Common Cameras for Field Acquisition


Varicam

Native 720p. Does not shoot SD.

Tape Based Camera - Real Time Ingest to Edit Systems.  Shelf live of tape approximately 20 years at best.

“Cross Res” to make image 1080i through a separate deck.

Shoots from 4fps to 60fps for slow-mo and fast motion.

Shoots native 24p, 25p, 30p, 60i and 60p.

Records at 100mbps.


HDX900

Native 720p / will output 1080i through a “Cross Res” conversion within camera.  Technically, it’s a pixel shift. Ok - I’ll say it - it’s an “up-rez to 1080.  Does not shoot SD.

Tape Based Camera - Real time ingest to Edit Systems.  Shelf live of tape approximately 20 years at best.

Shoots in 24p, 25p, 30p, 60p and 60i.

Records at 100mbps.


F900

Native 1080i. Does not shoot SD.

Expensive Camera - close to $70,000 list without viewfinder.

Tape Based Camera - Real Time Ingest to Edit Systems.  Shelf live of tape approximately 20 years at best.

Some cameras have boards that can downconvert on the fly to an SD signal.

Shoots in native 24p, 25p, 30p and 60i. 

HPX500

Native 720p / will output 1080i through a “Cross Res” conversion within camera.  Technically, it’s a pixel shift. Ok - I’ll say it - it’s an “up-rez to 1080.  Also shoots SD.  However - the imager is 540x960.  So technically - it’s over 525 lines thus making it an “HD” camera by definition - but it is not even a true 720p camera.

Inexpensive camera - $14000 list.  P2 cards expensive - 32gb card that will give you high end recording of HD at 32 minutes (a tape in most cameras) is list $1650.

P2 (chip) Based Camera - Fast Transfer if chips are in hand at post facility.  Chips are very expensive and not an “expendable”, must pay crew while transfer is done to a hard drive on site.  Must trust that drives transfered to are reliable.  Shelf live of media only as good as storage device transferred to and organizational skills of the archiver.

Frame rate between 11p and 60p in 11 steps, similar to Varicam.

Shoots in 24p, 25p, 30p and 60i.

Records at 100mbps.





PMW-EX1

Native 1080i / 720p.  Can output via SDI for SD or over firewire.  XDCam format.

SxSPRO Cards expensive - 16gb card that will give you high end recording of HD at 70 minutes (two tapes in most cameras).

Flash Media Based Camera - Fast Transfer if chips are in hand at post facility.  Chips are very expensive and not an “expendable”, must pay crew while transfer is done to a hard drive on site.  Must trust that drives transfered to are reliable.  Shelf live of media only as good as storage device transferred to and organizational skills of the archiver.  Rumor from CBS is that Sony will be delivering in the fall a device that will transfer Flash Media to XDCam discs in the fall.

1/2” Chip. Shoots in 24p, 25p, 30p and 60i. 4:2:0 color space.  Records at 35mbps. Footage can be transferred to XDCam disc via PDW-U1 or PDWHD-1500, F70, or F75.

Time Lapse.  Slow Shutter.  No Slow Mo. No Timecode out or in.

Highest resolution comparable to Sony PDW355.


PMW-EX3

Native 1080i.   Can output via SDI for SD or over firewire. XDCam format. Interchangeable Lens.

SxSPRO Cards expensive - 16gb card that will give you high end recording of HD at 70 minutes (two tapes in most cameras).

Flash Media Based Camera - Fast Transfer if chips are in hand at post facility.  Chips are very expensive and not an “expendable”, must pay crew while transfer is done to a hard drive on site.  Must trust that drives transfered to are reliable.  Shelf live of media only as good as storage device transferred to and organizational skills of the archiver.  Rumor from CBS is that Sony will be delivering in the fall a device that will transfer Flash Media to XDCam discs in the fall.

1/2” Chip. Shoots in 24p, 25p, 30p and 60i. 4:2:0 color space.  Records at 35mbps. Footage can be transferred to XDCam disc via PDW-U1, PDWHD-1500, F70, or F75.

Time Lapse.  Slow Shutter.  No Slow Mo. Does have Time Code out and in.

Highest resolution comparable to Sony PDW355.



