Lenny,

Are you watching your EX1 material on a big enough display?

If so you probably agree that out of the most important PQ parameters, noise in low- and medium-light areas is the weakest one.

This is what I mean in my previous post - noise st NOT the greatest strength, if you judge in relation to other picture parameters (which are great).

HD cameras tend to be noisier than SD cameras and for many coming from SD for the first time it can come as a bit of a surprise. Every pixel on an image sensor will have some noise, so the more pixels you have the more noise you see. In addition the higher the resolution of the viewing device the more noise it is capable of showing. So it's a double edged sword when you move from SD to HD. You increase the resolution but also increase the apparent noise (unless you do extra processing to reduce the noise). I think many people are not prepared for this.

In the 1080 world, the EX cameras are pretty good and probably the best there is in the sub $20k price range.

Piotr,

I haven't really tested this paramater that much. Its never bothered me though and was so much better than an HVX200 I was thrilled. I guess its all a question of what you're comparing to. What cameras have lower noise in this price range?

Sorry to hijack this thread - has anyone noticed a difference between HDMI and SDI quality on a monitor?

Lenny

Lenny,

On paper, the 54dB S/N for the EX1 is very good, and indeed probably best in this price range.

But as Alister put it, "the more pixels you have the more noise you see". This applies to the camera sensors and to the device you're watching the footage on.

I guess it's the price we have to pay for the extraordinary resolution of the EX cameras...

You're right Lenny that our discussion has become a little off-topic in this thread. However, what I have said above is also relevant to the OP's question - I really do see less noise connecting via Component than HDMI. For editing, I used my fullHD, 50" plasma hung over my desktop, so I'm watching from some 1.5m distance - great for monitoring even the subtle changes my edits introduce... But at the same time, with this almost single pixel visibility, I not only see noise but also how it goes down (along with resolution, which becomes more like this in the HD broadcast) when I switch from HDMI to Component.

As I mentioned before, this may have something to do with my cables quality; anyway it only confirms the general information of both myself and Alister in this thread:

- more resolution = more noise.

I guess the only way to keep the resolution without paying too high a price in term of noise is larger sensors - this is why the PMW-350 (the same format camera, only with bigger chips) has less noise both on paper (59dB, if I'm not mistaken), and actual picture perception (this is what Alister who owns both mentioned many times).