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Filed under: Cameras •Hardware •

Review: Sony PMW-EX3 Removable-lens 1/2” 3-CMOS HD Camcorder

Design and Handling

The EX3 is a big, heavy camcorder for a handheld. It’s about eight pounds with battery and SxS cards loaded, and with shoulder pad and EVF in their unextended positions the camera is nearly 17 inches long, 9 inches wide, and 8.5 inches tall.

The EVF’s bulk makes the camera side-heavy. It’s stable on a hard surface, but set the EX3 down upright on a car seat or other soft surface and it’ll gently topple over to the left.

Lens

The Fujinon 14x 5.8-81.2mm zoom is fronted with a bayonet-mount lens hood with flip-open shutters, so there’s no lens cap to lose. Filters attach using 77mm threads.

The EX3’s 14x Fujinon lens.

The rubberized focus ring can be used for full manual control, or servo focusing. Pushed backwards (“Full MF”), it engages a calibrated focusing scale with hard stops, allowing positional repeatability like a fully manual lens. Pushed forwards (“AF/MF”), it works like any other servo lens, allowing manual and automatic focusing, albeit without hard stops in manual mode.

Macro focusing works in the pushed-forward, AF/MF mode only. Normal near-focus limit is just over 2.5 feet from the front of the lens; in macro mode, that minimum distance decreases to about an inch from the lens at full wide angle.

The focusing scale is recessed behind a window, which make it hard to see from the normal operating position behind the EVF.

A fully mechanical zoom ring takes 90 degrees to traverse the zoom range. It’s well-damped and has an excellent feel. Sliding a switch under the lens engages the lens’s zoom motor, with a conventional variable-speed rocker. Slow power zooms take 30 seconds or longer; fast ones are over in two seconds.

Aft of the zoom ring, three slide switches toggle the iris control between auto and manual, enable macro focusing (in AF/MF mode only), and switch AF/MF focusing between automatic and manual. A pushbutton above toggles Steadyshot (which works as well as any Sony optical Steadyshot does: very well), while one below is the PUSH AF momentary autofocus button.

A proper, calibrated iris ring sits aft of the switch bank. It gives you full, stepless control over lens aperture.

The lens then travels straight back into the EX mount. The breech lock ring for the EX mount is roughly the same diameter as the zoom ring, and has a similar, stubby lever on it, in roughly the same angular position as the zoom lever with the lens at mid-telephoto.

On a couple of occasions I found myself trying to zoom with the breech lock; this isn’t recommended if you like keeping the lens attached to the camera. Fortunately the breech lock requires quite a bit more torque than the zoom ring does, so I always caught myself before re-enacting the famous Apollo IV footage of the Saturn V first stage separation! Still, this is something to be aware of; don’t just blindly grope for the zoom lever and give it an enthusiastic twist.

The lens grip is attached to the right side of the lens and can be rotated forward through more than 90 degrees, from flat and level to slightly past vertical, the latter position being useful for low-mode shooting. The grip is smoothly rounded and does not afford much in the way of lateral rotational resistance, so it doesn’t provide much kinesthetic feedback about the camera’s tilt, nor much purchase to prevent same. On the back it has a start/stop pushbutton in a sealed rubber cover; on the top, behind the zoom rocker, it has pushbuttons for Expanded Focus (which magnifies the EVF image 2x for easier focusing) and Rec Review.

Note that it’s easy to push Rec Review instead of Expanded Focus (when the camera is stopped, that is; Sony sensibly disables Rec Review when you’re recording), and if you have Rec Review set to play back the entire previous clip, you may wind up sitting there for a long time while the previous clip plays back (I found this out the hard way on the EX1; playing back the entire clip seemed like a good idea at the time…). You can also set playback to the most recent 3 or 10 seconds, both of which are less troublesome if invoked accidentally.

Camera

The front of the camera’s baseplate has recessed buttons for white balance and Assign 4 (user-definable) and a slide switch to turn the shutter on or off. They are flush-mounted and tend to be hard to find by feel.

Front buttons, and the zoom motor slide switch.

On the left side of the base, similar pushbuttons bring up status displays, the main menus, and the picture profiles; these are easier to find, perhaps because you can see them from the corner of your eye while operating the camera. There’s also a thumbwheel for navigating menus and setting parameters; it pushes in to confirm a setting or dive deeper into a menu. The Cancel button beside it backs out of a choice or a submenu.

Having these related controls all in a row, instead of being spread across the side and back of the EX1, makes it a lot faster to set up the EX3.

