PMW-500 professional digital camera

PMW-500 professional digital camera manufactured by Sony in about 2011, with 12x zoom Canon lens model YJ12x6.5B4.

This camera was used by the BBC, mainly for regional and national news programmes in the UK and abroad. It was ready to go, straight out of the back of a camera operator's vehicle, making it invaluable when arriving at a breaking news story. All the controls are tactile, manually-controlled knobs and switches, making it easy for the operator to find and adjust them while the camera is on their shoulder. The operator could look through the viewfinder eyepiece attached to the handle or look at a pull-out screen to see the picture they are capturing. The lens is removable and some operators carried an alternative lens, but that was rarely needed.