Pmw-ex3/2

[John Poipie]

I had to take it apart before sending it to the repair centre of Sony in Teaneck
to see for myself what the damage was. I took all kinds of pictures from the parts.
It is not so difficult to take apart if you are used to repairing laptop computers.
The only thing I did wrong, was opening the compartment with the ND-filters.
When I did, the filters got out of their fixture and I had to touch them and glue
them back in. I did a terrible job (350us$ to replace them)
I had heard so many bad stories about Sony repairs you know, but the guys there
are great. they know their business.
Someone who borrowed the cam made a short cicuit with an external powersupply unit.
The ground of the plug of the external monitor extension cable was on the plus pole of the external battery,
so when they inserted the component plug in to the camera, everything went dark in the cam.
Repair costs: about 5000us$

[Andy Wilkinson]

Ouch! They (the borrower) paid, right?

Back on topic - well I guess I'm starting to see the merits of such a minor EX3 upgrade - as mentioned by others above, i.e. I've no burning need to upgrade the cam at all (just as well as I've had to replace my Windows/Vegas box as the last one dies last week - albeit after 6 years hard labour!). At least the new i7 Win 7 box is a heck of a lot cheaper than my Apple hardware! Zippy fast too.

I guess if they did not improve the tripod mount design on the EX3/2 over the original EX3 (can anyone confirm this yet?), then all the (essential, IMHO!) bolt on aftermarket supports/brackets will still work just fine too.

[Gints Klimanis]

The merit of no incremental upgrades are that the development staff is not burdened with spending so much time in the testing/release phase. Imagine chopping out a month of development just to retest that little changes do not affect the stability of the product. Incremental upgrades also mean that the larger upgrade will include less development \ testing or fewer features.

[Ian Thomas]

Well i have just bought a EX3/2 today and as far as i can see externaly theres no difference to the EX3,
Every thing looks the same as my friends 1 year old EX3 the lens is the same and so is the hand grip, I have been waiting 3wks for it to arrive seems Sony are having problems fullfilling there orders on all models

it says EX3/2 on the box but could i have got the old EX3???

[Andrew Stone]

Ian what about the supposed orange ring indicator on the lens mentioned in the original post. If you don't have that, then I would check into it. You may have got the original EX3 as a "packaging error".

-Andrew

[Ian Thomas]

Forgive me but how do I go about checking which one it is, there is no orange ring indicater and the handgrip is the same as the EX3 even the manual was printed in 2008!!

[William Koenig]

That all of the changes to the EX3 were cancelled. And that the original EX3 is now being packaged with a promotional 16GB SxS card. (Dated July 27, 2010)

Ian, did your newest EX3 come with a card?

I don't know if that information is reliable.

I don't have an EX3 and never used one, but that kind of upgrade that was announced in retrospect is a little strange. Not to say that the upgrades weren't a good idea, I don't know. But most of them, focus ring and handle, are actually part of the lens unit.

Maybe those upgrades some how make the optional lens, the XS8X4ASXB8, somewhat undesirable. Unless the same upgrade is made for that unit too.

Ian, I hope the upgrade you were promised (by the box, too) has happened, and an original EX3 was sent to you by mistake.

Good luck in sorting it out.

P.S. Happy to name the forum and post link if not against the rules.

[William Koenig]

Two places selling specifically the EX3/2, list only the 16GB SxS card and compare the features to the EX1.

I found a PDF listing the new features plus 16GB SxS card included and states that the name will not change after upgrade and will remain the EX-3. Included documentation will not change from the original. Unit will be sold for the same price.

B&H lists only the EX-3 and in the description makes no mention of any upgrades. But, doesn't list the 16GB SxS card either.

??????????

[William Koenig]

Two more places selling the EX3/2 only stating firmware upgrade and 16GB SxS card included.

[Ian Thomas]

Thankyou for your help I investigated more and here in the uk the EX3/2 comes with a 16gb card + a firmware upgrade thats about it

So many thanks
Ian

[Steve Kalle]

There is in fact, the EX3/2. Call Abel Cine Tech in NY or email Andy Shipsides here on DVInfo. I think there is even a video posted on Abel Cine's blog about the EX3/2.

[Andy Shipsides]

Its true.. The EX3/2 lens upgrade was never actually done. Sony released a press release a few months ago with the changes listed at the top of this thread, but last month they let us know it never actually shipped with a new lens, just the 16gb card and new firmware. We pulled our blog down because of this. Steve, thanks for the mention. I wish it wasn't so.

[Charles Newcomb]

Whew. Now I don't have to sweat buying another one just to get an orange lens barrel.

I do wish they'd upgrade the firmware to allow for cache recording, however. I'd definitely pay for that firmware upgrade.

[Ian Thomas]

So what does the new firmware do??