It's all about control... PDW-F800 revealed
“We’re into the realm of cinematography, where camera operators have complete control over what they do.” 

Launched at NAB 2009, the PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 Camcorder builds on the phenomenally successful PDW-700, adding in new capabilities and features with the aim of creating the most fully featured tapeless camcorder on the market.

“We’re looking from the operator/cinematographer point-of-view,” explains Richard Brooking, Sony Professional Europe's XDCAM product manager and a former cameraman himself. “We have listened to our customers about what their requirements are and also what their future requirements will be. How will they be making TV in five years’ time?”

New features such as film-style 24P progressive recording, Quick and Slow (over-crank and under-crank), Standard Definition Recording, User Gamma editing and Dual Optical Filters are designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of high-end users, from documentary-makers right up to cinema and TV drama producers.
 
XDCAM HD422's picture quality and advanced workflow had been proven with the launch of the PDW-700 in 2008. The development of the higher end, fully featured PDW-800 to sell alongside the 700 was driven thanks to extensive feedback from programme-makers in the field. “We’ve spoken to hire companies who are working for production companies used by broadcasters in the US Europe, and the Middle East and the camcorder is a perfect solution for them,” says Brooking.

“By listening to our customers we found out what new features they wanted and we could feed that back to Japan in order to make the camcorders even better,” he adds. “It is about a subtle move away from being “blinded by technology”, to focusing on the features and benefits we can offer our customers.” 

Giving the customer what they want
Brooking was originally a cameraman working in Australia and South East Asia, where he was president of the Australian Cinematographers Society. . After basing himself in the UK, he then worked at broadcaster BSkyB in the UK for 13 years, before joining Sony in September 2008.

He has massive operational experience of how TV is made from a customer perspective and an excellent grip on what people want from the technology.

“When I started to shoot, all I had was black and white balance, a gain control and that was just about it,” he says. “Now we’re listening to the people using the equipment and offering them what they want – whether it is more choice of pre-sets, or a greater range of user-configurable menu options that are easy to understand, and quick to navigate to.”

One of the features most demanded by potential F800 customers was User Gamma. The PDW-700 has HyperGamma, which gives four pre-set gamma settings, but the PDW-F800 goes a step further by allowing camera operators to set up their own gamma with a laptop, using CVP File Editor software originally developed for the Emmy Award-winning HDW-F900.

User Gamma means that in camera tests, for example, if the camera operators want particular gamma curves for their production, they can write back up to five User Gamma settings, in addition to four pre-set gammas.

“It’s all about having more control,” Brooking says. “The gamma allows you to have more creative control over the image, particularly in the shadow detail and colour rendition .”

In some ways, this feature mirrors the capabilities of film, he adds. “User Gamma is a feature giving camera operators more control of image they’re shooting. We’re moving back into the realm of traditional cinematography, where camera operators and DOP’s have much more control over what they do.

“Another feature we’ve developed from listening to customers is the dual optical filter wheel,” says Brooking. “The PDW-700 Camcorder has one filter wheel. With the PDW-F800, we’ve gone for two optical filters, one for control over neutral density and the other over colour temperature.

“When shooting inside under tungsten light, the image does not require any filtering. But if you take the camcorder outside, all the pictures look blue. Historically, what you do as a cameraman is add an orange 85 filter to correct the blue cast. We decided to do this electronically, but top cinematographers have asked us to bring the manual control back again. This is what the optical filter wheels do.

“The PDW-F800 is the highest model in the XDCAM range. It is bringing in high-end features. People with a cinematographic background will be looking for features like this.”

Over and under-cranking

The PDW-F800 has Slow and Quick recording as standard. So, when shooting a programme you can over-crank up to twice normal speed. In other words, when you’re playing back, you have recorded at half real time. This is an important feature for drama, sports, documentaries and natural history.

“The camcorder records time lapse as well,” Brooking says. “Right down to one frame every 24 hours. It also allows frame accumulation up to 16 frames, which is great for recording under starlight without having to turn the gain on. It means the shutter is open for 16 frames of time for each frame recorded. It gives you the option of creating very interesting fluid time lapse sequences. It is very much a cine or film effect. If someone walks through the frame, it gives a really nice motion blur.”

