Loving my NX5U so far....
 

Hi folks,

I have been lurking in the background about a month now, soaking up all the knowledge being shared here. I work at NBC News in NY as a video editor and have had a passion for photography and videography my whole life.

First of all let me thank all the people who have been contributing to this forum, it has been invaluable to me in helping me make my decision to pull the trigger on a new NX5U. I was a little concerned about some of the problems I was reading about but decided to go ahead with the purchase and I couldn't be happier. On paper it was everything I was looking for in a camera and it fit my budget. I actually think Sony did a really good job pricing this camera and offering the $500 rebate on the external drive.

I like to have fun shooting concerts and live performances in my spare time. I have been working with a Sony HDR-SR12 so I am already used to working with the AVCHD format. I'm using the Adobe CS4 Production Suite on a Window 7 64 bit system. Premiere CS4 works with the files natively so I'm editing right away after a quick copy of the files to my RAID. I gave up working with tape at home years ago so the HDV format never appealed to me. When I saw Sony came out with pro camera that shot AVCHD to a 128 gig drive my interest was instantly peaked.

The NX5U is my first "pro" level video camera and so far in the first week of playing with it I am in LOVE with it. It is worlds better than the HDR-SR12 I was using. I love the range of the lens, its wide enough for me to capture the action close up to the stage and the zoom seems to goes on forever. I haven't actually had the opportunity to shoot a show with it yet so I don't know how it will perform in a club. The abundance of audio options is also perfect for me. There seems like a million ways to tweak the picture in the Picture Profiles. I'm still experimenting with the various formats and frame rates. I do really like 720/60P looks so far but want to burn a few blu-ray discs and compare it to 1080 formats. The more I read about it the more confused I get. We broadcast/edit 1080i at NBC but they like 720P over at ABC/ESPN.

If anyone would like to see some footage from the camera I have posted some clips to my YouTube account. Here is the address to the playlist that has all the files YouTube - editguy666's Channel
or search editguy666 nx5u

I will add more clips to that playlist over time as I get to shoot more with the camera. Thanks again for all the info posted here you guys are great!

Happy shooting
Bill

Hello Bill,

I've looked at everyone of your shots. You've done a really nice job in showing how this new camera provide a really nice picture.

I was really amazed with the candle one.

Thanks for sharing this information!

Hi Bill,

Welcome!

I too work for NBC in New York. Are you on DPS 5? That's where I am.

Congrats on the cam! I have the Canon XL H1S and love it! I actually use it on pieces I produce for NBC and it works very well.

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the NX5. Looks to be a great cam for a great price.

I have a colleague at NBC that is looking to possibly get this cam too. So any more of your thoughts about it would be great.

Welcome to the board.

Michael

Thanks guys. Yes I work in the DPS area on 5, Michael. Stop by NLE521, I work Wed-Sun, I'd love to talk more about the camera and arrange to get your friend a hands-on view if he wants.

Bill

Where is NLE521 located?

I couldn't find it... got to 519, then dead end?

It's in the old SNL area inside the 5th floor DPS, inside 2 glass doors you'll find a big projection TV with 4 Avid rooms in that area. NLE521 is first edit room to the left as you enter. Call x43455 if you are having trouble still.

Upgradability to 60i/50i switchability
 

First of all i'd like to say that this is an amazingly nice forum that i'm really glad to be part of.

And sorry for hijacking the thread, but i didn't find appropriate to create a new one for this question.

Which is what exactly means "Upgradability to 60i/50i switchability"? Is this software toggle between NTSC / PAL?
Is it already built-in in the NX5 or will it be available later as a firmware update?


Thanks!

It's a firmware upgrade. When you buy the camera, it is set up for PAL if your are in a PAL country or NTSC if you are in an NTSC country. If you need both, you can pay Sony to upgrade the firmware so you can switch from one format to another.

Ok thanks, Jay. Do you know how much this update costs or it's different in every country?