It's great, but the minute a camera like that on a tripod touches the ground in a U.S. National Park, expect a tap on the shoulder from the park ranger to see your permit. I used to drive around with a tripod strapped to the bed of my truck, and a VCT quick release plate. I'd pull over, plop on the F55, shoot and run. The height of the truck bed put me looking over the top of people's heads, and the ball mount would let me level for panning. What a stupid hassle. Even worse now that you have to make reservations months in advance just to enter the park.
CAMCORDERS: New Sony Camcorder Z200
- Thread starter Newsguy
- Start date
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
That has not been my experience at all. I shoot in the national parks and national seashores many times each year with big cameras like my F55, Z750, and fully-rigged FX6. I've had many interactions with rangers and they have all been completely cordial. Not once have I ever been shut down or made to feel uncomfortable. A couple of times I've been asked casually what I'm shooting for. I just say I'm on vacation or shooting for fun, and that satisfies their curiosity. Sometimes it leads into a deeper discussion of the gear or shooting techniques if they are into photo/video themselves. And sometimes they've given me advice about something to shoot.
Just so you know, if they do get in your face, they can't stop you or kick you out if you are shooting by yourself with a single camera, no props, no actors, nothing else. You have as much right to be there as anyone else with a camera -- tripod or not. Just because you have a big professional camera does not make any difference.
Now, don't even get me started on police, security, and business owners outside of the parks giving me a hassle. That is a totally different story. But again, as long as you are on public property, tell 'em to go pound sand and just keep shooting.
Last edited:
Bassman2003
Veteran
Thanks for posting. I was number 6 to like the video! He does a great job and needs more followers.
The one thing that is jumping out to me are the skin tones. He has a three-side by side shot of S-Cinetone, 709 Tone and ITU 709 with the girl standing in front of some greenery. . I think the ITU 709 was the most natural. (S-Cinetone seems to be over exposed on her skin). In other YouTube videos I have seen nice skin tones (like this guy's fireplace scene) and some not nice. The ProAV review had some outdoor footage where people were picking apples or pumpkins or something and he was having issues with getting good exposure on the people and not blowing everything else out. He realized later that the camera was set to 709 Tone and that mode seems to eat skin tones. The Chinese review sort of looks the same to me in this three-up shot.
I like the look of the sound mixing studio. I am on the fence with a lot of the wildlife shots. The images look highlight restrained to me. Hopefully there is a way to get more exposure in the mids and protect the highlights through menu settings. These outdoor images have that classic Sony soap opera look. It is amazing how this look is so consistent through different Sony cameras. Kind of gives me pause! But it has so many features it is tough to overlook. I will need to get me hands on one for an extended workout before committing to a purchase. I was skeptical before I got an A7sIII and have come to really like that image. Hopefully this camcorder will turn out the same way. Doug always gets great imagery out of Sony cameras so I will be very interested to hear his views after the NDA is lifted.
Bassman2003
Veteran
Found some more sample footage on YouTube. Some decent looking shots, some overexposed. The overall look of this footage is not so "soap opera" interlaced as some of the other videos. There are a couple of comparisons of the ITU709, S-Cinetone and 709Tone color schemes. I prefer the ITU709 for accuracy and pleasant tones.
There are also some super zooms with the clear image extension. Pretty impressive as it looks to be seamless going from optical to digital. Looking forward to Doug's impressions and hopefully some footage. I just want to see some skin tones in the ITU709 and S-Cinetone modes to see if one can get really lush vibrant skin. I also am interested in knowing the dynamic range of the different modes. It would be nice if Gerald Undone did a workup to see how it compares to an FX3/FX6.
There are also some super zooms with the clear image extension. Pretty impressive as it looks to be seamless going from optical to digital. Looking forward to Doug's impressions and hopefully some footage. I just want to see some skin tones in the ITU709 and S-Cinetone modes to see if one can get really lush vibrant skin. I also am interested in knowing the dynamic range of the different modes. It would be nice if Gerald Undone did a workup to see how it compares to an FX3/FX6.
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
That is garbage footage that doesn't do the camera justice. Please don't make any judgements based on that crap.
My old Z150 looked way better than that stuff.
