Sony XDCAM, XAVC flavors and FCPX compatibility? Since the newer XDCAM cameras are using a variety of XAVC codecs, I'd be curious to know Sony's roadmap for supporting them (wrapping, not transcoding) in FCPX. I'd like to hear from Ian although anyone with any information would be appreciated. Page 20 Sony XDCAM and Quantel’s Systems deliver the best production workflows today. Users are impressed with the speed and agility of the Quantel XDCAM interface, that allows direct access to the essence and metadata. This, combined with the easy to use, progressive Quantel editing interface has resulted in much faster operational workflows. Three 2/3-inch type Exmor CMOS sensors XDCAM weight-balanced advanced shoulder camcorder with HLG option, improved network connectivity, and low power consumption PXW-X320 Three 1/2-inch type Exmor CMOS sensors XDCAM camcorder recording Full HD XAVC 100 Mbps, with wireless and 16x zoom HD lens options. (PXW-X320L lens-less model also available). According to Sony, AVCHD is a highly efficient long-GOP codec based on MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Long-GOP image compression, a member of the MPEG family of codecs. This approach is consistent with Sony’s current line-up of MPEG professional camcorders, including the HDV™, XDCAM® HD optical and XDCAM EX™ series.
Sometimes it seems as if little has changed in ENG-style camcorders since Sony introduced the first one-piece Betacam, the BVW-200, at NAB 1989.
The BVW-200 was the first 2/3in. 3CCD shoulder-mount camcorder. By introducing small, solid-state CCDs to replace the fussy high-voltage Saticon tubes of previous two-piece Betacams, Sony shrunk the BVW-200 in size and power consumption. A Sony brochure at the time boasted:
Shoulder weight of 15lbs. 3oz. fully loaded
Perfect balance—adjustable shoulder pad for different lens attachments and batteries
Extremely low power consumption
Shorter length and lower profile for better peripheral vision
Quick startup and improved layout for all operational controls
Uncompromised technical performance that fully exploits the inherent superiority of Betacam SP recording capability
Freedom from daily technical alignment and easy maintenance
Enhanced reliability.
Breakthroughs then and now. The first-ever 2/3in. 3CCD camcorder, a Sony BVW-200 from 1989, and the first-ever 2/3in. 3-CMOS camcorder, Sony’s new PMW-350 with Fujinon autofocus 16X zoom lens. Photo illustration by D.W. Leitner
Fast-forward to today and substitute the operational weight of Sony’s new XDCAM EX PMW-350, 13.9lbs., and SxS flash-memory storage for Betacam SP recording, and, remarkably enough, you have a perfectly apt description of Sony’s first 2/3in. 3-CMOS camcorder, the PMW-350.
The PMW-350 also happens to be Sony’s first shoulder-mount camcorder with solid-state memory recording. The first with HDMI. The first with no Power Save switch. The first with no color filter wheel, simply electronic presets for color temperature and three steps of neutral density. The first 2/3in. camcorder with autofocus. Ever.
The beginning of a new Sony camcorder era? Let’s take a look.
The PMW-350’s 16X, f=8mm-128mm, f/1.9 hybrid Fujinon HD zoom with autofocus. At $1,400, a stocking stuffer.
The PMW-350’s street price at New York’s B&H is $18,900 with the supplied Fujinon HD zoom lens and $17,500 without the lens. That’s not a typo. The Fujinon zoom adds $1,400—not the usual $14,000 plus.
What’s going on here? The PMW-350 borrows a page from the 1/2in. PMW-EX3‘s book, which introduced a hybrid zoom that, like those of Sony’s 1/2in. PMW-EX1 and 1/3in. HVR-Z7U, can focus either mechanically to permit use of repeatable focus marks or electronically (infinite spin) for autofocus.
