Latest Upgrade Date for the SONY X-70

[Lou Bruno]

Looks like June and NO 60p. 485 Euros? Unknown in USA.

Hope the link works. Having issues with my mobile device.

Scroll down to the PXW X70 article.

http://www.jigsaw24.com/news/article...e-high-points/

[Andy Wilkinson]

And 4K will be 4.2.0 at 60Mbps only in June 2015 - but there is a little note that says they are "looking to support a higher bit rate in the future"....More stalling for time...

Think I will definitely pass on the X70 now - but will give it a good hands on when I am at BVE tomorrow.

Note: Currently the official Sony UK link is very busy/won't often load as it includes some interesting FS7 (and other cameras) firmware update information too.

EDIT - Adding official link below:

New firmware for broadcast and professional A/V equipment from Sony : United Kingdom : Sony Professional

Also, adding a screen grab of the relevant info on the X70 too.

[Craig Seeman]

Looking at those numbers, time frame, price, It makes it a lot easier for me to wait until NAB to see what other manufacturers are doing. That and the lack of FCPX plugin for XAVC-L does not give me confidence in Sony's support for its cameras.

[Atticus Lake]

So we have to wait til June, for the SAME 4k mode as the AX100.... and then pay extra for it??? That's our reward for buying the more expensive camera? That's just a disgrace.

I still totally rate the X70 as an HD camera, but for 4k... this is an insult. They would have been better off not bothering.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Also, a short while back Sony announced that the AX100 was going to get a free 4K 100Mbps firmware upgrade this Spring…if that's still on the table then it puts this X70 announcement (re sticking with 60Mbps with their 4K offering in June) even more to shame!!!

[Aaron Holmes]

So, despite that this appears to be the same 4k as the AX100, I'm wondering if it will be as easy to work with. They are still calling it "XAVC-L" and wrapping it in MXF.

If it's no better than the AX100 (seems to be the case), and is *also* harder to work with, then that's triply shameful.

[Jack Zhang]

The only upside then is 24bit audio... Wow.

Alright, I guess I'm skipping on the X70 since I KNOW they will be pulling a fast one and announcing a new one that will make this obsolete at NAB.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Aaron Holmes

So, despite that this appears to be the same 4k as the AX100, I'm wondering if it will be as easy to work with. They are still calling it "XAVC-L" and wrapping it in MXF.

If it's no better than the AX100 (seems to be the case), and is *also* harder to work with, then that's triply shameful.

The same as the update to the PXW-Z100 which in fact looks to be the same as my FDR-AX1 so didn't expect the X70 to be different to the AX100 but with MXF wrapper. Don't know why it cost any money at all !!! Still puzzled why the x70 is so much bigger than the AX100. A new board and fan would make sense and XQD cards would then allow faster frame rates and I would be interested.

Ron Evans

[Paul Anderegg]

$550 USD for 60Mbps 4k in a wrapper that I cannot ingest? At least if they made it mp4 I could ingest it into FCPX.

The X70 is bigger because it has a massive (good thing!) handgrip with an SDI and HDMI on the back as well as menu rocker controller joystick.

Paul

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Paul Anderegg

$550 USD for 60Mbps 4k in a wrapper that I cannot ingest? At least if they made it mp4 I could ingest it into FCPX.

The X70 is bigger because it has a massive (good thing!) handgrip with an SDI and HDMI on the back as well as menu rocker controller joystick.

Paul

Yes I understand and also like those features but there must be a lot of empty space in that handle . Plenty enough room for a small fan and the added depth would allow for 2 XQD slots instead of SD cards.

Ron Evans

[Paul Anderegg]

Handle feels hollow, metal/tin with plastic cap on top.....not sure there is anything in there that needs cooling, except my palm on a hot day. :-)

When you start pushing 100Mbps, XQD and SxS cards start looking mighty nice come ingest time!

Paul

[Ron Evans]

If one wants UHD at 60P even mp4 like my FDR-AX1 that means a lot of processing and a fan to cool the processors. To stay in line with XDCAm mxf rather than consumer mp4 that would be just like the PXW-Z100 and would also need XQD cards for 150Mbps + .

Ron Evans

[Christopher Young]

We may indeed see a new model PXW-100 model based off Sony's new FDR-AX33 which is coming with UHD 4K at 100-mbits. Seeing this AX33 is a confirmed release they may bump the X70's bit rate to 100 eventually. It would seem odd to have an XDCam running at 60-mbit with its domestic cousin running at 100-bit. But there again it's SONY... who knows how they work. Even if the X70 stayed as an HD flea sized camera it offers pretty good value for the paltry amount of money it costs.

I shoot a lot for NRL films. The NRL is the governing body of one of our national football codes. Aussie readers will know this as rugby league. The other night I had to shoot three of the pre-season trial games. Out of curiosity I thought I would try the X70 using it's 24 x ClearImage zoom. I've uploaded a sample in case anyone wants to know how this little flea handled the conditions.

The following footage was shot AVCHD 1080i as that is what the NRL request. For the sake of upload size etc I de-interlaced the 50i footage and rendered it out as 720 50p, 50p to maintain the smoothness of motion that the 50i offers. Basically 80% of the three games I covered were shot using the 24 x ClearImage zoom. It was also all shot at 9dB. I didn't need 9dB I could have shot at 0dB but it would have left me with a pretty shallow depth of field to contend with at 24 x. 9dB gave me an iris of around F6.8 - F7.3 which made life easier than fighting focus all the time.

Also at 9dB but with ND4 switched in you will see a close up shot at 24 x of one of the main stadium lights. If you watch carefully you will see the iris go from fully closed to full open and back again. Just a curiosity shot on my part.

https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/8fjyes About 220MB

I think the camera handled the shoot pretty well. I must say going back to the full sized XDCam with a wide angle on today to shoot a dozen interviews with players at the official season launch felt like I was lugging a truck around. I told them next time maybe a smaller camera! :))

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[Cees van Kempen]

Imagine you are working as a representative for Sony and you have to explain this to your customers. Must be so embarrassing...

[Andy Wilkinson]

I think Sony employees may be more serious things to be concerned about with all this restructuring going on...

BBC News - Sony to spin off video and audio units

As an aside, I had hands on with the new JVC LS300 at BVE yesterday. A very interesting and clever little 4K camera that will take a huge variety of lenses and record 4K at 150Mbps.