any suggestions on a much cheaper or a little older camera to compliment this one? I suppose the standard EX-1 is first choice but still very costly right now. Any other tapeless suggestions for wide shot or special placement camera to match?
thx

i use the sony cx550 as my second cam. great quality and good in lowlight, although not the same as ex but for the price, its a great cam at 800.you can find them used for around 500 now. they now make the 560 which has a smaller lcd among other differences.i would get a used one of these

For wide angle work your best bet may be to use a DSLR together with a Sigma lens - just to keep costs down.

I recommend that you take a look at the new PMW-100 that will start shipping soon. Nice little camera that pretty much has every feature and function of the EX1R plus the same exact workflow, etc.

David - in case you have not seen, here are some examples of EX-1s intercut with other cameras:

With the $650 Canon T2i: Matix (Norway) in NYC on Vimeo

With the $750 Panasonic GH2: GH2,EX1R, Quick Comparison on Vimeo

With the $850 Panasonic TM900: TM900 Wedding on Vimeo

With the $2200 (body only) Canon 5DMkII: 5D and EX1 Lady Bug Swarm on Vimeo

Great piece on mixing EX1, Sony NEX-FS100 and Canon 7D footage: Media Kitchen Films: PMW EX1 // NEX FS100 // 7D Compared (http://mediakitchenfilms.blogspot.com/2011/08/pmw-ex1-nex-fs100-7d-compared.html)

EX1 intercut with the $5600 FS100 from the article above: East Texas Treatment Center // Occupational Therapy - YouTube

Hope this is useful.

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution (http://hybridcamerarevolution.blogspot.com)

Two thoughts (not necessarily directed to the videos linked above):

1) Just because the EX1 can be made to look as bad as other cameras for purposes of matching, does not mean the other cameras can be made to look as good as the EX1. If you're willing to "dumb down" the EX1 then almost any camera will do.

2) If you apply enough grading, and don't care so much about the final results, you can make almost any two cameras look similar.

You don't beat about the bush do you Doug?

Of course you are absolutely correct, you could liken this to buying an expensive Armani jacket and wearing a cheap Cost-Cutter pair of trousers.

Just to repeat, my comments are not necessarily directed at the videos above.

Thx to all for the replys

If you search here on DVinfo for "B camera" for the EX1, you'll find other threads on this topic... in case you didn't already find them.

I've found little in the category you are looking that will match very well. I tried a TM700 which is best in class and a 5D Mark II which is best in class. Neither match well... for various reasons. If you think about it, it was one thing to try and match an $800 camcorder with a $2000-$3000 camcorder in the DV days but altogether different in HD and especially altogether different at $800 vs $7000. I mean, if an $800 camera could look like a $7000 one then why would anyone by the $7000 one?

You can narrow the $$$$ gap but you still have to pay attention to other image characteristics especially sharpness. The EX1 is so tack sharp that viewers really notice the difference with you switch to another camera that has filmic or other texture different from the EX1.

Personally, I hope the PMW-100 proves to be a good companion because of it's use of SxS and XDCAM format and workflow.

FOOTNOTE: If the PMW-100 workflow doesn't provide acquisition data in the standard utility, that greatly diminishes it's value to me over competitive cameras.

VG10, VG20 and NEX5N, probably first I'd look at NEX5N

FOOTNOTE: If the PMW-100 workflow doesn't provide acquisition data in the standard utility, that greatly diminishes it's value to me over competitive cameras.

If the requirement is Browser no matter what, in the near future, there would be the chilling effect of no acquisition data.