NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Hi all,

I'm currently using the Sony Z7 (HDV) as a main camera, with the NX70 as a secondary camera. I'd love to switch entirely to full HD 50p and will be replacing the Z7 sometime next year.

Are there any rumours yet of a new NX5? Hopefully with 50p?

If not, can someone just make something up?

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

No, Sony has nothing in the works that anyone is aware of. If they are working on a replacement, the rumors won't start until around December. That is when leaks happen to get people excited about NAB. I doubt Sony replaces the NX5 anytime soon. A Z7 equivalent with a removable lens and 50p, perhaps a NX7, probably won't come until 2013. Even if a replacement is unveiled at NAB, it won't be available until late September 2012. Sorry to bust your bubble.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

NX5R with AVCHD 2.0 will be out next summer along with the HXR-FMU256.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Greetings to all...I guess I'll be the contrarian in the bunch, and hope Sony doesn't come out with a new version of the 'NX5' too soon. I plan on purchasing in the near-future and nothing makes me more angry then buying an expensive item only to have it become obsolete the next day. Now, I'm grown-up enough to understand the minute something is released to the public it becomes 'obsolete', but it still aggravates me. Jus' say'in.

BTW, anyone have a real objection to this camera or know of a deal-breaking technical issue? I've tried to perform my 'due diligence' and researched everything I could find on this website and others. In a perfect world (read: All the $$ I need) I'd love to purchase the Canon XF300/305, however, based upon what I've discovered in my research, the 'NX5' has a lot going for it. The 20X G lens alone is a great feature. I do a little wildlife study on my own time and the old 'stills photog' in me says, nothing can substitute for focal length (I'm sure there's a joke in there.).

Besides, I like the veiled reference to "I, Robot". "All NX5s report to Cyberdyne HQ for instructions." Heh, heh! Oh, well...my inner geek is showing.

Regards,

J.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

In iRobot they were NS-5s, and Cyberdyne is from the Terminator series.

The only thing I see the NX5 missing is 1080p60. Although it does have 720p60.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Matt...damn! Oh well, my 'geek gland' got the best of me on that one. Heh, heh! Thanks for the info on the 'NX5'.

Best regards,

J.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I have had the NX5U since it came out a couple of years ago and also have Sony consumer SR11, XR500 and CX700. I would like the upgrade to have the following :-

Touch Spot focus like the consumer cams, in fact implement the touch functions from the consumer cams !!!
Assignable AE shift to the control wheel or iris control with on/off to a button.
An AE hold button could be assigned to one of the assignable buttons.
AVCHD 2.0 with 1080P60
Replace sensors with the "R" sensors
Level indicator in the viewfinder like the EX range
Depth of focus indicator

Would likely go and buy the moment it came out !!!!

Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I am looking to upgrade my camera and the NX5U is at the top of the list. This coming from a Canon user. I would love to have a XF300/305 just can't justify the cost. I am not a professional just a dad/coach with a camera. The 20x lens is a must have for my needs (baseball, football).

I do not know of any negatives this camera may have - in it's price range.

Anyone have any experience with the NX5U and sports?

What would be the best mode to use 30/60?

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I've certainly no "real objection" to the camera, far from it - it's great for the money you pay - but whilst more expensive, the XF300/305 are decidedly better still.

As far as lens goes, the biggest difference must be that the NX5 lens has continuously rotating iris and focus wheels without end stops - the XF300 is like the Sony EX, with a "true" manual mode. I'd consider that more significant than a relatively small difference in max focal length.

There are lots of other differences, but the second most major must be that the extra money gets you a full-broadcast spec codec with the XF300 - the NX5 is limited to AVC-HD without an external recorder.

Pay your money and take your choice. You get what you pay for.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

For any fast movement you need the highest frame rate the camera has. In the case of the NX5U either shoot 60i or 720P60.
Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I researched all I could on the NX5U and didn't find any significant issue before I purchased one. Like you my $$$ go so far and this was about the top of what I was willing to spend based on what I need. So far I've found this camera to be a joy to use. It has all the features I need and has delivered footage I've been very happy with. The ability to simultaneously record to SD cards and the hard drive wasn't something I thought much about but for commercial shooting it has the potential to be a pretty serious blessing.

