Sony announces the XDCAM EX
 

This looks like Sony's answer to the HVX200. 1080i/p and 720p, 1/2 inch sensors, flash-based storage, two PC card slots (16 gb each, one hour video per card), 24p and other frame rates, slow and fast motion. I noticed it said CineAlta on the right side.

Heath

Uses Express card 34 bus rather than pcmcia. Can get an hour or so of recording to a card also.

-gb-

Is there a link to press release or anything?

Is it CMOS or CCD? I didn't hear mention.

heath

I'm looking now. greg?

heath

still 35 mbps?

Joe

edit: guess it must be if you do the math on 35mbps to 16gig which becomes an hour..

Here's the pic. And I want one...

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/image_li...asset_id=29749

This is what happens when you give steroids to the Z1u.

Wow.

Looks like a Z1 and a Canon H1 had a kid. Depending on the price and if it can in fact shoot in "off" frame rates, this could be a winner (esp for all us Vegas users)

I like its specs.. but design.. umm yea, the lens unit looks good layout wise and 1/2" chips is nice, no indication on the photo as to what they are however.

A definite answer to the hvx with i'll tentatively say the res to boot.

Nice, looks like the iris ring has stops, possibly the focus too. I wonder what this bad boy is going to cost?


It being xdcam, will it use the discs or the cards?

Sony basically said that XDCAM HD is any sort of acquisition, etc., that is non-linear and device-based vs. tape-based. Not the exact words, but close enough. (grin)

Flash-based PC cards. Price--no idea, but maybe $7000 or $8000 to compete with the HVX, I'm guessing. It's a small camera, maybe as big as a DVX100b or a V1u, but a little taller, I think.

Vince Pace was in the audience, btw--he and James Cameron developed the Pace/Cameron Fusion camera for 3D applications, like Cameron's AVATAR.

And, of course, 4k projection: SXRD. Muvico is replacing their film projectors with this bad boy in all their theatres, I believe. NICE! Now a reason to go back to the theatres.

heath

I am really impressed by this camera and see it as the ideal upgrade from say my HD200 - whats the deal with the lenses although?

Fixed lens, as far as I could tell.

heath

thats quite dissapointing as i am not to contented with the current lens theyve got on the Z1

Well, the next step would be 1/2" interchangeable lenses. They start at $7500 just for a lens.

This seems to really be closing a lot of gaps:

-V1 at $4k

-XDCAM EX at $8k-$10k

-XDCAM HD at $14k (plus lens)

Maybe 10 grand but that’s the lowest I see Sony selling this thing for. Even 12,000 dollars is a steal when you consider the ½ inch images and a fixed lens of that size.

The lens for the Z1 is for the camera's 1/3" chips; the EX will have a different kind of lens and maybe not quite as wide, for the 1/2" sensors.

heath

The obvious competitive move would be to offer it at about the same price as the HVX200. More of a replacement for the Z1 or the 250 especially if DV/DVCam could also be recorded. Maybe we will see the same technology move down to the prosumer 1/3" and 1/4" models. Could be a good year!!!!

Ron Evans

It will use cards. It's not physically large enough to accept the discs.

Slightly smaller than the HVX200. It's under glass so I can't pick one up or anything.

They also have the next generation 2/3 XDCAM 422 50mb on display. Looks like an F900 got together with the F350, body wise.

-gb-

And the next gen XDCAM HD shoots full 1920 x 1080!

Greg, does the EX have CMOS or CCD sensors?

heath

how is the 'next gen' xdcam different to the old one (the 350) and Heath are you reffering to the EX when you say 'And the next gen XDCAM HD shoots full 1920 x 1080!'

Don't know just yet, Heath. I've been stuck in presentation rehearsal all day today. Briefly saw the camera yesterday evening, and this morning.

-gb-

ill be more happy with CMOS sensors i have to say

This reminds me of a rumor I started spreading along time ago about Sony releasing a tape less version of the Z1u with either AVCHD at 24mbps or XDCAM-HD at 35mbps and surprisingly the rumor became true except its using solid state instead of Mini Blu-Ray discs. This really is a home run for Sony. Even if Sony releases an HDV replacement for the Z1u, I will still consider this a true replacement. Its like when Panasonic released the HVX200, it was considered a replacement for the 100a but Panasonic still released the 100b.

