The following is FreshDV’s ongoing coverage of Sony’s EX-series of XDCAM camcorders. Ongoing Updates directly below, latest on the top. Our original EX1 news article follows.

*KxS: Replacing Costly Sony SxS Media with Cheap SD Cards
*Midtown Video has an overview video of the EX3 that covers the basic featureset and lens options.
*The EX3 can now be pre-ordered from B&H, price is listed at $8,320.00 USD.
*FreshDV’s PMW-EX3 interview with Bob Ott of Sony. We cover the form factor, featureset, accessory hard drive, and SxS deck.
*Philip Bloom’s “Deer Vegas” video shot with the EX3 and Letus Ultimate.
*XDCAM EX3 Announced at NAB 2008, plus an introductory overview of the camera by Philip Bloom.

*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Camera Body and Controls Layout
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Depth of Field Examples
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - First Impressions Podcast Discussion
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Night Footage Compression Examples
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Gamma and Color Matrix Presets
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Picture Profiles and Image Settings
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Menu and Settings Overview
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Final Cut Pro Workflow and XDCAM Transfer Software
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Format Resolution Testing.
*FreshDV Testbench - XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - CMOS Rolling Shutter Strobe Artifacts.

*KxS: Replacing Costly Sony SxS Media with Cheap SD Cards
*EX1 Wedding shooter Daniel Boswell has outlined his workflow and POV of the solid-state SxS media in this EventDV article.
*Sony has released a series of PDFs that deal with specific aspects of image control, they are all linked nicely in this post at DVXuser. Topics include: Avoiding “Overexposure” of an Image’s Highlights, Creating Film-like Images With Rich Colors, Enhancing Colors in Low-Light Areas, Enriching Color Saturation in Dark Areas of an Image, Improving Picture Sharpness without Coarsening the Image, Reproducing Vivid Colors Under a Bright Environment, Shooting Without Coarsening Dark Areas of an Image, and Shooting Pictures with Rich and Deep Black Reproduction. Enjoy.
*Shooting with HMI’s and seeing flicker? Here’s the HMI shutter speed formula to know.
*EX1 vs Red in a keying test. See if you can pick out which camera is which.
*Adam Wilt tested the EX1 side-by-side with the F23 and RED One.
*EX1 vs Z7U vs Z1U lowlight framegrabs are up here. The EX1 has the clear edge in noise and brightness.
*BassPig tested the EX1’s audio system and found it to be “DAT-Quality.”
*Adam Wilt takes another, more detailed look at the EX1 Cine Gamma modes. If you are unsure where to start with your EX1 picture profiles, this is a good primer on the topic.
*Adam Wilt has finally reviewed the production model EX1, and his findings on dynamic range and native ISO rating are very impressive. Not to be missed.
*A short edit from a EX1 user shot in Times Square NYC with the stock lens.
*Phil Bloom has another EX1+Letus Extreme short up at his blog, and several pages of related discussion at DVXuser.
*Andrew from Design Matters wrote in to mention a free EX1 demo footage DVD offer. Click through to take the survey from Sony’s site, then look under Current Promotions on the left for the demo footage DVD link.
*One of the many image settings buried in the EX1’s Picture Profile menu is “Crispening.” Here is a short writeup that explains the feature. Thanks to Adam Wilt for the link.
*These guys did a side-by-side HVX vx EX1 shootout. Charts, footage, etc. Nice comparison of the two cameras. Thanks to Ajit for the link.
*Here’s a EX1 user’s short creative film, it shows what you can do with this camera bone stock. It’s got impressive depth-of-field even without a 35mm adapter.
