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SX is a memory

What’s unusual about this picture? Nothing really, except these are the last two Sony SX cameras in our system. They had been sitting in a cupboard for well on 18 months waiting to be dispatched.

To the non-camera readers, it will mean little, but it does represent a passing in technology that still exists in some networks, but predominately is being phased out.

Most networks seem to have moved into the digital age and with that move, came a transition of cameras. Many changed to the Sony XD. It’s a disk format camera; much like recording onto a DVD only the disk can be reused much like a tape was. But the camera still has moving parts; disks still need to be ejected or inserted but there is no lace up of tape mechanism, so it’s faster.

My network chose the P2 made by Panasonic. It’s a memory card system that works well and has many advantages over the Sony XD. But generally, both serve their respective networks well.

And so we return to the Sony SX, who faithfully gave this network many good years, over 10 years of service. It was these cameras that bought many stories from the field home, were there when many an event happened. We often forget the role the equipment played how close a relationship we garnered with these cameras.

Am I sad to see them go? I guess. Mine was old and weathered but I trusted it. I knew it well, it’s little quirks and how best to get good results from it. Technology changes and so do our work practices with that. I guess now I can understand how the old film cameramen felt when they gave up their film cameras for a tape camera.

It heralded the end of an era.
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