Sony presenta al nuevo miembro de la familia XDCAM HD 4:2:2, la PMW-200. Una cámara con tres sensores Exmor CMOS de 1/2 pulgada que ofrece la grabación en formato 4:2:2 XDCAM a 50 Mbps.
Esta nueva cámara está dirigida al mundo de producción de vídeo para noticias, educación y corporativo en el cual la EX-1 se ha convertido en un estándard.
La PMW-200 a diferencia de otras cámaras que graban a 50Mbps disponibles en el mercado que usan sensores de 1/3 cuenta con 3 sensores CMOS Exmor de 1/2 pulgada lo cual le permite lograr un alto nivel de detalle inclusive en situaciones donde la iluminación no es la óptima.
Esta cámara ofrece distintos modos de grabación como MXF tanto a 50 como 35 Mbps, MP4 a 35 y 25Mbps y DVCAM.
Incluye un lente con autoenfoque y estabilizador de imagen con un zoom de 14x con arillos independientes para zoom, iris y enfoque, además de la función de grabación de 15 segundos en caché, genlock, timecode entre otros y graba en tarjetas SxS así como en Memory Stick, SD y XQD mediante el uso de adaptadores no incluídos.
Esta cámara estará disponible en el mercado con un precio de $7,790 dólares a partir del mes de septiembre.
The PMW-200 is the first handheld camera in its class to be equipped with three large, newly developed 1/2-inch Exmor CMOS sensors, which provide excellent sensitivity and depth of field characteristics. Each of the sensors has an effective pixel count of two million pixels and achieves Full HD 1920 x 1080 shooting without pixel interpolation. By placing multiple A/D converters in parallel, it has also been possible to reduce the speed of the operating clock and lower power consumption.
The 14x Fujinon high quality lens has auto focus and image stabilising functions, with an exceptionally flexible control system, which gives the operator the ability to operate the focus manually. The independent control of each ring of the lens – focus, zoom and iris – makes for better and faster adjustment. It also makes the system more accurate when setting because of the ‘stop’ function of each of the rings.
Optical SteadyShot is activated by the electric lens shift mechanism. The camcorder’s 3.5-type LCD panel also helps the precise manual focus operation. The central part of the shooting frame (854 x480) can be magnified on the LCD panel and the viewfinder. The function is automatically cancelled five seconds after the focus ring is no longer in use. You can also select the peaking level in the menu and also choose the colour for the peaking signal on the LCD and viewfinder.
As well as shooting at HD 422 50 Mbps, the camcorder also supports MPEG HD 420 in MP4 file format, which is compatible with XDCAM EX camcorders and DVCAM at 25 Mbps.The file format is also selectable between MP4 (FAT) or MXF (UDF) in HD and AVI (FAT) or MXF (UDF) in SD.
* Available with firmware upgrade planned for release in November 2012.
There are two SxS Memory Card slots, which allows for around four hours of continuous recording, with two hours of HD 422 50 Mbps recorded on each 64GB SxS Memory Card. Content can be copied between the two slots. The PMW-200 can use either SxS Pro or SxS-1 cards. It will also accept consumer recording media, including memory stick, SD card and XDQ card with an appropriate adaptor for emergency use.
The camcorder has a genlock In and timecode In /Out interface so that it can link together with other cameras. The function makes the camcorder a cost effective alternative for use in multi camera event shoots.
By loading a pre-recorded Planning Metadata file (XML file) to the PMW-200, either from an SxS memory card or a USB memory, the metadata is automatically generated and recorded as described in the XML file while recording. Also the filename of a clip is automatically set as described in the XML file.
As well as the standard electric shutter speed settings, the PMW-200 has an angle shutter setting, popular when shooting with a film camera. This is particularly useful when combining with Slow and Quick motion. By using the angle shutter, the ratio between exposure term and a frame term is always consistent, whatever frame number per second is selected in Slow and Quick motion, which means that the ‘intermittent effect’ is consistent, even in Slow and Quick motion, in the same way as shooting with a film camera.
The slow shutter puts the operator at an advantage when shooting in low light. It allows the charge accumulation period of the imager to extend longer than a frame (field) term and the minimum illumination is drastically improved. The function is also useful for capturing a moving object with a special effect or afterimage, such as people’s movement at a crossroad.
The PMW-200 has an SDI interface so that it can connect with professional equipment including a monitor, recorder and switcher. It’s also possible to down-convert from HD to SD. There is also an HDMI interface making it possible to link to consumer products, such as a suitable HDTV or projector.
The PMW-200 is equipped with an integrated stereo microphone in front of the camera handle. There are also two XLR connectors, which connect to a wide range of professional microphone products. 24-bit 48 kHz audio can be recorded in HD 422 50 Mbps, with up to four channels of audio recorded, using two internal mics and two external mics.
The PMW-200’s viewfinder and LCD can display the aspect area information, which will show the safety area of a frame. When an Aspect Marker is selected, the white rectangle to show the aspect area is displayed and when an Aspect Mask is selected, the outside of the aspect area is displayed with reduced brightness.
There are five assign buttons on the PMW-200 to allow the operator to choose a range of functions to automatically assign. The PMW-200 also has a menu function that is the same as the PMW-100 and consists of camera set, audio set, video set, LCD/VF set, TC/UB set and others. The output signal from the PMW-200 can also be selected depending on the menu setting.