Skydivephil wrote:

 

They say it's more professional but I don't see that the censor or  lens are any better than the cx. Am I right?

I'm not really up on the professional cams but you're right in the sense that Sony quite often have consumer and professional versions of the same hardware, with connectivity and firmware being the only major differences. Lenses and chips in particular often span the range and the ones you mention here are the same.

Hence the NX30 will be built around the same hardware as the new CX730. Apart from pro-level support, it will give you more flexibility in the firmware with improved control over gain (which might be useful for your purposes) and flexible timcode, XLR inputs, better audio, which might not...

I'd look at the CX730 first, maybe read up on the NX30's improved gain control and decide from there.

Cheers

Mick

Some of the cams you mention I really can't comment on as they're not available yet. Many use the same chip and in that respect, the differences between them will relate only to increased manual configuration, broadcast standards, precision audio and connections for professional accessories.

When you move to interchangeable lenses and super-35mm CMOS chips (FS100 etc) you will certainly improve low-light image quality – this is the main reason I suggested DSLR video – but with that comes more kit, more weight, and no auto-zoom, which you've already said you don't want.

Other than that, nothing in the pro range really leaps out at me as ideally suiting the sort of filming you want to do other than increased control over gain.

To briefly explain: video gain concerns the way the signal from an individual photo-site (pixel) is amplified. It obviously becomes more critical, the lower the levels of light you're recording. Without being able to control video gain you basically allow the camera to 'decide' what that amplification should be. The result of over-done gain is noise, so it's clearly a key element to be able to control.

Actually deciding the amount of gain you need depends on the exposure settings, light levels and filming conditions you happen to be working under. For example, with a lot of black areas in the image, you'll want to decrease gain as noise is more noticeable; even though a more evenly-lit scene might have exactly the same exposure (and noise) you'll notice the noise less and can dial in a little more gain. It can also come down to personal choice: 12dB gain might look unacceptably noisy to some people, to others it might just resemble a pleasant film grain.

For your purposes, the ability to control and select that would seem to me to be the one thing I would buy into with a more professional camera. As you've noticed however, weight, as well as cost, will increase as you move up the range.

I can only suggest you research the subject a little more, perhaps talking with someone in pro video shop who is more knowlegable than me – shouldn't be too hard! – but certainly try to get your hands on this gear before you make any decisions.

Cheers

Mick

Hi Skydivephil.

It's probably old news, but yes the 730 also has smooth slow options.

Does someone have experiance with the 740 compared to the 730, as i have a 730, and an other salesman told me the 740 (+300 Euro) has a better low light performance.

I see nothing in the specs, only difference is GPS and internal 32 GB mem.

This is not worth the extra money, but if it is realy better, i can swap my 730.

Anyone ?