PDW-F335L

Native 1080i / 720p.   Also shoots SD. XDCam format.

Disc Based Camera - Fast Transfer if using XDCam deck to transfer.  1st generation XDCam.  1/2 Inch CCD.  Inferior lens as a result than it 2/3 inch CCD chip brethren.

XDCam disc excellent archive media - may last 100 yrs.  Optical - not magnetic - not susceptible to magnetic field image loss.  Discs affordable - about $17 per single layer disc.  Record time 145 minutes on a dual layer disc at highest setting - 35mbps or 420 HQ.

Time Lapse.  Slow Shutter.  No Slow Mo.

Shoots in 24p, 25p, 30p and 60i. 4:2:0 color space.  Records at 35mbps.


PDW-F355L

Basically the same camera as the F335L with a few added features.






PDW-700

The camera selected by the CBS for Field Acquisition.

Native 1080i / 720p.   Also shoots SD.  XDCam format.  4:2:2 color space.  Highest resolution available from ANY field camera save for the F900 SR - which is tape based recording to a 4:4:4 HDCam external deck.  Highest resolution setting is MPEGHD 422 at 50 mbps.

XDCam disc excellent archive media - may last 100 yrs.  Optical - not magnetic - not susceptible to magnetic field image loss.  Discs affordable - about $17 per single layer disc.  Record time 45 minutes on a single layer disc at highest setting - 50mbps or 422 50. Also records on Dual layers discs.

(Interesting quirk is that at IMX50 - the highest SD resolution that the camera records at, takes up the same amount of disk space as the highest HD setting - due to proprietary lossless compression algorithms.  No upgrades in the hard drives of edit systems is necessary to accommodate the HD footage from any XDCam HD camera.)

Time Lapse.  Slow Shutter.  No Slow Mo.

Shoots in 24p, 25p, 30p and 60i. 4:2:2 color space. Records at 50mbps


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1080

720

525

Which camera would you rather shoot with just based upon native resolution?

All Sony Products listed on this page except for the F900 are XDCam file based.

Think XDCam = DATA

Some of the Benefits of XDCam:

File-based Disc Recording

Because the XDCAM system records video and audio as data files rather than a linear AV stream, XDCAM HD products offer a range of powerful benefits:

Instant random access to content

Automatic recording onto empty disc space (no need to worry about overwriting valuable content)

Easy integration into other data based equipment such as Non-Linear Editing and Archive Systems

Advanced network-based workflow via i.LINK FAM (File Access Mode) or Ethernet

High Speed File Transfer


Advanced Proxy Recording

XDCAM HD products automatically record low-resolution AV data simultaneously with the HD or SD resolution data on the same disc. This low resolution content - called "Proxy Data" - uses MPEG-4 for a low data rate (1.5Mb/s for video and 0.5Mb/s for audio) while still offering reasonable quality. For a fast-breaking news story, Proxy Data can even be relayed over a low bandwidth link (e.g. mobile phone) and broadcast. In normal circumstances, Proxy AV applications include:

Immediate logging on location

Off-line editing

Daily rushes

Client Approvals

Proxy Data can be browsed and edited on most popular NLEs. In addition, all XDCAM HD products are supplied with PDZ-1 Proxy Browsing software for Windows PC which supports drag-and-drop content transfers.


Quality Footnote:


Panasonic Vs Sony Recording Schemes


This is a basis for argument, but I believe the tech specs bear this out.  Even though Panasonic records at 100mbps per second, their recording format draws EVERY detail of EVERY frame EVERY TIME, with an inferior compression algorithm.  Sony employs the MPEG-2 422P@HL (Long GOP 50M).  The Sony system - along with advanced lossless compression uses Long GOP.  It samples only what info has changed from a 15 frame sampling, and redraws that, thus needing a smaller footprint, and less space taken up on the hard drive.  Coupled with Panasonic’s native 720p starting point vs. Sony’s 1080i starting point, you get half the image quality with the Panasonic WHILE taking up twice as much hard drive space.

Varicam

HDX900

F900

HPX500

P2 Card

PMW-EX1

PMW-EX3

PDW-F335L

PDW-F355L

PDW-700