You are probably right about the latter Emmanuel. Philip Bloom and a couple other people have confirmed it is the same sensor as the F3.

One of the pricing differential "reasons" is now clear. The new NXCAM will be "crippled" to do 25p or 50p in Europe and 24p and 60p in USA etc. Not switchable - Region locked.

What exactly is that thing attached to the cold shoe? Is that suppose to be a mic holder?

Ozzy

F3 sensor means it's a winner. Are they going for a RED one type deal when it's just a block and you buy everything separate? Even handles? Aww whatever, I want one.

So sticker price of 8 grand US, means maybe 6 or 7 street?

I hope they don't cripple it somehow, like for no apparent reason it has more noise or whatever.

Does anyone see a way to attach an evf to this thing? How about adding extra xlrs with a beachtek or juicedlink?

I think it's too early to determine anything from looking at the body but if I were to say something anyway, I'd say that you'll have to piece things together so if you want it hand held, you can make it hand held and if you want it shoulder mounted you can make it shoulder mounted. Same goes for the view finder and extra XLR inputs. In other words they'll probably be a list of parts you can purchase for it. This can definitely increase the price.

Hopefully it will indeed have 1080 60p.
I really don't like the way they worded it since it sounds like theirs no guarantee.
"There is also a plan to implement 1080p (60p / 30p / 24p*2 or 50p / 25p) recording modes."

They wondered how Sony could make the F3 type camera as cheap as an EX camera. Simple. Make it a block with a sensor on the front... :)

Red scarlet killer?

Seems like RED will have it's buyers, regardless of other companies similarly featured/priced cameras. Perhaps as loyal a group of owners as there is. And people who've waited 2-3 years to get their cameras probably won't be easily swayed away....

But lower budget TV shows - reality and such - may be tempted away from RED by a simpler work flow and bigger brand name.

For guys getting into the game I'd guess it will ultimately come down to street price for a total package (lens, battery, etc) plus hype. In that respect, I'd guess it'll steal more of the AF100's thunder then the Epic.

With the EU video camera import duty, it would always be a bit more expensive than in the US anyway. I imagine Sony are trying to prevent grey imports.Could be the frame rate is a hard wired rather than a firmware feature.

Europe is universally 25p except for theatrical feature films, so it's not really an issue in production terms unless you're shooting for north American clients for their home market. Quite a few feature films have been shot at 25 fps.

Looks wise, currently the F3 looks more like what you'd expect this new camera to look like. Although, Sony say it's a prototype, so (like the REDs) everything could change in that department.

EU import duty on camcorders is 4.9% so it doesn't lead to a vast difference in price. VAT (sales tax) is much higher at around 20-25% but I assume that most purchasers of this camera will be professionals who are registered for VAT & thus able to reclaim that.

Indeed, it's not a big factor, a larger one may be dealers and others within the chain, not being so willing to cut the profit margins to the same extend as say the US.

For example, well known jeans are much cheaper in the US than in the UK

It's interesting to see how Sony and Panasonic especially, are carving out these micro-niches. A few threads back someone asked if this would be a Scarlet Killer. I'm not a Red fanboy, having not shot with one, but as far as capabilities go, they and Sony just different offerings from different philosophies.

Sony et al., have product lines to protect, divisions to differentiate and so on. Red is basically saying, let's go for it! Shooting RAW, multiple data rates, having HDR, etc. with all their models!

What IS nice is that what ever manufacturer we go with, we get more choices.

I'm not sure how this new Sony offering will turn out, but it is interesting to see how various features are implemented/withheld, and how different companies are trying to give different niche markets what they think they want. I guess the suspense has its enjoyments, like speculating in these forums. OTOH, it can get to be a bit irritating. I'll go away now...

1080 60p is a game changer. I can't wait. What is the price for the body and lenses and what's the release date?

So far quoted price has been about 6,000 Euros. No idea what the US price will be. Release date is around summer, 2011.

Awesome. I wonder how much lenses will be.

I'm wondering how shoot-ready one of these would be out of the box (not very, I'd wager) and how much it'll cost to get it there.

