Sony unveils the EX3 successor: PMW-300

[Andy Wilkinson]

I must say I'm really pleased at this announcement.

My trusty EX3 is almost exactly 5 years old and has served me extremely well in the type of work I do - and still does. It's been more recently complemented by a Canon C100 which is also a great cam with all my Canon glass. Both, of course, have their idosyncracies/excel in different ways - but when each is used to their strengths they are terrific. My Canon 7D is mainly on stills only duty now - but at least it got me into buying some great glass now being used on the C100.

If and when my EX3 dies (it's been 100% rock solid so far - touch wood...) I'll be looking hard at getting this PMW-300. I'm already pretty sure on that even with just a picture and an announcement to go on.

However, I really do hope they have thought about a way of collapsing down or even removing part of the EVF/LCD assembly - as mentioned by others above. Thanks for that picture Bryce - I hope you're right! The EX3 was ALWAYS a bit awkward for the European airline travel I had to do with the cam - I always managed to get it in the cabin with me in a Petrol bag (with the Sony Mic Clamp unscrewed/removed) but it was a bit of a tight squeeze. Yeah, I know, a PMW-200 would be easier to pack - but that's not the cam I want as my EX3 successor, this is. The C100 is a breeze for this type of travel, of course.

Rotating handgrip - check. They should never have removed that feature from cams of this weight/level like they did with the PMW-200. Looks like they have indeed been listening.

If 1080p50/60 comes along down the road with XAVC it'll make the PMW-300 a superbly versatile cam and totally irresistable... If I can squeeze 1 more year out of my EX3 before it goes to "the great camera heaven in the sky" that should dovetail in nicely...

I certainly agree with Matt's comment that this is "another 5-year + camera" and for that reason alone it will be high on my list for future purchase.

I can already hear my wife now... "WHAT? ANOTHER CAMERA!"

:-)

[Joe Lawry]

Interesting note.. looks like 4 ND filter positions to me. Same as the PMW150.. Wish my PMW200 had this.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Good observation about the NDs on the PMW-300 picture Joe - hope that's true!

Oh, and please Mr Sony, can we have the Media access door in BLACK, not in silver....

Also, I found this good summary by Sony about their implementation of XAVC - might be worth a read for some of you.

http://community.sony.com/t5/F5-F55/...ing/td-p/36571

[Ronald Jackson]

I wonder how will it compare with an EX3 with a nanoFlash?

Ron

[Bernd Eller]

Originally Posted by Andy Wilkinson

Good observation about the NDs on the PMW-300 picture Joe - hope that's true!

It is true: Clear, 1/4, 1/16 and 1/64.

[Glen Vandermolen]

Originally Posted by Ronald Jackson

I wonder how will it compare with an EX3 with a nanoFlash?

Ron

It'll be a lot less bulkier.
Since the sensors are nearly identical, the picture should be very close, although the 300 should have a cleaner image in lower light.

But the point of the 300 is that you will no longer need external recorders.

But if you're happy with an EX3, with or without a Nano, it's still a very good camera. No reason to switch if the EX3 is still making you money.

[Bo Skelmose]

I have been looking on the filter switch too - My guess is that it will do Infrared ;)

[Alister Chapman]

Yes, 4 ND filter positions. Clear, 1/4, 1/16, 1/64

[Alister Chapman]

Sony are a little vague over the XAVC codec options. One will possibly be 35Mb/s 10 bit 422 XAVC Long GoP. This has been a request from several broadcasters that want a codec that will fit in a small pipe for network editing etc in news rooms. It may well also get the 100Mb/s (25p) I frame codec. From what I can tell it shares the same encoder and DSP as the PMW-400. IF it will be able to do 1080p50 then that may also be somewhere where Long GoP will be useful as this would avoid having to use SxS Pro+ cards to handle the 200Mb/s bit rate. My guess (and it is a guess) is that it will do 1080p50/60 with XAVC.

[Jack Zhang]

Originally Posted by Ronald Jackson

I wonder how will it compare with an EX3 with a nanoFlash?

Ron

The new NR circuits will make the noise characteristics more different. If there is no 1080p60, 280mbps I-frame on the Nano may still get better recording quality. (not image quality)

Alister, here's hoping that the 400 and 300 have XAVC 50p/60p support. May wait until that option comes standard to get either the 300 or a 200 replacement. (250 I guess?)

[Steven Digges]

Believe it or not the I-Link firewire is still significant to me. I have a lot of corporate conferences we shoot in HD but still deliver standard DVDs too. I have a Sony Anycast I have used since they were first released. They are being phased out now. Mine has paid for itself countless times. I am hoping the I-link is hot while all the other formats are in use? I would love that! The Anycast is a multi source switcher and HDD recorder (among other things). The firewire inputs are my first choice even though it has others.

Also, don’t throw away your Adobe On-Location disk. A great program for field shooting. My main use for it was not even the HDD recording it will do. I used it for all of its useful tools like waveform monitor, vector scope, and others. Then set the zebras where you want (shadow and highlight), put the monitor in full screen and away you go with a half way decent firewire field monitor.

One word of caution. I have absolutely no faith in Sony when it comes to “future upgrades, to be released”. If the camera works for you out of the box then buy it. If your betting on the come you could end up waiting much much longer than you think. I have been burned by Sony rushing broadcast line products to market to generate this kind of excitement, when the product was far from ready for release.

Steve

[Brent Kaplan]

I want more pictures geeezzz

[Alister Chapman]

I'm trying to find out about XAVC 50/60p support.

Hypergammas instead of Cinegammas. WiFi is not built in but via the CBK-WA01 adapter, Magnesium alloy body not plastic like the PMW-200.

So far only 3 pictures have been released, all show the camera from the same angle, just with different microphones.

I suspect the street price will be about 10-20% higher than the EX3 with the 14x zoom and quite a bit more with the 16x.

[Glen Vandermolen]

What's the difference between hypergammas and cinegammas? Which is preferable?

A 10-20% price increase is still very reasonable, for what you're getting. This is a workhorse camera.

[Alister Chapman]

Not a lot of difference, in fact Hypergamma 4 is the same as Cinegamma 1 and HG2 is the same as CG 2.

It's just good that Sony are standardising on HG across almost all of the range now which makes setting up cameras to match much simpler.