Sony PDW-700 (and Sony A7s) Video - Colorful Spring Tulip Fields at DVinfo.net

Derran Rootring · May 6th, 2018, 03:49 AM

I know that Sony's FS5 (and FS7) is the 'cooler' camera to own, but I'm quite happy with the performance of my newly acquired PDW-700. I didn't know I missed working with CCD's so much after all these years with CMOS! It's something about the look it produces that appeals to me. Anyway, I created a short video with the PDW-700 (and for full disclosure there are also 3 short Sony A7s shots hiding in plain sight in this vid :-)) and I thought it might be of interest to anyone. It took some time to create a custom picture profile that would work for me, but I'm pretty happy with the result! Filming was last week around the colorful spring tulip fields of the Netherlands.

Christopher Young · May 7th, 2018, 10:37 PM

Derran

Good one!

That's why I still hold on to my PDW three chipper. Love the CCDs and the color. More and more I get asked for the FS7 but I still find the the images out of the 700 and 800's hard to beat in many respects. They were the pinnacle of the 8-bit XDCam disc cams. Combined with a good B4 lens they are a very versatile piece of kit and can cover most jobs, for me at least. I keep my eye open for used PMW-500's. Same chips but a much lighter camera and card based. Finding one of those at the right price might then make me let go of the PDW.

Keep on shooting!

Chris Young

Derran Rootring · May 8th, 2018, 03:27 PM

Thanks Chris!

I totally agree with you and interesting about the PMW-500. I love the idea of a much lighter camera! Though I have to say that I rather like the filming on professional disc option. Having the master footage available on the shelf (with 50 years of safe storage) while you can still browse through the proxy clips on the computer is not that bad at all. And you can get these disc's for little money secondhand while they've only been used twice at most. And I believe you can rewrite a disc 10.000 times according to Sony if I'm not mistaken. So I'm not sure about having to work card based again. Or am I missing some important features of working with cards? It's a lot faster to import I guess, but I always use the footage ingesting time as a short coffee break. ;-)

May 6th, 2018, 03:49 AM	#1
Derran Rootring Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 204	PDW-700 Video - Colorful Spring Tulip Fields I know that Sony's FS5 (and FS7) is the 'cooler' camera to own, but I'm quite happy with the performance of my newly acquired PDW-700. I didn't know I missed working with CCD's so much after all these years with CMOS! It's something about the look it produces that appeals to me. Anyway, I created a short video with the PDW-700 (and for full disclosure there are also 3 short Sony A7s shots hiding in plain sight in this vid :-)) and I thought it might be of interest to anyone. It took some time to create a custom picture profile that would work for me, but I'm pretty happy with the result! Filming was last week around the colorful spring tulip fields of the Netherlands. YouTube (Short URL) Last edited by Derran Rootring; May 6th, 2018 at 02:16 PM.

May 7th, 2018, 10:37 PM	#2
Christopher Young Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 1,572	Re: Sony PDW-700 (and Sony A7s) Video - Colorful Spring Tulip Fields Derran Good one! That's why I still hold on to my PDW three chipper. Love the CCDs and the color. More and more I get asked for the FS7 but I still find the the images out of the 700 and 800's hard to beat in many respects. They were the pinnacle of the 8-bit XDCam disc cams. Combined with a good B4 lens they are a very versatile piece of kit and can cover most jobs, for me at least. I keep my eye open for used PMW-500's. Same chips but a much lighter camera and card based. Finding one of those at the right price might then make me let go of the PDW. Keep on shooting! Chris Young

May 8th, 2018, 03:27 PM	#3
Derran Rootring Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 204	Re: Sony PDW-700 (and Sony A7s) Video - Colorful Spring Tulip Fields Thanks Chris! I totally agree with you and interesting about the PMW-500. I love the idea of a much lighter camera! Though I have to say that I rather like the filming on professional disc option. Having the master footage available on the shelf (with 50 years of safe storage) while you can still browse through the proxy clips on the computer is not that bad at all. And you can get these disc's for little money secondhand while they've only been used twice at most. And I believe you can rewrite a disc 10.000 times according to Sony if I'm not mistaken. So I'm not sure about having to work card based again. Or am I missing some important features of working with cards? It's a lot faster to import I guess, but I always use the footage ingesting time as a short coffee break. ;-)