*FreshDV has in-depth interview with Adam Wilt about his experiences with a pre-production EX1 camcorder. Here is that audio podcast.
*Vortex Media’s XDCAM EX1 DVD training series is available and shipping from B&H.
*I read a very interesting (and technical) thread at DVinfo on using the EX1 for keying, and how users lean too often on chroma-sampling metrics that may not matter in practice.
*The ever-prolific Philip Bloom has posted another EX1 + Letus Extreme short called “My Autumn’s Done Come.” Shot all overcranked. Not to be missed.
*Creative Cow has a PD-170 vs XDCAM EX1 low-light comparison. The results show the EX1 has approx 60% less image noise, even at 18db of gain. Given that the PD170 is widely regarded as the King of LowLight, this is very good news indeed. Don also shares his first shoot and import experiences here.
*EX1 user Daniel Boswell has shared a Glidecam 4000 + 60p overcranked shot at the VU Forums, as well as a few other wedding clips. He’s also sparked a little discussion about the EX1’s native DOF and the use of 35mm adapters.
*Sony is offering a 8GB SxS media card rebate (PDF) along with the EX1 purchase. There is also another rebate offer (PDF) for Sony microphones and accessories like the $3400 LMD-9050 LCD Monitor with HD-SDI.
*DiscreteCosine has shared a few comparison test chart frames from the EX1 vs Canon XL-H1 and the Sony D50. They also have a full review of the camera (thanks to Ajit for the heads-up)
*Cineform has announced beta support for the XDCAM EX1 in their Prospect HD and NEO HD products.
*The XDCAM Transfer v2.1 software is the underlying software that FCP 6.0.2 Editors need to ingest EX1 footage.
*Daniel Boswell was kind enough to send in some FX1 vs EX1 low-light comparison images. Sweet!
*Looks like the Firestore hard disk capture device works with the EX1 in SP mode (some caveats apply).
*Here’s a few user framegrabs at 1080p and 720p with detail turned off (no edge enhancement). Looks very organic to me.
*Midtown Video’s Jesse Miller leads you through a Guaranteed Awesome tutorial on the simple steps required to ingest footage from the EX1 into Final Cut Pro. They also have a nice detailed overview of key features in the EX1. It’s all on the What’s Hot page.
*Philip Bloom has shared beautiful footage he shot with the EX and a Letus Extreme 35mm adapter. This is the first adapter footage I’ve seen from the new camera, and it looks beautiful. You’ll see examples of Timelapse and overcrank slow-motion in there as well. I understand that the footage was treated with Magic Bullet, so it is unclear if that is where the slight vignetting originated. Regardless, it looks very nice. UPDATE: Bloom’s site is currently offline due to a bandwidth overage, we are mirroring the clip here with his permission.
*When these guys get tired, they rest on their huge stack of XDCAM EX1 boxes. Severe Envy Warning! Thanks to Dan for the heads up.
*IEBA got a few nitty-gritty questions answered by Sony on the EX.
*Jody Eldred just shot an airshow with the EX side by side crews shooting the PDW-F350. Says there was a seamless match in post-production. Also used a EX1 in a rather tight cockpit location to get a unique POV shot.
*Andreas Johansson says “…there is no way of getting the EX1 HQ files to play nice with Avid Media Composer when using the Sony Clip Browser and unwrap to .mxf.” Here’s a workaround for the time being.
*Detail, Sharpness, and Highlight handling comparison images from PMW-EX1, Canon XH G1, Panasonic AG-HVX200, and Sony HVR-Z1J. Scenes are shot in 1080/60i, 1080/30P, and 720/60p (depending on camcorder featureset). Thanks to Ajit for the link!
*HVX 200 vs EX1 Low light tests (informal comparison)
*It appears that some (pre-production?) XDCAM EX cameras are exhibiting vignetting in the image. This thread at DVinfo has all the discussion, photos, and video. Nate Weaver makes an interesting comment about the discussion.