Multi-format support

The PDW-F800 is an international camcorder that can shoot a large number of formats, including interlace and progressive.

“Progressive shooting is a big creative decision,” says Brooking. “‘Do I want to shoot interlace or, if I’m doing drama, will progressive shooting give me more of the look I am after?’ This is where this camcorder comes into its own.”

The PDW-F800 has multi-format recording flexibility, from 1080i, 25P, 23.98P, 720, 4:2:2, 4:2:0, IMX at 50, 40 or 30Mb/s, DVCAM quality SD, or PAL and NTSC 4:3 or 16:9. “It allows you to record everything from PAL or NTSC SD all the way up to 1080i and film style 24P or 25P,” says Brooking. “It is a multi-format recording device, all as standard.”

Support for Standard Definition might seem surprising on such a high-end camcorder, but the advantage of this is, if you are using the camcorder for a non-broadcast application, you can essentially double the record time on each Professional Disc. If you record in SD, you have 190 minutes on every Professional Disc. So, the cost per minute of recording is small. It makes SD really cost effective and this kind of flexibility really appeals to many customers.


Attention to detail

Customer feedback not only affected headline new features, but also a host of refinements that make a big difference in the way they work.

For example, the PDW-F800 has an image inverter, so camera operators can use two-thirds inch cinema lenses on the camcorder. It allows you to use Ultra Prime lenses and anamorphic lenses. Without the image inverter, the image would be upside down.

“Cinematographers are very attached to their Prime lenses. They give a beautiful image on any camera they’re put on to. The image inverter gives the end user access to their choice of optical Primes,” Brooking says.

Another new feature on the PDW-F800 is Focus Assist, which allows precise focusing.
When the viewfinder is switched on, a box is superimposed on the image. With anything in that box, the focus assist will provide a bar graph at the bottom of the viewfinder to indicate precisely how in-focus it is. As you pull focus, the bar chart moves to the right and at its sharpest point of focus, the bar chart is as long as it can be. As you pull through the focus, the bar chart shortens again. So it gives you a visual indicator as to what your focus is.

The PDW-F800 also has a range of marker indicators superimposed in the viewfinder showing the Safety, Aspect, 100%, User Box, SafeZone, Center, Skin Gate & Zebra. This is also available on the SDI output, so if you’re using a location monitor, the director can look at the output of the camcorder with these markers to see if the action is in the safe markers or not.

Advanced AV/IT Workflow

While Sony worked hard to integrate all the features high-end customers demanded, one key advantage of the PDW-700 remained unchanged; the radical ease-of-use made possible by the proven and cost-effective XDCAM workflow. TV broadcast production is rapidly moving to file-based production for convenience in acquisition and in the production environment allowing material to be moved cost effectively and efficiently. XDCAM HD422 is designed to fit in as easily as possible, offering 4:2:2 picture quality at 50Mb/s but with familiar MPEG2 long GOP compression.

“With file-based acquisition, the file can be in multiple places at one time,” Brooking says. “While I grade, someone else can be doing an edit, someone else can be making a promo, someone else can be adding titles. It is allowing assets to be in more than one place at once. You can take an XDCAM Professional Disc and ingest into a file-based production system that can move the material around.

“Tape is great. It is very cost effective, but it can only be in one place at one time and you can’t go faster than real time. People want to use a file-based system because it can save them money because it is saving them time. XDCAM also uses proxy files which save time, network bandwidth and storage capacity.”

Professional Disc itself is an exceptionally robust and reliable format which can withstand climatic extremes, having been used in everything from below freezing to over 55 degrees C.

Brooking concludes, “XDCAM is a reliable, cost effective format to shoot on and with the PDW-F800, people have a creative tool to allow them to create great TV.”


Versatility & upgradability

“Many of the add-on options available for the PDW-700 come as standard with the PDW-F800 so it is a very versatile camcorder,” says Brooking, who also stresses that the 700 can itself be upgraded with many key F800 features via firmware or option board upgrades.

The arrival of the PDW-F800 as a fully featured partner to the more mass market PDW-700 strengthens the XDCAM HD422 line-up significantly. First shipments of the F800 are expected in July and demand is likely to be high, so registering your interest with Engströms as early as possible is recommended.