New Sony NEX-EA50EH Announcement

[Noa Put]

How do you know this for sure Matt?

He doesn't, it's all rumors untill someone get's his hand on the camera. I think it's going to be a popular camera with wedding- and event videographers considering it's pricepoint and it's the first "real" formfactor videocamera (compared to the fs100/700) with a large sensor, exchangeble lenzes and xlr, no need to trick out with overpriced accessories. If it performs imagewise Sony might have a winner but since they made no fuzz about it that doesn't sound promising :)

[Cliff Totten]

A 16mp photo camera sensor mounted in an ENG-style video camera?

I own several Sony cameras, one of which is a NEX VG20. I can understand a sensor like this in a consumer "Handycam". It DOES take great pictures and it's in a somewhat "practical" photography friendly hand-held body. However, video resolution is very "soft" even when compared to a Handycam CX760. Low light performance is great with a fast prime but moire artifacts badly hurt this camera sometimes. I use it for photos allot but I use it carefully for video and only for certain types of shots.

Why would Sony uses this sensor in a true video camera? This camera would have been PERFECT with the FS100's super35mm.

So very close,...yet so far!

I'm beside myself.

CT

If Alister gets this camera and points it at his resolution charts? Woah,....ouch!.

[Dave Rochelle]

Originally Posted by Matt Davis

+1 @Andy - I was told deffo NOT FS100 quality, no free lunches and all that. I don't think this was ever planned to be 'our camera'. I do hang out over at Mr Bloom's forum where there's lots of people who just reiterate over and over again that the FS100 is out of their reach and even S/H is a bit of a struggle. This plops it bang in the DSLR category and the Event Videographers who need something a little bulkier to stand out from the crowd to get their shots.

However, if they were to put an FS700 in that body... (says he, about to pull the trigger on a shoulder mount system). Who needs an EVF, Tilta rig et al with this style? I loved the JVC HD100, this has the same feel.

BTW, the card format - you can put either SDHC or MemoryStick Pro into its slot, ditto FS100/700. I'm up for the new mirroring memory stick for interviews and the like... check out the specs:

Sony Global - Memory cards - Mirroring Memory Stick

Gotta say I thought the same thing at first - finally a newer-tech version of the HD100 I loved for years, but smaller & lighter-weight... but no built-in NDs is a non-starter for me.

I'm hoping either Sony will carry this form-factor over into the more pro line - something akin to what you describe as an FS700 in that body... and/or that Panasonic will unveil a AG-AF100 successor that has something in common with this form-factor for ergonomics & handling.

[Ron Evans]

Wonder if we will get an update to the NX5U/AX2000 next.

Ron Evans

[Alister Chapman]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

He doesn't, it's all rumors untill someone get's his hand on the camera.

No, not rumour at all. Matt was at a product presentation hosted by a product manager from Sony where it was clearly stated that the sensor is the same APS-C sensor as the VG20/NEX5N with the same Optical Filter optimised for a stills camera and as a result similar aliasing and moire levels.

This is a budget camera, better suited to video than a 5D or other DSLR and with pro video features like XLR audio, shoulder mount, a decent well placed EVF etc normally only found on more expensive cameras and a new servo zoom (based on the 18-200mm E-mount kit lens) all for less than £3K. I know many that would probably pay the best part of that just for the lens.

Is it perfect, no, but then there is no such thing as a perfect camera because what's perfect for one person is not perfect for the next, but for many lower budget people I think this will be just what they are looking for. I can see it being very popular with wedding and event videographers as well as schools and colleges etc where they can buy 4 of these for the price of an F3 and getting the ultimate image quality is not paramount.

[Noa Put]

No, not rumour at all. Matt was at a product presentation

Ok, then I understand, I found it strange that without the camera being used or tested by anyone someone would know what artifacts the image would suffer from and how they compare to existing camera's.

[Cliff Totten]

Because this is an "NXCAM" we must ask the per-release standard questions:

1.) Will you be able to control GAIN, IRIS and SHUTTER SPEED at the same time (Some Handycams allow this but not all NXCAMS today do)

2.) Will this camera have standard audio level meters with "db" values or the non-decrypt "pyramid" type that have no values. (Some Handycams have level meters, some NXCAMs have pyramid type.)

