Sony has shown a potential spoiler for Panasonic’s AG-AF100/AF101 that boasts a larger Super 35mm sensor and 50p recording.
This will be an entry-level digital cinema camera, recording AVCHD at 24Mbps – however, full details are still sketchy and where Panasonic offers 50p/60p recording (on its high-end consumer SD700 and TM700 camcorders) it uses 28Mbps MPEG-4-AVC/H.264 recording, which is not part of the AVCHD standard. The S35 NXCAM will also have uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 output through HD-SDI and/or HDMI.
The camera will use an E-mount interchangeable lens system identical to the Alpha series lens system used on the NEX-5 and NEX-3 stills/video cameras and Handycam NEX-VG10. It will also be possible to fit A-mount lenses via a lens adaptor, and PL-mount lenses with another adaptor (which may be part of the package). There are also other third-party lens adaptors to allow the camera to be used with lenses from the likes of Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Leica.
Besides 50p (and presumably 60p), it will also record 25p (and 30/24p), although Sony currently seems to be planning separate European (25/50p) and US (24/30/60p) versions rather than a single worldwide model.
It will use a Super 35mm-sized CMOS sensor, apparently the same sensor as on the PMW-F3, and record to SDHC or Memory Stick media. It will have two-channel uncompressed audio and its design is based on a lot of feedback it got at IBC when it showed the VG10, so it will have XLR audio connections, improved ergonomics, and a wider range of recording formats. List price should be about €6,000 and it is expected to ship after NAB.