End stops on the lens would be great but you get used to not having them. I've used both and the stops are by far the best way to go but I wouldn't rule out a camera because it doesn't have them. Comes down to knowing your gear and it's limits. The Sony focus/iris/zoom rings respond quickly and for the long range wildlife stuff you plan to shoot I'm sure you'll be happy.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Thank You,
James Ratliff

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I'd swap all of Ron's list for one change - the NX7 needs a bigger, clearer, readable-in-sunlight top screen. And when it's bigger, can we please have the excellent finger-pokin' sized icons that my Panasonic SD900 has, and abandon the NX5's ½ mm font we have at present.

tom.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

David Heath...yes, you're right about the AVCHD Codec, however, once you add a peripheral recorder that issue goes away. At that point you'll be able to ingest at 4:2:2/50Mbps, 4:4:4:/200Mbps, or whatever you want. Kind of moot, wouldn't you say? Out of the box the NX5 is not 'BBC broadcast' compatible, like the XF305.

Regards,

J.

PS,

I do agree about the 'mechanical irus', being an old stills photog I like the tactile feel of a 'real' irus.

J.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I got to compare my NX5 to a new Canon XF305 today. To the naked eye, I simply could not tell a difference, even in low light.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

To an extent - but I don't think an external recorder is ever quite as good as having the desired codec built in. Mounting issues, maybe powering, cabling (an extra place for failure) etc. They're not insurmountable issues - but it's far more elegant just to have the right codec built in.

And the expense. Combine the NX5 and the recorder, and you're a long way to getting something like an XF300 - with all the other benefits it brings. To my mind, the benefit of the NX5 is that it brings in very good results relatively cheaply - if you want better, and can afford it, just spend the extra money on a more upmarket camera from day one.
I'm surprised to hear that. The XF305 has full raster 1920x1080 chips - the pixel count on the NX5 is only half that (and 1440x810 resolution is what's quoted). I'd expect to easily see that sort of difference on ordinary pictures, at least on a good monitor. As regards codec, then all should give good results on first generation. The problems come down the chain, with any decompression/recompression, such as for editing or transmission. Hence the broadcasters insistence on such as XDCAM422 or AVC-Intra - it's for robustness, not quality at the first generation.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

The sensors on the NX5U are a diagonal sensor matrix of around 960 x 1080 or about 1,040,000 each. A full 1920x1080 video pixel matrix is interpolated from these sensors. There are lots of descriptions of how this is done. Essentially each sensor is twice the size of a video pixel. The pixels are created from using data from 4 adjacent sensors. Half the light collected for the pixel in the middle of the sensor and a sum of 1/4 the light from the adjacent 4 pixels. So a full raster 1920x1080 sensor may actually have poorer low light capability as there will be less sensor area because of the connection circuitry. The reason Sony used this approach. The current "R" senors in the consumer cameras go one step further and put the connection circuitry on the back of the sensor to maximize the sensor area. As I have said before my CX700 has lower noise than either the NX5U or the EX3.

Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Almost....... It's best to think of it as two interleaved matrices of 960x540 each - those figures applying to counts from corner to corner. Best analogy is to think of a diagonal tiled floor, with 960x540 white tiles, and 960x540 black. Count them in one fashion and you get 960x1080 (as you say), count in a different way and you get 1960x540! Which is hwy it's best just to say "1 megapixel"!

The cleverness of doing it like this is ease of processing for a 1920x1080 resultant, whilst retaining a fairly large pixel size, and symmetry of resolution horizontally and vertically.
I think that's true for single sensor designs, less so when you have a 3 chip design using this geometry. For the latter note that luminance and chrominance resolutions will be the same (unlike where pixel shift is used).

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Yes it does depend on how one looks at the array. My view is 1080 rows with 960 sensors in each row. Though one can also see it as 1920 columns each with 540 sensors. The missing pixels between the 960 sensors on each row are interpolated from the 4 surrounding sensors by taking 1/4 of their light output and then halving the light output from each of the real sensors to arrive at the level for the pixel at that position. In this way the DSP has values for light output in all 1920x1080 locations.It was my understanding that all 3 chips work that way. So each has 1,040,000 effective sensors and interpolated 1920x1080 resolution as a final pixel resolution.

The single chip versions I think have many more sensor sites and also need to extract colour so don't quite work the same way as the color sites are dispersed on the chip.

Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Compared to a genuine 1920 x 1080 camera (which has twice as many pixels so should be sharper), each pixel on the 1920 x 1080 cam will be less than half the size of those on the NX5 - so the NX5 should be theoretically over a stop better in low light. So just maybe 1 megapixel is a better compromise for 1/3" chips, giving better sensitivity over absolute resolution the design nod.

