Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder

Stephen Gradin · January 28th, 2014, 09:29 AM

I have the Sony Z7U and Z5U and sometimes I use the shot transition feature that both of these cameras have for doing smooth rack focus. Does the NX3 also have a shot transition feature?

Michael Warren · January 28th, 2014, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen Gradin

I have the Sony Z7U and Z5U and sometimes I use the shot transition feature that both of these cameras have for doing smooth rack focus. Does the NX3 also have a shot transition feature?

It doesn't have anything called "shot transition", but what you describe sounds to me like touch focus, which the NX3 does have. It's called "spot focus".

Touch something on the LCD and the focus point will shift to that area.

Matt Sharp · January 28th, 2014, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Warren

. . what you describe sounds to me like touch focus, which the NX3 does have. It's called "spot focus".

Shot Transition allows you to store settings for focus and zoom (as well as iris, gain, shutter and WB) and then switch between them. Good for a long zoom and focus change, or simply as a custom preset indoor to outdoor exposure/WB change. You could also set transition curve and time.

I think at this level the last one to have it was the Z5. The NX5 didn't have shot transition either.

Ron Evans · January 28th, 2014, 06:43 PM

My NX5U does not have shot transition or spot focus but my FX1 did have shot transition. I think the NEX-EA50 has shot transition and spot focus.

Ron Evans

Robert Rinkewich · January 31st, 2014, 01:09 PM

John,

Would it be possible to shoot a minute at mpeg4 and upload it?

I have two NX5U's The only reason I'm considering the NX3 is for its mpeg4 ability. I currently deliver mpeg4 files to my clients and this would save a lot of processing time.

thanks

Robert Rinkewich

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Knight

John Knight · February 2nd, 2014, 12:10 AM

Hi Robert, I'll get an MP4 loaded shortly. Stephen Gradin - no shot transition feature sorry.

In the meantime, I can report just finishing a wedding with the NX3 and it was BRILLIANT. Fantastic in low light reception and great images. Here are a few real world 1080/50p clips.

fern: https://mega.co.nz/#!OZ9lUQYR!LcDins...j0eXD6ELoEIUhI
leaf: https://mega.co.nz/#!nAdSyAQC!Pgx_-A...jrLsV-O423x7NE
crowd: https://mega.co.nz/#!qAUSURpK!l0Bk9_...oYRIL1tx70cH0g
guest1: https://mega.co.nz/#!ucsRXQ5D!X7cA2J...Q_ZThgpGzZX50s
guest2: https://mega.co.nz/#!WBVFXLjI!Zf_VD7...QLoB120payKQQQ

Here's a clip featuring the 40x zoom and I've demonstrated both the creep (Michael Warren) and the ramping (for Ron Evans)

https://mega.co.nz/#!yMtAAY6B!s8R8TN...moSo6GeAf-7ifU

Michael Warren · February 2nd, 2014, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Knight

Here's a clip featuring the 40x zoom and I've demonstrated both the creep (Michael Warren) and the ramping (for Ron Evans)

Thanks John.

Ron Evans · February 2nd, 2014, 08:39 AM

Thanks John. Zoom is impressive. Ramp is not as smooth as NX5U and does appear to start and stop much like my FDR-AX1.

Ron Evans

Tony Maceo · February 9th, 2014, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Knight

In the meantime, I can report just finishing a wedding with the NX3 and it was BRILLIANT.

John, thanks for all your contributions and opinions on the NX3. Really close to pulling the trigger on this in the next week or so. Any new thoughts or insight you have experienced with yours? I have a sports season contract starting soon and doesn't look like I'll be able to wait until NAB to make a choice.

Robert Rinkewich · February 10th, 2014, 07:51 PM

Thanks John, I'll keep an eye out for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Knight

Hi Robert, I'll get an MP4 loaded shortly. Stephen Gradin - no shot transition feature sorry.

Peter Dunphy · February 13th, 2014, 04:12 AM

Hi Guys

Any thoughts whatsoever on any of my below 2 questions would be really appreciated.