*A thread has been started at DVinfo about cases that will safely hold the XDCAM EX.
*You can see some EX1 unboxing images here, as well as night-time shots which appear to be shot with slow shutter; Tif1, Tif2, Tif3, Tif4, Tif5,
*Brian Valente of Redrock Micro reports they have tested the M2 35mm adapter on a pre-production EX1, and it basically mounts up like the Z1U does. No footage because the camera requires “macro-mode” be enabled for this sort of use, and the pre-pro model didn’t have that feature yet. He also reports the microFollowFocus fits the stock Fujinon lens with just the addition of a “D” lens gear.
*Adam Wilt tested a pre-production EX1 and seemed to be impressed with the camera, stating “it’s like having a miniature F900.” He did note a few criticisms, however. One was that the camera is nearly impossible to hold with the right handgrip only. Adam measured the camcorder at ISO 320 @ 1080/24p, right about where he rates the HVX200.
*User Dxmetal over at DVXuser reports “Shipping is confirmed to be on track for the 19th. The Cameras should get to the consumers beginning on the week of the 26th.” and confirms SxS card pricing at $899/16GB and $499/8GB.
*The XDCAM EX1 Manual is available as part of a 127mb clip-browsing software download from Sony. Thanks to Dan for the heads up!
*$6449 USD is the rumored street price, and it will include a single 8GB SxS media card. Some are speculating that Sony will offer a short-term “two-card” special for early adopters.
*The rumor is that CNN and other major news networks have apparently pre-ordered a ton of the EX1 cameras.
*From XDCAM Pro User Group comes news of a Australian EX1 demo that left the author very positive about the new camcorder. He states “For the first time in my life as a freelance cameraman, I’m now wondering if ’small’ is better, here’s a camera now on par with its larger counterparts.” (Via DVXuser)
*B&H has confirmed that the US shipping version of the EX1 will include one 8GB SxS media card (via DVXuser).
*Simon Wyndham has posted Part 2 of his First Look review of the XDCAM EX1. He talks about general use on a production set, and handling of the pre-production camera.
*Anthony Burokas recently attended a Sony event featuring the new camera, and he brought back some great new EX1 info and pictures. He also asks quite a few interesting questions about the new SxS media cards.
*Another “first look” review, this one from Digital Content Producer.
*More user pictures of the EX1 at SupaShooter, a few angles and buttons I hadn’t seen in previous images.
*Sandisk announced 8 and 16 gig SxS media cards, available for $500 and $900 USD in November.
*Mikko Wilson confirms no SD support and no cross-conversion in the XDCAM EX…and a really irritating quirk, the external monitoring shuts off when shooting “special” framerates. Yikes.
*Apple has shown a preview of their soon-to-come 720p/50 support in FCP for the JVC GY-HD200, GY-HD201, GY-HD251, and of course the Sony EX1.
*Anthony Burokas has posted an in-depth stream of consciousness on solid-state media over at his IEBA blog.
*B&H has the PMW-EX1 listed for 7499.00, estimated arrival in November (Disclaimer: Purchases made via that link directly benefit FreshDV…though you’ll generally be hard pressed to find a better price than what B&H offers)
*It looks like the EX1 will debut in the US in Nov for “less than $7000″ incl. two 8GB cards.
*Two new “First Impressions” reviews are out, one from Nigel Cooper and one from Simon Wyndham.
*Mikko Wilson of www.mikkowilson.com is reporting LIVE from IBC, says XDCAM EX has “very slight wobble” (rolling shutter artifact) and will not accept 3rd party Expresscard media.
*Official Sony Press releases on the EX and SxS card media are out, links below.
*First Impressions user review by Alistair Chapman below.