That's the other beauty of the ClearVid approach - equal horizontal and vertical resolution. The other obvious ways of arranging 1 million pixels for a 1080 system are 1920x540 or 960x1080. Either of those will give uneven resolutions on the axes.

tom.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Tom, Ron, & David...you guys are talking way over my head, but I really like the discussion. I'm learning a great deal, even though I can only understand every second or third word. Heh, heh! Thank you gentlemen.

J.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

One other thing to remember...

Report 1
Due to the flooding in Thailand, Sony has stopped production of the A65, A77, and NEX-7.
As well as Western Digital, Nikon and many others.

Report 2
The Asia News Network has a report that says the Sony and Nikon plants have "no prospect of recovery." Nikon Thailand produced a news release late last week that says "the first floor of all buildings...are presently submerged."

Report 3
Sony has announced that they will be delaying the launch of the upcoming NEX 7 and Reflex Alpha 65 cameras “indefinitely”. The notice comes after record flooding in Thailand. Nikon has also provided an update, although they are still assessing the damages.

Report 4
Sony said it was delaying the launch of products including its NEX-7 camera and the Reflex Alpha 65 indefinitely.

The move comes after the floods forced Sony to shut production at two of its three units in Thailand.

Sony’s output was also hit earlier this year due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. – BBC

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

THREAD RESURRECTION....

Well, over 15 months later and Sony have come out with several new camera in the EX1 SxS line (PMW-100, 150, 200 etc) and Super 35mm cams (NEX-FS700 etc)

But nothing to replace the aging NX5 ????

The following prediction looks promising:

HD Warrior Blog Archiv My predictions for 2013

"Sony spent most of last year supplying camcorders for almost everyone but need to get back in touch with their core market and produce low noise full spec camcorders for the NX70 users who are delighted with AVCHD 1080 50p using SDHC cards. Sony need to supply an NX5 style camcorder with a 20x constant aperture manual/servo lens with 1/2″ CMOS low noise chips with 2 card slots getting away from SxS and 50Mbps."

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

John, I agree with Philip. I'm an NX70 user and have been waiting for an NX5 replacement that's as noiseless in low light as today's consumer camcorders. The 4K version of the NX5 is still a few years off (http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/digital-...y-ces2013.html) and the new PMW-160/200 are more than I need, although I've been contemplating getting a used EX1R.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

For me things missing from my NX5U are better sensors that are not as noisy as the present one, AVCHD 2.0 for 60P and I would like things like spot focus that all my consumer Sony cams have and we use a lot. Not sure if the 150/160 even has the low noise sensors let alone the other things i would like !!! Panasonic and JVC seem to have improved on the NX5U pattern with their latest competitors just wonder if Sony cares.

Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I have really enjoyed using my NX5U for the past 2 years. I'd love to see an upgrade for it.

Maybe this will be the year! Hopefully sooner rather than later in 2013 for that matter.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

If the NX5U is at least two years old that is an old Camera. Sony needs a new model.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I am just wondering if the guys who have the NX5 now are going to replace their camera with the "new "model" if it comes.

stelios

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Hi Stelios

Take a look at the EA-50 (has it's own forum now) I now have two and have dumped my Panasonics and I'm delighted that Sony had the sense to bring out a shoulder mount camera for us wedding guys!!

It really has everything that I was looking for in a wedding camera and is lighter too!! Under 2KG ! and the end result is awesome even with the so called stock 18-200 zoom lens .... I couldn't be happier as I now have the ability to do DSLR style creative shots with the big APS-C sensor or use it just as a video camera..best of both worlds ..I was looking at the NX5 as the EX-3 was out of my price range, then the EA-50 arrived.

Really worth a look for weddings!!

Chris

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Rolling Shutter and lack of ND would be a severe problem for me with an EA50.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

...but it's not really an NX5 replacement, is it Chris? It's a whole different type of camera, it's no more a replacement than the Pansonic AF100 or Canon C100 is, apart from the price point.

It is odd. JVC have the HM600, Canon have the XF300, both approved for ENG use in Europe. I think the Panasonic HX250 may be as well.

Sony don't have anything at all in that category, which is odd. Presumably they are making their money from the big shoulder cams, or have enough ongoing sales of the NX5 to make them think it's still a viable model.

Actually, aside from the slightly older chips and non-approved codec - what's wrong with the NX5 as it stands? Edit: apart from 1080 50p!

