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October 2017

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DEPARTMENT www.postmagazine.com 32 POST OCTOBER 2017 THE LATEST NEWS FROM LEADING MANUFACTURERS SPOTLIGHT ON aving celebrated its 50th anniversary last month, IBC2017 reports a record attendance of 57,669 across 15 exhibition halls. With the Amsterdam event now in the books, here's a look at some key camera highlights from several leading manufacturers from the show itself, as well as some news released from this side of the Atlantic. SONY Sony (www.sony.com/4k-palm) announced several new camcorders that are the company's first to feature phase detection Auto Focus (AF). The new models expand the company's line of 4K and HDR- capable tools for shooting applications that include broadcast news and TV production. Three new palm-style models are the XDCAM PXW-Z90, the NXCAM HXR-NX80 and the Handycam FDR-AX700. The camcorders' Fast Hybrid AF system ensures highly accurate focusing and tracking — especially useful during 4K shooting — delivered by 273 phase-detection AF points that cover approximately 84 percent of the shooting area, high-density placement of autofocus points and a newly developed AF algorithm. In movie recording mode, the appearance of phase-detection AF frames indicates the focused area and allows users to monitor a subject that is in focus. Each camcorder combines AF adapted for video shooting with a 1.0-type stacked Exmor RS CMOS image sensor. The new camcorders support 4K HDR recording with Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), offering an Instant HDR workflow to produce high-quali- ty HDR content smoothly. According to Sony the Instant HDR workflow enables simple shooting, editing and viewing of HDR content in HLG, without the need for color grading during post production. The new camcorders feature a high-resolution OLED viewfinder (0.39-type OLED, 2,359K dots) and advanced touch-screen operation, on the 3.5-type large LCD screen (1,555k dots), to allow users to quickly switch focus from one subject to another, while the AF Drive Speed, Tracking Depth Range and Subject Switching Sensitivity can all be configured as required for different subjects and content styles. The new camcorders offer 4K full-pixel readout without pixel binning using an enhanced BIONZ X image processing engine. Super slow motion re- cording up to 960fps is capable, as is slow & quick motion full HD up to 120fps. The new models also feature dual XLR audio input, a detachable handle and access to Content Browser Mobile a supporting smartphone application to enable Wi-Fi monitoring, camcorder remote control and wireless timecode sync between multiple cameras. The FDR-AX700 is available this month for $1,899; both the HXR-NX80 and the PXW-Z90 will be available in December 2017 for $2,299 and $2,799, respectively. In addition, the company also introduced Venice (www.sony.com/venice), its new, full-frame digital motion picture camera system that represents the next generation of Sony's CineAlta camera system. The new camera was officially unveiled in early September in front of a select audience of American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) members, and a range of other industry professionals. "We really went back to the drawing board for this one," says Peter Crithary, marketing manager, Sony Electronics. "It is our next-generation cam- era system, a ground-up development initiative encompassing a completely new image sensor. We carefully considered key aspects such as form factor, ergonomics, build quality, ease of use, a refined picture and painterly look — with a simple, established workflow. We worked in close collab- oration with film industry professionals. We also considered the longer-term strategy by designing a user interchangeable sensor that is as quick and simple to swap as removing four screws, and can accommodate different shooting scenarios as the need arises." Venice combines a newly developed 36x24mm full frame sensor to meet the high-quality de- mands of feature filmmaking. A new color man- agement system with an ultra wide color gamut gives users more control and greater flexibility to work with images during grading and post production. Venice also has more than 15 stops of latitude to handle challenging lighting situations from low-light to harsh sunlight with a gentle roll- off handling of highlights. According to the company, Venice achieves high quality and efficient file-based production through Sony's established 16-bit RAW/X-OCN via the AXS-R7 recorder, and 10-bit XAVC workflows. Venice is scheduled for release in February 2018. CANON Canon USA Inc. (usa.canon.com) introduced three new additions to the company's video camcorder lineup: The XF405 4K UHD, the XF400 4K UHD and the VIXIA HF GX10 4K UHD. All three are light- weight and compact video camcorders that feature 4K/60p video recording. The Canon XF405 and XF400 4K UHD video camcorders are both intended for such applica- tions as broadcast interviews and documentaries. Designed with advanced amateurs and hob- byists in mind, the VIXIA HF GX10 4K UHD pro- vides the same H CAMERAS Sony Venice Canon XF405

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