

Double the photosite count in each direction, and 2/3" for 4k is the equivalent to 1/3" for HD. Since the whole idea behind 4k is to get a "wow" factor, I'm inclined to say a fair bit bigger than 2/3" is necessary, otherwise you may just as well stay with HD.

So if 2/3" 4K isn't such a good idea, what about broadcasters looking to do such as 4K live sport? Won't the lens issues with s35 sensors tend to cause problems? Maybe not if the lenses are built with much smaller max apertures than we're currently used to. Since cameras with s35 sensors are inherently more sensitive than smaller sensors, it will probably make little overall difference to the light levels they can work under.

[Sander Vreuls]

Back when the broadcasters such as Sony and Philips (BTS) began with HD camera's, they settled in on the 1" format.. Such cameras as the Sony HDC-300 and HDC-500 and the BTS LDK9000 used 1" lenses.. you still see some of them for sale at times.

It might just make a revival, though the bigger the chipsize goes, the bigger the lenses will have to be.. Especially for the bigtime zooms that people are used to in broadcasting..

From an auction on ebay:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...k3rZQ60_57.jpg
That is a HV12x10 lens next to a normal broadcast wide angle lens (Canon 9x3.8 1/2".. same in size/model as the J9ax5.2... which are not that small either)..

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Sander Vreuls

It might just make a revival, though the bigger the chipsize goes, the bigger the lenses will have to be.. Especially for the bigtime zooms that people are used to in broadcasting..

But as said above, that's only true if you're keeping the same maximum f stop. Reduce that and you can build bigtime zooms for bigger chips without a big size increase.

And also as said before, bigger chips means better sensitivity - combine with smaller f stops and it means the same low light performance.

Since s35 already has a lot of legacy in respect of lenses, I'd tend to go for that. I hear what you say about 1", but it means yet another lens format, and I can't believe any of the older 1" lenses will give adequate performance for 4k?

[Jack Zhang]

Wow, I had no idea BSI had these issues and that it can't work together with global shutter...

It's looking like 4K sensors in standard broadcast sizes have major hurdles to overcome before they make it into cameras sized like the 300 or 350.

We may see global shutter 1080 sensors in that size before 4K. Problem though is that either 4K is going to be mainstream when global shutter 1080 sensors become affordable or ignorance on the manufacturer's part means the 1080 generation remains mostly rolling shutter based.

[Brent Kaplan]

some videos appeared a few days ago in case anyone missed it.

Sony PMW-300 Review - YouTube

Comparison of PMW-300 and PMW-EX3 - YouTube

Sony PMW-300 Testing Shoot - YouTube

[Jack Zhang]

As for the shoulder design, I think my EX1R with a 96Wh battery is similar when it comes to that support.

I'm very tempted, but would much rather wait for XAVC and 1080p50/60

[Steve Siegel]

The PMW-300 suffers from worse burnout of highlights, but at least the dynamic range is greater than the EX3. Thanks for putting this up, Brent.

[Alister Chapman]

The camera is much better than these clips make it appear. I suspect there is some extra clipping occurring during the encoding.

[Brent Kaplan]

Alister, Will you in the future explain what sony mean by a internal slot in the camera for audio receiver?

I was wondering if they mean that the camera can accept a dual channel audio receiver and be able to record a stereo shotgun with its 4 channel recording capability.

Thanks

Brent

[Alister Chapman]

I'm very confused by the receiver slot statement because as far as I know the camera doesn't have one. None of the prototypes have had one unless I've missed something, it's not really big enough for a receiver slot.

[Brent Kaplan]

me too, I saw this discussuion on able cine

Sony Announces the New PMW-300 | CineTechnica

[Brent Kaplan]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983689-REG/sony_pmw_300_xdcam_hd_camcorder.html
FYI