Thanks Dave, I really appreciate the info. I have an NP-FH50, NP-FH70, and NP-FH100 battery in my kit.

As for Sony hating you(us), they'll get over it in equal measure to you(us) getting over possibly having to buy new batteries because...Sony felt like it. Sony is real proud in there advertising of 15% MORE for the new FV batteries. If I've invested in an NP-FH100, I really don't care, Sony...I'd still like to use the old battery that lasts for hours either way.

In this case I would be sure the modification works because Sony chose to maintain backward compatibility, ie my understanding is NP-FV batteries will work without modification in a NP-FH slot.

Hi Bill -

SEE MY UPDATED POST below - Sony did it again...

It's certainly frustrating to have to "upgrade" perfectly good batteries, even if they do have higher capacity or better features.

I've no doubt that the Chinese are already modifying their molds and graphics so knockoff "sony" FV batteries will be flooding eBay any day now... lots of stuff like batteries and memory sticks with "sony" logos that are just knockoffs from China, and no sign they can even slow it down. It did take the Chinese a while to get around the lockout with the FH series - for a while they just added a dongle to the DC in jack to bypass the circuit!


I'm all for "new and improved", otherwise I wouldn't even have picked up a CX550 to evaluate, the 500 series cams are certainly "good 'nuf", no real complaints about them, they have served my purposes well, I'd planned to just keep them unless the 550 is noticeably superior. Part of the equation was cost to upgrade all the batteries, if that's not a factor, the upgrade starts to make more sense (well there's a perfectly happy theory down the drain, see below...), and I do like the the 550 so far.

Lens range is my remaining "question mark"... the wide end of the CX550 makes my WA lenses "negotiable" (unless you want a "super wide"!!), and I won't complaint about not having to mount a WA "most" of the time to get the field of view I really wanted/need. The tele end seems to be workable, but I'm still nervous about losing so much on that end. They altered the "digital zoom" settings to only have one setting, a "120X" (used to have a "24x", which would equate to a 20x digital doubler on the 500/520, and a "150x"). I used to go ahead and set the 24x, since I could see the line on the indicator, and if I really need it, it was there in a pinch - now the indicator line is moved well to the left (with 120x), but if you can live with the pixellization at the long end, it's surprisingly effective - was able to read small text from clear across the room...

I have mounted WA and tele adapters, the WA you get just a tad of vignetting (and you get to see the OIS "work"!) at the widest settings, but it's tolerable. A Sony VCL-HG2037x (High grade lens) was pretty heavy on the vignette (you can see the "insides" if the lens!), but worked, as did a strange old VCL-2037K I have laying about (regular grade lens). One interesting note is that when I switched on the "conversion lens/teleconverter" feature, the camera was able to noticeably alter the OIS to take out the typical small "twitches" that plague the use of the long end of the range.


Part of any camera purchase/upgrade is evaluating the necessary accessories for a full kit. Sony keeping a 37mm thread on the lens helps, got lots of filters and lenses, batteries are a big expense, and IF they were compatible it would help. LANC controller remaining standard helps (A/V interface), as does compatibility with the Sport Packs and any rigs I use (have to modify the sleds/mounts some because of the peculiar tripod hole placement...). The addition of the SDHC slot in the 550s helps a little bit, but I already had quite a few memory sticks (still need to test for speed with the 24 Mbps - should require "fast" memory).

Finally got a chance to run some other tests on MS Duos, so I was running the camera for longer clips...

There IS a firmware lockout on the FH batteries... unlike earlier cameras that announced it right away, this one kicks in after a couple minutes (that'll teach me not to run longer term tests when I've got a busy weekend!!). So the camera "works" with the FH batteries after the mods, but only for a couple minutes, then even if you're recording or playing back a clip, it says "cannot use this battery in the camcorder", and shuts 'er down.

SO, yep, once again Sony wants us to go buy all new batteries... and the "upgrade" begins to favor keeping the older cameras. GRRR...

My apologies for the premature reports on the hack <sound of head hitting desk>

It's obvious the camera WILL run on the FH batttery just fine (records and plays back short clips), and all they did was disable the functionality.

I did get to test the reported battery life, and the FV70 reported aproximately 230 minutes vs. 195 for the FH70, so you do get more run time for the "upgrade". I'm suspicious of the 100+ minutes the stock FV50 reports though. Will have to test that some more...

