Contemplating PMW 350

[Doug Jensen]

Alister, it was good to see you at NAB again. I was wondering if you had found a backdoor way of getting home. You've got to got find a good restaurrant that has free wifi and just kick back. Good luck.

Do you honestly prefer SxS cards to optical? I use both, and I sure prefer the simplicity of optical. The transfer is a little slower, but that's also due to the 50 Mbps vs. 35 Mbps file sizes. Ultimately optical saves me tons of time. Maybe Sony will actually come out with the SxS adapter for the F800/700 they talked about a couple of years ago and you'll have the best of both worlds. I for one, will not be buying it.

[Tom Roper]

Originally Posted by Ron Wilk

In addition, I wonder if someone could provide me with the most usable and effective aperture range for the stock lens?

The sweet spot of the lens is f/2.4-f4.0, usable range is f/1.9-f/8.0.

The cam does include All files, cache recording, custom iris window, image invert, 4 ch 16 bit audio.

[Ron Wilk]

Originally Posted by Tom Roper

The sweet spot of the lens is f/2.4-f4.0, usable range is f/1.9-f/8.0.

The cam does include All files, cache recording, custom iris window, image invert, 4 ch 16 bit audio.

Thank you, Tom, that is exactly what I was asking (usable F stop range) but perhaps in less than adequate terms.

Just came back from the nearest, yet distant vendor with a brand new PMW 350. I assume that it will take some time to get it setup, as you have indicated, but I look forward to some great shooting.
Thank you again,
Ron

[Paul Cronin]

Ron you went for it, good for you I think you made a smart move. Have fun with the camera and let us see some clips at times. You live in a great spot for shooting. This past Jan I shot at Sanibel for the first time, wow what amazing bird life in the winter. Besides the fantastic sunsets.

Enjoy your new purchase.

[Steve Phillipps]

I also think it's probably the best choice, hope it works out for you. Be good to hear how you get on and whether there is anything lacking from the features that you really miss besides CCDs.
Steve

[Ron Wilk]

I would be happy to provide a follow-up once I've had chance to give it a go-around.

I wonder, has anyone used Sony's new SDHC adaptor and if so, is there a reccommedation for particular SDHC cards?

Please ignore this post, in re SDHC, as I see that it has already been addressed elsewhere on the forum.

Thank you in advance,
Ron

[Thierry Humeau]

I own both cameras, PDW-F800 and PMW-350, and as much as I like the SxS workflow, I still think that managing solid state media in a mid to long term for a large organization can be really problematic. That is where the XD disc comes to play with the best of both worlds. File based media with the convenience of tap elike archiving. I do a fair amount of documentary filming for Nat Geo in rugged, remote locations and for this, I have no hesitation to take the F800. Also, in term of image quality, I find the F800 latitude to be quite superior ot the PMW-350. I love the PMW-350 for news gathering though...

Best,

[Steve Phillipps]

I agree with you Thierry, I've said it many times that I like the disc workflow too. It wasn't my personal preferences that I was alluding to, it was how the majority of users and manufacturers seem to be going - SxS, P2, even JVC now.

Cheers,
Steve

[Ron Wilk]

I would like to mount my Rode NTG-3 shotgun on the 350's front microphone mount. The supplied Sony mic is a stereo 5 pin that mates with the connector on the camera's body but I wonder if I would be doing any harm to the internal circuitry by using a 3 to 5 pin converter thereby allowing the using of the mono NTG-3?
Thank you in advance.
Ron

[Paul Cronin]

Ron I have the same NTG-3 shot gun and used the 3-5 pin XLR cable and the mic worked great no harm. Also on my F800 they supply a 3-5 pin cable and I use the same mic. The 5 pin is for a stereo mic if you ever want to upgrade.

[Ron Wilk]

Thanks Paul. I have a short cable converter and will give it a try.