although the nx5 is a good cam for the $, the ex1 is still reigns, but im told that the viewfinder on the nx5 is very good, better than the ex1r vf, which is horrible. anyone seen both>

i thought it was the same basic thing? could it be that broadcast type people are more pickey?

here is an interesting thing I discovered about the EX1r viewfinder just this week. i Finally got the viewer diopter off, i kid you not i struggled trying to FLIP that thing up 6-7 times before i realised that it SLIDES off LOL what a dummy i was.

anyways after i get it off i see that it has a Dust shield, make that 2 more than i knew about already.
so
there is a plastic dust shield on the outside next to the eye cup.
there is a plastic dust sheild behind the diopter lens on the diopter slide out.
there is a plastic dust shield covering the tiny EV screen after the diopter is pulled off.

after seeing that i realised a few things, THAT is what makes it suck :-)
AND
that is what also makes it "professional" by keeping the stuff protected and dust free, and so road film doesnt get in there, and so when your camera person blows milk through his nose into it , or tosses the seperated diopter into a Bag thoughtlessly.

because i dont rent, and neither I nor my camera people treat $6000 cameras like toys, i am thinking of removing that plastic, IF it really is what i think it is.
problem being I would change it for resale :-(

i Finally got the viewer diopter off, i kid you not i struggled trying to FLIP that thing up 6-7 times before i realised that it SLIDES off LOL what a dummy i was.(

man... I've had my EX1 for about a year now (I bought it used) and could never figure that out. I would mess with it until I heard little "creaks" and would give up thinking it was stuck or somehow it was damaged by the previous owner.

thanks for posting that.

and so when your camera person blows milk through his nose into it...(

I had only read your post up to the "Slides off" part when I grabbed my EX1 and finally was able to remove the diopter. I went to get a cup of coffee and came back and realized I hadn't read the rest of it about the quality issue when I came across the "milk" part while taking a sip... just spent the last couple of minutes cleaning up my keyboard ;-)

Funny stuff...

although the nx5 is a good cam for the $, the ex1 is still reigns, but im told that the viewfinder on the nx5 is very good, better than the ex1r vf, which is horrible. anyone seen both>

It is the original EX1 viewfinder that has the reputation for being horrible, not the newer EX1R viewfinder. There is big difference between the two so don't get them mixed up.

I have not seen an NX5, so I can't say how it compares to the EX1R, but I would be surprised if it was better than the EX1R. The Z7U and EXR1 both share the same viewfinder and I can't believe Sony would put at better viewfinder than that on a less expensive camera.

good point.
a lot of the "older" Sony HD cameras had less resolution montors than the New ones comming out, and the "pro" ones to begin with.
if i remember the specs the NX camera like the EX1r Has the .9Mp type of VF, and the 1.2Mp type of lcd. <--- ooops
i would suspect that the new technology will be used in any of the newer models, cept mabey the sub $3000 ones.

NX
Built-in LCD Monitor 3.2 inch-type, XtraFine LCD, approximately 921,600 dots, hybrid type, 16:9 aspect ratio
Viewfinder 0.45 inch-type approximately 1,226,880 dots (852 x 3(RGB) x 480), 16:9 aspect ratio
Sony Product Detail Page - HXRNX5U (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-nxcamsite/cat-accessories/product-HXRNX5U/)

EX3
Monitoring Specifications Detail:
Viewfinder 3.5-inch* type color LCD monitor: approx. 921000 effective pixels, 640 (H) x 3 (RGB) x 480 (V), 16:9
Built-In LCD Monitor 3.5-inch* type color LCD monitor: approx. 921000 effective pixels, 640 (H) x 3 (RGB) x 480 (V), 16:9
Sony Product Detail Page - PMWEX3 (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadcastcameras/cat-xdcam/product-PMWEX3/)

EX1r
Built-in LCD Monitor 3.5-inch* type color LCD monitor: approx. 921,000 effective pixels, 640 (H) x 3 (RGB) x 480 (V), 16:9, hybrid type
Viewfinder 0.452-inch* type color LCD: 85 (H) x 480 (V), 16:9
(i think another 1.2Mp)
Sony Product Detail Page - PMWEX1R (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadcastcameras/cat-xdcam/product-PMWEX1R/)

EX1
3.5-inch* type colour LCD monitor, approx. 921000 effective pixels, 640 (H) x 3 (RGB) x 480 (V), 16:9, hybrid type
--Viewfinder--
0.54-inch* type colour LCD, 1120 (H) x 225 (V), 16:9
Sony : PMW-EX1 (PMWEX1) : Technical Specifications : United Kingdom (http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:GNQKsRnvLz0J:www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowProduct.action%3Fproduct%3DPMW-EX1%26site%3Dbiz_en_GB%26pageType%3DTechnicalSpecs%26category%3DXDCAMCamcorders+EX1+Reviews+Viewfind er+specifications&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&lr=lang_en)

out of curiosity....

is it possible to retro fit a ex1r's vf lcd to a ex1? i'd be willing to pay the cost just to use the viewfinder in bright australian sunlight.

I doubt that is possible, but even if you could, it wouldn't be worth the cost and hassle. The EX1R has a better viewfinder, but the difference is marginal and still not very good.

I got a Zacuto viewfinder that works great on little cameras like the EX1, EX1, PMW-200, etc. It's not every expensive and it blows away the image quality of those cameras' viewfinders. Plus you can easily move it from camera to camera.

Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Z-FIND-EVF B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=736853&gclid=CLD77MmHt8UCFcmPHwodQqoA2Q&Q=&is=REG&A=details)

No it is not, the the motherboards of the EX1 and EX1R are different, the OSDs are different so the data being sent to the display is different. They're also 2 completely different technologies, LCoS and LCD.

I'd much rather use a Hoodman Loupe over the primary LCD which yields much better results.

thanks gents... sold on the hoodman ;-)