Heath McKnight's Tech Blog
Heath McKnight's blog

Sony announces several products including XDCAM EX

Under the title "HD For All.  Real Systems.  Right Now," it was a more formal affair as Sony's Alec Shapiro hosted the event, and many guests came up to talk about their work with Sony.  In a wrap up article later, I'll talk more about that.  Vince Pace was in the audience, and they talked about his and James Cameron's Pace/Cameron Fusion camera, which Cameron will use on his first film since Titanic, Avatar.  And yes, it records 3D in HD!

They showcased some killer NBA footage Pace and his team shot, and projected it in 3D (we wore 3D glasses) on their 4k projector, the SXRD.  The Smithsonian, with their huge new Oceans Exhibit  opening September 2008, will use the projector to show stunning underwater footage, previewed for us today.

They also talked about several ENG camera and server applications, most notably two cameras, the HDC-1500, which shoots in multiple frame rates, along with 1080i/p and 720p.  The 1400 shoots in 1080i and 720p and I assume 60i/30p.  This lower-cost, but still high res camera is for smaller markets, like local news stations.

Shapiro talked about "beyond HD" with the new super high-end digital cinema camera the HDC-F23 (announced a few weeks ago).  Band Pro Film and Digital, Inc. (http://www.bandprodigital.com/cgibin/eDatCat/BPDstore.cgi) purchased 100 units, which makes me speculate that Panavision is really dedicated to the Genesis, a joint project between they and Sony.

The big announcement for those of us who can afford the affordable HD cameras is the XDCAM EX, which shoots in 1080p/i and 720p, in multiple frame rates, including 24p.  It records to a flash-based PC card that's 16 gb and holds one hour of HD footage.  There are two PC slots on the camera.  It has 1/2 inch sensors, which is incredible, imho, and also does Sony's "Slow and Quick Motion." 

I believe Sony created this camera as a direct competitor to Panasonic's HVX200, and I can't wait to test it out and do a review and a comparison to the HVX200.

For more, go to www.sony.com/professional.

-Heath McKnight

Posted at 09:16PM Apr 15, 2007 by Heath McKnight in General  |  Comments[3]