Sony PMW-400 Reviews

So we had our sales team go over the new PMW-400 and let you know how it measures up. Phil Lane our Sales Manager with 16 years industry experience gave me his views as well as our newest family member, Kevin Salvidge, (ex-Sony). Hope you find this useful.... Phil Lane Having never been a hugely popular camera the PMW-350 is finally to be replaced with an up-graded unit, initially announced at NAB in April the new PMW-400 should start shipping around IBC in September. So is it a better camera than the 350, in a nut shell yes. The first thing I looked at was the view finder, the low res VGA unit that came as standard with the 350 was always a bone of contention with cameramen, fortunately Sony have listened and it has been replaced with a ¼ res HD (960 h x 540 v) unit which is a huge improvement giving better contrast and greater view angles. The other big change is what the camera records, with the 350’s ability to only record up to 35Mb’s in a world where everyone wants 50Mb it left the 350 struggling to compete against its bigger brother the 500. The 400 now includes all of the same codec as the 500 so will record up to MPEG2 HD422 50Mb, but it doesn’t stop there. With the launch of the F5 & F55 Sony also released a new codec, XAVC. Sony have incorporated this new codec into the 400 future proofing the camera as much as possible, now the bad news, it won’t be available immediately, the launch date for its implementation is currently set for NAB time next year (April 2014) the good news is though that it will be a free up-grade. Flash banding is an issue that plagues all cameras that use CMOS censor’s and for a camera aimed primarily at a news environment with press pack photographers everywhere this can be a major issue. In an attempt to alleviate this Sony have come up with a new Flash Band Reducer, a new piece of software employs a special algorithm that detects and processes flash banding in the camera before recording begins. We’re yet to see how good this is in the real world but Sony have said that this is as good as they can make it. Like the 350 the 400 is light and has a low power draw thanks to the CMOS censors, the body is almost identical with only a few changes made to the right hand panel to allow for the integration of the new CBK-WA100. Connecting directly to the camera the CBK-WA100 allows XAVC proxy files to be created and saved onto an SD card in the adapter. It is then able to upload both the proxy and the original high-res content via a 3G/4G/LTE/Wi-Fi to a broadcast station, server or to a cloud environment. Also by supporting Wi-Fi connectivity, the CBK-WA100 allows tablets or smartphones to interact with it and control it via Sony’s Content Browser Mobile application. This connectivity for XDCAM camcorders allows users on their mobile device to remotely control the camera, logging metadata on set and reviewing content without having to connect a monitor to the camcorder. Both the PMW-400 and WA100 will be on the Sony stand at IBC in September (Hall 12, Stand no. 12.A10) in the meantime if anyone has any questions or would like pricing on these units please contact the sales team at Top-Teks and we’ll be happy to help. Kevin Salvidge We’ve just taken delivery of our 1^st Sony PMW-400L. This is Sony’s latest 2/3-inch type Exmor sensor XDCAM camcorder recording Full HD 422 at 50Mbps. The PMW-400 replaces the PMW-350, which was extremely popular with freelance owner operators, as it was one of the first affordable solid-state recording systems that supported 2/3-inch glass. So what do you get with the PMW-400 ? Well, Sony have two versions of the PMW-400, the L version comes without a lens and the K version with a Fujinon 16x zoom HD lens. The big difference is that the PMW-400 supports MPEG-2  50Mbps, whereas its predecessor the PMW-350 only supported MPEG-2 35Mbps, which restricted the type of production the camcorder could be used on. The PMW-400 also comes XAVC ready and there is a firmware upgrade scheduled for the summer of 2014 that will enable Intra frame 100Mbps. Sony are also talking about a Long GoP low bit-rate, but no date has been announced for this update as yet. XAVC is Sony’s application of the H.264 standard, which Sony are using level 5.2. This will allow a single format that can handle High-Frame-Rate (HFR) HD and 4K imaging formats. The XAVC format is already being used on both of Sony’s PMW-F5 & F55 camcorders. Anybody who has used a CMOS sensor camera will know that flash banding can severely affect the recording. To compensate for this Sony has announced that the PMW-400 will have a in-built flash band reduction algorithm that will compensate before the image is recorded. The PMW-400’s that we have taken delivery of did not have this feature enabled, but Sony have enabled it on the latest version of their Content Browser V2.2, which is available as a chargeable download from the Sony Creative software website for $20. There is a school of thought that says having the flash banding compensation software enable all the time is not ideal, so it is our understanding that Sony are planning for the software to be switched off as its default setting, which is probably a good idea as you will not be able to undo what the flash band compensation software applies in the Content Browser if it’s not satisfactory. Our recommendation is download the new Content Browser and try out the flash banding compensation software for yourself before deciding if you want to have the firmware upgrade carried out. Now onto the operational review. The viewfinder, everybody has an opinion on viewfinders, so not everybody is going to agree with the following comments. Sony have introduced a new improved LCD viewfinder the CBK-VF01/1, providing up to quarter full HD 960x540 pixel resolution and it’s a significant improvement on its predecessors viewfinder. CMOS sensor cameras are notorious for being noisy. Sony have introduced a new 3DNR noise reduction processing system, that give the PMW-400 a signal to noise ratio of 60dB. The PMW-400 also features a wide gain selection ranging from -3dB up to +42dB maximum, making it suitable for a wide range of applications. The PMW-400 is slightly heavier (0.2kg without lens), than its predecessor and has a battery life of approx.. 180 minutes with a BP-L80S, compared to 310 minutes with a BP-GL95 on the PMW-350. Sony have also designed the PMW-400 to allow direct connection of the new CBK-WA101 WiFi Adaptor. We haven’t as yet been able to get our hands on this new adapter, which Sony claims will significantly accelerate ENG workflows, by creating XAVC proxy files that can be saved to an SD card in the adapter and which can also be uploaded along with the original high-resolution content via 3G/4G/LTE/Wi-Fi to a broadcasters premises or the cloud. I think one can safely assume that if Sony can demonstrate this working in the RAI at IBC, then they have a chance this will work in the real world, as I’ve yet to see a WiFi/3G demo at IBC that hasn’t had the present claiming that the slow / poor connectivity is down to the number of WiFi networks / number of users on the networks at the show. (Like this doesn’t happen in the real-world?) So to sum up, the new PMW-400 is a good camera, if you haven’t made the jump from tape to solid-state camcorders yet, this camera has to be considered, especially as it now gives you 50Mb/s recording and it comes as standard with a very nice viewfinder. It also give you the peace of mind that it has built-in future proofing with its support for XAVC. We have a PMW-400 in our showroom, instead of taking our word for it, why not scheduled an appointment and come and have a look at it for yourself ?