Bassman2003
Veteran
Good to hear. Not much is available so any port in a storm
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
If my camera actually arrives this week I will try to post some footage next week.
cyvideo
Veteran
MM, I understand where you are coming from. A shoulder mount camcorder without the mass. Everybody has different needs. If you can only have or pick one camera, I find an FX6 set up in a variety of different configurations can meet a fairly wide range of general use needs without too much mass. Hand held to shoulder mount, shoulder mount with the correct grip extension for correct hand placement, to sticks. For walking around seminars, corporate breakout sessions, the pits in motor sport, behind the scenes, reality shoots and general run-n-gun, hate that expression, The FX6 is, so far, delivering the goods. Here are a couple of setups I use that I think could resolve a lot of the gripes you outline. As Doug says, a Z380 update to a Z280 would sell like hot cakes. I'd buy one. That's why I hung onto the PMW-300 so long. Side viewfinder and interchangeable lenses. But only HD. Make a 4K version of the PMW-300 and you would have a very useful camcorder, that I'm sure would sell.
Let's start with a lens. A lens that 90% of shooters knock. I'm not precious. If a lens, regardless of how bypassed it is by the masses, can do a workman like job, and it's one I can use, I'll use it. The old Sony 18-105 is an APSC Internal Focus Parfocal 5.8 x power zoom lens with a constant aperture of F/4.0. It's stabilised and works well with the FX6's latest v5.01 firmware, touch and tracking AF.
It's totally comical. Going back a few years, no one had a good word to say about this FS5 18-105 kit lens with its original firmware. But now! Every man and his dog on social media is now raving that it is the latest 'discovery' and is the "go to" zoom for the FX-30. As I said. With the latest firmware on both this lens and the FX6, it works absolutely fine. Totally good for HD work.
Now don't laugh. If I need more width, as 18 mm is not so wide in S35, as you rightly state, basically being an FF 28 mm equivalent. Then I'll mate it up with one of Canon's yesteryear high quality HD WD-H72 0.8 zoom through WA converters. This gives me a parfocal constant aperture 14.4-84 mm small lightweight stabilised servo power zoom. Remember, this 18-105 mm is an "Internal focus" lens, so doesn't trombone when zooming. Useful when adding an adaptor. Or putting on a gimbal. If you need more length you can use the FX6's, up to 2x, HD CIZ. It then becomes a useful 14.4-126 mm F/4.0 stabilised lens. The 18-105 mm is a cheap lens that was pretty maligned in the past, as its manual focusing left a lot to be desired. I can understand that. But with good modern fast AF Sony cameras, this lens offers far more usefulness today than it ever did on release. Just make sure the lens 'Comp' menu is set to Auto in the FX6 for best performance.
If shooting 4K and wanting something smaller and lighter than Sony's lumpy 28-135 mm, I'll use Sony's F/4.0 stabilised 24-105. It's not parfocal, but with the FX6's good AF it seems to keep up pretty well with zoom changes. Again using Sony's CIZ, it goes to 1.5 x in 4K/UHD, you can end up basically with a stabilised constant aperture 24-157 mm zoom. A pretty handy range to have.
Both the above lenses work very nicely in conjunction with Sony's rather useful Variable ND, either in Manual adjustment or Auto mode.
F/4.0 lenses in lower light on the FX6 aren't really an issue these days as you can jump to the surprisingly quiet second ISO gain stage of 5000 ISO in Custom mode or 12,800 ISO if shooting Cine EI. Though, there is nothing to stop you swapping out for faster primes. And don't forget. Your fast primes can all do double duty as variable length primes using CIZ.
As far as having plenty of all day power at hand, I don't use V-Mount power on the FX6 very often. Generally only when shooting long form events on sticks. Mainly, I'm using Jupio's ProLine 96.5Wh BP-U batteries that constantly give me a minimum of five hours plus of run time per battery when using power servo zoom lenses. But if you need hot swap capability, that can easily be set up. The BP-U batteries weigh so much less than V-Mounts and being basically internal to the body they take up far less space than even the smallest V-Mount batteries. I like keeping the camera lighter and smaller.
As to your comments re viewfinders. I've always needed a viewfinder where it belongs, on the left side for shoulder work. For the life of me, I cannot work without a viewfinder. This left side position has been the standard location for VFs since the advent of ENG. It just works in that position. With the FX6, you can use either the FX9 or FS7 viewfinder loupes. They fit straight onto the FX6's LCD screen if you want to keep costs down. I'm using an FS7 one. They pop up on eBay sometimes for a fraction of the price of a new one. Last one cost me US$75.00.
