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pmw 350 with nano flash or PDWs
The other night i got to thinking about a the nano flash article i read on here a few weeks back and i had a question as it relates to PDW cameras and sony’s new pmw 350.
My question is; would getting the new pmw 350 and attaching the nano flash recorder set to 50mb/s xdcam hd at that point make it a pretty comparable camera to the PDW series cameras. as far as i can tell all of the specs of the two would be similar if not the same. i have no intention of starting a which camera is better contest. but with a potential price difference of over 20 grand i thought i would get some of your experience to weigh in on this .
any and all insight would be greatly appreciated.
Mike Jeffs
Video Coordinator
BYU-Idaho -
6 Replies
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I think it was Steve Conner (one of the COW’S forum leaders) that tested a pre-production PMW-350K with a Nano Flash and described the picture as superb. His UK web site seems to be unavailable at the moment but he did have a short video online about that test. I think he was shooting aircraft that day.
Some things to consider between the EX line and the XDCAM HD line are the differences between CCD and CMOS imaging, XDCAM HD using the former and XDCAM EX using the latter. CMOS has picture skew under certain conditions but is better in low light and uses less power. CCD has vertical smear but no picture skew or rolling shutter like CMOS.
There’s always a trade-off. You buy what suits your subject matter and your budget.
– Don
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I think i Remember seeing that footage when the 350 was first announced. you are right about the difference between CCD and CMOS but when you know the limitation of each and know how to work around them then things get a bit easier.
“There’s always a trade-off. You buy what suits your subject matter and your budget.”
the problem with this is i work at a university and we have been slammed by the whole budget crunch silliness, so i’m asked to slash what i can. i’m just really hoping that the trade off with this option are very minimal 🙂
Mike Jeffs
Video Coordinator
BYU-Idaho -
I finally blundered into that PMW-350K test. It wasn’t Steve Conner but was actually done by Alister Chapman. Here’s the article about using the camera with the Nano Flash.
https://www.xdcam-user.com/?page_id=273
– Don
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As the owner of a PDW-700 and having used a PMW-350 with a NanoFlash I would say that in most cases it would be all but impossible to tell from the pictures which is which. The 350 is quieter but in terms of resolution and latitude they are very similar. As has been said you do have to consider whether skew of flash banding is going to be a big issue for you. In 2 years of shooting with EX’s I have not found skew to be an issue.
What you do need to consider is that the workflows are very different. The PDW’s use a disc which you can just stick on the shelf and forget about, while the NanoFlash or SxS will require data management as you backup your material so you can re-use your media. Also with the PDW’s you get proxy files which are great for giving to clients for preview or for sending via ftp for offline edits.
In favor of the PMW-350 is that you do get an excellent package. Lightweight, low power, colour viewfinder and solid state reliability.
Having used SxS and solid state for 2 years I have really come to like the fast workflow and the media cost savings, but it’s not for everyone, some people still need to be able to pull the footage out of the camera and hand the physical media to the client. If your a self shooting producer with control over your media then the 350 would be an excellent choice. For a traditional freelancer handing over rushes at the end of the shoot the PDW-700 may be the better option.
Alister Chapman
http://www.xdcam-user.com -
Thanks so much for you input. this helps immensely
Mike Jeffs
Video Coordinator
BYU-Idaho -
Mike, we love this PMW350 Cam – check out a few beauty shots I put up to Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leHYe1LN7aA
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