Sony unveils the EX3 successor: PMW-300

[Jack Zhang]

Originally Posted by Brent Kaplan

Thats great about the DSM batteries but what about a battery with a DTAP that works.

ONLY one is the SWIT S-8U63. That's it.

[Andy Wilkinson]

I've been enjoying all the 4K discussions the last few days and weeks on DVinfo (AX100, GH4, Z100 etc….) but they have not changed my focus on what my immediate business needs are, and specifically those over the next 12-18-24 months for my main corporate clients. After that, who knows!

Anyway, after 5 and a half years of fantastic, rock solid performance with the lovely XDCAM workflow my much beloved EX3 is being retired (actually already sold). Today I ordered my PMW-300 :-)

It'll complement my Canon C100 well for my particular needs, just as the EX3 has.

My thanks to Alister Chapman and one or two others around the world for providing recent written and/or video reviews of the PMW-300 which helped me cement my decision, initially formulated back in June of 2013 immediately after the Sony press release on the PMW-300 (see my post #31 in this thread).

I get it on Tuesday - can't wait! I will be shooting my first commercial job with it starting next Friday (for a global medical name - on a film that will be used in Africa at the end of this month). I'm sure it'll be pretty familiar in menu and general operation/set-up - so no worries. No doubt I'll just need to rapidly re-learn some critical button positions!

Note to Chris and/or Mods: Now that the PMW-300 is shipping I guess discussions on it would be best incorporated into a 'Sony XDCAM or PMW' section - rather than in this 'News' section of the forum???

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Andy Wilkinson

I've been enjoying all the 4K discussions the last few days and weeks on DVinfo (AX100, GH4, Z100 etc….) but they have not changed my focus on what my immediate business needs are, and specifically those over the next 12-18-24 months for my main corporate clients. After that, who knows!

Anyway, after 5 and a half years of fantastic, rock solid performance with the lovely XDCAM workflow my much beloved EX3 is being retired (actually already sold). Today I ordered my PMW-300 :-)

It'll complement my Canon C100 well for my particular needs, just as the EX3 has.

My thanks to Alister Chapman and one or two others around the world for providing recent written and/or video reviews of the PMW-300 which helped me cement my decision, initially formulated back in June of 2013 immediately after the Sony press release on the PMW-300 (see my post #31 in this thread).

I get it on Tuesday - can't wait! I will be shooting my first commercial job with it starting next Friday (for a global medical name - on a film that will be used in Africa at the end of this month). I'm sure it'll be pretty familiar in menu and general operation/set-up - so no worries. No doubt I'll just need to rapidly re-learn some critical button positions!

Note to Chris and/or Mods: Now that the PMW-300 is shipping I guess discussions on it would be best incorporated into a 'Sony XDCAM or PMW' section - rather than in this 'News' section of the forum???

Congrats on the new camera. I really like the specs. If I didn't need two, I would probably get one.

[Alister Chapman]

I'm sure you'll like it Andy. If you liked the EX3 I think you'll really like the 300. It's much better put together and a great viewfinder.

[Les Wilson]

and most awesome rotating grip from the EX1r.

[Meng Li]

Just got a Fujinon XS17x5.5BRM and attached it on my unit. It's totally different from the stock lens regarding the pic quality, a direct 1 level above. I am very happy with it and expect to take it somewhere soon to have some landscape tests, though it's been totally desolate in Vancouver with wind and rain nowadays.

I also have noticed that 4K talks on the forum and other places are significantly more than before recently. But I guess I won't have my next move until maybe PXW-Z700 comes out or maybe I can afford an F55 some day. Although there are also a lot of 4K monitors rolling out this year, which makes me a bit of thirsty to have some 4K shooting kits, but it seems not happening anytime soon. It's simple way too expensive... man.

That being said, still I want to ask, that does this HD lens support up to 4K resolution, or will there be there any specific 4K lenses coming out later? DSLR lenses can be a simpler option but may not permanently.

[Galen Rath]

Meng, what is the complete manufacturer part number for your Fujinon XS17x5.5BRM lens? I am confused by a variety of digits tacked onto the end of the part numbers. Thanks.

