View Full Version : Buy an EX1 now (June)? Or wait until July?


Gabriel Florit
May 31st, 2008, 10:55 AM
Hello everyone and greetings from Alaska,

I'm ready to buy an EX1. I also know that the EX3 is coming out in about a month. My question is not whether I should buy an EX3 instead, but rather should I wait until the EX3 is released in hope that this will lower the EX1 prices/maybe get new rebates or offers? What do you guys think? Phil Bloom, do you have any inside information on whether Sony will lower the EX1 price?

I'm not interested in getting an EX3. Even if street prices would go down to $10K, the difference would mean I could get an EX1 AND the Letus Extreme on Zacuto rails AND have a little bit left for a Zeiss prime or two.

Thanks,

~ Gabriel Florit

Steve Phillipps
May 31st, 2008, 11:27 AM
I'd say it's extremely unlikely the EX1 price will drop as the 2 cameras have such difference target markets. Only time when this happens is when a new model with very minor changes comes out (Canon XL-1s, Sony F355 etc.).
Steve

Mika Tertsunen
May 31st, 2008, 03:18 PM
I just checked the price from a major seller in Europe, the price had all of a sudden rocketed up so that the camera alone would cost nearly 700 euros more without any cards than one with two 8gb cards. There must be something horribly wrong with the SxS cards :-) or the pricing... or maybe it´s the website...
I was about to order me one but this doesn´t seem too convincing now.

Andrew Hollister
May 31st, 2008, 04:35 PM
if you're not interested in the EX3 why consider it? Why post? Go get yourself an EX1 and some goodies and go out and shoot!

Ha-zaah!

Gabriel Florit
May 31st, 2008, 05:09 PM
if you're not interested in the EX3 why consider it? Why post? Go get yourself an EX1 and some goodies and go out and shoot!

Ha-zaah!

Hi Andrew,

Because I'm wondering if the EX3 release will bring the EX1 price down. If that's the case, I'm OK with waiting until the release happens later this summer. Regardless, I will get the EX1... sooner or later.

Sean Seah
May 31st, 2008, 08:32 PM
I have news from the local dealer that the price of the EX1 will be increased in my country in mid June due to raising oil prices (dun ask me how does it affect the cam production). So I grabbed one 3 days ago.

Gabriel Florit
June 1st, 2008, 01:43 AM
Crazy. Alright B&H is getting my money tomorrow.

Alister Chapman
June 1st, 2008, 01:44 AM
There may be a few nearly new second user EX1's around when the EX3 comes out.

Gabe Strong
June 2nd, 2008, 11:58 PM
Crazy. Alright B&H is getting my money tomorrow.

Sorry to say, I don't think that's gonna happen. See my earlier thread for details, but suffice it to say Sony has 'embargos' or something on the EX-1 and protects it's 'local areas' for certified Sony dealers. In other words.....B&H CANNOT sell an EX-1 to anyone from Alaska. Believe I tried and tried! If you need to know who you CAN buy from let me know, there are two places that I found (after hours of research) that are allowed to sell to us Alaskans (you know we aren't really part of the US right? :-)

Gabe Strong
G-Force Productions
www.gforcevideo.com

Oyvind Stokkan
June 3rd, 2008, 01:01 AM
get on a plane to NYC =)

In fact, it's actually A LOT cheaper to fly to New York from Norway just to get the camera. It's about 12000 USD here in Norway. Crazy country.

You americans say gas is expensive now? Try here ;) almost 30$/litre

Crazy stuff

George Kroonder
June 3rd, 2008, 04:31 AM
C'mon Oyvind, it's not that bad...

An official Sony Europe EX1 costs about $7,650 (€ 4.950) here; that's "only" $ 1,200 more. You could fly to the US for this, but really I don't think that's worth the hassle.

And gas is "only" ~$2.45/l (or about $9.30/gallon) at the pumps here in Holland. Cheap really! ;-)

George/

Barry J. Anwender
June 3rd, 2008, 07:46 AM
get on a plane to NYC =)
In fact, it's actually A LOT cheaper to fly to New York from Norway just to get the camera.


We have the same situation in Canada with Sony Broadcast dealers demanding $7400 CAN or $300 below MRSP. So that is $1000 more than NYC. Moreover these same dealers are asking full price for Sony's Extended Warranty and EX accessories. At the end of the day, even after paying the NY state tax your still money ahead.

So your conclusion is also valid in Canada were our dollar is on par with the USD. Get on the plane, pick up the camera and take a few days of vacation time with the savings.

The other myth that is being promoted in these forums is that the EX3 will be under $10K USD. Here is the official Sony Canada quote, again bearing in mind that non USA dealers are not going to lower their sale price much, if at all, below Sony's MRSP. Sony Canada's official quote:


May 14, 2008, Toronto, Ontario – Sony of Canada Ltd., Canada’s leading electronic and computer products solutions ...