Am confused about the various memory card options with this camera (I've come from tape), and am hoping that I can persuade my company to invest in the HXR-NX3.

Two questions:

1. Which of the below memory cards (or stick?!) would you suggest for maximum quality and maximum recording time which are compatible with the HXR-NX3?

Basically want to have sufficient memory for a long filming day at high quality, but also to have backup cards also.

MS-HX32B
(32 GB, 16 GB, 8 GB) Memory Stick PRO-HG DuoTM

SF-32UX
(32 GB, 16 GB, 8 GB) SD/SDHC Memory Card

MS-PX64
(64 GB, 32 GB, 16 GB) Memory Stick PRO-HG DuoTM Mirroring Memory Stick

2. What brand/type of cable would connect the HXR-NX3 to the new iMac 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5?

3. Any rain covers/cases that might be suitable for the camera?

Again, any thoughts or suggestions whatsoever would be really appreciated!

Warm regards

Peter Dunphy · February 17th, 2014, 03:21 AM

1. Any suggestions about what quality rain housing/cover would be appropriate for this camera?

2. Would the Rode NTG-1 Microphone be okay to use on this camera (not getting in shot)?

Any suggestions whatsoever would be greatly appreciated!

Warm regards

Juan A. Diaz · February 18th, 2014, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Dunphy

Hi Guys

Any thoughts whatsoever on any of my below 2 questions would be really appreciated.

Am confused about the various memory card options with this camera (I've come from tape), and am hoping that I can persuade my company to invest in the HXR-NX3.

Two questions:

1. Which of the below memory cards (or stick?!) would you suggest for maximum quality and maximum recording time which are compatible with the HXR-NX3?

2. What brand/type of cable would connect the HXR-NX3 to the new iMac 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5?

Warm regards

With regards to point 1, I talked about this on page 2 of this thread, post # 29:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/digital-...ml#post1824428

The Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards are available up to 64GB, which is a supported size in the NX3, and should give about 5 hours record time @ 1080p 60fps. Since there are 2 slots, you can either record 10 hours non stop in relay rec (over 2x the life of a NP-F970 battery, so plug in to AC), or 2 copies of the same footage in simultaneous rec mode.

With regards to your point 2... I wouldn't!!!
Connecting any current flash based camera with a cable is only going to give you USB2 offload speeds. This is sloooooow.

You mention that you are going to do loooooong shoots, so you probably want to get that material downloaded as fast as possible. Follow my advice in post 29, and you can get the data off your camera in a fraction of the time that using a USB2 cable directly to the camera would (other than to do firmware upgrades, I never actually plug any flash based camera into my computer directly to download footage... too slow).

Regarding your final point, the rain cover... I don't have any direct experience with this, but the NX3, the NX5, and AX1 are all very, very similar in size & shape to the Z5 and Z1 tape based cameras, so if you had a preferred solution for one of those tape models, it will likely work on the NX3.

Robert Rinkewich · February 19th, 2014, 11:03 AM

If anyone has this camera, I would greatly appreciate if you could post a short 1 or 2 min clip of the "network quality" mp4 output from the camera.

I need to make a decision on purchase in the next week. I'm either getting another NX5U or the NX3, but it depends on what the lower quality MP4 files look like. I do a lot of events where we sell an HD MP4 file to the customer for upload to the internet. It would be a great time saver to be able to give them the file without processing time.

Thanks

Rob

Stephen Robinson · February 21st, 2014, 05:58 PM

Thanks for all the info on this camera. I'm really considering upgrading to this camera from my XHA1s. One feature that I would find useful in my work would be a pre-record buffer. I haven't found any mention of this feature on this camera. Does anyone know if this camera has this feature? From my understanding the Canon XA20 and XA25 cameras have a 3 second pre-record buffers. Those are a couple of other cameras I'm considering.

