Sony announced the development of the NXCAM HD camcorder with E mount back in November of 2010. This camera is now "almost" official - the final name is Sony NEX FS-100 and it will have the same sensor as the Sony PMW-F3 camera. The kit will include an E-mount 18-200mm f/3.5–6.3 AF lens. The price will be around 4500USD.
Main specs:
- Exmor™ Super 35mm CMOS image sensor
- E lens mount (and most other popular mounts via adaptor)
- Full HD 1920×1080 AVCHD HD recording / MPEG2-SD recording
- Over- and under-speed recording
- XLR audio inputs (XLR x2)
- Detachable 3.5″ colour viewfinder
- On-board Memory Stick, SD memory card and optional HXR-FMU128 flash memory media
- Uncompressed HDMI output with time code for external 4:2:2 recorders
- NEX-FS100K includes E18-200mm lens, LCD viewfinder, power adapter, lithium battery (NP-F770), microphone (ECM-XM1) and wireless remote
- Fast & slow motion up to 50fps at 1920×1080 HD resolution.
Updates: the camera is now official in Japan.
NEX FS 100 Video Blog from Den & James on Vimeo.
This is a Worldwide Exclusive.
Not only did I contribute to the design of this camera but we managed to get a prototype and shoot a music video a few weeks ago. I believe we are the first independent team to shoot anything with the NEX FS100.
When I got the call we were told we could have the camera for a little over 24hrs.
We wanted to do more than just simply test it. But also we wanted to see what we could get out of the camera with stock lenses and recording internally.
So James from www.hangmanstudios.com teamed up with Den from www.fstopacademy.com and we pulled off this amazing shoot in 48hrs. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep but we valued the opportunity and wanted to shoot as much as we could in as many environments as we could.
We especially wanted to push the low light capability and use the in camera media. It shoots to SD cards, Sony Memory sticks and also has a 128GB FMU which is a solid state pack that integrates with the camera and will give up to 10 hrs record time at 24mb/s AVC HD.
We shot everything at 24mb/s AVC HD and ingested into FCP and transcoded to ProRes 422 using Log and transfer.
Shot over a 36 hr period in one weekend on one of only 2 prototype NEX FS 100 Cameras in the world.
We used 3 lenses:
A Sony Alpha 50mm f1.4 with alpha to emount adaptor
A E mount 16mm f2.8
The Stock lens 18-200 f3.5-5.6
For more information on the camera you can go here http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/content/id/1237480587665?en_GB=
Via Crews.tv
Related posts:
- Also tomorrow: a new video camera from Sony (EX1R)
- Sony updated their statement on A55 and A33 sensor overheating during video recording
- Sony promises fix to clicking sound when recording video with the NEX-5N
- Sony to release a mirrorless camera (A-mount) with 3 sensors and ISO up to 819 200
- This is the Sony 30mm f/3.5 Macro lens for E mount
11 Comments
w00t! Looks awesome!
And it’s cheaper than Panasonic AF100 ($4995 at release) while having bigger, higher quality sensor and much more modular construction. Great stuff, competition gets better and better!!! 
indeed this is the APS video camera I have been waiting for.
I barely wait to see this camera with a nice zeiss glass on it.
IF it can produce an image anything close to the F3, this will be THE budget indie camera
Why couldn’t it? It’s the same sensor.
There is alot more to a camera than the sensor…. the chipset will be less powerful, the codec is different, the in camera settings are different… etc etc
This relates the main problem of digital video equipment today. Cameras come out every 3 months with different sensors, codecs etc… But technology is there & could offer to indie cineasts 1 or 2 mainstreams for pro shooting by installing directly the best techology ( powerfull micro chips are very cheap to make, a cheap pc is even 100x faster than a camera ).
There is a true market here but film makers are still reluctant to invest 10K in a already outdated system. Why coming out with a nice APS camera that offers a weak and non upgradable compression codec ?
Camera brands are bluring the market with so many choices : Flooding the market with unfinished products is a really bad choice in terms of marketing & strategy.
By the time of Film, evey one could make nice clips by choosing the right lenses and film. Nowadays, equipment doesnt last longer than 6 months in terms of technology. This is nonsense.
We have the technogoly to bring a perfect system but no one does it.
1 big company like Sony should have the guts to impose 1 awesome codec compatible with its own 2K and 4K cameras and offering specialised computers (with 256GB of ram or more) for video editing on the consumer market.
Even if the Micro 43 a nice crop, digital video cameras need big pixels and big sensors to provide same dynamic range as negativ film, so 16mm film is closer to the results we get with APS sensors in terms of dynamic range and 35mm film closer to Full frame sensors even if in terms of true proportions 35mm film (used in the lenght) is very close to APS.
dynamic range of film is still off the charts when compared to digital… fact.
not the Arri Alexa… fact.
The panasonic AF-100 (101) may be a great (but ugly) camera, it still suffers from 2 issues that made me wait for a better option :
1 – Micro 43 crop : impossible to use FF or APS lenses at true wide angle, multiplication factor beeing 2X. (which can be an advantage for making a 50mm 1.4 a 100mm 1.4 teleportrait lens, but a huge disatvantage for mounting bright wide angle lenses, like the 24mm 1.4)
2 – Even if the depth of field still looks shallow, the lack of dynamic range and clipping highlights in contrasty scenes brings back the “video look” all indie shooters are fighting against for decades.
A FF 6MP video camera would be awesome by the way.