Sony PXW-Z100 - Record to SD Card?

P

Plasma Productions

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I am very interested in the Sony PXW-Z100 4K camcorder. I know the camcorder uses XQD cards to record XAVC format 4K and HD content. But the camera also has an SD card slot and I read that a recent firmware upgrade enabled AVCHD recording.

My question is: Is it possible to record to the SD card when recording in AVCHD mode? Or can AVCHD only be recorded to XQD cards?

I searched all over the Sony website but could not find an answer.

I really hope that Sony enabled SD card recording for AVCHD mode. That would make this camera much more viable for long-form recording, e.g. continuous shooting of 12+ hour long conferences. Buying enough XQD cards for those kind of situations can get expensive.
 
The Z100 offers a much higher quality codec for 4K acquisition. I am interested in this camera for 4K production. I will rarely ever be using AVCHD, but was wondering if AVCHD to SD card is even possible for the occasional situation when it might come in handy.
 
This is one of the answers to that question asked on B&H.

"Yes, but only for recording AVCHD video. There are actually two SD card slots in the back: one for loading downloaded firmware to update the camera (lower right) and one to record the AVCHD video files (left side near the XQD card slots). Until the long delayed update from Sony was delivered late 2014, that SD slot was not even activated. You cannot record XAVC video in the SD card slot. XAVC can only be recorded on the XQD cards."
 
Thanks!

Follow-up question: Can you record 4K XAVC to an XQD card AND record AVCHD to an SD card at the same time? Like a proxy recording? For example, at the end of the shoot you could immediately hand the SD card to the director or client for their review and also send the the high quality 4K media on the XQD card to the editor.

I'm assuming it's not possible.

But then again, the Panasonic DVX200 can record both 4K and HD at the same time on 2 separate cards... so why not Sony?
 
Plasma Productions said:
Thanks!

Follow-up question: Can you record 4K XAVC to an XQD card AND record AVCHD to an SD card at the same time? Like a proxy recording? For example, at the end of the shoot you could immediately hand the SD card to the director or client for their review and also send the the high quality 4K media on the XQD card to the editor.

I'm assuming it's not possible.

But then again, the Panasonic DVX200 can record both 4K and HD at the same time on 2 separate cards... so why not Sony?
Click to expand...

I don't know, but my much less expensive Sony FDR-AX33 can record both a 4K file and a 1080p file on a single card simultaneously, so it wouldn't surprise me if the PXW-Z100 could do the same.
 
My FDR-AX1, which is the consumer version of the PXW-Z100 will not record both at the same time. One or the other. AVCHD on card "C" or XAVC-S on cards "A/B" I expect the PXW-Z100 is the same.
 
Ron Evans said:
My FDR-AX1, which is the consumer version of the PXW-Z100 will not record both at the same time. One or the other. AVCHD on card "C" or XAVC-S on cards "A/B" I expect the PXW-Z100 is the same.
Click to expand...

It's interesting that my $800 Sony FDR-AX33 will record XAVC-S and AVCHD simultaneously on a single card, but the $4000 Sony FDR-AX1 won't even do it with two cards, much less one. Maybe they will provide that capability in a future firmware upgrade.
 
The FDR-AX1 and PXW-Z100 are over 4 years old so likely 5 or 6 year old technology. I do not expect anymore updates of firmware for either the last update was in 2015. Their focus at the time was the ability to shoot UHD at 60P something the AX33 or AX53 cannot do now. To get UHD 60P the options are still not large. Panasonic UX180/HC-X1, DVX200, now GH5 then things get more expensive with FS7, URSA Mini etc and more expensive. The FDR-AX1 and PXW-Z100 use XQD cards to record data rates of 150Mbps and more. At the time ( 5 years ago ) SD cards were not fast enough for the higher data rates of the PXW-Z100. Technology has changed a lot in 5 years. I have the AX53 and use for HD only as I do not like the slower frame rates and shoot 60P on all my cameras. Dual recording on AX53 is only available at 30P.
 
I just got my Sony Z100 in the mail. I can confirm that:

• The Z100 CAN record AVCHD to an SD card.
• The Z100 CANNOT record AVCHD to an XQD card - the card slot automatically switches to "C" (the SD slot) when the AVCHD codec is selected, and the other slots become greyed out.
• The Z100 CANNOT record both 4K and AVCHD at the same time.
 
I am still puzzled as to why AVCHD was offered at all on these cameras. The only reason I got the FDR-AX1 was for UHD 60P. It will of course record 1920x1080 to the XQD cards with XAVC-S just like the current run of Sony camcorders. I will be interested in how you find the focusing as my FDR-AX1 had its lens replaced and still has difficulty with focus as the lens is not parfocal and does a pretty poor job of repeating the focus point after any zoom motion.
 
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