January 28th, 2014, 09:29 AM	#61
Stephen Gradin Contributor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Nottingham, MD Posts: 66	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder I have the Sony Z7U and Z5U and sometimes I use the shot transition feature that both of these cameras have for doing smooth rack focus. Does the NX3 also have a shot transition feature? __________________ Stephen Gradin Dockside Video Productions

January 28th, 2014, 06:43 PM	#64
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,220	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder My NX5U does not have shot transition or spot focus but my FX1 did have shot transition. I think the NEX-EA50 has shot transition and spot focus. Ron Evans

February 2nd, 2014, 12:10 AM	#66
John Knight Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 588	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder Hi Robert, I'll get an MP4 loaded shortly. Stephen Gradin - no shot transition feature sorry. In the meantime, I can report just finishing a wedding with the NX3 and it was BRILLIANT. Fantastic in low light reception and great images. Here are a few real world 1080/50p clips. fern: https://mega.co.nz/#!OZ9lUQYR!LcDins...j0eXD6ELoEIUhI leaf: https://mega.co.nz/#!nAdSyAQC!Pgx_-A...jrLsV-O423x7NE crowd: https://mega.co.nz/#!qAUSURpK!l0Bk9_...oYRIL1tx70cH0g guest1: https://mega.co.nz/#!ucsRXQ5D!X7cA2J...Q_ZThgpGzZX50s guest2: https://mega.co.nz/#!WBVFXLjI!Zf_VD7...QLoB120payKQQQ Here's a clip featuring the 40x zoom and I've demonstrated both the creep (Michael Warren) and the ramping (for Ron Evans) https://mega.co.nz/#!yMtAAY6B!s8R8TN...moSo6GeAf-7ifU

February 2nd, 2014, 08:39 AM	#68
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,220	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder Thanks John. Zoom is impressive. Ramp is not as smooth as NX5U and does appear to start and stop much like my FDR-AX1. Ron Evans

February 13th, 2014, 04:12 AM	#71
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder Hi Guys Any thoughts whatsoever on any of my below 2 questions would be really appreciated. Am confused about the various memory card options with this camera (I've come from tape), and am hoping that I can persuade my company to invest in the HXR-NX3. Two questions: 1. Which of the below memory cards (or stick?!) would you suggest for maximum quality and maximum recording time which are compatible with the HXR-NX3? Basically want to have sufficient memory for a long filming day at high quality, but also to have backup cards also. MS-HX32B (32 GB, 16 GB, 8 GB) Memory Stick PRO-HG DuoTM SF-32UX (32 GB, 16 GB, 8 GB) SD/SDHC Memory Card MS-PX64 (64 GB, 32 GB, 16 GB) Memory Stick PRO-HG DuoTM Mirroring Memory Stick 2. What brand/type of cable would connect the HXR-NX3 to the new iMac 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5? 3. Any rain covers/cases that might be suitable for the camera? Again, any thoughts or suggestions whatsoever would be really appreciated! Warm regards __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws Last edited by Peter Dunphy; February 13th, 2014 at 10:24 AM.

February 17th, 2014, 03:21 AM	#72
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder 1. Any suggestions about what quality rain housing/cover would be appropriate for this camera? 2. Would the Rode NTG-1 Microphone be okay to use on this camera (not getting in shot)? Any suggestions whatsoever would be greatly appreciated! Warm regards __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 19th, 2014, 11:03 AM	#74
Robert Rinkewich Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 46	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder If anyone has this camera, I would greatly appreciate if you could post a short 1 or 2 min clip of the "network quality" mp4 output from the camera. I need to make a decision on purchase in the next week. I'm either getting another NX5U or the NX3, but it depends on what the lower quality MP4 files look like. I do a lot of events where we sell an HD MP4 file to the customer for upload to the internet. It would be a great time saver to be able to give them the file without processing time. Thanks Rob

February 21st, 2014, 05:58 PM	#75
Stephen Robinson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 69	Re: Sony announces HXR-NX3 professional HD camcorder Thanks for all the info on this camera. I'm really considering upgrading to this camera from my XHA1s. One feature that I would find useful in my work would be a pre-record buffer. I haven't found any mention of this feature on this camera. Does anyone know if this camera has this feature? From my understanding the Canon XA20 and XA25 cameras have a 3 second pre-record buffers. Those are a couple of other cameras I'm considering.