Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

This is kind of dangerous and odd behavior be these companies. They are playing with their integrity dropping the prices so much, so quickly. With this type of behavior they are training people to NOT order their products until a certain period after they are released. And, offend the loyal customers that already purchased only a month or two ago.

I don't think I have ever seen a $1,000 price drop on a $6,000 (new) camera or a $500 price drop two months after release. Is the market that soft?

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

It's probably just the street price for the PXW-180. At $6,000 MSRP they wouldn't move against the PMW-200/300. At a street price of $5K it's much easier to move units. Now if there was another $1K price drop 2 months after release then I'd be concerned.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

I need advice on what camera to purchase. My choices are the Panasonic AJ-PX270 or the Sony PXW-X180.

I’m a second year film student who has shot several shorts and own a Canon 60D. I want a prosumer video camera for run-n-gun, documentary, and event videos.

My budget allows me to spend about $6,000 for a camera. (I'm not a broke college student and I will not be going into debt for this). I have other money budgeted for other equipment. I’m looking down the road to have a professional camera to work with now and later to make money with.

I know it is hard to talk about the Sony camera when it hasn't been released yet. I can wait until it is to make my purchase if I went with the Sony. I’ve done my research but would like the thoughts of experienced and professional video shooters on these two cameras. Thanks.

John

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

I have the panasonic and its the best camera I ever had even in low light its amazing :)

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

If you have to buy something right now, the choice is made for you. You can buy the Panny today, the Sony isn't out yet.

If you don't need to buy something today, then wait. Give Panny time to fix their LongGOP CODECs so you get all the frame rates, and give Sony time to hit the market and get that camera into the hands of the early adopters who can then report back to us.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

Since I need a camera sooner than later, I've decided to get the Panasonic. From the reviews I've read, I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

I appreciate your comments.

John

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

Alister or anyone with Sony connections... can you please request they include Proxy mp4 recordings transfer to LAN/NAS... either "Last Clip" by assignable button ala Canon XF200/205 or better yet, selectable Automatic Transfer. For the work I do, this is very important for clients.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

Has anyone purchased one of these cameras yet? I'm thinking of picking one very soon and they're currently in stock at BH Photo.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

I was all set to buy one, but I decided to save some money by continuing to use my NX5U and suppliment that with an RX100 m3.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

There will be a firmware update for the X180 that will enhance it's streaming and proxy capabilities coming soon. I believe automatic upload of proxies is one of the features that will be included.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

I’m interested in potentially buying the PXW-FS7 in the future although for an entirely different application. So I was thinking of being clever with my money and loading up on the new Sony G-Series XQD cards so that I could use them in both the PXW-X180 and in the PXW-FS7. What I was told is that the G-Series XQD card is not compatible with the PXW-X180. So indirectly we’ve been told you need to maintain two different XQD Series memory card chains to support the two different cameras.

So in a minute of illumination I said to myself no biggy we all know how big a proponent Sony is about their SxS Pro+ memory card offering. So I’ll just buy SxS Pro+ cards and then will have one common media to effectively distribute to both cameras as needed. NO not happening. Now all of a sudden Sony says no SxS Pro+ capability will be available in the PXW-FS7 (I know insufficient write speeds). Do you get the feeling that someone is starting to propagate a multi-proprietary memory card system?

So personally I feel that the best engineering answer to handle this specific technology issue and keep new technology wallet friendly for the ultimate user is to make two separate XQD adapters for the PXW-X180 camera. One that enable you to use the G Series XQD card and the other (which they currently offer) to let you use the S Series XQD cards.
I already understand the reasoning behind the creation of the G Series card which is the capability to handle up write speeds up to 600 Mbps potentially needed by the PXW-FS7. The funny thing is that in this propagation of different recording technology they’re still allowing you to use the AXS-R5 recorder for a whole host of cameras when it comes to RAW capture so they’re sort of getting the idea. That being said I’m stuck with a SR-R4 recorder that only works on one of my cameras  Although it an awesome camera no complaints there.

Oh well your know progress & technology is just an infinitely fat wallet away hehehe.

NOTE to Alister: thanks for the lead about the upcoming Firmware Upgrade for streaming and proxy capabilities on the PXW-X180.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

The XQD card adapter is just an electrical pass through. I don't see why the new ones will be incompatible unless they can't make a firmware update to fix it, since they're using the PCI-E 3.0 protocol instead of 2.0

This does mean they have to continue selling the S-series cards or else people can only use XQD on the FS7. If they discontinue the S-series, all XDCAM camcorders may need a hardware upgrade to support it along with a firmware update.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

I had a similar concern when I was looking at the PXW-X180, I think Sony should better support SDXC. I don't like that it uses SxS cards and needs an adapter for XQD and SDXC cards. With the newer SDXC UHS II cards doing +250MB/s, and selling for about $225 for 64GB, Sony should have made the PXW-X180 able to use these instead of overpriced SxS and XQD cards.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

Supporting the 64GB SDXC card without adapter makes good sense to me. Although I keep hearing comments to the effect that the SDXC cards use exFat format and that this may not be compatible with your PC. So at least we have another layer of confusion. I pop SDxx cards in my PC SD input slot all the time but never really worry about what the SD card's format is.
Note: I just got off the phone with Sony Professional Support Services and they said that using the S-Series XQD is a more robust solution than off the shelf SDxx cards by manufacture X. The reason is they build an automatic 15 second buffer in the XQD cards so if you get a hick up along the way it can still deliver the clip without loss. That probably is not the case in you SDxx type cards.

I also found out that you can use the S-Series XQD in both the FS7 & the X180 so that is the direction I'll go for the time being.

Now how about using the battery pack BP-U90 in the X180 I wonder if it can be charged using the BC-U1 or BC-U2. I don't see that it's compatible but guess that it is.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

But the PXW-180 (with adapter), HXR-NX3 (directly), and many other recent cameras, can record simultaneously on two SDXC cards, making a 15 second buffer in an expensive card not really that important.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

There is no "buffer" with SxS or XQD cards.

What there is, is an additional file recorded along side the main video file that allows the camera to rebuild any corrupt files or files that have not be closed properly, say due to a power loss or the card bing pulled from the camera while recording. This restoration file means that the most you should ever loose is a maximum of 4 seconds. It is an extremely robust system that is relied upon by broadcasters around the world. SxS failures are extremely rare. You need very fast media to record this secondary stream alongside the video stream.

Yes, you could record on to two SDXC cards at the same time, but that won't help you in a power failure situation, you will just have two corrupt cards. The issue with cards based on the SD standard is that corruption tend to result in the loss of everything on the card. The very fact that people believe that dual card recording with SDXC shows how reliable SD cards are considered to be. I've been shooting in extremely harsh environments with SxS for 6 years and never had a failure.

The use of SxS card slots allows you choices. The option to use ultra reliable SxS, lower cost, but high speed XQD or cheap consumer media like SDXC. Broadcaster and professionals need reliability above all else and many will already have a considerable investment in SxS.

Re: Sony PXW-X180
 

Alister brings up a very good point about using the most reliable media possible for your camera during the capture process. Since many of the Interviews or video sequences aren’t reproducible. So I changed my X180 order to include two (2) SxS Pro+ cards and one (1) SxS USB (3.0 hopefully) card reader for the Windows PC.
When it comes to the issue of reliability on the XQD cards since XQD is THE primary capture media for the PXW-FS7, Sony will certainly make sure that’s a very robust capture solution too. So if I decide to purchase the FS7 at a later time it would include two (2) 128GB XQD G-Series cards and of course the appropriate card reader.