Sony HXR-NX70U NXCAM Professional Camcorder
Technical Details
Brand Name: Sony
Model: HXR-NX70U
Media Type: SD
Lens Type: zoom
Optical zoom: 10 x
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Product Details
Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
ASIN: B0055XL8GW
Item model number: HXR-NX70U
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,796 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
Date first available at Amazon.com: June 15, 2011
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
Sony HXR-NX70U NXCAM Professional Camcorder
NXCAM Handy Type Camcorder
From its G-Lens through the CODEC, the HXR-NX70 is a true NXCAM camcorder with the added bonus of IPX54 certification. Its compact size and XLR pod, coupled to NXCAM quality and performance makes it ideal for a wide range of applications.
Sony HXR-NX70U NXCAM Professional Camcorder
Highlights
Sony Ultra-wide Angle 26.3mm G lens captures brilliant, accurate color reproduction and sharp, detailed images out to the corners of the frame. In addition, the 26.3mm focal length offers a broader perspective for capturing a wider perspective.
Assignable Lens Ring (Focus/Zoom/Iris) The HXR-NX70U lens has an assignable lens ring -via a rotary switch- that allows manual adjustment of focus, iris, and zoom settings. The camera also has a professional style (front to back) zoom rocker, similar to the HXR-NX5 for variable, servo zoom control.
Optical SteadyShot image stabilization with Active Mode compensates for greater degrees of camera shake to deliver stunningly smooth video from wide angle to full telephoto shooting. In addition, the innovative 3-Way Shake-Canceling feature adds electronic roll stability for even smoother video capture.
Native 16:9, Back-illuminated Exmor R™ CMOS sensor. Sony’s back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensors are well known now for low-light sensitivity, image clarity and drastically reduced noise.
Infrared NightShot® (night vision) filming and photography. The HXR-NX70U incorporates an IR illuminator that produces moderate levels of infrared light, enabling effective night time imaging under low light conditions. The resulting images are typically higher resolution than other night vision technologies.
AVCHD Recording + 96GB*5 embedded Flash Memory. As in other NXCAM camcorder, the recording format is AVCHD. One Memory card slot accepts either Memory Stick or SD Cards. Its built-in 96GB flash memory permits long recording times exceeding 10hrs at 24Mbps and 8hrs at 28Mbps. Simultaneous recording to the Memory card and built-in flash is possible in some modes.
1920x1080 60P full HD recording at 28Mbps. The new PS mode with a 28Mbps recording bit-rate enables the HXR-NX70U to capture full HD at 60P. Its full HD 1920x1080 recordings can be slowed down too 24P during post production for beautiful 2.5 slow motion.
GPS Geo Tagging A built-in GPS receiver allows viewing the HXR-NX70U’s current location coordinates on the LCD display, as well as "tagging" the clips with shooting locations. The receiver gives the ability to “tag” shooting locations as a future reference if it is necessary to return to the same location or to create a log of areas covered when surveying remote locations. Additionally, the receiver automatically adjusts the camcorder’s clock to the proper time zone when international travel is part of your assignment. Locations can be tracked on Google maps and all GPS data can be extracted with a PC.
Sony HXR-NX70U NXCAM Professional Camcorder
3.5” touch-screen XtraFine™ LCD display (921K). A large 3.5” (16:9) XtraFine LCD screen (921K) displays sharp, bright, vivid images, for composing more easily; even outdoors. By reducing glare, remarkably higher contrast is achieved, delivering more natural, realistic colors and allowing easier viewing in bright lighting conditions.
Direct Copy to external HDD without PC. As other Sony NXCAM camcorders, it is possible to “field backup” entire cards or important shots by copying footage directly from your camcorder to an external USB hard disk drive; all without the need for a computer. The HXR-NX70U can also access clips stored on the external hard drive for playback on a monitor, allowing utilizing the camcorder’s powerful playback indexing features.
Detachable handle/ professional audio control unit. A detachable audio pod includes two balanced XLR audio inputs with phantom power and attenuation options required by professionals. Default audio settings for XLR recording are highlighted in green for easy reference in the field under difficult lighting conditions. The included ECM-XM1 shotgun microphone provides audio recording performance similar to larger shoulder-mounted ENG style cameras. Note: The XLR adaptor and ECM-XM1 microphone are not rainproof or dustproof.
Sony HXR-NX70U NXCAM Professional Camcorder
The HXR-NX70 is the first camroder with IPX54 certification. IPX54 enables shooting in rainy and dusty conditions.
Technology
a has a glossy plastic finish which doesn't exactly exude quality or make it feel like a high-end camera. But construction on this camera is very tight. The plastic is light-weight but its not flimsy like you would expect. There is no rubberized handgrip, which I think was a mistake to omit this on this camera. Especially since its predecessor (and its competitors) have them. Outside of that, the hand grip is a very nice size. The one upshot to the lightweight plastic is that the camera feel very light with the kit lens attached.