Wow, what an interesting camera. I was hoping that someone would start making cameras with large imagers and fixed lenses. The lens, although fixed, seems to have the same features as a regular ENG lens. The focus ring has distance markings so maybe it has stops? The zoom and iris rings look like they came straight off an ENG lens. The gear teeth would seem to suggest that they are being driven by the same type of servo grip on an ENG lens. Can't quite make out the focal length marking so we don't know how wide or telephoto it goes. According to the press release, the frame rates it does are: 1080/60i and 720/60P, and be capable of recording 1080/50i/30P/25P/24P and 720/50P. The camera will also have slow and quick motion functionality. I wonder if that means it can do true single frame intervolometer recording for time lapse work. If so, that would seal the deal.

Wow...

this looks like Sonys answer to the JVC models... the XDCam workflow is also a godsendSeems sony are playing the smart game as they did with the PD150 and DSR200/250 units...

The fixed lens shouldnt be an issue IMO... weve all been working with them for long enough to accept that its cost vs choice.
This is somethign weve needed to consider when tossing these cameras up for all these years.. and this is no different.

IMO a camera of this nature is worth every cent. Its what weve been wating for.. It does what the HVX can do but offers existing workflow solutions for every NLE on the market without the bullshit politics and workarounds. It offers a larger CCD which we've all been bitching for and an ergonic design which has been proven time and again.

IMO THIS is what weve been waiting for... no more whinging abotu HDV formats and compression, no more complaining about low light inabilities, no more complaining about what we CANT do...
Now we have a tool which can virtually let us do anything we want in virtually any environment.

My hat is off to Sony..

Sony has really switched up their philosophy it seems. We can credit Panasonic for that, I think.

It used to be no alternate frame rates, and no camera models/price points besides that which the market had already defined.

I'm a little scared of what the bitrate has to be to fit an hour of video on an 8gb card, but hopefully that spec/blurb is skewed for running time. In other words, I sure hope there is at LEAST 25mbs available for this camera. That means a runtime of more like 35 minutes on 8gb, but that would be fine.

Nate,

It's a 16 gb card, so much higher bit rate.

heath

I've been hunting around for more info, and even Sony isn't saying a price, imaging sensor types (CMOS or CCD) or any other information. There's even speculation it's a prototype right now, like the next generation of XDCAM HD.

heath

Indeed, if the price is right and this camera lives up to the teaser info presented here, it could be THE answer to what many of us have been wanting since affordable HD cameras were introduced. Even if the price is somewhat higher than an HVX200 that could be balanced out by not having to pay P2 memory prices.

Can anyone provide a link to more details?

Sounds like what we've seen several times now in recent years: some sort of announcement at NAB followed by more details over the next few months with early shipments toward the end of the year and volume shipments in 2008. Time to start saving up...

Kevin,

You NAILED that! Makes me think mostly of the DVX and the HVX, to be honest. And now RED and the SI 2k camera.

heath

Panasonic announced the list price of the 16 gig P2 cards at 900 dollars

I really hope this thing is around the weight of the Z1u or less.

curious.. does it still have a tape transport? lol

The press release http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_ro...ase/29851.html refers to it as the "planned" XDCAM EX unit. Does anyone else think that sounds a bit vague?

It's a decoy!
 

What it sounds like to me it that Sony are so terrified of losing all their potential customers to RED that they've mocked up something in a hurry just so it looks like they've got something new to offer.

Their press release it so low on detail it might as well be blank!

P.S. I hope I'm wrong. The XDCAM EX could be a great camera.... but it will have to be very competitively priced if it's going to compete with RED and the Panasonic HPX500 which offers the use of 2/3" interchangeable HD lenses and/or cine lenses.

This XDCAM EX is not made to compete against much larger cameras. It may have ½ inch imagers but its main competition is the Panasonic HVX200.

All I'm saying is that unless it's priced competitively, why wouldn't you spend a few of thousand dollars more and get a pro camera that's capable of shooting material for anything up to a feature film? It if does turn out to be priced to compete with the HVX200, Sony will have a winner on their hands. If it's much more than that, it won't be.