To sum up, to have a single camera that I could configure to meet a variety of different shoot scenarios it really boiled down to one, the FX6. Once I get my B4 lens experiments sorted out I'll have pretty small flexible camera that can do duty as a stripped down lightweight handy cam through to a shoulder mount camera with a side viewfinder that can, with the addition of a B4 lens fitted, can emulate the performance of an ENG type camera for larger sporting and entertainment events when mounted on sticks. For me, there are just so many jobs where I can use a B4 lens to cover many needs.
Maybe not what you are after, but the suggestions may trigger some configuration ideas for various cameras.
Different lenses in two FX6 shoulder configs below. HD with the 18-105 and 4K/UHD with the 24-105.
Chris Young
Attachments
Good to hear. When mine arrives I was thinking of heading out to the bay at night and doing some tests there. Always a good low light barometer.
drboffa
Well-known member
I recently picked up an a6700 for personal use and found that the old 18-105 is perfect for an all-purpose walk around lens. On my FS5 the lens was way less useful than a manual focusing Canon 24-105 with a speedbooster, but—as you note—with Sony's fantastic autofocus and high ISO performance the lens is suddenly finding new life. I hadn't even thought of trying it on the FX6 in S35!
As maligned as the 18-105 was (with good reason in terms of its manual focusing and optical performance without lens compensation) it really does offer two things not seen in an affordable FF zoom for the FX6: internal zoom and a zoom rocker. It's another reason I'd love a true S35 FX6...
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
Chris - im well aware that the fx6 is very good and you can build in many ways.
I guess thats part of the reason to poke at this new “handycam”
The fx6 seems far more handy!
I guess thats part of the reason to poke at this new “handycam”
The fx6 seems far more handy!
As an owner of all the FX cams, this statement is true depending on the type of work you do. If you need a pick up and go camera that can do everything you need with one lens, a full frame sensor camera is not that.
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
Indeed.
Firstly ive said it an excellent sticks/conference cam.
To me personally for a handy cam -the meat is “rng” handheld and in confined spaces.
For that it seems the six is more compact and better. Especially as you can throw on primes for “art”
Buying my mirrorless r6 was to replace my ex1
That was an odd journey that went through testing z90 and others. The look in the hole mirrorless has worked out really well. It is so “handy”
My bbc chum now shoots on an a7 and 24-200/vnd
He still has 2/3 for “the sat truck lives(ob)”
Him having choosing that combo is really a signifier that the handy cam shape is now dated vs ‘look in the hole mirrorless’
Firstly ive said it an excellent sticks/conference cam.
To me personally for a handy cam -the meat is “rng” handheld and in confined spaces.
For that it seems the six is more compact and better. Especially as you can throw on primes for “art”
Buying my mirrorless r6 was to replace my ex1
That was an odd journey that went through testing z90 and others. The look in the hole mirrorless has worked out really well. It is so “handy”
My bbc chum now shoots on an a7 and 24-200/vnd
He still has 2/3 for “the sat truck lives(ob)”
Him having choosing that combo is really a signifier that the handy cam shape is now dated vs ‘look in the hole mirrorless’
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
Of course.
I said “to me” the joy of a handycam is close in “rng”
For sure this sony is good for telephoto.. as is 2/3 of course.
I said “to me” the joy of a handycam is close in “rng”
For sure this sony is good for telephoto.. as is 2/3 of course.
I was reading a user impression from someone who was testing one out in the UK where they’re available now. It was a store demo, but he claims the image was soft. It makes me nervous because I owned a Panasonic HC-X2 for 2 days. 1 day to test it and recognize how soft the images were and the other day to return it. I really hope the 5k downsample means the image is sharper on this camera. Because the majority of what I do is direct to air or short turnaround, sharpening in post isn’t t an option.
Bassman2003
Veteran
Some more footage. This one is all over the place for exposure but some of the shots look nice. It does have the hyper-soap opera/interlaced look quite often though!
cyvideo
Veteran
This is the first reasonable low light type footage I've seen off the new Z200. And credit where credit is due, it doesn't look at all bad. A wee bit muddy, but we all know YT compression tends to reduce noise artefacts somewhat but taking that into consideration the 12dB and even the 18dB shots look quite acceptable. Crisp and pretty clean and quiet.
Chris Young
Chris Young
Sony PXW-Z200 Initial Test Footage in low light
Bassman2003
Veteran
Yes. I wish the shooter would have stayed on the building shot in the thumbnail and ran through all of the gain levels to see the detail loss and noise levels. He has one shot with 12dB & 18dB which is nice. Overall, I wish he had been pushing the camera more rather than just filming dark scenes. Any camera can produce dark images at night without noise! But I thanked him for the efforts.