Sony PMW-200 Brings HD 4:2:2 Workflow to XDCAM Camcorder Line

[Mark Donnell]

Yes Jack, the weight balance comments were with the BP-U30 battery in place. The slowest zoom setting is VERY slow, taking 88 seconds to go from full wide to full telephoto. I have a raw clip file that is 1.4 minutes long of the zoom, but it is 800 MB large. What is the best way to send or post it for others ? Also, I have a fast computer (PC) with 16 GB of RAM, and interestingly enough, the video from the camera (but not the audio) stutters when being played in the XDCAM brower from Sony. The same video, when played in my Edius 6 NLE, is as smooth as silk. With regards to the EVF, perhaps the lack of color saturation is not a problem if it is easy to focus correctly. I have not yet spent enough time with this to make a determination. I see that one option is to make the viewfinder black and white. I know that commercial cameramen used to swear by B&W viewfinders for focusing. Any suggestions ?

[Cristian Adrian Olariu]

Mark, regarding the EVF comparison - it's not abut how nice the picture looks on them but how faithful they are compared to the recording. You didn't mention what picture profiles did you use on both camcorders, I assume that you used an customized profile for Pana, but standard profile for Sony and maybe that's why the Sony's EVF was so washed out.

[Jack Zhang]

Peaking is essential to focusing. That should be on whenever possible (unless you're shooting something with texture that overwhelms the peaking to hide the image)

I personally use the high setting as that shows a refined threshold of the areas in peak sharpness. The only time peaking may not work is in Low-light or high gain.

I also personally think a 3x Loupe over the LCD is a much better viewfinder compared to the small FOV coverage of the rear EVF. On the LCD, you can adjust saturation and more precisely control the backlight level.

Sony XDCAM Browser uses a non-hardware accelerated MainConcept decoder. (CPU does all the work, and it's not really Multi-thread optimized) If it is an MXF, you can try VLC Media Player to preview as well. (though some versions of VLC have a audio bug with MXF files)

[Ozgur Iskin]

I wish this camera had had the shot transition feature. I could have managed without the rotating hand grip (i love that grip when power zooming tho') but one of the main reasons why i picked my ex1r and not a dslr was the shot transition feature.

I don't get why they removed it either. Some say that the rotating handgrip is gone due to customer feedback. Ok. Who did ask for the removal of this feature then? It was just 3 buttons under the handlebar. It can't be like people emailed to Sony saying "hey please remove this, along with auto iris and s&q buttons. They add significant weight to the camera", can it? I see that the specific area is reserved for heat sinking purposes on the pmw200 but there is still plenty of empty areas on the camera for those buttons.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but there's not another camera on the market that can do what the shot transition does. These cameras are made with broadcasting in mind, i get that. But it's not like if you are not a broadcaster, you are not allowed to buy one. The predecessor had a great, flawless feature. Why remove something that works?

I might have considered selling my ex1r and buying a pmw200. Now i'll just skip it instead.

[Brian Drysdale]

Having used a Z1 over the weekend, anything that reduces number of buttons is a good thing. It gets to a point when they're just something that can be accidentally knocked and you get something you don't want.

[Doug Jensen]

I feel just the opposite. The more buttons the camera has, the less time I have to spend getting into the menus. My PMW-200 has 5 assign buttons, but I wish it had 10 and there was a longer list of functions I could assign to them. I can't recall ever accidentally pushing a button on my Z1, EX1, EX3, or F3. Give me more!

[Brian Drysdale]

It depends on what you're doing with the camera, I was doing a lot of hand held with the Z1 and the shutter speed changed a number of times. I've no problem with the Z1 assign buttons, it's the exposure option buttons located prcisiely where I'm sometimes holding the camera.. For some shots I tend to use the LCD as a V/F and dig the camera into my shoulder, so the rotating selector can be occidentally shifted.

In this regard I prefer the JVC GY HD cameras.

[Doug Jensen]

Well this thread is actually supposed to be about the new PMW-200 and not the shortcomings of a seven year old Z1U HDV camcorder. I assure you that shooting with the two cameras is quite different. The more buttons the better.

[Brian Drysdale]

The PMW 200 looks pretty clear of buttons in the danger zone.

[Jack Zhang]

Remember that there isn't a dedicated Bars button anymore, that needs to be assigned. Calibration of your displays got at least 1 step more complicated.

I love the Assign 4 button on the EX1R set as the Rec button since it reminds me of using shoulder cams if you didn't want to reach for the handle Rec button. That's gone from the 200. If you think about it, the 200 actually has 1 less assign button than the EX1R if the Zebra and Peaking buttons were also assignable on the EX1R.

[Doug Jensen]

Yeah, that's the way I look at it, too. The PMW-200 really only has three assign buttons. But since I have zebras turned on 100% of the time and NEVER turn them off, being able to re-program the zebra button for something else makes up for it. So I'm back to four.

However, I really hate not having two other missing buttons, and neither one can be programmed into an Assign Button:
1) S&Q Motion, with a corresponding menu to change the video format to 720P automatically.
2) SteadyShot On/Off

I'm lobbying Sony hard to get them to add those features to the Assign Button choices in a future firmware update. I'd say the odds are good because they've listened to me before on other cameras and they know I speak for many other people with the same ideas. We'll see.

I have to say I like the 200 more and more every day. I think the picture quaity looks great and I love the ergonomics of it. I don't understand why some people are bitching about the lack of a rotating grip because I find the camera 10x easier to handhold than an EX1R. It doesn't need a rotating grip. I guess I wouldn't complain if it had one, but I sure don't miss it.

BTW, I've got a EX1 for sale if anyone is interested!

[Mark Donnell]

Cristian - I took your suggestion and started adjusting the picture profile settings.The viewfinder is still not up to the Panasonic, but it much better with new settings. I was initially not happy with the video shot with the factory settings, but I can now tell everyone that this camera is capable of incredible color. I can't begin to say that I know what they all do, but based on watching the viewfinder, then checking the video on my NLE and examining a JPEG frame compared to an identical shot with my Sony A-65 still camera, I would recommend the following settings for bright saturated color shots :

Matrix ON, Select 1, Level +15, Phase +10, R-G 0, R-B +20, G-R +20, G-B +20, B-R 0, B-G +20
MultiMatrix Mode MultiMatrix
HD Detail ON, Level +15, Freq +15, Crispening +15, H/V ratio -15, White limiter 0, Black limiter 0,
V Detail creation G+R, Knee apt level 0
Aperature ON, Level +30
Knee ON, Auto Knee ON
Gamma level 0, Select STD 1
Black -5
Black gamma 0
Low key sat +10

[Alister Chapman]

Those matrix settings may give issues with blues as you have a lot of blue phase shifts plus a blue sat increase, but with no corresponding red shift, and that's a lot of detail correction with added aperture on top. Just be sure to look at the images on a big screen.

[Jack Zhang]

SteadyShot on/off can still be accessed via the direct menu, right? Cause if any direct menu functionality changed, that would throw some EX1/EX1R owners off.

[Doug Jensen]

Yes, that still works and it is a big time saver compared to using the regular menu.