For the past few months I have been looking at Sony’s XDCam Ex (PMW-EX1) I find the camera intriguing because it is the first camera that I have ever seen to include 1/2″ chips at under $10K.
A closer look at the camera reveals a few features that continue to turn heads:
- Solid state memory (ie flash drives) SxS memory cards
- HDSDI output (it does include timecode and audio in the feed – take note Canon)
- Small frame size
- Full raster 1920 x 1080 (no funny math here)
- Switchable 1080i or 720p recording formats with multiple frame recording capability such as 50i, 59.94i, 50p, 59.94p and native 25P, 29.97p and 23.98P
- WOW factor because it is just cool
We saw a demo at the Dallas Final Cut Pro user group about a month ago and I was sold. I’ve been reading about it and asking a few peers that have used it and decided it would be a good fit for a gig I am working on. I have ordered two (for a client 
) and will let you know how it turns out.
For more information, check out the details on Sony’s website.
We are requesting a demo unit from a local vendor so we can test it with our AJA IOHD.
I continue to champion the cause of HD for ministry. I cannot recommend anyone by an SD camera unless your budget is less than $200. In that case you shouldn’t be in video production anyway.