ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Adam Wilt | Founder | Pro Cameras, HDV Camera, HD Camera, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, RED, Video Camera Reviews

The EX3’s menus and settings are identical to the EX1’s menus and settings with only a few exceptions:

Performance

I was initially surprised to find that the EX3 processed images differently from the EX1 despite the same settings: gammas, clip points, and color rendition were all quite different. After some puzzlement, I tried resetting the EX3, whereupon it started behaving exactly like the EX1 in every comparable respect.

That initial discrepancy highlights the software-driven nature of the EX cameras. It’s not uncommon for our production-model EX1 to respond to a perfectly innocuous switch flip, say, to change gain, with no response other than a message in the display: “Cannot Proceed”. Likewise, the loaner EX3 became cranky on several occasions; it decided to be Bartleby, the Scrivener instead of performing perfectly reasonable operations. [1] (Sony tells me that my loaner was a pre-production unit, so release cameras may be less cranky; still, it’s never a bad idea to back up your presets.)

On some occasions, simply shutting the camera off and restarting it clears its recalcitrance; other times, one has to use Menus > Others > All Reset to regain the camera’s co-operation. In those cases, all parameters, including the picture presets, are reset to factory settings, so it’s wise to make sure you’ve saved your settings onto one or more SxS cards.

I didn’t notice any back-focus issues with the EX3, nor did I see any vignetting from Steady Shot during violent camera moves, but aside from that the lens performed the same as the one on the EX1.

I mentioned in the EX1 review that I wasn’t happy with some of the highlight handling on the EX1 when standard gammas are used. The EX3 behaves the same way, and I’ve isolated the problem: the standard-gamma knees work properly for uncolored highlights, but when a highlight has a strong chroma component, the knee shuts off prematurely, allowing colored highlights to suddenly blow out.

EX1 step-wedge images and their waveforms, photographed on a Panasonic BT-LH1700W monitor using the built-in WFM. Above: white highlights. Below: colored highlights. The EX3 behaves the same way.

The degree of this blowout depends on the saturation of the highlight, and it only happens in standard gammas. I have been able to reduce it somewhat by changing the knee point and slope parameters, but I haven’t been able to eliminate it (Sony’s Juan Martinez suggests lowering the gamma setting. On our EX1 with 1.03 firmware, this has no effect on color highlight blowout; it may on an EX3 or an EX1 with newer firmware, but I had already returned the EX3, so I can’t validate this).

Special Features

I’ve already covered genlock, 23.98 PsF output, the Frame dial, the EVF, and the removable lens. Everything else on the EX3 tracks the EX1’s special features.

Conclusion

The EX1 set a new standard in low-cost cameras for raw resolution, latitude, and frame-rate flexibility (it also set a new standard for awkward handholding—but then, we must suffer for our art).

The EX3 reworks the EX1 into the chainsaw form factor, with an interchangeable lens, a best-of-breed EVF, and numerous ergonomic improvements that make operation faster and more fumble-free. While it’s still too much of a handful to handhold for long periods, the design helps stabilize the camera, allowing steadier shots.

The EX1 is 20% cheaper, 30% lighter, and easier to pack in a carry-on bag. If you’re happy with a fixed lens (and a mighty good one at that) and with the EX1’s sterling LCD and so-so EVF, and you can use some form of camera support to carry the camera’s weight, it’ll do everything you need as well as an EX3 will.

But if you want the flexibility of removable lenses, the joy of the best EVF in its class, an improved control layout, and/or need to handhold steadily without any additional support, the EX3 is worth the extra cash. It raises the bar once again.

Pros

Cons

Cautions

Links

Sony’s EX System Brochure covering the EX1, EX3 and EX30 desktop recorder/player.

[1] For those unfamiliar with the story, Bartleby is a mild-mannered fellow who, at arbitrary times, responds to any request with a quiet and unassailable, “I would prefer not to.”

Canon U.S.A. Packs A Punch With A Powerful New Camcorder Line-Up For 2009

Ty Lowell | 01/06- 11:11 AM

New Camcorders Offer Advanced Technology for Higher Image Quality and Easy Operation Across a Variety of Recording Formats

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., January 5, 2009 – Canon U.S.A., Inc, a leader in digital imaging technology, announces an exciting new line of five VIXIA high definition and six standard definition camcorders, which are available in a variety of different recording formats, including Flash Memory. The camcorders retain Canon’s core imaging…