Camcorder Review:
Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM Camcorder

John Burkhart
April 2008

The rarified realm of professional video cameras used to require an outlay of $60,000 and up, and this was minus a lens. Adding decent glass to that package got you to $80,000 or more easily. But you got what you paid for when it came to image quality. The challenge of the independent video producer was to always balance the quality of the image with the cost of the gear, and most often quality lost. Sony's Broadcast division has stepped up to try to meet that challenge: to make broadcast quality images, but to make them for less than $7,000. The result of that effort is the PMW-EX1.

The EX1 uses a fixed Fujinon 14x HD lens, and it has some interesting new features, not found on any other camcorder. First and foremost, the shooter will notice the focus ring. Most camcorders in this price range have a servo lens that rotates infinitely, which supports autofocus. While this is adequate for most work, the downside is that you never really know where your position is, and it can be confusing to manually change focus in the proper direction should the need arise. All professional cameras have a focus ring with hard stops and a distance readout that lets you know where the focal plane of the lens is directly, but they lack autofocus capability.

The EX1 splits the difference with its novel focus ring. In the forward position, the focus ring becomes a normal autofocus lens; however, sliding the ring backwards snaps it into full manual mode, with hard stops and absolute focus position marked in both feet and meters. You get the best of both worlds.

The EX1 also has a lens that allows you to control the zoom and iris manually. The zoom control is geared and marked in millimeters. You can select the zoom to be controlled manually by the ring or automatically by the camera's zoom controller. The iris is also available to use manually and is marked off in the familiar f-stops. The iris ring offers a smooth rotational range and doesn't snap from f-stop to f-stop, so you can dial in an exposure between say f8 and f5.6. The lens itself can keep its f-stop throughout the entire zoom range, not losing any light at the long end of the lens.

The stars of the EX1 are the three 1/2" Exmor CMOS sensors that handle the camera's imaging. A first for this form factor, 1/2" sensors give you higher resolution and a shallower depth of field than the 1/3" or 1/4" sensors normally found in this level of camera. Before CMOS, 1/2" CCD's were too hot and power-hungry to fit into a small form factor camcorder.

Sony claims a horizontal resolution of an astounding 1000 lines, and while our charts went only to 800, I have no reason to doubt that claim. This camera delivered astoundingly sharp and detailed images, which you can download at the end of this article.

The CMOS sensors give true progressive frames at a variety of frame rates and sizes that cover just about any project. Its 1920x1080 rates are 60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p. Its 1280x720 rates are 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p. This camera is HD only; there are no SD (NTSC/PAL) modes available, but, because down-conversion of HD generally gives you a better SD picture anyway, these shouldn't be missed.

The EX1 records all of its images in the long GOP MPEG-2 format. Unlike its HDV counterparts, the EX1 can record in full-frame 1920x1080, using a 35Mb VBR compression called HQ mode, which, appropriately enough, gives the images their highest quality. It also offers an SP mode that follows the HDV standard (1440x1080 using 25Mb CBR) for compatibility with an existing HDV workflow.

Also new is that this is the first camcorder to record to Sony and SanDisk's SxS memory card format. The camera comes with one 8GB card, while 16GB cards are also available. An 8GB card can hold approximately 25 minutes of HQ footage (35 minutes of SP), while a 16GB card doubles these numbers. There are two card slots on the camera, giving you a current maximum of two 16GB cards, which offer a recording time of 100 minutes of HQ (140 minutes SQ) video. Street prices on these SxS cards are approximately $500 for the 8GB model and $900 for the 16GB model. The SxS cards use the new ExpressCard standard interface, which is showing up on newer laptops. The EX1 also includes a USB2 port to get your footage out to a computer that may lack an ExpressCard slot.

The EX1 also allows incredible control of the image through picture profiles. These settings allow you to manipulate the color, gamma, knee and many other variables. You can store six different profiles on camera, each with a different look and feel. Already people are sharing their favorite profiles for this camcorder over the internet.

Because of the size and power draw of these new CMOS sensors, the EX1 uses a new battery format called the BP series. These new batteries use 14.4 volts instead of the 7.2 volts of the normal Sony NP series batteries, so you won't be able to use your old batteries with this camcorder.

The EX1 has a full complement of inputs and outputs. On the audio side, it has 2 phantom-powered XLR inputs and a headphone jack, while on the video side you have HD SDI, component and A/V. On the data side, you have both FireWire and USB 2.0 connectors.

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