Need help choosing the right HD422 camcorder?

[Doug Jensen]

Last year I created a 25 question quiz to help people choose between the super-35mm PMW-F3 or NEX-FS100 cameras. Over 6000 people have taken the quiz so far, and I've gotten some great feedback from people who said it helped them make a decision.
Which Super-35mm camera is right for you?

Well, lately I've been getting a lot of inquiries from people asking me to help them decide which one of Sony's new XDCAM HD422 camcorders would be the right for them -- the PMW-200, PMW-160*, or the PMW-100. But, once again, that's not an easy question to answer because everyone's needs, budget, and expectations are different. In most ways the camera are similar, but in some critical ways they are very different -- or there wouldn't be three new models. A camera that might be the perfect choice for one person, might be the wrong choice for someone else.

So I've created a new 20 question quiz to help people who are considering buying an HD422 camcorder make a choice. If you answer the questions honestly, I'm confident my quiz will give you the right advice.

Which HD422 Handycam is right for you?




* Note: The PMW-150 is the European version of the PMW-160 and it does not have any NTSC formats. The PMW-160 does PAL and NTSC.

[Glen Vandermolen]

I took the quiz, and the winner is: the 200, by 1 percentage point.

The 160 has a sensitivity rating of F10. Is that pretty good? Is it comparable to the EX1/3s?

[Doug Jensen]

I don't have as much experience shooting with the PMW-160 as I do with the PMW-200 and 100, but my general impression after a couple of shoots is that the 160 does very well in low light. If I can find the time maybe I'll setup a comparison between the 160 and 200 and post it.

[Hal Protter]

I recommend that anyone asking this question purchased Doug's just released DVD on the 4:4:2 line. THe DVD is outstanding , gives an excellent overview of the line and is a quick way of geting up to speed on their new camera, in my case the 200. "Mastering the PMW-200-160-150-100 Camcorders" . As a former EX-1 user I found that I learned much more that I expected including that a Sony XQD ExpressCard Adapter and XQD cards can record at the same 4:2:2 50 mb/sec rate as the SxS cards can.



"Mastering the PMW-200-160-150-100 Camcorders"

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Glen Vandermolen

The 160 has a sensitivity rating of F10. Is that pretty good? Is it comparable to the EX1/3s?

The big difference between the 200 and the 160 is 1/2" chips versus 1/3" chips, and that translates into about a stop difference in native sensitivity between the two. Considering the PMW200 is not vastly more expensive than the PMW160 (and there are a few other differences as well), if low light performance is at all important to you, I'd really try to find the extra for the PMW200.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Hal Protter

I recommend that anyone asking this question purchased Doug's just released DVD on the 4:4:2 line.

Hi Hal, it's great to hear that the DVD was helpful. That's exactly what I like to hear! Thanks for taking the time to post.

[Luc De Wandel]

I did the quiz, which I find interesting, but when trying to enter my answers, I got this message: "This service may only be invoked from a page hosted in a WebCom account"

[Doug Jensen]

Luc, I apologize for that.

Our website is experiencing a serious problem right now (since yesterday afternoon) with the hosting service we use and we don't even have any email service right now -- let alone the ability to process the camera quiz. The last 24 hours has been quite a mess. I have just changed the quiz page so other people don't waste their time answering the questions. We hope to have the website up and running normally by the end of the week. It's the lack of email that is really killing me right now.

Again, I apologize for wasting anyone's time who bothered to try using it today.

[Luc De Wandel]

No Probs, Doug, I'm not in a hurry. Hope your problem gets fixed asap, I know what it feels like...

[Doug Jensen]

After three days of hell our email and website is back to normal again. I hate it when things are beyond my control and you can't even get someone else to understand that the problem is on their end. Very frustrating.

So, I invite you to try the quiz whenever you want: Which HD422 Handycam is right for you?

Thanks
Doug

[Luc De Wandel]

Clearly the F3 for me. Now I should be able to compare the camera that I use now (PMW320) to the F3... Or to a camera that doesn't exist (F3 in shoulder mounted format)

[Alastair Traill]

Hi Doug,

As a matter of curiosity I completed your test even though I was not interested in any of the three cameras as none offers an interchangeable lens. Most of the questions had clear-cut answers but when it came to choosing between auto versus manual for exposure and focus my reaction was “depends on the occasion,” so I took the test twice and got a different camera on each occasion. I found this surprising but interesting.

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Alastair, thanks for taking the test.

Just to be clear, if you got different results taking the quiz more that once, then you must have answered the questions differently because the way the results are calculated is not random. If you answer the same questions the same way, then you will get the same answer. I think you understand that, but I just don't want anyone to get the wrong impression from the way you phrased your post.

You shouldn't be surprised if you got different results from responding the the auto focus/exposure questions differently, because those answers are important to determining which camera might be a better choice for someone. I'm not going to say how the numbers are crunched, but I stand by the recommendations that this quiz and the FS100 vs. F3 quiz provide. At least nobody has sued me for causing them to buy the wrong camera! :-)

[Alastair Traill]

Hi again Doug,

Sorry for any confusion. When I said I took the test twice I answered in the first test that auto exposure and auto focus were important and in my second set of answers I answered that manual exposure and focus were important. Answers to the rest of the questions were left the same. Each combination of answers gave me a different camera.

I guess my concern is that I felt uncomfortable having to decide one way or the other, when in reality I use either, it depends entirely on the occasion. I would guess that many camera operators do the same.

Overall I think your test is a good idea and I look forward to one on EX3 replacements.

[Doug Jensen]

Hi again Alastair,

You have hit on the exact reason why I programmed the quiz to give percentages for each of the three cameras. Even though the highest scoring camera is announced as the "winner", you can still see how close the margin of victory was. In some cases, the winning camera might be 20-30% above the next one and the decision of what camera to buy should be very clear. But in other cases it is almost a dead heat and it's harder to say for sure which camera would be best. So, even though changing some of the answers might cause a whole different camera to be recommended (and it should!) you can see that maybe the relative percentages didn't shift a whole lot. Sometimes just enough to put one camera over the top instead of the other.

I appreciate the feedback. It's fun to hear the comments.