My apologies for the premature reports on the hack <sound of head hitting desk>


Don't worry about it. To my way of thinking it's piss poor on Sony's part to give you enough time to get cranked up & doing something and then pull the rug out from under your feet. And it really gives the lie to them not being able to run on the older battery.

I wish they understood that this sort of nonsense is hell on customers brand loyalty. Or maybe they don't care. I'm looking real hard at the Canon HF-S200. I've got a Wishlist of camera+accessories already prepared at B&H just begging to be turned into an order.

Well, I still like the camera overall, probably will replace my other XR500 when the opportunity arises, but won't be in a hurry to replace the CX500's that seem to be a pretty good match performance wise - they suffice for C/D cameras. Honestly the XR500 does feel a bit "dated" when put alongside the CX550, but it still is a workhorse, nothing to complain about.

The 550s big 3.5" LCD is easy to love, and the camera somehow feels more comfortable to me, but those wouldn't be "gotta upgrade" things for most people - last years cameras deliver the same image quailty for the most part (as they should with the same sensor block and general guts).

There's some tradeoff, as I think I can trim down the WA lens collection... I think that as often as I had to mount a WA on the 500's, I can live with the new lens range for most purposes, though I still wish they had left the 2x digital tele button in there - it's pretty easy to cross the "digital line" and slip off into the noisy range when the 120x is set.

Dave - i have a WA lens quiestion for you when using it with your new cam.
a what point in the focal-length range does the recorded image vignette? Can you make an estimate please?

I am particularly interested in at what point it vignettes with a 0.7x WA converter. if you can give an estimate or a sense of how far from the max.wideangle end of the optical zoom you are when it STARTS to vignette that would be great.
I guess that, like most SLRs, the observed vignette in the LCD screen (viewfinder on SLR) is not necessairly 100% of the image, so i suppose it's possible that any vignette'ing that appears (when going towards the max. wideangle end) will appear in the recorded image slightly *before* the image seen on the LCD?

Stu -
I'll try to pop off some stills and upload them so you can see for yourself - I also want to play with the OIS settings, as I suspect that may reduce the vignette a bit as well. You can definitely see the OIS at work when in "active" mode.

From what I saw in my brief tests, the corners showed just a bit - outside the "safe area" brackets on the LCD if you turn on the gridlines, so not too bad. It was a bit worse with an HG0737C than with the Y version of the same lens, but it looked like the ".7" was lighlty wider with the C... have to revisit, I was just quick swapping glass to see what the general results were. You will of course get some barrelling mounting a WA on top of the already wide stock lens.

My reservations on the new lens range are fading, and you can go some way into the digital zoom before significant image degradation (they claim to have improved it, and looks like they might have). As I've thought about how often I HAD to mount a WA adapter, I'm seeing the value.

Not likely it has 1/2" sensors, should have the same 1/2.88 (IIRC) or roughly 1/3" EXMOR R, same as the XR500, CX500, and the XR & CX550. Not that it's a bad sensor by any stretch - still a significant step up in performance from the SR series, and keeps up pretty well with the 3 chippers with much bigger glass.

According to the Sony Pro Website, which now finally has the camera on their site, the HXR-MC50 has a 1/2.88" Exmor R sensor.

Sony Product Detail Page - HXRMC50U (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadcastcameras/cat-nxcam/product-HXRMC50U/)


Ozzy

IOW, it's a CX550V in fancy clothes... I'm not seeing any other firmware "feature adds" from that limited site listing, unless there's more to the story before the official release.

The CX550 is nice, to be sure, but a hood is $10-20, a good mic isn't terribly expensive, and you should have the FH70 battery anyway. IMO, gonna need a more convincing "package" for that extra $500.

And a bit more info from Sony UK:

Sony : HXR-MC50E (HXRMC50E) : Product Overview : United Kingdom (http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowProduct.action?product=HXR-MC50E&site=biz_en_GB&pageType=Overview&category=NXCamcorders)

More info Sony Product Detail Page - HXRMC50U (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadcastcameras/cat-nxcam/product-HXRMC50U/) Brochure too.

Ron Evans

Ron -
Did you actually get the .pdf? Link seems to be broken for me, get the 404 page...

I'm still curious as to what if any features will be added in firmware. From the product page, I'm not seeing anything the CX550 doesn't have (other than the hood, mic, and bigger battery standard).

The CX550V is turning out to be a pretty good little balanced package by itself, the stock FV50 battery isn't half bad, got a couple cheap, and the FH70... I'm going to get a lens hood (whopping $10 on eBay from HK seller), although I'm not having any lens flare issues worth worrying about so far.

