Is the Sony HXR-NX5u worth purchasing?

[John Lenihan]

I have 4 of the NX5u and I use them for the purposes you describe.

I make a full time living at it and believe for this purpose they are the best.

Low light.
20 x zoom.
128 gig recording unit.

Their main problem is that the focus loves vertical lines. Which mean you have to look at your monitor closely when shooting a face with a brick wall behind it.

I expect within the next couple of years zony will come up with a new version with face detection or such. Howevever, until that time, I believe that they are the best for the itesm you indicated.

John Lenihan

John Lenihan

LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com

[Joseph Morgan]

It’s a really great piece of kit. I looked at several options before deciding. Glad I went with it.

Joseph

[Bryant Shunk]

Would you guys recommend buying directly from the Sony store online, or buying from a site such as B&H? At B&H it is a few hundred dollars cheaper, but if there are any problems with the camera would it be easier to deal with Sony if I have bought it from them?

[David Eaks]

I might as well copy/paste Johns post and use it as my own. Though I don’t own any FMU-128 units, just lots of 32GB UHD SDHC Cards.

I did have to send one NX5 in for repair after having it for about a year (one I bought used), it would turn on but was totally unresponsive. Its been fine ever since.

Buying from B&H is an excellent choice. Top notch customer service and return policy, just in case your not happy.

I’ve been eyeballing the Sony NEX-EA50 but it would probably put you over budget, I have a colleague who should have taken delivery of one about a week ago. Looking forward to checking it out in person and dropping some clips on a timeline.

[Michael Johnston]

Just FYI, the new PMW-160 is the upgraded NX5. The NX5 was a Sony experiment using AVCHD. The 160 is the NX5 except its 50Mbs XDCAM EX instead of AVCHD. For $600 more, the PMW-200 is a better camera with its 1/2″ chips. It is the replacement/upgraded EX1.

I have an NX5U and edit on Adobe CS6 and I LOVE the camera. I have the FMU128 hard drive too and its a must have accessory. No real complaints except there is a small focus issue. Essentially you zoom in, critical focus, zoom out, then slightly turn the focus ring to the right to get a crisp focus. It’s a slight defect with the chips, not the back focus.

[John Lenihan]

Michael,
Thanks,
How do you know these things?

John

John Lenihan

LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com

[Michael Johnston]

John,

I work in local news and run a production company. It’s important to me to stay up-to-date on the latest technology in the industry to stay ahead of the competition. I also get my hands on the new cameras frequently to at least do a half day test. I also have friends who are industry insiders that fill me in on things from time to time.

[Michael Johnston]

Also, in reference to the NX5 focus issue, the Panasonic HPX370 has the same issue. Again, its the chips not the back focus. In very low light, set up the 370 with shutter off, filter wheel at 1, db gain at +6, and iris set to 2.8, then focus the shot. Now open the iris all the way open and you’ll notice the focus getting blurred and soft. It’s a problem with light reaching the chips, not the glass. This is why camera prices jump significantly as the chip size in the camera gets bigger. Anything less than 1/2″ will not perform well in low light and needs an experienced shooter with the ability to recognize the flaws and how to work around them in order to get a good shot. NX5 is no different. Many of these cheaper cameras are marketed to wedding and event videographers BUT evey wedding reception I’ve shot has been very low light and these cheap cameras produce a horrible image in those situations. That’s why I went from a Sony HVR-HD1000U to the NX5 for weddings. The NX5 still has its issues but I can work around them to get a great picture. Not possible with the HD1000. I also have a HPX370 and hope to have a PMW-200 soon.

[John Lenihan]

Thanks Michael,

When I look at the PMW-200, however, it doesn’t look like a next generation NX5U. True, it has a 20x zoom, but it records in xdcam on sd cards, instead of the more compact avchd.

John Lenihan

LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com

[Michael Johnston]

John,

You’re right, the 200 isn’t AVCHD. It was Sony’s first attempt at using AVCHD as a professional codec. Since then Sony has begun to essentially scrap AVCHD because of its lack of functionality in post-production. What Sony basically did was upgrade the EX1 to the PMW-200 then strip the 200 of 1/2″ chips and put in 1/3″ chips and replaced the EX1 glass with the NX5 lens and called it the PMW-160 which is the NX5 upgrade. I’m betting you don’t see another pro AVCHD cam from Sony unless its a single 1/3″ chip camera to compete with say the Canon XA-10. Expect future upgrades to cameras like the FS700 to also scrap AVCHD for XDCAM.

Remember, Sony’s Z5U was a hugely popular camera but it was HDV. When all these cams started going tapeless, Sony needed a quick card based cheap camera. The solution was turn the Z5U into a tapeless camera, which became the NX5U. AVCHD was the easiest solution at the time because Sony didn’t want to use the EX1/3’s XDCAM EX format at that time because the EX1 & EX3 was the only cameras of its kind on the market at the time and Sony didn’t want to give consumers a cheaper option with the proprietary codec. Since then we’ve seen vast improvements in codec development and functionality of SD cards to a point SD cards can handle the pro codecs now. That wasn’t the case when the NX5 was released.

In the end, the NX5 was a one of a kind and the NXCAM line is slowly dying away. It’s still a great camera but seeing is how the price of a new one just dropped neary $900 to $3100, I expect the camera to be discontinued within two years if not sooner.