One thing you have to watch out for is that the camera feels very out of balance when attaching a heavier lens. The Canon EF-S 18-200, while a good performer optically when paired with the T3, feels way too front heavy. And this will be true with a lot of the pro-grade Canon lenses that you attach to the T3. That said, this camera is a perfect DSLR for hiking due to its light-weight design (when used with the kit lens). It doesn't weigh you down or make you feel like you have a boat anchor around your neck.
The buttons and menu system have the typical degree of straight-forwardness found in most Canons. Canon's menu system is easy to learn and navigate through. That makes the T3 a good candidate for a student or someone that wants to learn photography in general and wants a camera they can grow with. Of course it offers full Auto mode but when you're ready to try and manipulate the more advanced manual controls, the Canon Rebel T3 is about as unintimidating as they come. It's also a great entry into the DSLR realm for hobbyists currently using an advanced point and shoot (and can be found for almost the same price as some advanced point and shoots).
With the exception of burst shooting, this camera's performance is excellent. Excellent start-up, shot-to-shot, and autofocus performance. It has 9 autofocus points compared to its predecessor's 7 points. I do not reccommend this camera as a budget action shooter. It has a slow continuous burst rate (2.7fps) and a very limited buffer. The Nikon D3200 shoots at 4 frames per second, but that is currently retailing for $200 more than the T3. So you'll have to decide whether or not that feature is important to you.
The camera comes with a nice, chunky battery which delivers excellent battery life. The viewfinder is 95% coverage and I found it to be satisfactory, some people say its really cramped but personally I think it's alright. The screen resolution is rather low at 230k, but in real-world use it's not as bad as you would think, and somewhat viewable in direct sunlight. I think both the viewfinder and the LCD are of better quality than the ones found on the Nikon D3100. And overall, the T3 is faster and more fluid than the D3100. After having shot with both cameras, I personally think the T3 is more enjoyable to shoot with... despite the D3100's better plastic and more advanced spec sheet.
The camera ships with the standard 18-55 kit lens but I suggest buying the kit which includes the additional 55-250 lens. While I do not like the kit lens performance when paired with the Rebel T2i & Rebel T3i, I think when it's paired with the T3 it's a bit of a different story. The lower end kit lenses have an easier time resolving detail on the T3's 12 megapixel sensor vs. the 18 megapixel sensor on the T2i/T3i. So, do not let a salesperson or anybody else say that the image quality on this camera is inferior solely on the basis that it has a lower megapixel count than its linemates. However, when you put a higher-end lens on the T2i/T3i, they do trounce the T3 when it comes to resoliving detail (not in noise performance though).
That said, overall, the image quality is excellent. Detail capture is good, metering is excellent, exposure is excellent, dynamic range is pretty good, color reproduction is punchy without being cartoonish and oversaturated. The ISO performance is excellent. Excellent performance up to and including ISO1600. One minor quibble is that the JPEGS come out just a tad soft. But they respond well to a little bit of in-camera sharpening or of course you can shoot in RAW as well. But overall, a very impressive performance from the T3.
The movie mode, while delivering solid video quality, is rather limited. It's 1280x720 HD and there are very limited manual controls. It's more like something you would use for quick clips rather than longer videos or movies. I think the Rebel T2i/T3i or EOS 60d are better choices if you're equal parts into videos and photos as they have far better video modes than the T3 does. But if you're main interest is stills photography, this probably won't matter much to you.Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm IS II Lens and EOS HD Movie Mode (Black)
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The most amazing camcorder I've ever seen, August 24, 2012
By Chris MacAskill (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Sony HXR-NX30 Palm Size NXCAM HD Camcorder with Projector & 96GB HDD (Electronics)
I sometimes shoot high-end videos for my company with dSLRs to get beautiful, shallow depth of field, but I bought this mostly for my family. I have 10 grandkids under the age of 7 and you can't follow them around with a dSLR and catch all the action without being out of focus and shaky. To my surprise, the footage looks so good from this camcorder I can use it for certain commercial footage too.
Its #1 feature is the floating lens. It's so freaky to look at the lens while moving the camera back and forth and see how it absorbs the shake more than any camcorder ever has that I know of, by far. Where the floating lens is most amazing is when you zoom long and you're trying to hold steady but your shaky hands can't quite get it still enough. They can now. It has a 17x zoom, so long is really long.
What I expected is it would provide a look like a Steadicam does. Unfortunately, it's not really that and it took me awhile to understand why. For one thing, it's so light that it's easy to rotate it right or left as you're walking or running with it and it's hanging down by the handle. A steadicam doesn't roll right or left easily because it has a long vertical axis. The floating lens doesn't prevent that. Also, since it's so light, it's easy to move it up and down, side to side, and the floating lens only partially helps that. It's the shake when zoomed in and you're holding it fairly still but the lens is so long that it normally would make it all shaky where it seriously smooths out the shake. In other words, actually moving it sideways is not where the floating lens helps so much; it's when you rotate it left and right quickly that it does.