Comments

farss wrote on 8/23/2007, 6:44 AM
Seems like a silly idea to me. Panasonic built a similar DV camera, the DVC20, a cheap camera in a big, empty, shoulder mount plastic box. I doubt it fooled anyone but then again I've never met anyone who'd bought one. At least Sony could have put a D5 sized transport in it, then the event people might have been interested in it.

The comment about the "Adult video market" was kind of funny, last cameraman I spoke to shooting a local porno was running 2 Z1s.

Bob.
Laurence wrote on 8/23/2007, 6:55 AM
OMG it's the same as my CX=7,except in a bigger box! ;-)
richard-courtney wrote on 8/24/2007, 5:36 AM
I don't think the design was to fool anyone. If you ever tried a shoulder mount style
camera you can hold it steadier than in your palm for a longer time.

One can buy shoulder brackets. There was a post a few months ago about
rig in a backpack with a suspension arm that held the majority of the camera
weight. That looked good for someone that can't take pressure on their neck
or shoulder muscles.
Spot|DSE wrote on 8/24/2007, 8:19 AM
Not quite, but close... ;-)
Laurence wrote on 8/24/2007, 8:47 AM
The funny thing is that for the price, even if the image and low light capability is only the same as the SR-7 or CX-7, it's probably a really good camera. I mean. add more manual control, audio with XLR inputs and meters, and put it into a shoulder box with a decent amount of inertia, solid fluid head tripod mounting, a bit of a lighting kit, and I'll bet the footage you can take will be quite impressive.
farss wrote on 8/24/2007, 3:24 PM
Well the man with the money sure got pretty excited when he first saw it but after a very quick read the Amex went back in the wallet real fast. At least it got a few good laughs.

1) Shoulder mounted cameras are indeed way better for most shooters. More inertia and resting the camera on your shoulder makes for better extended shoots. Unfortunately a lot of that comes from the weight of the camera and lens and this camera and battery weights nothing like a DSR300 or PD250.

2) Shoulder mounted cameras from Sony have always used the same Sony quick release plate system. This lets you go from sticks to shoulder very quickly. Missed out on this too with this camera.

3) Shoulder mounted cameras use Sony's big brick batteries with enough juice to run the camera and a light for hours or you can run off 12V external power. Miss out on this.

4) All Sony's SD shoulder mounted cameras can take a D5 sized tape for 3 or 4.5 hours recording time. Miss out on this.

What this should have been was the Z1 or V1 in a bigger shell with all of the above. Would have sold very well with a price premium of say $1K to $2K over it's smaller cousin. Sony did well with the PD150 - PD250 twinset.

Bob.
corug7 wrote on 8/24/2007, 7:42 PM
They could have at least put a bigger chip in it. The biggest complaint about HDV seems to be low light (in run and gun situations, anyway). Why not put one 1/2 inch chip in there and charge a few hundred more? We know they have 1/2 inch chips, USE 'EM!

EDIT: And while you're at it, D5!
GlennChan wrote on 8/24/2007, 11:47 PM
You mean full-size DV/HDV tapes? D5 is a different tape format.
farss wrote on 8/25/2007, 2:51 AM
Yes, D5 shell.
What else to call it?

If you call it DVCAM that's confusing as that tape could hold DV25, DVCAM or HDV and all of those can be recorded to MiniDV tape as well.

Bob.