Yes I got the pdf. Doesn't say very much though. I was hoping for zebra or gain control but it seems it is a CX550 in a different colour with larger battery, lens hood and mic. Will wait and see if there are actually any differences.

Ron Evans

I noticed it at B & H here:

Sony HXR-MC50U Ultra Compact Pro AVCHD Camcorder HXR-MC50U - B&H


I don't think it received any features over and above the HDR-CX550. What I find funny is this thing being grouped with the HXR product line and the AX2000 being grouped with the HDR product line.

I'm really puzzled by the MC50 - usually they'd add at least a FEW features in firmware... yet there's been no indication that they did anything beyond a hood, mic, and making the FV70 big battery standard instead of the FV50 that comes with the CX550V.

Has anyone actually gotten hands on one of these to dig through the menus and see if there's any "goodies" hidden in there? Can't find any reviews so far, at least none that were accurate enough to be trustworthy, and none reporting any "added features".

I'm trying to find out if they added zebras. Even my SR11 has zebras. Is that somehow not considered a pro feature by Sony anymore???

I have just purchased the MC50E and can 100% confirm that the firmware is exactly the same as the 550, no more no less, no problem for me as I want to use it for multi cam work with my XR550

The lens hood by the way screws into the filter thread and locks onto a stud on the left hand side to stop it spinning around, very neat but no way of attaching a filter, the whole thing with the mic attached is a well balanced go anywhere package.

So the MC50E is a CX550 with lens hood, larger battery, mic and in a different colour?

Ron Evans

Um, wow... well, I spent less than 10 bucks to put a hood on my CX550 and picked up a couple FV70 batteries from "return" sellers on eBay for cheap. Guess that works...

Sometimes I really wonder what logic Sony uses when making some of the design decisions. Although I do like the CX550 overall, I stil want to know who put the tripod socket completely off center...

And it wouldn't have killed 'em to put zebras, alternate frame rates and maybe a few other pro features in the menus.

I'm really puzzled by the MC50 - usually they'd add at least a FEW features in firmware... yet there's been no indication that they did anything beyond a hood, mic, and making the FV70 big battery standard instead of the FV50 that comes with the CX550V.

Has anyone actually gotten hands on one of these to dig through the menus and see if there's any "goodies" hidden in there? Can't find any reviews so far, at least none that were accurate enough to be trustworthy, and none reporting any "added features".

Saw your post last week, had a delay in registering to post a reply.

Did try to buy one but the last one of the first batch was demoing in Scotland! I'd just left!
The lens cap opens the cover when the camcorder is powered up, it has better cosmetics and the accessotries include the lead to connnect to an HD, a mini USB A male to USB A female, not included with the cx550. (All apart from the fancy cap available seperately).
As far as I can see no zebras and no timelapse, this was available on my old pdx10, but not my A1, do I go with Panasonic 700 which has it?
Is it worth £250 more, well there is that 2 year guarantee in the UK, I'll keep thinking for now.
Nick

I still don't see the big advantage of the MC50U over the CX550V, when they are effectively the same camera. Yes, you should have the big battery, that's a given, multiple batteries... the FV50 included with the CX550 isn't bad... just add a FV70.

Finding a lens hood that doesn't show up on the side edges of the wide end of the lens isn't easy - I did have to modify my sub $10 hoods... but they do the trick.

So that leaves the mic and the warranty, and apparently a couple cables. I'd rather have seen zebras, and some other features in the firmware to make it compelling.

So that leaves the mic and the warranty, and apparently a couple cables. I'd rather have seen zebras, and some other features in the firmware to make it compelling.


And if you already have a decent mic, which you would expect at this market price level, and most of us do, that leaves the warranty and a couple of cables. Not what I would call a compelling sales pitch.

does this only film in interlaced?
also for editing in a PPC mac with FC 6.0.6 i guess i would need to transcode to prores? would mpegstreamclip do the job?
would this edit well with my canon7D which is progressive? i guess i'd need to convert to progressive?
can anyone help?

Hi Andrew,

You might want to look at this newer, cheaper, and I suspect potentially better alternative...and it can shoot in a great progressive format too!

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/digital-video-industry-news/489795-sony-introduces-hdr-cx700v-1080p60-camcorder.html

Your better off with the new CX700 since it adds native 24p and 60p. The MC50 only shoots interlaced.

thanks for the replies.
what exactly is the point of the HXR-MC50E when the HDR CX700 seems to offer more? here in spain they are the same price! the HDR CX700 doesn't come with a mic nor hood but i guess the image and sound are the same (bar the progressive on the HDR CX700). would that be right? will the low light ability be the same?

