UPDATE: Now we get to see what Canon does with the same sensor. That Sony BSI gets around a bit!
Don’t worry, innovation is alive and well. Although innovation makes up just 1% of the compact camera market!
Last year Sony developed a back-side-illuminated CMOS sensor, the first on the market. It’s been around for a good few months now, enough time to find itself in a few high end Sony compacts. But Sony didn’t stop there, they are licensing the same Exmor R 1/2.4inch sensor to Casio. (See it reverse engineered here)
What’s interesting is that for HD video, the two companies are taking totally different paths.
Sony decided to take the graceful route – upping resolution to an impressive 1080i. The Sony TX7 ultra-slim compact and HX5 super zoom compact actually record at 1440x1080x60i, so it’s an interlaced signal which you can bring down to 30p in Voltaic or Neoscene.
I’d have preferred 24p native but the compression is still cutting edge – AVCHD at 17mbps, the same as the GH1.
Casio took an altogether more risky and interesting approach. Resolution is capped lower at 720p but it’s 30p native and not wrapped in an interlaced 60i stream, which means pull-down is not necessary before editing the footage!
Because these cameras both feature the same back-side-illuminated (BSI) CMOS they do pretty well for compacts in low light. You can shoot at ISO 800 at F3.2 on the Casio without too much noise. Rather than getting noisy, the image gets a little muddy and a little under saturated at ISO 1600 and beyond. But still good for a compact.
But Casio’s risky approach gives us 120fps at 640×480, and even higher 240fps at very low resolutions. 640×480 actually gives you enough detail for web video and Vimeo but things suffer full screen and it isn’t 16:9
Casio have a poor reliability record, but it remains to be seen whether this also applies to their newer models. They’re pushing the Sony sensor to breaking point. The camera even features an option which shoots 10 megapixel stills at 40fps, generating insane stress and heat for the electronic components although only for 1 second. That’s some tiny buffer!
The camera also features RAW, whilst the Sony doesn’t. But the RAW files take 10 seconds to write to the card!! Again, electronics under stress. Casio really turned the Sony kit to the dark side.
The only other downer is the lack of 24p, whilst other compacts have it – the Exmor sensor doesn’t support it at a hardware level, so no amount of patches and firmware adjustments can bring it back. I begin to wonder how many filmmakers Sony and Casio have working for them in Japan. Answer – not many. Because 30p sucks aesthetically, 640×480 in 4:3 aspect sucks aesthetically and everybody knows that. Even something like 800×440 would have been better! But still, the slow-mo you get from 120p is remarkable and these are the first generation of consumer compact (not bridge) cameras to have it (for the record the Casio F1 was first to the market in 2008, but was incredibly expensive, built like a bulky bridge camera, was very noisy even at ISO 400 and is now obsolete)
The Sony’s have a better screens and the TX7’s is touch. The live view feed however does not make the most of the higher screen resolution, so the lower res Casio doesn’t suffer too much by comparison, and since it also lacks GPS, it’s cheaper.
The HX5 has a 25mm 10x zoom lens – another great new feature not possible until recently, the TX7 has a 25mm 4x zoom since it uses a folding lens design and not an extending one. The Casio FH100 actually has a better lens. It’s marginally quicker at F3.2 and it’s very slightly wider at 24mm. Also, on the Sony’s video mode the FOV is reduced to 30mm for stabilisation reasons. On the Casio you get to use the full 24mm wide angle.
Design wise, I much prefer the Sonys.
Can cutting edge compacts like these – whose arrival on the market began just this year – compete with HDSLRs in the HD filmmaking stakes?
Of course not, on pure image quality alone. But there is something a little magical about making a compact camera dance on a type-rope. With such long lenses and a relatively fast aperture, you can actually get something approaching shallow depth of field – and because this comes the hard way, and from a compact camera, it comes with extra kudos.
For the first people to make an HDSLR-like mood pieces challenging the aesthetics of say, Philip Bloom’s work, a prize awaits. Not money. Not recognition. But fun, enjoyment, satisfaction and the wry smile which comes after knowing for sure that when people see your film on Vimeo, they’ll know it’s the talent behind the camera and not the big expensive set-up that made it happen.
That’s what I love most about the little Sony TX7, HX5 and FH100!
