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The 'Sony DSR-450WSP Camcorder
The 'Sony DSR-450WSP Camcorder'
In 2008 Sony stopped production of the hugely popular DSR-570WSP, leaving the popular middle ground market in a state of flux. Fear not, as the long awaited replacement camera has arrived.
Designed to be kind to the planet, the new 'green' DVCAM widescreen camcorder has in fact grown up. The full function menu (based on the Sony HDW-750P) now has 78 pages to customise the feel of the camera. This includes a 16 point matrix which is 4 more that the Sony DVW-790WSP.
Is the new 'green' Sony DSR-450WSP a worthy successor to the Sony DSR-570WSP?
You don't have to worry about camera 'looks' as the new feature of a memory stick reader allows the transfer and saving of set ups from one camera to another. We did try downloading a Sony HDW-750P setup on to the Sony DSR-450WSP, but unfortunately the camera tested could not see the file structure. This tends to indicate that Sony are not allowing cross transfers.
Ergonomically the bulk of the camera is similar in both weight and dimensions to the old camera. The shape is very different; folded with a slanted rear. The wedge plate to lens height is greater; closer to the Sony DVW-790WSP specification. Black and white viewfinder, the DXF-801 is carried over from the Sony DSR-570WSP. The big visual difference is the new flip out 4:3 2.5" LCD screen. It is a shame that Sony missed a trick here and didn't fit the new Z1 16:9 3.5" screen to this model, preferring to use the standard unit fitted to the Sony DSR-400P. Is the screen in the right place? Well for the camera operator, yes, the further forward the better.
Performance of the new camera is a step forward rather than a leap. Fitted with PowerHAD-EX CCD's and 14bit processing, you may expect really punchy pictures. The figures suggest sharper pictures with the same sensitivity, however we found almost the opposite. Resolution does look marginally better; the shock comes from the nearly one stop more sensitivity and adding in a finer noise due to the increased pixel count, gain is possibly as much as six to nine decibels more usable. Where the increase in performance really kicks in is the flexibility of the set up menu. Extra latitude can be squeezed from the back stretch and knee items probably adding an extra 3 or 4 stops if needed.
Sony has bitten the bullet and removed the optical colour correction from this camera. This means they are extremely confident of the processing power and sensitivity. The only filter wheel left is for neutral density filters with clear, 1/4, 1/16 and 1/64 fitted. Daylight correction or D5600 setting is switched in by either menu or illuminated button on the base of the handle. Again white offsets are catered for in the menu.
The colour correction is now electronic and can be switched in the menu or by the dedicated button.
One advantage of using the PowerHAD-EX CCD is the ability to work in the progressive segmented mode to give that 'flicker film effect' with the PAL camera capable of working in 25Psf. Slow shutter has been added with up to 16 frame exposure. Interestingly this is only operational in interlace mode.
We found the interval recording to lack the sophistication of the broadcast cameras fitted with the optional picture cache boards. We would use the term 'burst recording' when describing the minimum number of frames recordable as half a second or 12 frames and with a minimum interval of thirty seconds in PAL. If you need this function the XDCAM disk camcorders are far better suited to the role.
Audio appears to equal that of the old camera, but again Sony missed out on fitting the improved automatics found on the XDCAMs, this would have greatly helped the one man owner operator.
DV and DVCAM recording, on both the small and large tape sizes improve the recording times to over four and a half hours in DV SP mode on DVCAM PDV-184ME tape.
As the camera is firmly aimed at the ENG market one area we found wanting, is the loading. Sources in Sony indicate the loading mechanism is a reworked version of the one used in the DSR-250P so it should work impeccably. The trouble manifests itself when cycling from recording through ejecting to reloading and on to recording; we managed a little under thirty two seconds; nearly double that of the older DSR-570WSP.
The Sony DSR-450WSP is a worthy successor to the Sony DSR-570WSP. It is capable of producing excellent pictures with the advantage of crossing over into the lower cost drama and soap arenas. Remote control is available by using the broadcast units either the RM-B150 or RM-B750. They are more expensive but give greater flexibility. The removal of the CCU and rear adaptor connectivity will cost some sales to educational and smaller studios, however the optional SDI output far out ways this loss and clever engineering can provide an effective workaround.