3.) Will the camera display "gain" values on the screen when shooting or only displayed during playback? (Some NXCAMS today do this)

CT

[Chris Barcellos]

When the VG20 came out, I bought it directly from Sony the day it was, based on specs Sony posted. As it turned out, those specs were wrong. While Sony said there were picture profiles on board, there were not. There is absolutely no way to adjust contrast, saturation, and sharpness. I was a vocal critic of that, but Sony did nothing to fix it.

Hopefully this camera has those adjustments. I note that in one of the close up pics I saw, there is a Profile button. Now if Sony doesn't disable the adjustments features in PF, all should be good. Sony, how about sending us FIrmware update on the VG20 so we have the same features 5n through this new camera.

Frankly, I don't consider the moire and aliasing issues of the VG20 to be a significant problem, though I recognize there are purists who accept nothing less that perfection, there are going to be trade offs to price points. You can shoot around obvious issues with that. Here is one wediding shoot I found quite nice, shot with the VG20.

https://vimeo.com/groups/115787/videos/47165658

[Galen Rath]

More interesting products from Sony, and thats great.

No camera will ever be perfect, but I wonder if the various departments at Sony are working in secret from each other, which prevents them from ever "getting it all together" in one package.

[Ron Evans]

It will be interesting to see if it has some of the automatic/semi auto modes of the consumer cameras that I find useful on XR500, CX700 etc like AE shift, touch spot focus etc. It has button for face tracking so I assume it may have all these features too. That would be useful in managing the shallower depth of field.

Ron Evans

[Alister Chapman]

Moire is not a problem until the day the groom wears a suit with fine pin stripes or the brides dress has a fine pattern. Then you have a major problem with only one real cure and one work-around. Either shoot everything slightly out of focus or find a different camera.

I'm sure Sony could put everything into one package, best sensor, best codec, best ergonomics (for who?), best lens system etc. But it's not going to cost less than £3k GBP. That's the way of the world, same with cars, houses, computers etc. Why do people expect to pay bottom dollar, but get a top dollar camera? When you can only afford a Golf do you expect to be able to buy an Audi A8 for the same money?
This is the only large sensor shoulder mount camera currently on the market for less than £45k.

[Noa Put]

less than £45k

Was it not around 3K?

Don't know how the moire and aliasing from a VG20/NEX5 compares to a Canon 550d/7d, but if it would be equally worse then a grooms suite or a brides dress has not caused me problems so far but rooftiles have or certain fine pattern floors and walls with very small bricks and the moire can be quite nasty at times with wide angle lenzes.I have seen vg20 videos and it looks like it's not as bad as with Canon dslrs? I also read good things about the "Mosaic Engineering's optical anti-aliasing filter" for the 5d that seems to eliminate moire and aliasing considerably, wonder if that is applicable to other camera's suffering the same problem.

[Chris Barcellos]

Noa, that filter is from Mosaic engineering, and yet it works well with the 5D. They have now developed one for the 7D, and the other DSLRs seem to be not far behind. The VG20 probably hasn't sold enough to warrant development, but I would like to see it.

I have been surprised that some things I thought would be a problem with the VG20 were not a problem at all.

[Cliff Totten]

I have a VG20 and lemme tell you, moire patterens are not ALL bad.

Sometimes the artifacts make a great "focus assist" tool.

CT ;-)

[John Vincent]

I love my VG-20 - it's a wildly unappreciated camera... That said, getting a few more buttons, control over sharpening/contrast (at least I assume it will have them), and 2 XLR inputs sure as heck isn't worth $3,000.

This new camera has the same sensor, same lack of built-in ND, same frame rates, same glass as the stock zoom lens. Oddly, it doesn't even have the VG20's dedicated eye piece view finder (rather using the same clunky FS100 method).

Looks quite a bit like the JVC GYU 100/et al line-up - which is good. I used to own one, and it def had a "wow" factor when you showed up with it. But again, hardly worth the huge up tick in price.

A side step at best, as I'm not sure why ENG gathers wouldn't use either Canon or other Sony cameras that have 50mbs/4:2:2 colour space - I'm guessing it's more of a form factor test run for the next gen of the FS100/700.