A Sony Australia XDCAM EX product brochure showed up online sometime today, in it you’ll find official specs and tantalizing information about this new solid-state camcorder’s features…like the 120-degree rotatable hand grip. Finally! And surprise surprise…it has three 1/2 inch “type” full-raster 1920×1080 “effective” CMOS imager chips. I’m unsure why they are calling the sensors “1/2 inch type”, but noted that specific terminology was consistent throughout the brochure. Edit: Some answers from Chris Hurd on this choice of nomenclature. In other news, I cannot see or find any reference to a LANC jack…underwater shooters are going to be disappointed over that omission. Also it does not appear that SD resolutions are supported.

Specifications:
Three 1920×1080 effective 1/2-inch “Exmor” CMOS chips, rated at 1000+ resolution lines (I believe the Z1U hovers around 700 on the rez charts).
Undercrank/Overcrank: 1080P from 1 to 30 fps, 1 to 60 fps in 720P mode.
Frame rates: 1920 x 1080/59.94i, 29.97P, 23.98P, 1280 x 720/59.94P, 29.97P, 23.98P, also a 1440 x 1080/59.94i SP mode.
PAL setting HQ mode: 1920 x 1080/50i, 25P, 1280 x 720/50P, 25P and 1440 x 1080/50i SP mode.
Two ExpressCard/34 slots…16 GB card holds approx 50 min at HQ, half that time for the 8 GB card. In SP mode, the 16 GB card will record 70 min, the 8GB will do 35 min.
14x optical zoom, focal length f = 5.8 to 81.2 mm (equivalent to 31.4 to 439 mm on 35 mm lens), iris F1.9 to F16 and Close.
77mm filter thread.
Weight: 5lb 4oz (2.4kg), 6lb 2oz (2.8kg) fully loaded with battery.
Dimensions: 7 1/8″ wide x 7″ height x 12 3/8″ depth (178 x 176 x 311.5 mm)
BP-U60 battery runs for about 4 hours, BP-U30 does 2 hours.
Records: MPEG-2 Long GOP at 35 Mb/s VBR for HQ mode and 25 Mb/s CBR for SP mode.
2 Channels of 16-bit, 48-kHz uncompressed audio via two XLR inputs with line/mic/mic +48 V selectable.
Comes with a lens hood, eye cup, IR remote, USB cable, A/V cable, component cable, shoulder strap, manual, XDCAM EX software, one 8GB SxS Pro ExpressCard, one BP-U30 battery, and a charger. No official word on pricing at this time, though I expect news on that later today.
EDIT: This article notes European pricing at “6,500 euros ($8.875)”. Note that Euro pricing is generally higher than US, so it looks as though the price will be just under 8K.

The Fujinon lens has three independent rings for Focus, Zoom, and Iris, with hard stops. The iris and zoom rings look like they are geared with a standard follow focus pitch. The Focus ring does not appear to be geared. Other features include Auto Focus Assist (just like on the Z1), Expanded Focus (oh please let it work while you are recording…), Selectable Peaking, Interval Recording, and Frame Recording. You can choose from 4 CINE Gamma curves that match those on high end CineAlta cameras, and the shutter angle is adjustable. There are the standard Picture Profiles, Shot Transition feature, and 4 user assignable buttons. You also get a Depth-of-field Indicator, Spot Meter (”Brightness-level Display”), and Histogram. Output options include HD-SDI, SD-SDI, HD or SD analog component, SD analog composite, S-Video, Audio (AV multi), i.LINK (HDV), and USB.

UPDATE: First impressions review by Alistair Chapman - Liked the look and feel (”it felt right”), impressed with highlight handling, the lens reminded him of a high-end HD camera, very light sensitive, and improved DOF due to large imager chip. Alistair also mentions “a socket on the camera for a lens remote that will control the zoom.” At first I thought he might be referring to the missing LANC jack, but he’s stated on a forum “no LANC”. Hope there is some other solution in place. You can see a full-res framegrab from the EX here.

UPDATE: Sony has posted an official press release on the XDCAM EX European launch at IBC, as well as a release on the SxS Expresscards (including pricing info). You can ogle a 360-degree rotation of the camera here.

The 8GB SBP-8 will be priced around €400 ($550 USD) and the 16GB SBP-16 around €700 ($950 USD). Both models will be available in November 2007. Available capacity of 8GB SxS PRO is 7.4GB, available capacity of 16GB SxS PRO is 14.9GB