It's not a Red killer. It's not a Panny killer. It's not a DSLR killer. It's just another option, and its exciting.

I'm still very content with my HPX for day-to-day work and my 7D for when I want a more cinematic look. Both will continue to make me money until well after ALL these cameras are out (and at least the first generation is passed, to get the bugs out).

When the dust settles, I'll probably go with Red, since the idea of footage capture at 2,3 and 4k sounds really exciting.

I wonder if this thing on the side (red arrow) is the mic? If it comes with a lens, handgrip, and that being the mic it could be ready to shoot out of the box.

http://www.angelfire.com/al/metalalien/video/nx3.jpg

Thanks for that pic, EriK. It gives details to the dark areas in the Sony video. The rear plug is definitely an XLR input, not a power socket. And the battery compartment at first looked like some kind of memory slots to me.

As far as that being a mic, that's a good a guess as any.

The US$8000 figure will be high IMO. That figure was derived by a previous poster applying the EUro/USD spot FX-rate to the apparent stated price of Eur6000. These products are ALWAYS much less expensive in USA, than Europe, so my guess is that the US$price MSRP will be around US$6000 and street price.... probably very close the Pana AF100, and maybe actually less. Just my view on that. Depends on final spec of course, and if it comes with a lens.

The mere fact that this news was rushed out as a spoiler (as Mr.Wilkinson pointed out, and i agree with him) i think demonstrates that Sony see the AF100 as direct competitor and i am sure the price will be vey close or actually less. My guess is around street-price of US$4200-4500 (or maybe actually less - Sony know Canon and now pana have a big headstart in the large-sensor video market, so they will be looking to lever themselves in there with aggressive pricing i would think). But it's really still a long way off. Spring or summer isn't that close really - i am sure Sony will be looking hard at how the AF100 sells.

Well the cheaper the better. If it makes video anywhere near the F3, things will never be the same. Besides minor updates where could they go from here? They could do 4k but that would kill what's so special about this chip, the incredible low light and dynamic range.

Bah who cares, just give me one.

Oh and you're welcome Glen. I included that picture of the back for that very reason.

I gather the new camera isn't totally finalised and Sony has done a bit of a RED by showing prototypes/images, which may or may not be representative of the final camera.

I'm qualifying this because Ford introduced the Sierra as a concept car and everyone said that Ford wouldn't manufacture a car like that, but sure enough the following year it came out.
Ford Sierra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well - the time from announcement from promised launch is probably LESS than the AF100 is going to be. It would also seem to be quite logical to announce it at the same time as the F3, which itself was announced only a few months before launch.

That poster was me, sorry. I am ignorant of the international exchange rates. It was a guess, hopefully a wrong one. I prefer it be in the $4,000 - 6,000 range.

That's why I qualified it, since I read that they seem to be still working on aspects of it. These could be enabled features or perhaps the external design. Although, I imagine the latter tends to lock into the market's mind more than internal features.

What strikes me is the whole modular form factor, which does remind me of the reds. The emount ofcourse means it can use any lens ever made since 1945 right out of the box, since the adapters are already available.

I was playing last night with my new/old soligar 135mm f/2 on the vg10. To my surprise it was usable shot off a plain 501 head. It's really a sweet piece of glass for around 150. Another great low light deal is the Korean 85mm 1.4, which by all accounts is very sharp, and 240 new.

One would hope for a e-mount wide zoom of current nikon quality and speed someday. A lens like that in the 2-3k range would have a market waiting. Third party lens makers have got to eyeing the whole nex market.

Modular is fine but this thing looks like a brick. Looks more like a big DSLR than a video camera.

I've been thinking about it and I sure am going to miss the EX work flow and just all the hardware and so forth. XDcam EX is so easy to edit and looks so nice. AVCHD is such a pain, the high bitrate stuff even more so, to the point of it being stupid hard. At AVC 24mbps I would probably have to transcode everything into something else before dropping it into a timeline.

The modular approach is more what you'd expect for the F3 (which does look rather pro-consumer), rather than the NXCAM model.

