Yesterday we decided to do a low light comparison test between our Sony DSR-PD170 and our EX1. Unless you've been living alone on an island for the last few years you already know that the PD170 is the current low light king in the MiniDV class of video cameras. Heck, it's even the low light champ in ANY class of handheld-style camcorder. There are a lot of folks out there asking the same question I've had ever since Sony originally announced the PMW-EX1: is this an HD replacement for the PD170? Okay, on with the testing. We set up the two Sonys side by side and pointing into the darkest corner of the room, which contained a couple of bookshelves with (you guessed it) some books and several photos in various types of picture frames. Right off, let me say that this was not a scientific analysis of the low light capabilities of these two cameras based on luminance values, etc. but simply our perception of brightness looking at the flip out viewscreens. I don't even own a light meter. Test one. The PD170 was set to 60i, 1/60 shutter speed, iris wide open and picture gain at 0. The EX1 was set to 1080p, shutter speed 1/60, iris wide open and picture gain at 0. During all three of these tests the zoom position of both cameras was at full wide (no telephoto). We look at the viewscreens of both cameras to see which one has the brighter image. The PD170 wins. But not by much. Boy is it close! Test two. Both cameras stay at the same settings except now they both have +9 dialed in on the picture gain. Wait a minute. Is the EX1 now showing a brighter image? Um, no. But there's so much more detail in the EX1 image that there's the perception that the image is brighter. It's really almost too close to call now. Here's the difference: there's considerably less eye strain trying to pick out detail in the EX1 image than there is looking at the PD170 image, even though the PD170's picture is a bit brighter. Looking closely at the two viewscreens we can see a certain amount of picture noise from the increased gain setting, but ONLY in the PD170 viewscreen. Test 3. Both cameras still at the same settings but now we crank up the gain to +18 on both. In the PD170 viewscreen there's now 100% zebra bars showing on the edges of some of the books and on some of the picture frames. Looking at the photos (within the PD170's viewscreen) you know that there are people in the photos but there's no detail. It's more like looking at silhouettes of people. On the other hand, the picture in the viewscreen of the EX1 now also has 100% zebra bars on the same objects and in the same places on those objects. The perception is that the image is still brighter than the PD170 because of the dramatic difference in detail but it's still a slightly darker image. In the EX1 LCD screen we both observe that the people in our framed photos are detailed and recognizable without straining our eyes at all. As I've already said, the casual observer is going to perceive the EX1 image as being the brighter of the two even though it's not quite as bright. And the big surprise? At +18 gain on the EX1 there's substantially less picture noise than the PD170. The EX1 does have some noise but the actual noise grains are much smaller, presumably because the image pixels are so much smaller than the ones on the PD170's chips. I'm going out on a limb here and will say that the noise in the EX1's picture is at least 60% less noticable compared to the PD170. This fact really surprised me. So much for worrying that the new Exmor CMOS sensors in the EX1 were going to be the Achilles heel with this camera. I would have been happy just seeing the SAME amount of picture noise as the PD170 has, but this.........well, this totally blew me away. We're done here. Hope you've enjoyed the articles and that this has helped those who are considering a purchase of the PMW-EX1. EX1 Low Light Test Update: Friday Dec.14th 2007 Yesterday I re-did the low light test between the DSR-PD170 and the PMW-EX1 because I wanted a more reliable result by actually recording video clips, then generating frame grabs for comparison. I still stand by my claim that the PD170 has a slightly brighter picture when viewing the flip out screens of both cameras. This observation was also confirmed by a second person when she also had a look during the 3 tests, but the frame grabs tell a different story. The EX1 now has the edge on the PD170 in the overall brightness catagory (If you can believe it). As for the picture noise differences, it's a toss up when looking at the frame grabs. For those interested in seeing the actual results, please be patient. There's a chance that the pictures will be posted on the Creative COW web site sometime next week, then the experts can decide. | 
