Other: New book - Complete Guide to the Sony PXW-Z750 and PXW-Z450

[Doug Jensen]

Just in case anyone else here is interested in getting back to the huge advantages that only 2/3" cameras can offer, I'm happy to announce that I have just released a 400-page book that covers the PXW-Z750 and Z450 from A to Z. The Z750 finally gives us proper video camcorder with 4K, 10-bit 4:2:2 color, global shutter, S-LOG, native B4 lens mount, slot-in wireless audio, and great ergomics, Sony's new XAVC-L200 codec, and all the other bells and whistles you expect to find a high-end television camera. I must say that it is really great to be back working with a 24x Fujinon lens! The book includes download links for five custom Scene Files and several excellent custom User Gamma Files that were created by Steve Shaw of Light Illusion. http://www.Z750.VortexMedia.com

Chapters:
1. HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
2. PARTS DIAGRAMS
3. INFO DISPLAY SCREENS
4. STATUS PAGES
5. PXW-Z750 and PXW-Z450 HIGHLIGHTS
6. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CAMERAS
7. MENU SYSTEM OVERVIEW
8. VIEWFINDER/LCD DISPLAY INFO
9. VIEWFINDER OPERATION
10. BATTERIES and POWER
11. MARKERS
12. RECORDING FORMATS
13. MEMORY CARDS
14. PROXY FILES
15. CLIP NAMING
16. ASSIGN SWITCHES
17. WHITE BALANCE
18. BLACK BALANCE
19. APR (Automatic Pixel Noise Reduction)
20. TIMECODE and GENLOCK
21. ALL FILES and other USER DATA FILES
22. USER MENUS and USER FILES
23. SLOW & QUICK MOTION
24. INTERVAL RECORDING
25. PICTURE CACHE
26. GAIN
27. ND FILTERS
28. SHUTTER SPEED
29. EXPOSURE
30. CHOOSING A SHOOTING MODE: SDR or HDR
31. SDR PAINT MENUS
32. USER GAMMA FILES
33. SDR SCENE FILES
34. HDR SHOOTING MODE (HYBRID LOG GAMMA and S-LOG3)
35. AUDIO
36. WIRELESS AUDIO
37. LENSES
38. LENS FILES
39. VIDEO OUTPUT and MONITORING
40. RECORDING EXTERNAL VIDEO
41. VIDEO PLAYBACK and ESSENCE MARKS
42. NETWORK FUNCTIONS (live streaming and FTP transfers)
43. PLANNING METADATA
44. CATALYST BROWSE
45. RESOURCES

 

[Doug Jensen]

Well, I can now personally attest to the weather sealing and ruggedness of the Z750. I was shooting at a motocross track on Saturday and, due to Covid, I pretty much had the place to myself except for the riders. Thinking it was safe to leave the camera on the tripod for a minute I went over the hill to get something from my van. When I got back I found that a water truck had come by and drenched the camera while I was gone during that two minutes. The camera was dripping wet and my shoulder strap, Rycote windscreen were soaked completely through. Fortunately the camera was powered off when it got it by the spray. I took it back to my van, spent about 10 minutes drying it off, and then went back to shooting as if nothing had happened. Lesson learned. But interesting to find out first-hand just how sealed the camera is.

 

[Paul Cronin]

Nice Doug,

And a shoulder mount with B4, miss that setup, but like my light SH1 for my on the water shooting.

Having raced Enduro I always enjoy your motocross footage, and the ice racing footage you took.

 

[Doug Jensen]

Having raced Enduro I always enjoy your motocross footage, and the ice racing footage you took.

Now I've created a monster. A lot of the riders at the motocross track know who I am now and want me to post the footage. I was just shooting for fun and to keep my follow-focusing skills sharp (pun). During this time of covid and fewer shoots it is easy to become rusty. After trimming it down to the best stuff I've got about 50 minutes of solid footage, but no time do anything decent with it except just post the raw. I wish I knew a hot young up and comer editor who could take my raw footage and cut something cool together to sharpen his/her own skills at edting. I am not cool. I have no eye or sense of timing for that kind of editing.

 

[Doug Jensen]

I cut together a short highlights video of some of my 4K 60 fps footage from the motocross track last weekend. It was fun to shoot. Nothing better than just getting out and shooting for the fun of it and not having to answer to anyone. I've got a ton more footage that was shot 120 fps in HD but haven't had time to do anything with it yet. I decided to keep the 4K and HD separate so could post this video in 4K.