The new XDCAM EX products are expected to be available in the third quarter of 2008. Pricing is as follows:
• PMW-EX3 – suggested list price less than $13,000
• PMW-EX30 – suggested list price less than $6,000
• PHU-60K – suggested list price of approximately $1,200

Tom Roper
June 3rd, 2008, 08:57 AM
As an aside, it isn't always necessary to (for US citizens) to purchase out of NY or LA.

Even here in the prairie town of Denver, the EX1 was at a sales and leasing office, a little office suite where I was greeted and treated to full demonstrations of XDCAM, HDCAM, decks. They had in stock cams and all the accessories, catering to pro clients. It was really not what I expected, which has always been internet order or traveling to NYC. The discounted price was exactly the same as the NYC dealers. They told me that Sony has set a limit, below which authorized dealers may not discount.

The Sony Broadcast website has a link for these authorized sellers, and yes Chris, many are DVInfo sponsors.

So there may be one in your town too.

Gabriel Florit
June 3rd, 2008, 04:16 PM
Thanks everyone! I just put an order for a xxx6000's serial number EX1. Should be arriving in 2 days. Yep, Abel/B&H won't ship up here... so I had to get the Sony authorized resellers list and call them up. Better this way, B&H wouldn't give me a serial number anyhow. What's up with that. Not like this is a $20 purchase.

Tripod/mattebox/filters/FCS2 are next!

Alex Raskin
June 3rd, 2008, 04:19 PM
Why is serial number relevant? Vignetting issue? I read that the later models also exhibit same problem...

Gabriel Florit
June 3rd, 2008, 06:27 PM
Hopefully not. I've read that the later models fix vignetting and the internal nd's/backfocusing problem.

Zsolt Gordos
June 5th, 2008, 06:15 AM
get on a plane to NYC =)

In fact, it's actually A LOT cheaper to fly to New York from Norway just to get the camera. It's about 12000 USD here in Norway. Crazy country.

You americans say gas is expensive now? Try here ;) almost 30$/litre

Crazy stuff


Yeah - and Norway is a net producer of crude oil. Oil companies cash in now like no tomorrow. The rest trying to play the oil card to justify price increases...ridiculous.

Anyways - one only can expect EX1 price cut only once a competitor will be about launching a similar product.

hello Pana, hello Canon - waky waky!!

Zsolt Gordos
June 5th, 2008, 06:17 AM
There may be a few nearly new second user EX1's around when the EX3 comes out.

Alister, consider me as buyer of your unit once it happens ... errmm..at US price of course:)

Zsolt Gordos
June 5th, 2008, 06:22 AM
The new XDCAM EX products are expected to be available in the third quarter of 2008. Pricing is as follows:

• PMW-EX3 – suggested list price less than $13,000
• PMW-EX30 – suggested list price less than $6,000
• PHU-60K – suggested list price of approximately $1,200

Errmm...what is PMW-EX30? Never heard about that....

George Kroonder
June 5th, 2008, 07:28 AM
The EX-30 is the SxS deck.

The PMW-EX30 deck is a highly versatile and affordable compact recording deck, and can be used for many different applications. It allows simple viewing of recorded materials with a monitor, dubbing to other format/media such as HDV™, XDCAM HD and HDCAM™, and feeding to nonlinear editing systems. In addition, the PMW-EX30 deck can be used as an affordable full HD recorder for event recordings - it can record HD signal outputs from a switcher.

George/

Phil Bloom
June 6th, 2008, 03:06 PM
i think there will be little price change. There is still a big demand for the ex1. A lot of companies buying them dont need or want the ex3 features

Gabriel Florit
June 6th, 2008, 03:17 PM
Hey Philip,

My EX-1 arrived today! I must say that my purchase decision was heavily influenced by your footage and your blog, your EX-1/LEX work is astounding. Next is the LEX/Zacuto/Zeiss purchases.. or should I saved up for the Ultimate... hmm...

Phil Bloom
June 6th, 2008, 03:23 PM
I would suggest getting the Ultimate, skip the zeiss lenses for now and get second hand nikons and get the new rails from Letus when they come out which will also be much cheaper than Zacuto.

This of course is advice if you are on a budget! Otherwise get Ultimate, Zeiss and Zacuto. The best of the best.

The Extreme is still great. But the Ultimate is way more flexible and better made.

Piotr Wozniacki
June 7th, 2008, 12:59 AM
I totally agree with Pilip. What would pristine and expensive Zeiss lenses help, if you couldn't set back focus properly on your Letus? And the Extreme is very difficult and cumbersome in adjusting (and keeping) the back focus - unlike the Ultimate!

Also, I have the Letus rails and their quality doesn't leave anything to desire, so why pay more for Zacuto?