PMW-320: Exclusive Interview with Product Planner Ando-san

Inside details on new XDCAM EX shoulder-mount camcorder

On the eve of NAB 2010 and the launch of the latest XDCAM EX shoulder mount camcorder, we spoke to Product Planner Shigeyuki Ando (pictured above) about the thinking behind Sony’s most affordable solid state shoulder-mount camcorder to date. In answering our questions, Ando-san consulted widely with the whole engineering team - particularly lead engineer Honda-san - to provide a true representation of the whole team’s thinking.

How influential was customer research on this project?

The PMW-320 is very much a product designed by the “voice” of XDCAM EX customers. Sony's product planning team has direct contact with hundreds of key customers world-wide, including broadcasters, dealers and also individual users. Feedback from these customers is essential for deciding the specifications of Sony products such as PMW-320.

In this instance, the first generation of XDCAM EX products (the hand-held PMW-EX1 and semi-shoulder PMW-EX3) were very well received in the market. Outstanding image quality and the rising popularity of solid state media are a key part of this ongoing success.

Once customers were won over by the image quality and workflow of XDCAM EX, we began to receive feedback from people that needed a shoulder mount type camcorder. One of the first considerations in developing such a product is the fact that there’s a large, established line-up of 2/3” HD lens available - indicating a clear level of customer demand. That’s the main reason why we developed the 2/3” PMW-350 first. Using the newly developed 2/3" HD EXmor CMOS imager technology, the PMW-350 presented a new level of picture quality and became XDCAM EX’s flagship model.

At the same time, we were also conscious of extensive feedback from customers who really wanted more affordable pricing for a shoulder mount XDCAM EX camcorder. In particular, we were aware many of our loyal DVCAM users have been waiting for a tapeless successor model to hugely popular DVCAM shoulder mount camcorders such as the DSR-250P/450WSPL etc. These customers are increasingly interested in the high speed workflow possible with solid state media, as well as considering the migration from Standard Definition to High Definition. The PMW-320 was specifically developed to meet the requirements of these customers. For example, we knew many of these customers want the capability to still work in Standard Definition, so we made sure to include DVCAM recording and playback as a standard feature.

We’re really proud of the product we’ve created for these loyal customers. The PMW-320 adopts the same high picture quality as the acclaimed PMW-EX3, almost all the same high-end features as the PMW-350 and a familiar, conventional UI layout - all at the same time as realising a more affordable price point than the PMW-350.

So to summarise, the PMW-320 was directly born out out of customer feedback.