Sony PMW-320, the first XDCAM EX shoulder camcorder

The PMW-320 has expanded the XDCAM EX series with a shoulder camcorder. With three 1/2″ Full HD Exmor CMOS sensors, it offers all the recording features of the PMW-EX1R, to which are added improvements such as a scene file system and 4 audio channels. This camcorder comes in two versions: PMW-320K which is supplied with a Fujinon HD lens; and the PMW-320L, without optics.

With three state-of-the-art 1/2″ Full HD Exmor CMOS sensors, the Sony PMW-320 camcorder has expanded the new
Each of the sensors in this camcorder offers a native resolution of 1920x1080 effective pixels with Full HD resolution, a sensitivity of F11 in 50 Hz mode, a signal-to-noise ratio of 54 dB and a high horizontal resolution of 1,000 lines in 1920 x 1080/59.94i mode.

It is noteworthy that Exmor CMOS sensors implement an exclusive A/D conversion system for each column of pixels, which translates into a lower clock speed than traditional CMOS sensors, with the consequent energy savings that this entails.

The PMW-320 camcorder records HD images at native 1920 x 1080 resolution using the MPEG-2 Long GOP codec, which meets MPEG-2 MP@HL compression standards. This codec is also adopted by the XDCAM HD and HDV 1080i series of products, and allows users to record outstanding quality HD video and audio with highly efficient and reliable data compression. Among the recording modes, it should be noted that it also supports DVCAM at 25 Mbps, both in PAL and NTSC, a very valid option for those environments in which the workflow is carried out in standard definition, such as, for example, on local television. Material recorded in SP mode can also be seamlessly integrated into HDV-compatible editing systems by streaming from the camcorder via the i.Link (HDV) interface.

It offers two bit rates: 35 Mb/s (HQ mode) or 25 Mb/s (SP mode), depending on the image quality and recording time you want. HQ mode supports 1920 x 1080, 1440 x 1080 and 1280 x 720 resolutions. 1440 x 1080 mode is new to the PMW-320 and ensures native integration of XDCAM EX footage into the Professional Disc-based XDCAM HD workflow. By supporting 1440 x 1080 mode, with 35 Mb/s recording, the material can be used without being transcoded, simply re-adapting to MXF for non-linear editing and archiving.

The PMW-320 supports multiple frame rates such as 59.94i, 50i and 25P and native 23.98P, in addition to being 1080i/720P selectable.

Its chassis is based on the popular XDCAM HD422 series model, although in this case it barely weighs 3.2 kg, making it one of the lightest shoulder camcorders in its class and with up to 60% less energy consumption than, for example, the HDW-700.

Another novelty of this new equipment is that it allows you to record four channels of high-quality uncompressed audio sampled at 48 KHz and 16 bits (Linear PCM), being able to control the level of each channel thanks to an individual and independent level. In addition to the shotgun microphone, the camcorder also comes equipped with a wireless microphone slot.

SxS-1 and SxS PRO

Like the rest of the

Working with SxS-1 and SxS PRO memory cards allows compatibility with the ExpressCard/34 interface slot common in modern Windows PCs and Macs, to use the PCI Express interface, reaching read speeds of up to 800 Mbps (depending on the type of file and the performance of the PC).

This option provides a large storage capacity of up to 16 GB (SBP-16) and 32 (GB SBP-32), in the latter case being able to record up to 140 minutes in high definition. As the PMW-320 is equipped with two memory card slots, this recording time can easily be increased to 280 minutes with two 32GB cards. When recording to two cards, the transition is done seamlessly without losing any frames. This feature makes the PMW-320 the ideal camcorder for a wide variety of content production applications, including news, local television, and wedding and event recording, which require long recording time.

The SxS-1 media provides users with an economical alternative to SxS PRO media that offers the same high performance but with an estimated lifespan of 5 years at full capacity daily recording. Users can check the card life on their PMW-EX1R and PMW-320 camcorders and even see an alarm when the data rewrite limit is reached.

The XDCAM EX system automatically records in an empty area of the card without the risk of overwriting the existing content, in the case of the PMW-320 having a cache memory of up to 15 seconds that allows recording to be started at any time without losing what happened just before pressing REC.

Each time you start and stop recording on the XDCAM EX camcorder, the video and audio signals are recorded as a clip. During playback, you can move forward or backward to the next or previous clip with a simple press of the “next” or “previous” button, just as you do on a CD or DVD player.

Additionally, thumbnails are automatically generated for each clip for visual reference, allowing users to directly locate the desired scene by simply guiding the cursor to a thumbnail image and pressing the play button.

