The PXW-X180 incorporates three 1/3-inch type Full-HD Exmor™ CMOS sensors to achieve high resolution, high sensitivity, low noise, and wide dynamic range. The sensor has 2 million effective pixels and achieves full HD 1920 x 1080 shooting without pixel interpolation, enhancing shooting under severe lighting conditions and providing more freedom of creative expression.

The PXW-X180 is equipped with a G Series fixed 25x zoom lens with 26mm wide-angle. Due to a quick electric zoom function, the change of shooting from wide-angle to tele-angle can be made quickly. The lens has three independent control rings with end-stop, which means focus, zoom and iris can be manually controlled, making for better and faster adjustment.

The PXW-X180 supports not only MPEG HD 422 50 Mbps in MXF (Material eXchange Format), which is widely accepted by major broadcasters worldwide, but also XAVC Intra and XAVC Long GOP codecs. XAVC technology is based on the H.264 standard, which provides an exceptional performance compression technology. XAVC Intra (frame) compression means that every frame is encoded independent of the other frames – providing a better quality picture, without compromises. With a Long GOP codec, only certain frames are encoded individually. This allows the codec to squeeze the video into a much smaller bitrate than Intra technology. The main benefit is faster ingest and editing. XAVC Long GOP files also require less storage space than XAVC Intra files, providing budget savings on recording media. The XAVC codec adopts 10 bit sampling for high definition recording with rich tonal expression. The bite rate of XAVC recording is 111 or 112 Mbps at 1080/59.94i or 50i and 89, or 112 Mbps at 1080/23.98P or 25p. The high bit rate gives a better quality picture.

As well as shooting at XAVC HD, MPEG HD 422 50 Mbps and MPEG HD 420 35 Mbps, the camcorder also supports DVCAM at 25 Mbps in MXF file format and AVCHD in MTS file format, which is compatible with NXCAM camcorders. MPEG HD 422 gives a high quality image with more detailed colour reproduction, as well as being ideal for chromakeying. It is also compatible with other XDCAM HD 422 and NXCAM camcorders, including the PMW-500, the PMW-200, HXR-NX3/VG1 and many others, which streamlines workflow and reduces time in the edit. High-quality MPEG HD422 50 Mbps is fully compliant with the latest EBU recommendations for long-form broadcast production and is widely accepted in broadcasting stations and production houses. This recording capability makes the PXW-X180 ideal for a wide range of different applications, including newsgathering and documentary production.

By attaching the supplied dongle IFU-WLM3, the PXW-X180 can be remotely controlled from a smartphone or tablet computer (iOS 4.3 through 7.0 or Android 2.3 through 4.3) via a Wi-Fi connection, and recorded video files can be transferred from camcorder to smartphone in MP4 format.* One-touch authentication is also possible with smartphones that offer NFC connectivity. The required Content Browser Mobile™ mobile smartphone application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or App Store.

* Wi-Fi operation cannot be guaranteed with all smartphones and tablet computers.

The PXW-X180 can record proxy video H.264 on an SD card. The resolution and bitrate of proxy video can be changed for a more flexible workflow. The proxy files are recorded in MP4 format for better compatibility with broadcast systems. The lightweight proxy video files are generated separately from the main line recording and recorded to SD cards for quick sharing of content over low-bandwidth mobile networks.

The PXW-X180 is equipped with two SxS memory card slots. The camcorder is compatible with SxS PRO+ and SxS-1 memory cards, XQD, SDXC and SDHC cards can be also used with an appropriate card adaptor. Two media slots can record in either “Simul” or “Relay” mode. “Simul” mode permits simultaneous recording to two memory cards, while “Relay” mode automatically switches recording from the first to the second memory card when the first is full. The user can set up the two Start/Stop buttons on the PXW-X180, one on the grip and one on the camcorder body, to independently start and stop recording on different memory cards while recording in Simul mode.

The PXW-X180 is equipped with a variable ND Filter function, allowing you to choose either four conventional mechanical ND filter positions or the linear control dial. The optical filter changes the density electrically, allowing the light amount to be reduced more conveniently. The density can be changed gradually and fluidly. Different from conventional optical ND filters, the ND filter on the PXW-X180 can be controlled from 1/4ND to 1/128ND linearly. By choosing the density value properly, the iris control has more flexibility.

The PXW-X180 is equipped with a Multi Interface Shoe (MI Shoe) that has an electric interface in its mechanical attachment allowing the camcorder to communicate with an attached accessory. Accessories attached to the MI Shoe can be controlled by the camcorder. Using an MI Shoe connection, the audio signal from a UWP-D11 or UWP-D12 wireless microphone package can be input from the wireless microphone receiver to the PXW-X180 without an XLR cable. The power can be supplied from the PXW-X180 to the receiver and a battery is not required for the receiver operation. So, for example, if the HVL-LBPC video light is attached to the MI Shoe, video light power can be switched on and off from the camcorder.

This 0.5-inch OLED viewfinder has the incredible clarity of 1024 x 768 High Definition, plus superb OLED brightness, contrast and response. The high resolution of the viewfinder allows better precision of manual focus operations and eliminates any colour-breaking phenomenon.

The camcorder offers numerous connections to suit the broadcast workflow, including 3G HD-SDI, HDMI®, USB, composite output, timecode input/output and genlock input. The 3G-SDI connector is able to output the 1080/59.94P or 50P signal. Down-conversion output from HD to SD is also possible. Simultaneous output from both SDI and HDMI is possible. The Rec Trigger signal can be sent through SDI and HDMI to link an external recording device.

The PXW-X180 has a LANC interface. Using a LANC remote controller such as the RM-1BP and the VCT-PG11RMB, the focus, zoom, rec start/stop and rec review can be controlled remotely.

The PXW-X180 is equipped with a GPS device. The GPS data is automatically recorded in two file locations.