The 16X, 8mm-128mm, f/1.9 hybrid Fujinon zoom supplied with the PMW-350, however, is a 2/3in.-format lens with a standard B4 mount. The lens was designed expressly for the PMW-350 and provides autofocus control as well as lens file data (chromatic aberration compensation, dynamic shading) and metadata (aperture and focal length, stored in the video stream). The only electronic trick it neglects is optical image stabilization (OIS). Sony says virtually every PMW-350 sale to date includes the supplied lens. At that price, it’s a stocking stuffer.
The images created with Carl Zeiss DigiPrimes looked spectacular. Note viewfinder electronically masked to 2.40 “Scope” aspect ratio. Photo by D.W. Leitner
That first one-piece Betacam from 1989 carried a list price twice as much as today’s PMW-350—with lens, an investment approaching $50,000. It delivered a whopping 550 TV lines of standard definition from CCDs containing 250,920 pixels each. Today’s PMW-350 touts 1920×1080 CMOS sensors with 2,073,600 pixels for “1000 TV lines or more.” It provides all flavors of HD: 1920×1080, 1440×1080, 1440×720, and 1280×720 in the usual interlaced and progressive forms at frame rates of 59.94fps, 50fps, 29.97fps, 25fps, and 23.98fps.
Compression is efficient MPEG-2: 35Mbps VBR or 25Mbps CBR. A huge RAM cache stores 15 seconds for recording before the record button is even pressed.
An ironic touch: This 21st century marvel also delivers good old standard-definition DVCAM format, both 480- and 576-line.
CCDs are thirsty and that first BVW-200 drew 19W, modest compared to brawnier Betacams that followed. (Remember heavy brick batteries?) The remarkable PMW-350, although an HD camcorder, draws a mere 18W even when powering an LCD color viewfinder (more on this in a moment), autofocus zoom, directional stereo mic, and 32GB SxS card. One item it doesn’t have to power is a fan. Cool-running, low-power CMOS sensors bestow utter silence to the PMW-350, which is the only 2/3in. HD camcorder, I think, that can claim no internal motors.
Sony DWR-S01D digital wireless dual-channel slot-in receiver used with the PMW-350. To the left, Sony’s DWT-B01 bodypack transmitter. A sophisticated, expensive setup. Photo by D.W. Leitner
Imagine my satisfaction upon charging a slim 14.4V Sony BP-GL95 lithium ion battery and encountering, in the viewfinder, a battery life indication of 263 minutes. That’s more than 4 hours of 1080p from a full-size 2/3in. camcorder, folks!
Moreover, the PMW-350’s Exmor CMOS sensors introduce unprecedented sensitivity. (Sony’s unique Exmor architecture arranges on-chip A/D on a column basis for faster manifold output and improvements to dynamic range, rolling shutter, noise, and fixed pattern noise.) Using a standard frame rate, 24fps, and a standard metric, an 89.9 percent reflective gray card illuminated to 2000 lux, a 3CCD Sony F900R rates f/10, a 3CCD Sony F23 rates between f/10 and f/11, and a PMW-350 rates f/13. (A higher f/stop number is better.) I think this is the first instance of 2/3in. CMOS sensors outgunning CCDs in sensitivity.
A note about the lenses I used on the PMW-350: I spent only a matter of minutes with a preproduction version of Funijon’s 16X autofocus zoom. Nonetheless, I was impressed on many levels. It’s compact, light, and well-integrated with the PMW-350. Price point and value are incredible. It outwardly resembles the family of Fujinon autofocus zooms found on the PMW-EX1 and PMW-EX3. If you’ve used them, you know they’re not chopped liver.
I also field-tested a couple of Zeiss DigiPrimes. As expected, they looked spectacular.
The lens I used mostly was a 16X Canon 7.7mm-123mm, f/1.8, with 2X extender—a true HD ENG lens. In Canon parlance, it’s model KJ16ex7.7B IRSD PS12 with eDrive.