The left side of the EX3 in full-auto mode with S&Q Motion enabled.

A three-position slide switch chooses between camera, power-off, and media playback modes. The switch is just as finicky as the one on the EX1, and it’s far too easy to overshoot the power-off position by accident. Normally, it takes the camera five seconds to illuminate the EVF when you turn it on, but changing between camera and media modes causes the EVF to go dark for nine seconds. During these nine seconds, you’re easily fooled into thinking you’ve powered the camera off as you’ve intended, when really you’ve simply changed operating modes. Walk away for a nice dinner and you’ll come back to a dead battery.

The side of the camera has three assignable buttons, with sensible default settings, a two-position ND filter (3 and 6 stops of ND), three-position chromed toggles for gain and white balance, a pushbutton for colorbars, an illuminated full-auto pushbutton, and the Frame dial.

The Frame dial selects frame rate in S&Q Motion (Slow & Quick Motion, a.k.a. variable-frame-rate recording: overcranking and undercranking). Push it in for a second, and a blue ring around it lights up to indicate that S&Q Motion is enabled. You can then dial in the frame rate you want, anything from 1-30fps in 1080p or 1-60fps in 720p (changing frame rate cannot be done while the camera is recording, only when it’s stopped). Push and hold the dial again to turn the lamp off and return to normal, realtime recording.

Atop the body reside buttons to control Shot Transition: basically a two-position shotbox with presets for zoom, focus, exposure, and other parameters. You can set up two presets for immediate recall, or program a timed transition between them. It’s a bit fiddly to set up, but gives you smoothly-repeatable control that’s very handy at times.

There’s also a button to toggle the EVF’s counter display between timecode, user bits, and a simple duration counter.

SxS door and audio guard opened.

The storage section of the camera sweeps up, giving the camera its chainsaw appearance. Two SxS memory cards load behind a flimsy flip-open door (the third part of this camera I worry about breaking; the EX1 has such an elegant sliding door that it was a shock to see the floppy, double-hinged door on the EX3). A small notch above card slot #2 allows passage of the optional PHU-60K hard disk’s cable: it connects directly into an SxS slot and looks like a 60 GB SxS card as far as the camera is concerned (P2 users will be reminded of the similar, much-lamented CinePorter, which never came to market).  A slot select button lets you toggle the active SxS card.

Two audio level controls reside behind a flip-open plastic guard, and channel-specific switches let you choose between the internal two-channel microphone and the dual XLRs, and between auto and manual level control.

Rear Panel

The rear of the camera has BNCs for HD-SDI out, timecode in and out, and genlock in. There’s a four-pin i.Link (FireWire) port for HDV-compatible 1394 data (SQ recording modes only). There’s also a connector for hooking up the RM-B150 or RM-B750 Remote Control Units: studio-style paintboxes allowing remote control of menus, exposure, and the like. All connectors have individual, tethered rubber caps.

The EX3 as seen from behind.

The HD-SDI output is a full, 10-bit signal with embedded audio and timecode. The genlock input accepts either SD or HD reference signals.

The supplied BP-U30 battery fits flush within its compartment, and lasts for about two hours. If you opt for a BP-U60 battery instead, it’ll stick out, but will run the camera for four hours. Remaining battery time is shown in the EVF.

Testing the battery’s charge while it’s installed in the EX3. You can also check its runtime using the camera’s “Batt Info” button.

Right Side

The right side of the camera has a 1/8” stereo headphone jack at the base of the top handle, a DC IN connector for the AC Adapter / battery charger (which won’t charge the battery while it’s on the camera), a BNC for composite video, a 4-pin Y/C connector for S-Video (hooray!), RCAs for audio output, a mini-D-shell component video port, and a mini-B USB port. All these port are far enough back that they don’t interfere with your hand or wrist when handholding the camera.

Right-side connectors on the EX3.

Etc.

The EX3’s top handle is very similar to the EX1’s, save for the EVF mount: a stereo mic pair sits at the front, topped with a passive shoe mount and followed with a small panel of playback and menu-navigation controls, including a four-way joystick that serves as an alternative to the side-mounted thumbwheel (the joystick is quicker to navigate with most of the time, while the thumbwheel is handy for traversing the +/-100 value ranges of many setup parameters). A top-mounted start/stop trigger with locking lever, a simple forward/off/reverse zoom rocker with programmable (but not variable) speeds, and a second accessory shoe at the back finish off the top controls.

