Sony PXW-X70 announced: Pro XDCAM version of AX100

[Josh Bass]

That would've been my big question. . .if this EX1/3 is considered a "fully featured professional cam" and this cam is considered "prosumer," what makes it so? So far only know of a few drawbacks/things it lacks compared to the larger cams:

-12x (relatively short range ) zoom

-one ring on lens

-iris stops down to 4 at longer end of zoom (though EX1 closes down to 2.8 or something, even though the readout doesn't TELL YOU it does this)

-highlight handling

-small size/looks like toy to some clients, maybe. . .I generally don't deal with these types (I hope).

What else? Other than that, seems as fully featured as the larger cams. . .all the menus/profiles/tweakability you could want. XLR inputs, SDI and HDMI out.

[Rich Adrion]

The 12X zoom does not seem to be a real drawback with this camera because the digital clear image X24 zoom is good as an optical zoom because of the sensor...So it trumps X14 optical on the EX1R

[Josh Bass]

Is that verified or just from that one review?

[Rich Adrion]

This guy is not a fan of digital zoom but he admits that it works in the x70

SONY PXW- X70 A Quick First Impression. - YouTube

[Andrew Smith]

The "toy" form factor of the camera would be handy when you just want to look like a tourist, yet you still get the high quality video.

Andrew

[Anthony Lelli]

from the first clips that are around but made by regular people (not pre-approved by SONY to be clear) I see that the X70 does something that at first I thought was a user error but now I see it everywhere: it has the tendency to stamp the focus on the background even when the frame is filled with faces , still stays on the background and it takes a long time to re-focus. That never happened with my previous AX100.

[Josh Bass]

Most of those times unfortunately I've still needed the tripod, which unfortunately is a red flag to any police or property owners looking to ruin your fun (i.e. all of them.)

[Ken Ross]

What I find so bizarre about this camera is that we all know it's essentially a 'beefed up' AX100. No secrets there. So then why the 'special upgrade' to 4K at an extra cost??? We know the 4K must be in there from the get go, so why is Sony playing games with this camera?

[Steve Kimmel]

Originally Posted by Ken Ross

What I find so bizarre about this camera is that we all know it's essentially a 'beefed up' AX100. No secrets there. So then why the 'special upgrade' to 4K at an extra cost??? We know the 4K must be in there from the get go, so why is Sony playing games with this camera?

I wonder if it's because they plan to use XAVC (10-bit) rather than XAVC-S?

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Steve Kimmel

I wonder if it's because they plan to use XAVC (10-bit) rather than XAVC-S?

You beat me to the punch - was just going to post the same theory but was doing some research about the uhs2 cards that claim read/write speeds up to 250-280mb/s.

If Sony really wants this to be a professional camera (and they have already indicated that by using XAVC instead of XAVC-S codec) it does not make sense to wait 4-6 months and introduce 4K with the same codec as the AX100 when they could have done that at the get go. IMHO they would loose a lot of credibility if this is just a marketing ploy to get another $500-$700 by "staging" the camera's full features.

My theory is that they are testing/researching using the XAVC codec for 4K and specifying that you need the higher speed cards (which sell in the $250 range for 64GB) . That way we get 4:2:2 and 10 bit for 4K (maybe not 60p due to heat buildup as others have mentioned.).

[Brian Terrinoni]

With the x70 they beefed up the HD alot from the ax100 and cx900. I think they are holding off on the 4k as they are trying to beef that up as well.

Also I don't know if you all noticed but looking at B&H "in the box" it says it includes a shotgun mic. Which is nice considering all the new camcorders (Sony, Panny, Cannon, JVC, etc.) don't seem to include shotguns anymore. Hopefully Sony includes a newer & better Shotgun than they have been putting on their camcorders for the last 4 years (XM1).

The one thing that concerns me about this camera is ... Looking at the Sony Website the Minimum Illumination is listed at 1.7 lux. With a 1 inch Sensor you would think it would be better, but then again it needs a lot more light being that it records at such a high resolution (maybe that's why they made that weird lens hood with light holes behind it). My Z5 was at 1.5 lux and the new NX3 does 1.2 Lux ... Will this camera be worse in low light than previous models? If it is worse will the 1 inch sensor at least make up for it creating darker blacks and less noise?

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Brian Terrinoni

The one thing that concerns me about this camera is ... Looking at the Sony Website the Minimum Illumination is listed at 1.7 lux. With a 1 inch Sensor you would think it would be better, but then again it needs a lot more light being that it records at such a high resolution (maybe that's why they made that weird lens hood with light holes behind it). My Z5 was at 1.5 lux and the new NX3 does 1.2 Lux ... Will this camera be worse in low light than previous models? If it is worse will the 1 inch sensor at least make up for it creating darker blacks and less noise?

I temporarily have an AX100 and doing some observations (wouldn't really call it testing) between that and my PMW 200. I have found that the observed light levels on the LCD monitor appear the same for both cameras when I use f2.8 as the lowest setting on the 200. In other situations, I have had to use 3-6 db of gain where I didn't have to with the 200. However, I have not observed any noise on 4K up to 12db gain (and that is playing the clips out thru Edius at UHD settings (4K preview card) to a Dell 32" 4K 10 bit monitor.

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Brian Terrinoni

Also I don't know if you all noticed but looking at B&H "in the box" it says it includes a shotgun mic. Which is nice considering all the new camcorders (Sony, Panny, Cannon, JVC, etc.) don't seem to include shotguns anymore. Hopefully Sony includes a newer & better Shotgun than they have been putting on their camcorders for the last 4 years

I have been impressed with the quality of the internal mic on the AX 100 - on a recent round of test shooting it picked up a small dog barking at least 200 feet away and my talking back and forth with a friend who was 20-30 feet away and without any external hum or wind noise. So, for people who have to go into "stealth mode" (removing upper assembly and shotgun mic temporarily to avoid harassment from authorities or business owners), you will still have decent audio.

[Robert Young]

Originally Posted by Brian Terrinoni

...but looking at B&H "in the box" it says it includes a shotgun mic.

I'm wondering if that's not a typo
It says " XLR Handle Unit with Micropone"
Maybe supposed to say "microphone holder"
Also, they list the part/model number for every other included item, but say nothing specific re a microphone.

[Noa Put]

I hope they sell the pxw-x70 eyecup separately as accessory for the ax100, if not I"ll buy a x70, keep the eyecup and sell the x-70 again. :)