Am I totally out of my mind? - Sony PDW-F330L

[Peter Erfurt]

Now, I've seen this great offer on a used Sony PDW-F330L and I'm considering selling my JVC5100 with JVC hard disc (40 + 80MB discs) and get the Sony instead.

I shoot a lot of low-light news, and the JVC has been pretty good in that area. BUT it's 4:3 squeezed to 16:8 - whereas the SONY is 16:9 that can do 4:3. Is the SONY capable of approx. the same lowlight performance as the JVC? And how do the picture quality compare???

Price is of course an issue - else I would probably have considered a SONY 355, but in your opinion - will my pictures benefit from this swap (I'm delivering to national news stations, and they have all gone to 16:9)? - Or should I keep my powder dry and keep the JVC a bit longer?

Any help will be very much appreciated - I'm in "deep shit" here :-)

/peter

[Anton Strauss]

are you delivering HD or SD

if SD, get a used DSR-450 or DSR-570 (both exellent in low light)

the 330 is no good in low light, at least my 335 is not (due to 1/2" CCD)

the 700 and 800 are excellent in low light

[Peter Erfurt]

Hi Anton,

I'm delivering SD - will be a while before they go to HD, so your suggestion is taken. Will have a look aound for prices on the other beasts, 'cause lowlight performance is really important to me (being in Northern Europe it starts to get dark already at 4:00 pm :-)

/peter

[David Heath]

If you want 16:9, you want a 16:9 chipped camera, no question. (And a 16:9 chip will produce a better 4:3 output than a 4:3 chip will 16:9, if you need both. Doing it that way round means there are no interlacing problems.)

I'll second looking at a DSR450 (or second hand DSR500 if moneys important), but a lot may depend on how you deliver your material. If your client wants or needs a DVCAM tape, then yes, definately a DSR450.

But if you're thinking about solid state being a good idea, then look at the new PMW350 and SxS cards. More expensive yes, but much more future proof, supposed to be even better in low light, and HD capable. Just a thought.

[Brian Bang Jensen]

Hi Peter.

Would like to compare your JVC with the 330?
If so I own a 330 an lives about 94 km away from you..

As said, the 330 is not the best in low light, but with the new firmware and noise reduction you can shoot at up to +9db without major noise problems.

The 350 seems to be a nice camera but everything is about cost!!!!

Send me a mail if you are interested..

I have just looked into the spec. for the two cameras.
The spec. For the JVC 5100 says F13 2000lx
Sony F330 says F9 2000lx
If you compare spec. you are loosing about one stop between the two cameras.

F stop scale. f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32
One stop up the scale is half the amount of light.


Brian

[Peter Erfurt]

Brian, PM sent

/peter

[Gabor Heeres]

If I was you I would look on for a used and well-prised PDW-510. They shouldn't be that expensive anymore.

[Doug Jensen]

Rhode Island is a long distance from Denmark, but I'm selling my PDW-F350 and Fujinon HSs18x5.5 lens for $15,000 (US).

Both are in excellent condition. Not a scratch or problem with either one.

[Peter Erfurt]

Hi all,

Well, I took the plunge and bought the 330 - even after all your suggestions (and thanks for them, made me really think hard).

Reason for buying the 330 was partly price (used camera - GBP4800), partly because I have a very good and expensive Canon 1/2" lens and partly because I was able to confirm, that the SONY doesn't perform worse than the JVC in lowligt - and I can live with that.

So XDCAM - here we come (again) - I actually also have a JVC HM700 as a reserve camera - will be interesting to compare pictures from these two cams.

Once again, thanks for all your sharing of knowledge - very much appreciated. And Yes - Rhodes Island is a VERY long way from here :-)

/peter

[Joachim Ljungquist]

Hi guys,

I got my hands of a PDW-F330L (with VCL-719BXS HD lens) for a bargain price yesterday.
Bought it for around US$4200 + VAT (2900 Euro).

I've just ordered some batteries, so I haven't been able to try it yet (and yes, the supplier - a financial company that has taken it back from a bankrupcy client, will let me return it if it would not work properly).

So - did I make a good buy?

[Anton Strauss]

I will buy it from you just to get a viewfinder

[Joachim Ljungquist]

Anton: I'll take that as I did a quite good buy :)

[Luc De Wandel]

Joachim, except if the laser has 1000 hour or more, that is the bargain of the year (and the year is still very young). Congrats!
What other beauties is this bankrupt company hiding?

[Joachim Ljungquist]

Luc: I really don't think so - but I'll get back on that in a few days (just for fun).