Limitation of Viewfinder
 

Is the viewfinder output from the 330/350 actually for an SD CRT viewfinder? In other words might it be impossible to view through a potential future HD viewfinder? What exactly is the viewfinder connection?

I don't think anybody knows for sure short of a Sony engineer or a service tech that has had it apart. Sony hasn't ever made that info available via published specs.

But let me mention that that finder on the 330 is the same SD finder they put on the DSRs and DXCs.

The finder on the 350 is the same as what they put on the HDW-730, from what I can tell. I myself am of the opinion that the finder is receiving an HD signal, but is not capable of showing quite all the res, of course. But I think it's good enough.

When I shot a 7 camera deal on the 350 last July, I had one out of the 7 that was a 330. I had 1 operator that had never shot full size HD. Except for when the subject was moving to fast for him, he never had a problem locking perfect focus (as viewed on a 900 line HD CRT). The operator on the 330, who had shot full size HD before, had a ton of super soft shots all night.

I myself never have trouble locking focus on the 350 (and confirming this later via critical viewing on above mentioned monitor). It's nothing like the critical focus problems I've experienced on the 1/3" cameras with crappy peaking implementations.

The viewfinder on the 350 looks exactly the same than the one used on the PDW-510/530 SD XDCAM cameras. I supposed it has an SD tube. I have to say that for some reason, it does not look nearly as sharp as on the SD cameras. You have to very finely adjust the "peaking" pot to get a comfortable picture that is not too grainy, not too soft. I suspect the downconversion quality of the HD signal to the viewfinder is the culprit. It should look better. As for the viewfinder of the F330 (same used on DSR-500 camera....), it is definetly sub-standard for HD work. But hey... what can you expect for 15K???

Thierry.

I 2nd that vote. In studio with monitor no prolbem finding the focus.. Out in the field w/o monitor finding focus is challenging, with peaking. Would love to have a option to get a hd signal into that viewfinder.

The viewfinder on the PDW and PDW-f serie is a DXF-20W. It also can be used on a DSR-400 and 450WS. The horizontal resolution is 600 lines (at center).

On the HDW-730 and 750 they use a HDVF-20A, with a horizontal resolution of 500 lines (at center).

Greetings!