San Diego — Sony will ship two new high-end HDV-based camcorders for professionals and advanced amateurs to dealers in the fourth quarter.
Both the HDR-FX1000 and step-up HVR-Z5U incorporate three ClearVid 1/30inch CMOS sensors for recording 1,440 by 1,080 video in the HDV format to miniDV tape. The units offer a low-light sensitivity of 1.5 lux, a 3.2-inch -XtraFine LCD and a 0.45-inch electronic viewfinder.
The camcorders will be the first Sony models to use a Sony G 20x optical zoom lens with a 29.5mm wide-angle view and ED glass.
The FX1000, $3,200, will carry the Handycam brand and be the first in the family to offer progressive scan at 1,080/24p and 30p According to Sony, the 24p image is converted to 60i for editing with “existing software applications.” The FX1000 offers manual control over iris, gain, white balance, shutter speed and focus via three manual rings.
It incorporates three neural density filters and Sony’s CinemaTone Gamma and Cinematone Color processing technologies. It will ship in November.
The HVR-Z5U ($4,950, December) offers native 24p recording, a tape-less recording option via an accessory CF card adapter (HVR-MRC1K, for $940). Video can be recorded to tape and CF card simultaneously. The accessory unit is also compatible with Sony’s existing Z7U and S270U camcorders, or third-party models via a supplied iLINK/1394 cable. Additional step-up features include timecode support and two XLR balanced audio outputs.