[Jack Zhang]

Originally Posted by Meng Li

I also have noticed that 4K talks on the forum and other places are significantly more than before recently. But I guess I won't have my next move until maybe PXW-Z700 comes out or maybe I can afford an F55 some day. Although there are also a lot of 4K monitors rolling out this year, which makes me a bit of thirsty to have some 4K shooting kits, but it seems not happening anytime soon. It's simple way too expensive... man.

I'm sure the AX100 will get a pro model. It happened with the HDR-HC1 and the HVR-A1U. Would make a good B-cam.

[Meng Li]

Originally Posted by Galen Rath

Meng, what is the complete manufacturer part number for your Fujinon XS17x5.5BRM lens? I am confused by a variety of digits tacked onto the end of the part numbers. Thanks.

To check model numbers, there are 2 pics here telling everything:
B4 ENG Lens model# decoder charts! (Canon/Fujinon))

[Galen Rath]

Thanks, Meng.

I contacted Fujinon. They said the suffix digits are a manufacturing code that can change during production. I am just not accustomed to seeing a manufacturing code so prominently labeled on the lens.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

I'm sure you'll like it Andy. If you liked the EX3 I think you'll really like the 300. It's much better put together and a great viewfinder.

Spot on, as always Alister! Actually, you're slightly wrong, I love it!

Went to get it from H Preston in Malvern yesterday (who were a pleasure to deal with and who now have my treasured EX3 - in absolutely beautiful condition if anyone wants a second-hand one, BTW).

I have just set it up this morning - very easy and intuitive to set-up when you've used EX cams (shame about the rainy weather here though).

There are so many little (and some big) things that they have improved on and the sum total is a much bigger step up than I was expecting from just looking at specs on websites. One thing I did take note of though was the signal to noise quoted spec on the PMW-300 is now 60dB (was 54 on the EX3).

Build quality is really good (so good to have a metal body again, reminds me of the old trusty Sony PD150 I used a few years back).

The viewfinder is just blummin fantastic!!!

Not shot anything with it yet - but that will come soon enough.

[Meng Li]

So Yesterday finally the sun came out in my area, I went to shoot something in the park using the machine and lens, edited it overnight, then posted it online. For the original clip it really works well, however here on Youtube I don't know how they compress it, the sea turns to be splotchy and also affected other objects like boulders and beach. Those scenes look terrible on Youtube only.

Whytecliff Park, PMW-300 Test Footage - YouTube

Everyone is welcomed to comment. Considering that this is a 1-day project, please don't be that skeptical, I guess this clip really does indicate some attributes of the lens and camera, like when it's shooting the sun, the shaft and flare of the lens certainly are not as good as those production cameras, but it may add some different flavor to it.

Another question I want to ask is regarding that splotches of waves of sea. It's really disturbing to see it on Youtube. I changed various ways to upload for multiple times, but none of them seem to give me better quality than that. Meanwhile it hurts my fragile heart by looking at promotion videos for consumer level 4K cameras (FDR-AX1) having better quality than mine. :\ Any ideas of that?

[Matt Davis]

Try uploading to Vimeo (Vimeo Plus gets you 2 pass encoding) - I've noticed YouTube is particularly bad at complex motion. Don't get me wrong - Vimeo is not faultless, and IMHO I think it's using 601 encoding on 709 material which puts your picture slightly out of line. But I digress.

(FWIW -

Motion results X264 - torture test - YouTube

, and

Vimeo

)

[Meng Li]

Looks like you are right, it does look much better on Vimeo.

Whytecliff Park, PMW-300 Test Footage on Vimeo

Still, it's not perfect since there are 1-2 scenes still having those splotches, if looking in detail. But I guess that's just how it works.

Again, for those 4k videos, they have a much higher bit rate supported by those sites. Given the significant improvement of the quality, why can't they offer more bit rate for 1080P videos too? If the master file is played out on it lossless, it will be still much better than what's on Vimeo.

[Gints Klimanis]

Thanks for offering the original file for download Vimeo . It's only 1 GByte . Judging video quality critically on YouTube or Vimeo doesn't make sense due to the additional and inadequate re-compression.