HVX200a vs. Sony EX1

Anybody know the pros and cons of the new Panasonic hvx20A vs Sony's EX1, besides the price.

Thanks
Mike Murray
Summer Wind Productions

Michael Murray
Summer Wind Productions

Here are a couple more

The HVX has CCDs instead of CMOS imagers, thus no rolling shutter atifacts. If you are not familiar with this, go to google and type in Rolling shutter and EX1. CMOS imagers are more senitive to infrared, so under certain lighting you will find that the blacks have become purple or brown. The CCD cameras have a built-in IR filter to negate this.

The HVX200A is better in low light than the 200 and is quieter as well. The footage is easier to edit and can be edited right off the card. Metadata can be entered into most of the fields before you even go on the shoot so that if if you are doing any pre pro you can take advantage of that when you get back. By this I mean, the Iditarod guys shot over 100 hours of footage across the Iditarod Trail. They preset their metadata files to reflect the many checkpoints across the trail. The shooters would load new metadata at each check point. When they turned in the cards for offloading they used Raylight for the offload and Raylight presorted all of the clips by Checkpoint, so regardless of shooter, it went into the respective folder per checkpoint. Makes for a much easier edit.

The workflow on the HVX200 is different. You can go from playing back footage to record in under 2 seconds. On the EX1 you have to reboot the camera. You can playback the last clip but if you want to playback the last couple of clips you have to trun the camera off and turn it back on again. ANd then when you want to record again you have to turn it off and turn it back on again. It takes about 14 seconds in one directions and 11 seconds in the other.

The HVX has pre-record and Loop record capability and the EX1 doesn't. The HVX is more comfortabel to handhold. The lens doesn't have as many chroma aberrations as the EX1 lens. While the EX1 does have Chroma Aberration Comprensation, this circuit goes on holiday during any zoom. The Finish on the HVX is very durable, and from owner complaints on the EX1 the finish along with the markings seems to be coming off within months of ownership.

The HVX can do 3 flavors of Standard Definition in addition to 720P and 1080I or P. DV on Tape, DV25 and DV50 on P2 Cards. That DV50 will give you DigiBetacam sort of quality. It is a transitional camera, the idea here is that you may have lots of SD customers in the DV domain and not many that are in the HD Domain. This camera allows you to work in SD while you help your clients move to HD.

The HVX is a proven performer. It has taken 115 in 90 percent humdity, 68 degrees below zero, taken a bath in the ocean(had to dry out a couple months and the Tape path no loner works), fallen with its operator off a ski jump( lost the LCD on this one but the footage was amazing), fallen down a rocky cliff, recording all the way down, and except for the explitives being shouted by its owner made for some really neat shots. And while all of these are extreme, the common thread is that they worked and delivered the footage.

I would also suggest to demo the cameras. But do more than just look at the pretty pictures on the monitor, move the cameras, record the images play them back. Judge those. Do those images look the way you want them to look, as you expected them to look and look at them on a monitor that is good enough to ell you the truth.

Hope this helps,

Jan



Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, HPX500, HVX200, DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems

[Michael Murray] "I heard that the EX1 is good in those conditions as well, how about the 200A? As good, better, worse?"

The EX1, in 1080p mode, is about 400 ISO. The HVX200A is 500 ISO. They have roughly comparable noise levels. So, yes, in 1080P mode, the HVX200A should be a match for the EX1 in low light (though neither is going to be as good as your PD170 was).

In 720p mode, both cameras are about 500 ISO.

In 1080i mode, the EX1 will hold a big advantage; it's about 800 ISO vs. the HVX200A at about 400, so about one stop faster. So if you're shooting progressive-scan, they'll be about the same; if you're shooting interlaced the EX1 will still hold an advantage.

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