(If you haven’t encountered a Canon eDrive zoom lens, you’re missing a treat: motion control in a handgrip. EDrive handgrips contain high-resolution rotary encoders from Canon’s copier business, granting microprocessor control over all lens motor functions. There’s a four-way toggle switch on the handgrip with a user interface window and all sorts of ways to control zooming speed, acceleration/deceleration, and zoom range. Canon eDrive zoom lenses can remember various lens parameters at various focus lengths and perfectly repeat prior zooms, much like Sony’s Shot Transition feature on HDV handhelds. EDrive zoom lenses perform the slowest, crawliest zooms in the business.)
The 16X Canon eDrive zoom lens looked great too, but it’s lengthier than the 16X Fujinon autofocus zoom and threw off the balance of the PMW-350. At the same time, I inadvertently added counterweight with a Sony DWR-S01D digital wireless dual-channel slot-in receiver inserted in the tail slot of the PMW-350. (Paired with a Sony DWT-B01 bodypack transmitter, this is a terrific—if terrifically pricey—dual-channel system for dropout-free digital transmission/reception. I lust for one.)
The sliding shoulder pad with quick-release rebalances the PMW-350 when lenses and accessories are changed.
To tweak the balance of the PMW-350, I loosened the latch under the shoulder pad and slid the pad back and forth—per Sony, the greatest margin of adjustment in any shoulder-mount camcorder—until I found that sweet spot of perfect balance. What a difference it made! The PMW-350’s low center of gravity is not yet the equal of an Aaton, but it’s getting there.
The PMW-350’s superb 6500K color viewfinder deserves a review of its own. (6500K is the white point of pro broadcast monitors.) If you read Leitner’s Cinematography Corner, No. 3 back in October, you’ll remember my excitement at the time: “Two features will leap out immediately to operators everywhere: a new … Fujinon lens with hybrid auto/manual focus … and a new viewfinder based on the 3.5in., 920,000-dot LCD introduced on the EX1/EX3 series. For me, viewing through it was like looking directly at a studio HD monitor. All I could say was, ‘Wow … who needs peaking?'”
Not your grandfather’s viewfinder. Good enough to adjust with color bars? Photo by D.W. Leitner
Having now used the color viewfinder quite a lot, I stand by my initial impressions. I viewed many PMW-350 images—near, far, daylight, tungsten, bright, dark—directly on a huge 46in. Samsung LED display (exploiting the PMW-350’s handy HDMI output) and simultaneously in the viewfinder. While minimal peaking does aid fast focusing, I found that dialing in any amount of peaking coarsened the PMW-350’s viewfinder image and separated it from the recorded image. Alphanumeric indicators in the viewfinder also grew blown-out and garish with peaking. With no peaking at all, however, the viewfinder image closely matched the camera’s output yet remained easy to focus by eye. The “Focus Mag” 2X magnification function proved useful as a check.
After 20 years of camcorder viewfinders that failed miserably to achieve fidelity to the images they were framing, never coming within miles of delivering the aesthetic experience of a 16mm or 35mm viewfinder—even black-and-white master Ansel Adams viewed hi-res color images in his optical finder!—we at last have an electronic color viewfinder that’s worthy of being set up to the SMPTE RP 219-2002 bars generated by the PMW-350.
I know it’s a tiny LCD screen with a generic tendency to crush blacks. I know there’s no hue or color phase adjustment (we have to trust Sony on that). Nevertheless, there exist brightness and contrast knobs on the front of the viewfinder. Thankfully, in the VF Setting menu there is a B&W mode useful for adjusting contrast and setting blacks with the +2 percent and +4 percent black bars.
In the same VF Setting menu there exists another item, Color, with an arbitrary -99 to +99 range. The manual says that Color “adjusts the density” of colors in the viewfinder, and I presume this refers to chroma or saturation. Why not give us the equivalent of “Blue gun only” to facilitate this adjustment with accuracy and repeatability?
In other words, why not take the PMW-350’s color viewfinder seriously, as we would any professional monitor? We’ve always been told, don’t make critical color and exposure decisions in the viewfinder, it’s not meant for that. But with a viewfinder this good, why not?
