Sony PXW-X70 announced: Pro XDCAM version of AX100

[Ron Evans]

Yes ,missed the assignable buttons. My NX5U and AX1 have assignable buttons too. Just have to remember what they are set too but the "My buttons" show what they are too. Actually would be nice to have both.

The X70 will overexpose like all the other Sony's I have so a guide for those new to Sony either use full manual exposure or AE shift at least -0.5ev. This is true for all the Sony cameras I have ever had !!!

Ron Evans

[Josh Bass]

whoa whoa...are you saying x70 wont have a parfocal lens? how is that acceptable?

[Darren Levine]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

whoa whoa...are you saying x70 wont have a parfocal lens? how is that acceptable?

you must have misread something. it's parfocal

[Josh Bass]

someone above mentioned other cameras not holding focus while zooming, thought they were saying the x70 was similar. my mistake.

[Ron Evans]

I was the one who mentioned that as all my small Sony's do not hold focus when zoomed. I will wait and see if the X70 does but would not be surprised if it did not. The NX30U does not hold focus or the CX700.

Ron Evans

[Josh Bass]

that is some weak sauce.

[Stephen Robinson]

Originally Posted by Petter Flink

Thanks for your input.
Were you shooting wide open?
Could it be related to the large aperture and small dof at that specific focal length so that the X70 have to slow down to not over shoot the focus?


How does non-mechanical zoom/focus ring and iris knob act when you slowly begin or stop turning it?
Does it scale the turn speed smoothly or does it have crude steps and high threshold?

I love the feeling and control of mechanical rings which my JVC HM150 lacks. And even though I love the format of that little camera I'm really interested to hear how the X70 does it.
I want to challenge my creativity - not my laggy rings.

I tested it tonight. If I have it fully wide, then it the focus pulls at a good rate, but when I'm zoomed then it slows way down as close as I pull the focus.

The zoom/focus ring seems be smooth to me.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Darren Levine

you must have misread something. it's parfocal

Would someone with the camera check this. Focus at wide then zoom in. Is it still in focus ? Do the opposite too. As none of my small Sony's will stay in focus in either direction.

Ron Evans

[Dave Blackhurst]

OK Ron, tried a little test with the AX100 and also the PJ760 (comparable to the NX30)...

Set to manual focus, tried focusing on objects 10-15 ft away (ish) while zoomed in, then zooming out - sure looks like the focus distance remains locked to the distance that the focus readout shows (makes sense, since the distance between the camera and target is the same, only lens zoom changes).

That said, I would imagine that in auto modes the camera might well decide to wither change "targets", or hunt a bit... when set manually, they both seem to maintain focal distance.

[Josh Bass]

Good to know. Not concerned about autofocus, but it should hold focus in manual like any other camcorder.

[Ron Evans]

Hi Dave, Depth of field at that distance may not vary as much as most of my shooting that is more like 50 to 100 feet in lower light. Zoomed in on an actor on the stage to a full wide stage view. In my cases the difference is obvious out of focus,meaning I can improve the focus by re focusing either manually or with spot focus. I have my NX5U to compare with which will zoom from a full stage view to closeup for a full show and maintain focus. (Though initially had to send back to Sony for a lens replacement to get it to do this. Also sent back for the same reason my FDR-AX1 and they replaced the lens unit on it too !! ) The NX30U will not do this consistently. Repeatedly zooming in and out will not result in sharp focus hence my wife who uses the NX30U, uses spot focus all the time. Was the same with XR500 , the CX700. and goes back to the XR11 and XR7.

That is my experience so other uses with less variation in depth of field due to exposure changes may be fine. The spot focus maximizes the depth of field which is what I want for my use which may of course be the exact opposite for what others want.

Honestly for shooting groups of people in good light it would be difficult to be better than the auto controls on these cameras which will consistently maximize exposure and focus assuming AE shift is used.

Ron Evans

[Gabor Heeres]

Earlier on, some people asked for some X70 raw footage. Here are some of the files i shot in the park behind my appartment today:

http://we.tl/XlxyCMBi6U

Please feel free to use, not to publish.

What surprises me the most: The XAVC files are in .MXF format as wrapper, Sony people on the Sony stand at IBC told me it would be .MP4. Furthermore, VLC player doesn't play these XAVC files, hope they come up with an update really soon. Older versions of NLE software neither do cooperate with these files so updating your software is absolutely necessary.

[Andrew Smith]

Interestingly, VLC will play the XAVC footage recorded from the PMW-300 ... but not these files.

The good news is that you can use Media Player Classic to play the files. (My installed version is 1.7.6)

Andrew

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Gabor Heeres

Earlier on, some people asked for some X70 raw footage. Here are some of the files i shot in the park behind my appartment today:

http://we.tl/XlxyCMBi6U

Please feel free to use, not to publish.

What surprises me the most: The XAVC files are in .MXF format as wrapper, Sony people on the Sony stand at IBC told me it would be .MP4. Furthermore, VLC player doesn't play these XAVC files, hope they come up with an update really soon. Older versions of NLE software neither do cooperate with these files so updating your software is absolutely necessary.

When I did my first test shots (yesterday), I was rather disappointed when Sony Content Browser 2.0 (paid version) would not recognize them. The software touts "XAVC support" but they must only be referring to XAVC-Intra. It is also interesting that the same file structure on the SDXC card for the X70 was on the AX100 when I used it for a couple of weeks of testing. I wonder if XAVC-L (Long GOP) is just a form of the consumer grade XAVC-S that is on the AX100 and they call it by a different name just to make it sound more "professional"

To answer someone else's question about the EVF and LCD screen playing at the same time - the answer is yes BUT (at least on my camera) it seems that when I have both on the LCD goes blank for a few seconds every minute or so - don't know if that is normal operation or not..

As someone else suggested, setting one of the assign buttons for "spot focus" really works well for relatively fast focusing without fiddling with the focus ring - just the tap of a finger and in a few seconds everything is quite sharp.

[Gabor Heeres]

Originally Posted by Barry J. Weckesser

To answer someone else's question about the EVF and LCD screen playing at the same time - the answer is yes BUT (at least on my camera) it seems that when I have both on the LCD goes blank for a few seconds every minute or so - don't know if that is normal operation or not..

The X70 is equipped with a sensor on the viewfinder. If the VF is extended and your face (or something else) is moved in front of the VF than it will turn on and the LCD turns off. Not a very useful feature imho. For example: if the camera is on a tripod and you pass your right arm along the VF to reach the zoomrocker than the LCD wil blink on and off all the time. Quite frustrating.