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

The Sony competitor to the JVC and Canon is the PMW 150/160 I think . None of these have 1920x1080 50/60P !!! A NX5U with better chips, 50/60P AVCHD 2.0 and touch features of the consumer camera would get me to change my NX5U. I am happy with AVCHD and a move to the PMW160 doesn't make sense as it is cheaper to get a Ninja 2 for my NX5. The noise issue for the low light/ high gain problem is solved with Neat filter, just render time. I don't think the NEX-EA50 has the flexible zoom speed or range I am looking for in the theatre that the NX5U provides so I am thinking of getting a NX30 and a VG30 to supplement the NX5U and my other small Sony's. In typical Sony fashion the VG30 lacks picture profiles/assignable buttons, but has full dial control of parameters not on the NEX-EA50 like gain /iso !!!!

Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Hi Mike

I wasn't trying to pass off the 50 as a replacement at all but simply suggesting to Stelios who does much the same work as me, that the EA-50 does a good job in this area! If you are doing slomo shoots too the 50 has 1080 50P which even the JVC lacks ... with the firmware update Panny 160's have 1080 50p but not 130's

If Sony are still making the HX5 then surely that says that sales are still good and why change something that works

Chris

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I replaced my NX5U with an FS100, so I already moved along. The two major issues I had with the NX5U was it's poor low-light performance and the inability to do 1080/60p. Both of these are crushed by the FS100.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

A XAVC prosumer cam would be next probably. Remember the 4K prototype from CES? That most likely will be a XAVC cam. My problem would be the 1/3'' sensor size.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

It may not be 1/3" or even 3 chip . We will have to wait and see but I think you may indicate the direction as there is no point in Sony bringing an AVCHD version of the PMW160. Although I would like the changes I have mentioned in my other posts I don't think it will happen. I am beginning to expect my NX5U will stay with me for a while !!! I think the new 4K cam would be an addition just like the NX5U was an addition to my FX1 until I couldn't take the difference between the FX1 and all the other AVCHD cams I had.

Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Hello to all,

I am new here and also have a new NX5. B&H says it is still one of the best for weddings and still in the best seller list. It has a rebate available that might indicate it is coming to the end of its time. It seems to be a very robust camera but I'm struggling with the fact it is already over two years old in technology standings. I have only had it for two weeks so I'm still adjusting/ learning. This forum is the best NX5 source I have found, and I have been reading every thing for two weeks straight. I'm going to just have to relax and get over it, and enjoy the camera. Thanks for everyone's posts.

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

I have th NX5 too, mainly used for events, weddings etc. great camera - as an affordable camcorder it just works - no faffing about!! ( if they issued a new one with lower light capabilities and 4K in time id go for one)
I'm not an early adopter, I like to wait a year or so before getting anything, at that stage any bugs, defects have been resolved and the product will have somewhat matured. I waited and waited ever since canon brought out the EOS 5D - and continued to wait till the Mark III came out, got that early this year another superb camera.
So i think that your not buying old technology but rather tried and tested stuff.
Welcome & enjoy the NX5

R

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Dennis I was one of the early adopters got one of the first NX5's in Canada at the end of 2009. Since it was one of the early cameras it had the lens issue as well as the problem with FMU128 and SD card locking up the camera. Both solved quickly by Sony. Read through all the old posts about picture profiles and setup for best focus etc. Once you get used to setup it performs very well. At first I was a little disappointed in the picture when compared to my little Sony's ( SR11, XR500 at the time) Looking at the data codes of these little camera and also the NX5U in auto I realized that the camera performs best when iris is close to F4 or wider. Picture will start to degrade at F5.6 or smaller so switch in the ND's. It is not as noise free as the small Sony Handycams either. 6db and its starts to show noise. If I need to go with high gain I end up running file through a Neat filter which works wonders though takes a little computer time of course. Make sure flicker reduce and macro focus are OFF ( unless you need it of course). Focus is VERY critical. I have peaking on all the time to check and setup using the expanded focus. Backfocus is good so unlike a lot of the smaller cameras once setup one can zoom in and out without needing to refocus all the time. Backfocus was the issue with some of the early lenses and Sony changed mine. Now I know how to set up etc it has performed flawlessly over the past three years. ( I think it took me a year to figure out how to use it even though it wasn't too different from the FX1 I had at the time !!!!)

Ron Evans

Re: NX5 replacement in 2012?
 

Thank you both for the heads up. ....). I had decided to purchase the EA50 and asked B&H for advise. That is how I ended up with the NX5. I have had a DVX100A
since 2005 and have recently been shooting with two Nikon D7000's. The NX5 has made life much easier being a dedicated video camera. I am still amazed by how good the DVX looks when I play an old wedding DVD....). So I'm new to Sony..