DayGlo orange behind switches on the PMW-350, left, and new PMW-EX1R, right, make settings easier to read. Photo by D.W. Leitner
Note to Sony concerning future placement of Peaking, Contrast, and Bright dials and Mirror, Display, Zebra, and Tally switches at the front of the viewfinder: I know it’s traditional—every shoulder-mount camcorder ever made has done it this way—but why exile these critical viewfinder controls to the one place least visible to the operator? Every time I adjust them, I, the operator, have to put down the camcorder and move around to the front to see what I’m doing. Why don’t these dials have detents or setting markings like any pro monitor?
I suggest the following: Move these important controls around to the rear of the viewfinder block, in full view of the operator. (You’ll be the first kid on the block to boast of having done this.)
Sony Xdcam Price
Many noteworthy features and functions of the PMW-350 I’ve had to skip over in this brief review: genlock, timecode in/out, and HD-SDI for starters. In closing, I’ll single out a few of my favorites.
As on the new PMW-EX1R, Sony has placed DayGlo orange behind all black sliding switches. Now it’s a cinch to glimpse their position in dim circumstances. A simple improvement but terribly helpful.
Sony Xdcam 350
Wonders never cease. A focal plane mark below the new electronic color temperature button. Photo by D.W. Leitner
Also simple but terribly helpful: a focal plane mark! It’s something no film camera would be without, yet it’s as rare as hens’ teeth on video cameras.
There are seven, count ’em, assignable switches, eight if you include the RET button on the lens handgrip. (I like to assign RET to “Focus Mag” to magnify the image 2X for fine focusing.) The seven include a mini-toggle, a sliding switch, two buttons on the handle, the electronic Color Temp switch, and two unassigned buttons on the side. The last three glow with an orange light when engaged.
As in other Sony CMOS camcorders, a useful histogram is available in the viewfinder, as well as a “Lens Info” indication which dynamically displays depth of field along the top of the image. (It worked great with the Canon eDrive zoom.) Both functions are assignable either to buttons or switches.
Dual SxS slots accept new Sony adapters that permit alternative use of economical Memory Sticks and SDHC cards.
Lastly, Sony has recently announced adapters to permit use of cheap consumer SDHC cards and Sony Memory Sticks in XDCAM EX camcorders. The Sony MEAD-SD01 SD Card adapter and MEAD-MS01 Memory Stick Pro adapter will arrive in this month for about $120. A PMW-350 will require a firmware upgrade to use the latest Class 10 SDHC cards from Panasonic and SanDisk, but fortunately the PMW-EX1R and PMW-350 are Sony’s first-ever user-upgradeable camcorders (via SxS card). For information on this and future upgrades, click on the Resources tab at Sony’s XDCAM EX microsite.
At 20 years and counting, Sony’s one-piece shoulder-mount camcorder remains a classic. Pointed squarely at the future, the new PMW-350 uniquely distills these decades of design and field use into a mature bread-and-butter product for the 21st century.
As for HDCAM cassettes, is it me, or are they starting to feel as outdated as VHS cassettes? If only someone could figure out how to archive the growing mountain of digital video files, to make them as secure and long-lasting as film …
bottomline
Company: Sony pro.sony.com Product: PMW-350 Assets: Light, well-balanced; records to SxS solid-state memory as well as less-expensive SDHC or Memory Stick Pro cards with adapter; Exmor CMOS sensors offer unprecedented sensitivity and low power consumption; included 16X Fujinon lens is first-ever 2/3in. zoom with autofocus; color viewfinder one of the best yet; DayGlo orange behind switches improves readability. Cons: None. State-of-the-art from stem to stern. Price: $22,000 (list)
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Size and shape
I’ve grown used to the fact that the new raft of large-sensor cameras are shaped like shoe boxes. There are a lot of electronics to pack inside and the circuit boards being rectangular have to fit in an orderly manner.
The shape of the body on the other hand is well suited to an equally orderly layout of the controls that, like on most digital video cameras, seem to be clustered all over the body. In this regard, the size of the F3 leaves decent space between each button and control knob to make if quite easy to use even for large fingers.
