Those two cameras are living proof of what I have been stating for years. That the CCD or CMOS size is what is most important - not the bells and whistles. It is the single largest reason cameras don't give the best images, especially in lower lit shoots. It is also the reason that good cameras are getting MORE expensive today, not less expensive. What was unfortunate was that DV reduced the generation loss associated with analog, but what did the camera manufacturers do with that fact? They shrunk CCD sizes and removed useful mechanical wheels in favor of clumsy menu driven controls to save money.

Anyway, those are both very nice cameras.

John

"suddenly they're rolling out all manner of stuff that not even Panny would have contemplated."

and thats teh issue with the early HDV cameras.. they were designed to deliver AN image.. any image.. and that was that..
Now cosndier how thenewer cams come with a multitude of tweaks and fiddles which allow us more control..

manufacturers have adapted to our needs and i dotn see sony being any different.

There is a market for this.. and in that market a set level of budget demographic.

By keeping the EX with a fixed lens, it brings the cam down a notch to a market which would normaly never consider a 1/2 sensor.
most if not all a/2 sensor cameras are ENG.. this is the ONLY camera that i know of which is in his formfactor (and price)

I do not doubt that this new camera will come into existance to pretty much conicide with the EX.. predomaintely event work will benefit from this and keping HDV alive while they blwo teh XDCam horn.
but, from teh image provided, I also think this could be a prank.. Then again, sony have surprised us in the past..

Cosnidering there is a market out there that WANTS the film look, why not offer a cheaper camera (than the EX) which can get close to EX performance? It makes perfect sense to release a camera of this nature.. hell JVC did it, but they screwed up considering there arent manyu lenses to choose from.. canon on the other hand, have an adapter so i can easily whip out my 50mm off my 5d and mount it to my H1 wihtout much thought... its pretty logical when u cosnider the market theyre targeting.

for 6k AUD most would opt to buy THIS as opposed to 13k for the EX
For weddings, its teh central budget most woudl have to mess ith anyway
If this camera is real, then alot of manufactures have ALOT of work ahead of them

The 1/3" sensors worry me, as you say assuming this is for real..
Also I doubt this will be cheap, the basic camera might be but lens mounts alone cost more than many complete HDV cameras.

By the way I expect the EX1 to sell down here for around AUD 8,500 to AUD 9,000. Sony Oz might get greedy based on demand but then they'll have a problem with grey imports. Too much markup on US prices and I know how I'll be paying for my next trip to NAB.

Bob.

http://www.sonybiz.net/biz/view/Show...=1187079485406

I dunno about that price Bob... really..i mean look at the G1..about $11k retail, under $10k street... H1 body only is about that much as well..

Honestly i dont know... im jsut going with luanch prices ive seen from other gear.. i mean the Z1 was a lil over 8k on launch and that was bout 3yrs ago... theyre still going for 6..

If there was competition, then id agree 100%, but as it stands, i dunno..

A 1/3" CMOS HDV camera won't do any harm to RedRock's business. Just because you can put 35mm SLR lenses on this new Sony, you won't be able to gain the Depth of Field benefits that RedRock and P+S Technics offer.

With that tiny 1/3" chip, if you put a 50mm SLR lens on this Sony it would give you (rough guess) a field of view similar to puting a 200mm lens on an SLR.

It's nice that Sony is thinking about this stuff, but IMO HDV is on it's way out. Of course, with it's HDMI out, this camera might be a cool option for low-budget studio setups.

" you won't be able to gain the Depth of Field benefits that RedRock and P+S Technics offer."

Whatever gave you THAT idea? The point of using an DSLR lens of a video camera is simply because the lens itself is cheap and apertures offer a physical DoF by lens aperture control.. totally making the ccd itself a non factor (save for the 35mm film lens adapters)

as for the crop, the XLh1 with adapter is about 7.2 to 7.6x In theory an H1 with a 50mm on would "zoom" in over 300mm
Considering most films are shot with the camera at least 20metres away from the talent, this zoom ratio is a given..

As for the crop ratio, maybe Sony have come up with an adapter to offset the scale of teh lens to the sensor... who knows.. who cares.. either way were given more options and thats pretty much all that matters

Im REALLY surprised Panasonic have been quiet through all this... i hope they dnt go quiet like they did before the DVX was launched.. for about 2-3yrs we heard nothing, then out came the DVX which changed everything...i certainly hope this isnt a repeat

I'm assuming Sony's 35mm adaptor will use a screen and a relay lens i.e. you'll get the same FOV and DOF as the 35mm lens offers and you'll get that without as much light and image quality loss as you would with an adaptor on a fixed lens camera like the Z1 or EX1. Actually this camera could be a threat to not just those in the 35mm adaptor business but also Canon's XL H1 and JVC's HD100 lineup.

Bob.