Sony unveils the EX3 successor: PMW-300

[Glen Vandermolen]

Here's an article that says the 14x lens version will be under $10K:

Sony’s Sub-$10,000 PMW-300 Is the EX3′s Successor | Studio Daily

[Andy Wilkinson]

Some PMW-300 specification information now on this Sony UK site:

PMW-300K1 (PMW300K1) : Features : Sony Professional

[Alister Chapman]

The XAVC codec and recording details for both the PMW-300 and PMW-400 will be announced at IBC in September, so we'll have to wait till then to hear about 50/60p.

[David Heath]

Thanks Alister. I have to say that if no 1080p/50, then what's the point of the XAVC option now it's got a fully approved codec with XDCAM 50Mbs anyway?

AFAIK, what XAVC brings to the table that XDCAM can't is the ability to do higher resolutions (ie 4k), higher framerates (like 50p) and 10 bit. OK, nobody's expecting 4k here, but if the only benefit is 10bit acquisition, is the XAVC upgrade really going to be worth it?

Combine it with 1080p/50 and there's a lot more point.

[Andy Wilkinson]

David is spot on. Sony better make sure 1080p50/60 is part of the 2014 XAVC update for the PMW-300. And I'm sure they will.

[Jack Zhang]

Originally Posted by David Heath

Thanks Alister. I have to say that if no 1080p/50, then what's the point of the XAVC option now it's got a fully approved codec with XDCAM 50Mbs anyway?

AFAIK, what XAVC brings to the table that XDCAM can't is the ability to do higher resolutions (ie 4k), higher framerates (like 50p) and 10 bit. OK, nobody's expecting 4k here, but if the only benefit is 10bit acquisition, is the XAVC upgrade really going to be worth it?

Combine it with 1080p/50 and there's a lot more point.

Completely agree here. If a lower tier camera by that point has it and the 300 doesn't, it'd defeat the purpose of the XAVC upgrade.

[Gints Klimanis]

How about a silent 2x or 3x zoom with a constant f/2 aperture? Sigma just put out a wide angle f/1.8 zoom for APC sensors. My Sigmas are kinda chatty on my Nikon D3, thought they all focus much faster than most of Nikons recent AF-S "G" offerings. The Sigmas are less chatty than Nikon AF-S "D" offerings.

Why should we stand for a Sony megazoom lens that only gets sharp at f/4 while losing sharpness around f/5.6 due to diffraction? While I understand the need for a 14x or 16x zoom, I don't want one. Why doesn't Sony offer other options that allow constant ape

[Alister Chapman]

I too agree that the key thing with XAVC would be 50/60p capability, although I do also like the idea of 10 bit 422 at 35Mb/s.

There will be a PMW-300 on the Sony Booth for the Broadcast Asia show next week.

Guess where I am right now... Singapore, shooting 4K demo footage for Broadcast Asia, so hopefully I'll be able to get you lots of pictures and more info. Don't know yet whether it will be a fully functioning camera or a mock-up.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Great! Look forward to reading/seeing what you find out Alister!

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

I too agree that the key thing with XAVC would be 50/60p capability, although I do also like the idea of 10 bit 422 at 35Mb/s.

There will be a PMW-300 on the Sony Booth for the Broadcast Asia show next week.

Guess where I am right now... Singapore, shooting 4K demo footage for Broadcast Asia, so hopefully I'll be able to get you lots of pictures and more info. Don't know yet whether it will be a fully functioning camera or a mock-up.

Availability is slated for Oct. this year, 4/5 months to go, imo it's probably a close mockup.

Still time for Canon and Pana et al to wind Sony up with some lower priced competition.

Cheers.

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

.......... although I do also like the idea of 10 bit 422 at 35Mb/s.

But will your computer like it......? ;-) Compared to XDCAM422, all it really offers is 10 bit, and a somewhat lower bitrate. But likely at the price of being far more difficult to natively edit?

Personally, it's the 50Mbs XDCAM aspect to the news that I think will be most relevant in the real world. I'm in little doubt that for the last couple of years the EX1/3 have had by far the better front end than their competitors such as the XF305 and HPX250 due to the 1/2" v 1/3" chips - but "it's not a full broadcast codec....." has been the sticking point.

As with the PMW200, with this announcement all that changes. The 1/2" front end of the Sonys is still superior to the 1/3" of the competition, and there is now parity with acceptability of recording format.

The XAVC, 50p, 10 bit aspects are all very nice and it's always good to know that what you buy has an element of future proofing as far as is possible - but my bet is that it's the XDCAM 422 aspect that will really sell this camera in the next year or two. And unless Canon and Panasonic can rival the 1/2" aspects, they stand to lose sales very quickly.

[Galen Rath]

Investing in a new 16X lens for this camera seems to indicate Sony expects some years of profitability ahead.

[Bart Walczak]

Comparing XDCAM and XAVC bitrates is a bit like apples and oranges. XDCAM is MPEG-2, XAVC is H.264, so when it comes to compression efficiency, it's two different things...

[Alister Chapman]

Got some more info today, based on studying the pre-production mock-up here at Broadcast Asia. The VF is removable and the VF bracket can also be removed, the VF uses the same connector as the F5/F55. The extending shoulder pad extends far enough to actually sit on your shoulder, not just against your shoulder. There is a 1/4" thread on the rear of the shoulder pad so you can add a rear mounted accessory, maybe a V-Lock battery mount to help with balance. It has dual HDSDI outputs - reason - one to be used with the new Sony WiFi/Proxy device that can stream video over wifi for remote monitoring or live feeds as well as generating proxy files. This device can also control the camera remotely. 3G/4G capability will be added to the optional WiFi box later for remote live streaming and ftp uploads.
It has the same sensors as the EX1/EX3/PMW-200 but according to Sony the new 3D Noise reduction (also coming to PMW-400) uses inter-frame comparison and results in much lower noise and "better" image quality levels than current PMW-200.

All in all it's looking like a really nice upgrade to the EX3. Target price is the same as the EX3 for the 14x version, but that may mean that the street price may be a little higher than the EX3 at launch as dealers may not discount this new camera as they do an older model. No body only option at the moment.

[Jack Zhang]

Wonder if they talked with Teradek's OEM to make this new "Proxy/Wi-Fi" box.

The critical thing it has to support for livestreaming is bonded 3G/4G connections. A single antenna is not reliable enough for a consistent connection.

I'd be interested to see the OLED EVFs work with the 300 and how it would work ergonomics-wise.