Sony PMW-EX1 vs Panasonic HVX-200 Shootout footage online

[Tom Matthies]

Great timing since I have a demo of the Sony camera scheduled for next week.
Thanks!
Tom

[Paul Escandon]

Man, the sharpness and the resolution of the EX-1 is very impressive on all the screen shots I’ve seen so far. Good job doing this comparison.

* * *
Paul Escandon
Producer | Director | Editor
Apple Certified Trainer – Final Cut Pro
Oremus Productions
http://www.oremusproductions.com
– –
Adjunct Professor of Media
John Paul the Great Catholic University

[Mark Raudonis]

Matt,

Great comparison. We were going to do this on Monday, but you just saved me hours of work!

Thanks for posting for all to see.

By the way, you mention that you’ve formed an opinion… care to share?

It seems to me that with a little color correction, the quality of the images are very close. Which makes me place a higher consideration on things like the camera ergonomics, post workflow, storage, etc. Your thoughts on that would be appreciated.

Mark

[Tom Matthies]

Well, in a short and very unscientific look at the stills (while taking a short lunch break from editing and wolfing down a noodle bowl) it would seem that the Sony has the edge in resolution both horizontally and vertically. I can still see details in the wedge charts on the Sony after the Panny tops out. Noise levels at high gain seem to go to the Sony as well. Just viewing the stills at +12db shows a fair amount of noise on the Panny and lesser amounts on the Sony. I don’t have the specs. for the Panny in front of me, but the Sony looks to be a bit more sensitive at zero gain as well.
The Sony does, however, show the typical “clinical” look for colorimetery…a bit on the neutral/blue side for my tastes. The Panny has a definite warmer overall look. Maybe a bit too much for me, actually. I still shoot every now and then with my old Panasonic WV-565 Betacam SP and it has a very similar look. Very Ikegami-like. Sony’s factory settings always looked a little cold to me. I have setup all of my Sony cameras to give them a little warmer look, mostly by changing the mid gamma settings a bit and tinkering with the detail thresholds/amounts to achieve a little warmer & friendlier look.
All in all, the Sony looks pretty good and I look forward to putting it through the paces soon while demoing the camera. We will be facing it off directly with an HVX-200 as well. I’ll try to see if I can get similar results to your tests.
Thanks again and good timing.
Tom

[Matt Devino]

Overall I think the EX1 wins. Definitely more light sensitive, looks about 3 stops more sensitive, definitely sharper and picks up more minute details (check out the little gold reindeer on the site), vertical resolution is better, it seems to have a lot less noise – especially when using gain, and I loved the lens on it being fully manual – it felt more like using a film camera. I also like the fact that the codec is actually 1920×1080 instead of 1280×1080, although it is a bit more of a pain to import into Final Cut, and it sucks you can’t use a PPC Mac at all for the sony viewer software.

I think the HVX probably has slightly better color reproduction (although our white balance seems to be off on the HVX in the tests we did). It may have a more “filmic” look, being softer and more saturated, but that’s up for debate. I’m not hating on the HVX either, it’s been my go to camera for a while and I love it.

Either way I think both cameras are great, and both will be used for a long time. But if I were to purchase today I would pick the Sony.

[Matt Devino]

Overall I think the EX1 wins. Definitely more light sensitive, looks about 3 stops more sensitive, definitely sharper and picks up more minute details (check out the little gold reindeer on the site), vertical resolution is better, it seems to have a lot less noise – especially when using gain, and I loved the lens on it being fully manual – it felt more like using a film camera. I also like the fact that the codec is actually 1920×1080 instead of 1280×1080, although it is a bit more of a pain to import into Final Cut, and it sucks you can’t use a PPC Mac at all for the sony viewer software.

I think the HVX probably has slightly better color reproduction (although our white balance seems to be off on the HVX in the tests we did). It may have a more “filmic” look, being softer and more saturated, but that’s up for debate. I’m not hating on the HVX either, it’s been my go to camera for a while and I love it.

Either way I think both cameras are great, and both will be used for a long time. But if I were to purchase today I would pick the Sony.

[Matt Devino]

Overall I think the EX1 wins. Definitely more light sensitive, looks about 3 stops more sensitive, definitely sharper and picks up more minute details (check out the little gold reindeer on the site), vertical resolution is better, it seems to have a lot less noise – especially when using gain, and I loved the lens on it being fully manual – it felt more like using a film camera. I also like the fact that the codec is actually 1920×1080 instead of 1280×1080, although it is a bit more of a pain to import into Final Cut, and it sucks you can’t use a PPC Mac at all for the sony viewer software.

I think the HVX probably has slightly better color reproduction (although our white balance seems to be off on the HVX in the tests we did). It may have a more “filmic” look, being softer and more saturated, but that’s up for debate. I’m not hating on the HVX either, it’s been my go to camera for a while and I love it.

Either way I think both cameras are great, and both will be used for a long time. But if I were to purchase today I would pick the Sony.

[Matt Devino]

Whoa, didn’t mean to post that 3 times…

[Steve Connor]

On your test the colour is nicer on the Panny, but you can soon make the EX look as good by grading in post.

[Rennie Klymyk]

Thanks for posting. It does look like the resolution chart is off axis a bit. The Panny has the top right in focus while the Sony has top and maybe bottom left in focus. If the chart was set up with a linear mirror on axis all 4 corners should come into focus together.

“everything is broken” ……1st. coined by Esther Philips I believe.