For added convenience, the Extend function allows you to divide a clip selected in the index image screen into 12 intervals of the same length with its own index image to identify it. This is very useful if you want to quickly search for a specific scene within a long clip.

Two configurations

The PMW-320 is offered in two configurations: the PMW-320K, which comes equipped with a Fujinon HD lens with 16x zoom, and the PMW-320L, which comes without a lens. Both models feature a standard 1/2″ bayonet lens interface, and the user can choose from a wide variety of optional lenses in the existing 1/2″ HD lens range.
The optics supplied for the PMW-320K incorporate a unique focus ring mechanism that offers two types of focus: manual focus and auto focus. The lens is equipped with two independent focus wheel mechanisms, which can be changed by sliding the focus ring itself back and forth.

When the focus ring is in the front position, the lens operates in the same way as a typical autofocus lens on a handheld camcorder. In this case, manual or auto focus mode can be selected using the AF/MF switch on the lens. On the other hand, when the focus ring is placed in the rear position, the lens has an absolute focus position and works in the same way as interchangeable optic cameras.
Image inversion function

The PMW-320 camcorder includes a function that allows you to reverse the image without delay, especially useful when mounting cinema optics. This feature is useful for capturing three-dimensional images from a 3D camera with a pair of 2D monitors. The monitor can be connected directly to camera systems without the need to add an external signal converter, simplifying system integration.

Three independent rings

In addition to the unique focus ring, the optical system supplied with the PMW-320K is equipped with independent rings for zoom and iris adjustment. These are located next to the focus ring, in the same arrangement as on shoulder camcorders. This arrangement provides a high level of control and operational comfort.

On the other hand, it has the function of AF assist (autofocus that allows you to manually change the focus positions using the focus ring during AF mode) and MF assist (manual focus that helps focus precisely on the target subject when recording in MF mode.

Peaking can help operators adjust camera focus more precisely by altering how images are viewed in the viewfinder, while ALAC (Automatic Lens Aberration Compensation)
reduces any chromatic aberration caused by the lens, which is enabled only with the supplied PMW-320K lens and with certain third-party lenses that incorporate compensation data.

The PMW-320 camcorder incorporates optical neutral density (ND) filters and electrical color correction (CC) filters. The optical ND filters are controlled from a built-in ND filter wheel (Clear, 1/4ND, 1/16ND and 1/64ND). And with DC electric filters, the user can easily obtain the desired color temperature by setting the mode, 3200K/4300K/5600K/6300K, on the camcorder's assignable switch. The user can select the four values cyclically or choose a default value. It can also be controlled via an assignable button. This is useful when a sudden change occurs during recording and a quick and direct adjustment is required.

Recording in native 23.98P

All XDCAM EX camcorders are part of the Sony CineAlta family and offer native 23.98P recording which, along with other advanced creative features such as selectable gamma curves, makes these camcorders a choice for film production. The PMW-320 can capture images at selectable frame rates between 1 fps (frame per second) and 60 fps in 720P mode and between 1 fps and 30 fps in 1080P mode, in 1 fps increments. For example, when viewing images at 23.98P, images captured at 60 fps are displayed at a speed 2.5 times slower than normal. Conversely, images captured at 4 fps will appear at a speed six times faster than normal.

With the slow motion and fast motion function, images are recorded natively without interpolating frames. Which means that the quality of the slow and fast motion images is much higher than that obtained in post-production. Additionally, images recorded in slow or fast motion can be played back immediately after recording, without the need for converters or processing in non-linear editing systems.
Image inversion function

Finally, it should be noted that the PMW-320 camcorder is equipped with a large, easy-to-view color LCD monitor with a resolution of 1920x480 pixels, which makes focusing easier, and six assignable buttons for quick access to the desired functions.

Control

For future expandability, starting this fall the PMW-320 will feature a 50-pin interface option that offers digital extender functionality, which digitally doubles the size of images. Unlike optical extenders, the digital extender function does not involve any loss of sensitivity.

Sony will also soon launch the HDCA-702 MPEG TS adapter, which can be attached directly to the PMW-320, outputting an MPEG Transport Stream (TS) stream via a DVB-ASI output. This can be done simultaneously when the PMW-320 records to the SxS memory card.

A Sony 8-pin remote interface is supplied with the PMW-320, and various camera settings can be controlled remotely using an optional RM-B150, RM-B750, RCP-750, RCP-751, RCP-920 or RCP-921 remote control via its 8-pin remote connector.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4yvZdOhLY[/youtube]