It also have zebras that I believe the MC50 doesn't have. Since it's newer, their could also be other manual features the MC50 doesn't have. From reading the specs, it appears to have a different higher resolution sensor as well so in broad daylight the CX700 may actually have better colors and sharpness than the CX550 or MC50 when shooting in 1080 50i/60i. The low light capabilities might be the same but it's too early to tell.

I'd say get either the CX700 or the TM900 and forgot about the MC50. Not everybody is ready for 1080 50p/60p yet but the picture quality out of it is incredible. 60i/50i is getting less and less popular as time moves on so it's definitely better to get a camcorder with progressive modes.

thanks for the replies.
what exactly is the point of the HXR-MC50E when the HDR CX700 seems to offer more? here in spain they are the same price! the HDR CX700 doesn't come with a mic nor hood but i guess the image and sound are the same (bar the progressive on the HDR CX700). would that be right? will the low light ability be the same?

If you wait a little bit, at NAB, Sony is unveiling a new ultra-compact camcorder in the NXCAM line, alonside their new 35mm NXCAM and a new 3-D NXCAM-

Sony?s Big (NAB Show) Reveal ? Part I (http://www.dv.com/article/103538)

You may want to check out the new camera to see if it fits your needs in a way the MC50 and CX700 might not.

Ozzy

I expect its base on the CX700 just like the MC50 was a CX550. I have had my CX700 now for 2 days and am still working through all the features and how they are selected.
It does have zebra ( 70 and 100), peaking ( three colour choices), expanded focus assist ( if manual focus is selected it works while focusing and then reverts back to normal view when control wheel is released), has tracking focus ( will track the focus of a selected item if it moves in the scene)

Low light is a little better than my XR500 and in low lux is a lot better than my NX5U!!! Looking at data code gain now goes to 21db all my other Sony's stop at 18db, noise even at this level is minimal and usable.

Downside is all controls are buried in menus with only the control wheel parameters and nightshot being available easily. Maybe Sony will bring all these to better manaul controls on this new camera and charge another $2000 !!!!

Ron Evans

I would hope they do something more along the lines of the new Canon, or something large enough to provide physical access to the functions. I'd like something just a bit larger (maybe VG10 size?), but with real access and menu-ing to allow fast easy control. IMO the loss of the "My Menu" capability between the C550 and the CX700 is a gigantic epic fail... that feature at least made it easy to access six functions you use all the time in 2-3 touches... not too bad.

I thought the price jump between the CX550 and the MC50 was rather high for a hood and a mic and no apparent firmware upgrades - not that it's "bad", I've got a pretty similar setup for my 550... looks plenty serious as cameras go. But to ask over $2K for the new "compact" weatherized NX would be REALLY stretching if based on the CX700...

I expect its base on the CX700 just like the MC50 was a CX550. I have had my CX700 now for 2 days and am still working through all the features and how they are selected.
It does have zebra ( 70 and 100), peaking ( three colour choices), expanded focus assist ( if manual focus is selected it works while focusing and then reverts back to normal view when control wheel is released), has tracking focus ( will track the focus of a selected item if it moves in the scene)

Low light is a little better than my XR500 and in low lux is a lot better than my NX5U!!! Looking at data code gain now goes to 21db all my other Sony's stop at 18db, noise even at this level is minimal and usable.

Downside is all controls are buried in menus with only the control wheel parameters and nightshot being available easily. Maybe Sony will bring all these to better manaul controls on this new camera and charge another $2000 !!!!

Ron Evans


So, this new compact NXCAM camcorder may be the NXCAM replacement to my HVR-A1 I've been looking forward to. I'm really forward to this camera and the 35mm NXCAM. I'm ready to jump from HDV to AVCHD and I'm glad I didn't jump the gun on the MC50. I'm hoping these two new cams offer specs and features worth pruchasing them for. And if this new compact NXCam is a pro version of the CX 700, I hope it offers more bang for the buck from consumer to prosumer firmware updates than the MC50 did for the CX550.


Ozzy

these rapid developements are making it hard to choose which to invest in! the new sony sounds very interesting. ideally i'd like a jvc hm100 style camera as in 2 xlr, uncompressed sound, small, quicktime, sd cards but with a bigger sensor, better low light, bigger and better lcd, better zoom but who doesn't?
best things come to those who wait..............possibly!