I was lucky enough to get to play with a couple of XDCAM EX cameras while shooting some demo footage for IBC. The cameras were pre-production cameras so some minor details may change and a few things are almost certainly going to be improved.

I am a big believer that if something looks and feels right, then it often is “right”. When I first picked up the EX and turned it on, it looked and felt “right”.

Yes, it is quite heavy, certainly a little heavier than my Sony Z1 HDV camcorder, but it is very solidly built and well balanced. It feels like it’s built to take the knocks and bumps of TV production. Much of the weight seems to come from the large lens assembly that dominates the whole camera, but it’s this cameras optics that make it “right”, more about that in a bit. The rest of the weight comes from the large 14.4v BP-U60 battery that slots into the rear of the camera. Without the battery the camera is very front heavy.

The EX uses 3 newly designed CMOS sensors offering full 1920 x 1080 image capture in either progressive or interlace modes. Instead of recording on to tape or disks this little gem of a camcorder records on solid state memory cards in much the same way as a digital stills camera. The cards are called SxS cards and they also fit the new ExpressCard slot found on most new laptops. Cheap USB adapters are also available.

Getting started

Anyone that has used a recent Sony Palmcorder will be quite at home with the way the menus and buttons work, so without reference to the manual I was able to pick up the EX and start shooting straight away. There is a large LCD viewfinder that flips out from under the handle, this appeared to be very sharp with very nice neutral colour reproduction. Most of the cameras settings are displayed on the LCD along with a whole host of optional displays that assist with focus and exposure.

One feature I have not seen before was a little joystick on the camera handle that allows you to highlight the different settings displayed on the LCD and adjust them without having to go into the menus, very neat and intuitive.

The shoot was in 2 parts. The first day was spent travelling around the Dorset countryside filming various tourist locations, the second day we took the 2 XDCAM EX camcorders and a full size F350 XDCAM HD camcorder to the Royal Academy of Music to film a classical concert.

So on to the shoot. First turn the camera on. The power and mode switch is now on the back of the camera instead of the traditional Sony rotating power switch combined with the record button. Personally I like the rotating power/mode switch, I’m not sure why this camera is different.

Our first port of call was the Swanage Steam Railway. It was a sunny day with some scattered clouds in the sky. My first shot was a pan down from a backlit castle ruin to the train arriving at the station. As the large black steam train chuffed into the station I was amazed by the way I could expose the shot, maintaining detail in the clouds in the bright sky without the black steam engine that dominated the shot looking under exposed. Contrast and highlight handling looks remarkably good.

There are a number of memories called “Picture Profiles” that allow you to set up and store different camera settings, allowing you to create custom looks for your images. There are 4 gamma curves to choose from, much like my full size XDCAM HD camcorder, for this shoot we used cine gamma 4 which gives a more punchy, high contrast look than the standard gamma curve.