Well this was from the PDW700 brochure - "The superb picture quality of the PDW-700 and PDW-HD1500 will increase the appeal of Professional Disc for
applications such as documentary, European TV drama and mainstream entertainment programmes that require a high quality look." That's not just ENG. And as others have pointed out, the talk from early on about a 24P upgrade being on the way further re-enforced the view that it was also capable of being a cinema camera. There was no talk from Sony (that I heard anyway) about "if you want a cinema XDCAM though, hang on we're working on one".
Steve

Well the 700 is very capable of doing all of those things, and with the 24p board and SD upgrade it will be pretty much all that the F800 is. Some people don't need the upgrades, and the price point of the 700 is perfect. If you need those functions and have the camera, then you upgrade. If you don't have the camera then get the F800 and you have all the features out of the box.

The lack of slow and quick functionality on the 700 does not make it less of a capable camera.

That's exactly what it makes it! That's the only bit that I want, if I was able to upgrade, even at the cost of a couple of thousand pounds for a new board then I would.
Steve

You might want to look into in a Convergent Design Nano Flash. Direct HD SDI recording. Besides over and under you can record 100Mb LGOP, and I have heard 140 Mb LGOP coming soon with a firmware update. Also I frame recording if you wish. As a 700 and EX 1/3 owner this little box will raise the bar for both cameras.

Am doing just that, check my many posts in the Convergent forum over the last few days! Unlike Sony they seem to be a company you can deal with! For example when releasing the Flash XDR they told everyone that the Nano was on the way and that it might be better for them to wait if they wanted a smaller unit.
Steve

Steve, the conversations about the 700's abilities and lack of VFR have been on the radar both here and on other forums since before the camcorder was fully released for public sale. Be sarcastic if you like, but the fact remains that it was your choice to get the 700 despite the lack of a major feature that you required, and despite the fact that it was highly likely that Sony would release a sister model. I'm sorry, but if VFR was really that important to you, you shouldn't have bought a 700. That's not Sony's fault, it's yours and your alone.

So don't buy Sony. I am quite sure that Panasonic would have told you that the 2700 was on the way just after the 2100 was released... or perhaps not as the case turned out to be. Did Panasonic let new 3000 owners know that the 3700 would be released in a year or so when they released it? No, they didn't.

From Sony's stand point why should they tell you? From their point of view, if you want VFR you wouldn't logically be looking at a 700 in the first place. You just seem to be blaming Sony for your own impatience to get a new camera despite it not doing what you wanted it to do. Nobody forced you to make the decision to get it regardless and to use the Cinematools method to get 60fps slow mo from a 720p recording.

I'm sorry that you don't like that idea, Steve. But being sarcastic towards me isn't going to change it.

Impossible for you to say as you don't know my full situation. I don't need any advice on how to run my business thanks.
The 700 was the best camera for my purposes at the time for sure, but I would have waited if I'd known that the 800 was on the way so quick, and the fact that probably the biggest Sony dealer in the country knew nothing about the 800 until after its press release says lots to me.
Steve

I'm not advising you on your business. All I'm going on is what you have said about your need for VFR. If the 700 has worked for you otherwise then I really am straining to see what the real issue is here. Either the 700 worked for you, or it hasn't. Either it had the specs you wanted, or it didn't.

The simple fact is that nobody in their right mind would think that it would be logical for Sony to say "No, wait, don't get that 700 because in a years time you'll be able to get a better featured version of the camera in totally different price bracket for nearly 13k more"!

The situation here is no different at all from Panasonic and the 3000 and the 3700. Are all the 3000 owners complaining?

If I'd have known Apple was updating the Mac Pro I would have waited. If I'd have known that Ford were updating the Mondeo I would have waited. If I'd have known Pentax were updating the K10D to the K20 I would have waited.

I'm done with this.

It has worked for me, but the cameras I already had were working for me too and I'd have hung on if I knew the 800 was on the way.
I just don't like this attitude of "serves you right for making a stupid decision" - for all you know I might have made £20k with it already, but that still wouldn't change my opinion about what Sony has done. I'm not the only one who has this opinion about this issue.
I'm done too.
Steve

On that positive note! I hope you all can travel to NYC or LA to be at our event.

andy-

i was at the nyc f800 event this morning and as always, u abel folks did a top notch presentation.

no question, this is a very sweet camera. coming from the ex platform, i would say, "drool-worthy".

though the folks at sony financing suggest otherwise, this rig might be out of my price league. but that doesn't mean i don't want it!

again, thanks andy for keeping us nyc folks informed and ready for more.

be well

rob
smalltalk productions

It was a great presentation. Thanks Andy. Nice camera and optical filters are great. My only critique is the quality of the LCD. Cine-Alta group's LCD on the EX line is proof of what they are capable of, so this should be built in to the pro line.

Yeah, the LCD is absolutely pathetic. A joke.

(700 and EX3 owner)

Andy, do you know of any 35mm lens adaptor that does not have an optical flip module that would be perfect to use with the PDW-F800? (The PDW-800 already has a built-in digital image inverter).

Thanks.

The only one I know of is the Brevis or Letus with an optical relay and no flip module. The Pro35 has one built in though. The Canon anamorphic adapter could also be used, but it's not a 35mm adapter.