Sony PXW-X70 announced: Pro XDCAM version of AX100

[Stephen Robinson]

Originally Posted by Gabor Heeres

Just ordered the X70 with CVP today. I have had my hands on this little baby extensively last week on IBC. It is a great little camcorder in my opinion. Ordered a Manfrotto 755XB tripod, MVH500AH head, Rode NTG1 mic and two Transcend 64 GB 90 MB/s SDXC cards as well. I'm confident this together is an amazing kit that will do great jobs.

Just a note on the MVH500AH, the plate is too long for this camera. If you put it on like normal and line up the anti rotation pin, you cannot remove the battery as the plate extends beyond the battery release and even part way onto the battery. If you take out the anti-rotation pin, and slide the plate forward, it kinda gets in the way of access to the manual lens zoom/focus ring. It's still somewhat usable, but not ideal. I will be sending back my MVH500AH, and have orderd a Vanguard PH-123v to use in it's place. It has a shorter plate. Kinda bums me out as I loved my 701HDV head and was sure I wanted the MVH500AH.

[Barry J. Weckesser]

I'm getting the Sony VCTVPR1 - $95.00 from B & H and it has a handle that works with the multiport connector on the X70. I'm sure it is no match for the Manfrotto but I wanted something small and simple to carry in the ThinkTank camera case. It is only 2.5 pounds and folds to about 19-20" enough to fit inside the camera bag.

I do have a Manfrotto 504HD that has served well with my PMW-200 (already sold) and hopefully will work well with the PXW FS7K arriving in December (according to Sony - but they are now MY expectations of arrival date [referring to previous discussion] LOL

[Stephen Robinson]

Just a little update. I received my accessories by UPS last night. I can confirm that using the mulit to AV/R cable connected to an AV/R cable to 2.5mm jack cable, connected to a LANC controller does function properly. It's a bit of a cluster and a PITA, but it does work. Hopefully they will start making some LANC controllers with the mulit port on them.

[Anthony Lelli]

Originally Posted by Stephen Robinson

Just a little update. I received my accessories by UPS last night. I can confirm that using the mulit to AV/R cable connected to an AV/R cable to 2.5mm jack cable, connected to a LANC controller does function properly. It's a bit of a cluster and a PITA, but it does work. Hopefully they will start making some LANC controllers with the mulit port on them.

yes it is. all those patch cables can (and will) disconnect in the long run. let alone having them in another bag left in the car or lose them . I did the most idiotic remedy taping the connections between plugs with gaffer's tape and after a couple of times they did disconnect so I had to remove the tape before plugging them tight again.So don't use tape. Anyway if you shoot something important would be a good idea to get backup cables. If you have time could you check the profiles and see if there is a sharpness control (detail)? When you have time of course...

[Troy Lamont]

Any raw footage you care to share?

[Josh Bass]

i didnt see, does the cam have buffer/cache recording (where its always recording the last 30 seconds or so and overwriting til you hit record)? thats a great feature

[Craig Seeman]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

i didnt see, does the cam have buffer/cache recording (where its always recording the last 30 seconds or so and overwriting til you hit record)? thats a great feature

That's a critical feature for me as well. I rest a post on B&H Q&A that stated they do not believe there's any internal memory buffer but can't say for sure.

It would be a serious oversight in my opinion. It's important for ENG work which this type of camera would be used for. I've rest the PXW-X200 has it and it's featured in the description. I've shot way too many press events where speakers start late and you need to have the camera running to catch an mistimed opening statement.

I'd be extremely disappointed if the X70 doesn't have cache record.

[Ron Evans]

No mention of this in the manual. You can of course record independently on the each card. Starting one card with the main stop/start button and the other with the top handle button. One could be left running all the time and the other started and stop when needed. They appear to be the same codec use though unlike the NX5U which can be different.

Ron Evans

[Cliff Totten]

I really think that Sony needs to state what their 4k (UHD) intentions are for the X70.

I called Sony Pro support and they could not give me any official 4k upgrade specs. The guy told me that its very "possible" that it will only be 60mbp/s. (same codec as the AX100)

I really hope that Sony at least adds 100mbp/s long GOP UHD. Keeping an "XDCAM" locked at the same bitrate as a Handycam is terrible for the brand.

If 4k is what you want from the X70, you might want to wait for Sony to release the official upgrade specs first.

You might very disappointed. Hopefully Sony will add a bit more bitrate to this model over the AX100

[Stephen Robinson]

Originally Posted by Troy Lamont

Any raw footage you care to share?

Not yet. I have been very busy and haven't had much of chance to use it yet. Also, I didn't realize that my SanDisk Extreme Pro cards are only SDHC. You cannot record XVAC on to the SDHC cards, only SDXC. Also the manual recommends SDXC UHS-3 cards for slow & quick motion in SDXC. I have ordered a couple 64 GB SDXC UHS-3 cards. Should be here on Wednesday. I don't really want to post video taken with AVCHD since it's not showing the cameras full potential. If that makes sense.

[Stephen Robinson]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

i didnt see, does the cam have buffer/cache recording (where its always recording the last 30 seconds or so and overwriting til you hit record)? thats a great feature

It does not have a pre-record buffer. That would have been a nice added feature.

[David Dixon]

As Cliff stated, I'm hoping there will be details forthcoming about the 4K upgrade. I also can find no mention in the manual of 120fps at all. I'd hope the upgrade would also add that - at the very least @ 720p as in the AX100.

[Stephen Robinson]

Originally Posted by David Dixon

As Cliff stated, I'm hoping there will be details forthcoming about the 4K upgrade. I also can find no mention in the manual of 120fps at all. I'd hope the upgrade would also add that - at the very least @ 720p as in the AX100.

There's no 120fps in the menu on the camera. Maybe(hopefully) that will be added with the firmware upgrade.

[Petter Flink]

I'm a bit surprised that it lacks so many features already available on the ax100.
Could it be that Sony are working to add them together with the 4k firmware or have they dumbed the x70 down too much hardware wise while trying to sell it as semi pro?

[Nathan DuMoulin]

Originally Posted by Stephen Robinson

Just a little update. I received my accessories by UPS last night. I can confirm that using the mulit to AV/R cable connected to an AV/R cable to 2.5mm jack cable, connected to a LANC controller does function properly. It's a bit of a cluster and a PITA, but it does work. Hopefully they will start making some LANC controllers with the mulit port on them.

This is critical news to me. Have you by chance tested this cable combination with a LANC zoom rocker attached at the end? Does it control the servo properly?

Much thanks!