Ex1 discontinued? NOT
 

B&H officially lists the camera as discontinued and AbelCine asks to "call for availability". A new product announcement in the near future? I will call B&H and try to speak with someone in sales this a.m.

What the? I am buying an EX1 in two weeks?! Should I hold off for a discounted price if there's a new one in the works? Please update if anyone has any info.
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4876/ex1disc.png

I believe it was 2-3 months ago or longer someone posted on this forum or elsewhere about a Sony camera going through the approval process (?in Germany) and there were also speculations about backlit Exmor sensors as are coming out in their DSLR's.

Possibly then what we're looking at is a new camera with 3 Exmor R™ CMOS Sensors? They already have single chip ones and are talking up their low light capability.

Low light photography, Twilight Football : Sony

You'd think they'd have had an announcement at IBC. Of course a pre announcement cuts into sales and Sony I don't think is doing well in this economy.

It might just be a "refresh" model, EX1a for example.

Talked with Pro Video sales at B&H - they say the EX1 is discontinued "That was this morning's news" according to the rep. Don't have any word on replacement. Talked with the National Sales Director at B&H - they have 2 in stock in LA but he is unaware of anything new - he promised to call their Sony rep and get back with me.

Don't want to quote my source but supposedly an EX1R is coming out in a couple of months with relatively minor changes (buttons and ergonomics - the way the camera is held) but no mention of new sensors (like the Exmor backlit sensors). Seems hard to believe they would stop sales of a popular camera just to make minor changes.

They've done it before. The PD100/150/170? All revisions building on the previous version. For the life of me I can't now remember what the differences between the 150 & 170 were.

Here is a compliance document, dated September 14 2009.

http://www.compliance.sony.de/docume...W-EX1R-DoC.pdf

You can search it yourself in here:

Sony Product Compliance Europe

Is it another model? Who knows...

I have a EX1 for sale in the UK. I have the 3 year extended warranty and lots of extras. PM for details.

Adam -- be sure to list it in our Private Classifieds forum.

Cleaner low light signal (less noise not greater sensitivity), "in between" F Stops (although not labeled/displayed), changes in the handle which I think included a zoom rocker. Just off the top of my head. I owned both.

Re: EX1, There was no announcement at IBC so I don't think the revision will be "major" as far as marketing is concerned. It may be they're dropping the EX1, coming out with a "1A," lowering the price of the EX3, making room for EX5 at next NAB, some combination of the aforementioned. just speculation but none of this would surprise me. Announce any revision at IBC might have eaten into current sales, something Sony may have wanted to avoid though. I think if it was a "killer" feature they might have announced though given the ability to stop sales of competitors while people wait for the release.

The thing is there's always the one "killer" feature which we'll groan about. Maybe record cache, direct recording to SDHC with overcrank, overcrank to 120fps on SxS, for example. All "Area 51" until Sony or the dealers say something.

This was an error on our part for which we apologize. Apparently our buyer wished to note on our site that the EX1 is backordered and that we have no ETA. Again, we regret and apologize for this error and any confusion it caused.

As always, Henry, many thanks for posting here directly and clearing this up -- much appreciated,