Dual XLRs hang off the right side of the top handle, with slide switches for line/mic level selection and +48v phantom power.

The camera comes with a small IR remote control, one BP-U30 battery, battery charger / AC adaptor, shoulder strap, component video cable, USB cable, cheek pad, and 1/2” lens mount adapter.

Next: Menus, Settings, Performance, Features, Conclusion, & Links

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Adam,
You can e-mail me your response to my question if you don’t want to post it on line. Ray Paunovich
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Thanks.

Posted by Ray Paunovich  on  10/01  at  07:52 PM

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Alrighty, Good review Adam!

I just worked as a camera operator on a reality show, they call it unscripted. I also have a EX1 so I am familiar with that camera as well. I worked 2 long days in demanding conditions and here are my impressionsm in no particular order.

1.  Changing the camera to manual focus was a chore a few times. The camera would refuse to go into manual and the only remidy was to shut down and restart.

2.  The EVF is awesome, so much better than the EX1!

3.  The media door is really cheesy, flimsy compared to the EX1. I had to be careful not to break it. When your in a big hurry to change media that’s just one more thing to slow you down.

4.  The guy we had working as the media specialist, loader in the film world, hated the latest version of the media browser just too many windows to get through. He much prefered the version prior to v2.7.

5.  The TC worked just like the other CineAlta Cameras where you just plug in the TC out from another camera and it just locked to the input without any hoopla. At one point we had two cameras tied to each other for time a code lock.

6.  We used the CineGama Cine4 and it handled a wide variety of conditions really well. At points w had full sun to HMI augmented daylight , only to bring it up in color and not nearly enough for a decent ballance.

7.  At some points in the shoot the EVF was unusable due to fogging. The VF has no vents so it fogs badly when hot and humid. At some points in the day the nice sharp image was just blobs of color. some sort of venting would be nice.

8.  The VF focus was pretty lame, I wear glasses but not when I work so I really need decent diopter adjustment so I can focus on the screen. My persription is low +.75 so it should handle it no problem.

9.  Hand holding the camera for 10 -12 hours was grueling. I hate the XL-1 form factor and hate this one even more. I preffer a heavier camera that has decent ballance like the F900 or just about any Beta SP camera. I had some ideas for building a hand held rig I may try to build.

Other than that how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?

Overall it’s a great camera for the pricepoint.

Cheers
Robert C. Fisher

Posted by RC Fisher  on  10/02  at  12:14 PM

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Ray: Sony tells me the remote port’s protocol is highly proprietary even within Sony; it ties into the camera’s internal bus and thus it’s a very risky thing to play with. In short, it’s not really suitable for third-party start/stop controls, and Sony isn’t willing to open it up.

However, the start/stop trigger on any broadcast lens will run the camera. The 2/3” mount adapter includes a separate lens data connector, which could be tapped into to supply the trigger command (no, I don’t have the specs on that port; Canon or Fujinon would be the ones to talk to), and the 1/2” broadcast lenses typically have their own remote ports (as do 2/3” lenses) for which off-the-shelf remotes exist.

Now, you say you’re using Nikon telephotos, so unless they’re some of the rare Nikon broadcast zooms, you’re without an EX3-friendly trigger. How are you mounting those zooms: in the 2/3” adapter, using a Nikon-to-B4 adapter? Then look into the separate lens data port on the 2/3” adapter, and see if someone has a remote control that works with it.

Otherwise, get comfortable using the trigger on the top handle, or get an RM-B150; it’s “only” $2000!

Robert: thanks for the field report!

I’m still using XDCAM Transfer 2.51, and it worked fine with EX3 footage/byteage/clippage/whateverWeCallItTheseDays; you can get it (and other versions as you see fit) at https://servicesplus.us.sony.biz/sony-software-model-PDZKP1.aspx

I basically put our EX1 on Cinegamma 4 and never looked back. Now, when I move to a camera with standard Rec.709 gamma, it annoys me: I miss Cinegamma 4’s highlight handling.

As to the EVF focus, I also wear glasses, but found the exit pupil of the EVF lens was so large I never felt the need to remove my glasses to get close enough to see everything. Give it a try next time (yeah, I know, doesn’t answer your gripe, but at least it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Isn’t it?).

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  10/03  at  08:25 PM

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Well I’m nearsighted so wearing my glasses would be worse. OK where’s the stick.

Cheers
Robert C. Fisher

Posted by RC Fisher  on  10/03  at  10:01 PM

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