The two volume level controls are exposed and according to sound recordist James Nowiczewski, are prone to being accidentally turned up or down in the rough and tumble of a shoot. Gaffer tape covering these controls will not be a thing of the past I’m afraid and it's a shame that Sony does not think about little things like this. A small cover over the knobs could have easily taken care of it.
Small budget, small crew, small kit
It is not a shoulder mounted design so the F3 is not a comfortable hand-held camera for any long period of time. However it is still compact and light enough to hold while moving and gliding around. I found no limitation on my shorter stint handheld capabilities except for long sessions which I predict will be tricky. In my opinion it’s just not great for shoots where the camera may have to be handheld for up to half an hour at a time. For this work, a camera support like the Milide ShouldeRig would do the job.
An aspect that I came to appreciate, is that the size and form factor of the camera with lenses and mattebox attached is perfect for tripod work. It has sufficient mass which meant it always felt smooth while panning and tilting on my Miller 55.
I liked the fact that I could take the F3 out of the box, charge a compact battery, mount a lens and just go out and shoot - F3 in one hand, tripod in the other. I could shoot an entire documentary on this camera. Another use for the F3 could be where dramatic re-construction segments are inserted into footage shot on other video formats.
Lenses and the PL mount
The native lens mount is what is known as the F3 mount and a PL (Positive Lock) is attached out of the box. The front of the camera body is cast from metal alloy and forms a robust design to support the large diameter Arri PL mount. This gives the F3 an even more serious feel.
The optional Sony prime lenses that were supplied with my F3 were pre-production models. The focus and aperture rings were not smooth as I would have expected, particularly the focus ring. However I have recently had a chance to play with the first production lenses and these rings feel a lot smoother.
Each lens – the 35mm, 50mm and 85mm have a maximum aperture of T2. They can focus to short minimum distances - less than 30cm in the case of the 35mm. The large diameter of the lens barrels is a little overwhelming, however this large diameter allows for fine focus distance increments to be marked on the barrel. This is essential if you are serious about shooting with the accurate control required for cinematography at this level. Aperture and focus gear rings are standard, so interfacing with the top notch follow-focus units and servo motors is a straight forward.
My only wish is for a wider lens or wide zoom to be offered as part of the optional lens kit. For a recent F3 shoot I had to hire an 18mm to get my wide shots - sweet as it is, the angle of view on the 35mm is just not wide enough for most shoots. A zoom lens will be essential for doco work and I understand that something will be available soon.
The images
Sony Xdcam Player
Nice, right out of the box. I’d be happy recording straight to the dual SxS cards for the majority of the time. OTOH, I’d also be thinking about a nanoFLASH and recording at 4:2:2 at higher transfer rates for the more demanding post production treatments. At last, a lens, imager and image processor combination that is so good, it's actually worth using these higher recording specs.
To be honest, I’m interested in seeing if and when I could use the F3 for my work. Numbers mean little to me and the images that I take are everything, but I’m a fast worker and working quickly at 35mm level is not for the faint hearted – just ask any current DSLR user.
Accurate focus and correct exposure are always close to my heart and the F3 is an easy camera to do hold accurate focus. No thoughts of using an external monitor or attaching other accessories for that matter, this camera is up to speed within seconds. The prime lenses and LCD panel with its edge peaking and expanded focus ensured that I could work fast and accurately. As is the case with the XDCAM 's, you need to be aware of any blown-out highlights and a small degree of under exposure is usually enough to bring the highlights with in range.
For someone who enjoys using a video camera to respond spontaneously to beautiful light or to locations that beg thoughtful composition, I reckon the F3 is right on the money. I will soon be posting a short that I recently shot on the PMW-F3. In the meantime Sony Australia has a Microsite with some great examples.
Sony Microsite Xdcam
Thanks to Nick Buchner at Sony Australia for allowing me to evaluate this camera.