Other: Sony Z280 test footage Part 1

doug-

nice images.

thanks for the sharing.

i look forward to seeing some indoor footage.

thumbs up.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc
 
Very nice Doug, how does it compare to say the fs7 or fs5 in your opinion.
I know they are different beasts just looking for an opinion on color science low light and dynamic range

Will you be creating scene files also?

Thanks
 
Some nice looking images. Doug, how do you feel about the highlight handling of this camera? In the midst of the nice images I see some strained highlights. Just seems like camera is not able to hold the upper range enough to not notice it. Although it was a challenging light situation for highlights. I point this out only because at a $7,000 price tag, I do not think there is much room for the old 'its a small sensor' tag line.
 
Very nice.

Some seems to have some gritty shadows, maybe up expose 1/2 a click and pull down in post.

It would be cool to see a bit more backlit and maybe some flares, over exposed areas or general harassment of the sensor

--
On a side note, Im not interested in this camera (or the Z90) as I feel the lens(es) is/are not wide enough.

This got me thinking about zoom through w/a adapters, do you know if competent ones exist for the lastest sony camcorders?

S
 
Bassman2003 said:
Some nice looking images. Doug, how do you feel about the highlight handling of this camera? In the midst of the nice images I see some strained highlights. Just seems like camera is not able to hold the upper range enough to not notice it. Although it was a challenging light situation for highlights. I point this out only because at a $7,000 price tag, I do not think there is much room for the old 'its a small sensor' tag line.
Click to expand...

Highlight handing is actually very good in S-LOG mode. I don't know yet about the other gammas. If you think that highlights are too high, blame it on your monitor or my grading style (I like to push highlights right to the edge of clipping). The raw footage looks great, nothing is clipped, and it allows a huge range of grading decisions to be made in post. YOU could take the same raw footage and grade it differently. In fact, maybe I'll upload a more conservative version if I have time today.
 
morgan_moore said:
Very nice.
Some seems to have some gritty shadows, maybe up expose 1/2 a click and pull down in post.
S
Click to expand...

No, that's not the answer to the noise, but I appreciate the suggestion. You'd be surprised at how far the exposure is already being pulled down in post.
I am not aware of any WA adapters that fit but I wouldn't be surprised if they exist already or will soon come to market.
 
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verzap said:
Very nice Doug, how does it compare to say the fs7 or fs5 in your opinion.
I know they are different beasts just looking for an opinion on color science low light and dynamic range
Will you be creating scene files also?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes I'll be creating scene files that won't require grading. And also refining my S-LOG3 scene file. The camera does not have a CINE EI mode so there are other variables that can be changed while S-LOG3 is being used and it take a lot of testing to figure out the best combos and exposure methods. Overall, I don't think Z280 looks as good as the FS7 but it comes close. And I'll take a Z280 over the FS5 without any question. The real benefit of the Z280 is the fast 17x lens that allows you to bang off a lot of shots really quickly. This would be a great documentary and news camera, which is exactly what Sony says it is designed for.
 
The new version does look more balanced although my eyes are still drawn to the highlights a lot on different scenes. Nice to see you have some adjustment room with the captures.
 
Yes, it comes down to creative choices. The camera can deliver almost anything you want to make out of the footage.
 
BTW, when you get to discuss HFR with any engineers, my hope is to get a 120p continuous with audio AND 1/60th shutter. Many cameras lock the SS to the framerate. This is very important to how I shoot live events and how I get to use slow motion. Basically slow motion is decided back in the edit bay, so being able to shoot "normal" but have improved slow motion when needed would be the best implementation for this working event videographer. Thanks
 
The NX80 and AX700 have a 120p codec with audio. I'm not sure what the shutter speed limitations are, however.
 
Bassman2003 said:
BTW, when you get to discuss HFR with any engineers, my hope is to get a 120p continuous with audio AND 1/60th shutter. Many cameras lock the SS to the framerate. This is very important to how I shoot live events and how I get to use slow motion. Basically slow motion is decided back in the edit bay, so being able to shoot "normal" but have improved slow motion when needed would be the best implementation for this working event videographer. Thanks
Click to expand...

You do see the problem with that request, don't you? ; ) Outside of special frame accumulation modes that some cameras have, your shutter speed can't be lower than your frame rate. Audio with high frame rates is no problem(they just have to choose to implement it).
 
Also you better have a pretty high bit rate. Up around at least 300Mps for HD and over 1000Mbs for 4K or I wouldn't touch it.
 
I am not aware of a technical limitation for having SS lower than frame rate. Is there? On my GH5 I can lower the SS below the frame rate without issue. 1/60th isn't exactly a slow SS for video. Equal SS and frame rate has always been sort of a standard with video cameras but is it really set in stone?

About the bit rate - I thought the higher the frame rate the less space there is between frames therefore less bit rate is needed for the increase. I am guessing the 300Mps number is ALL-I? I shoot long GOP all of the time and get fine slow motion. My PX270 uses AVC-Ultra ~35Mbps for 1080p60 10 bit. Very pleased with this footage. I do not see the need to associate a high bit rate which will make it even less of a possibility to being implemented :)

I know what I ask is not the norm, but it is reality. Not many people are going to pay you to go film only slo-mo for a job.
 
Looks great Doug,

Will be purchasing a Z280 for my corporate shooting this winter. Always nice to see Rockport, such a special place down East.
 
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