BTW It's amazing how large the F3 looks with a 35mm motion picture zoom lens & matte box fitted.

All my experience is with the venerable pd170 and vx2k. I've been really surprised that tapeless prosumer cams- the good ones- all seem just as heavy or heavier.

Does anyone know how much this one weighs?

I finally bit the bullet and bought a vg10, which is wonderfully light. As most know it has a number of very silly limitations.

It is a flat out scandal that the Sony promo shows indie wannabe wandering around Bali with a tripod, while in fact vg10 tripod mount is ridiculous.

There is such an obvious niche for something between this 6k model and vg10. All they need is a better build and some more controls with the vg10-- well also moire filtering-- and it would be an instant star.

As far as the avhcd work flow, it seems no more pain than what it takes now to properly downsize for good DVD quality from the various hd codecs--- you can spend days reading those threads.

Seems to me that for less than $2k, the VG10 could have had a better OLPF, 24p (Canon has this on pretty much all of its AVCHD models), better controls, and 10-bit HDMI out (how much does 10- vs. 8-bit really add the cost of manufacture -- a few bucks?). XLRs are nice, but not really necessary -- if desired, they can be added on (and are, in fact, and add-on module for the 2/3-inch Scarlet).

Panasonic hobbled the AF100 with 8-bit HD-SDI/HDMI. Sony's hobbling their models with, in my opinion (obviously), excessively high price points. I really hope that Canon steps up to the challenge.

I consider XLRs very necessary on a professional video camera. Regardless of the sensor size, these are still video cameras. I want to plug in my mics without any attached gizmos.
I suspect10-bit over 8-bit is not just "a few bucks" to manufacture. Not sure why, but only the higher end cameras have this feature.
The VG-10 is marketed as a consumer cam. It still has the aliasing and moire issues that HD-DSLRs suffer from. The NXCAM shouldn't have these problems. But, you gotta pay for the upgrade. So far, this new cam sound pretty good.

If it had a better (for video) OLPF, it would seriously compromise any ability to take still photos. With current technology, manufacturers don't have any realistic option - either compromise the still ability, or accept a high level of aliasing.
It's not the giving of a 10 bit output that's the problem - rather whether or not it's worth it. If the camera noise threshold is above a certain level, 10 bit is pointless - all it's doing is encoding the noise with greater precision. Unfortunately, "10 bit recording" has got locked onto as a good marketing buzzword, whether it's worth it or not. The F3 may be one of the few cameras below $20,000 where 10 bit (and S-log etc) really does make a big difference.

It's not the 10 bit recording you're paying for - it's a camera with the front end specs to make 10 bit worth the effort.

Wow the red users are up in arms over sony's two new cameras. Bugs me they are so convinced a 1080p camera is not relevant these days. I feel the same thing about a 4k cameras. Hell I watch 95% of my movies at the Drive In and that is barely VHS quality.. ha ha.

The 1080p market is much larger than 4k and that won't change for many years, especially when the world is in an economic recession.

The current push is 3D, rather than more resolution, which is great to have at acquisition, but there's a lot of "good enough" by producers (which has generally always been the case, that's why DIs are mostly 2k).

What's a Drive-In? You mean like a burger place. :)

Hey look everyone, Bob baited me to post a video. :)

Thanks Bob, ha ha. (I really wish we had a choice on whether the video would embed or just be a link)

Thanks for sharing, that Erik -- back in high school, I
was a projectionist at our local drive-in. Good times...

The reason why we embed video clips here is to keep
eyeballs on DV Info Net. Our goal is to retain traffic
instead of sending it elsewhere. Hope this helps,

No problem Chris, just felt like a heel posting a big embed. We go to that Drive In almost every weekend. Picture is terrible but it's just more fun that a regular movie.

Back to the NXcam folks, nothing to see here. :)

MAN i wish we still had a drive in in my town. Drive ins were definetly the BEST way to enjoy B-Movies.

Erik,
Drive-ins are the best. Too bad they are hard to find now. It seems they are making a comeback where there is cheap land and enough space. Great memories.