Unboxing the PXW-Z100

MattDavis

MattDavis

Well-known member
Thanks Matt for posting this... I first discovered your post over at Philip Bloom's forum, and then lots of great info at dvinfo.net Where can I go to find the "more in-depth" report?
 
Matt, is there a "Shot Transition" feature on this cam? Also, does it have proper f-stop readouts onscreen for the aperture or just "exposure" increments like the PMW-100?

Thanks,
Adam
 
Why would someone buy this instead of an FS700 for virtually the same cost? I know it shoots 4k but it's still a 1/2" sensor and it's a fixed lens. I don't get it.
 
Copperplate said:
Matt, is there a "Shot Transition" feature on this cam? Also, does it have proper f-stop readouts onscreen for the aperture or just "exposure" increments like the PMW-100?
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Good point! Loved the Shot Transition on the Z1. Alas not. What a shame. But good news on the F-stops - yes, it reports the aperture correctly (especially when wide open through the zoom range).

Sheldon Charron said:
Why would someone buy this instead of an FS700 for virtually the same cost? I know it shoots 4k but it's still a 1/2" sensor and it's a fixed lens. I don't get it.
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To answer your question, Sheldon, it's going to sound glib but... "Because it ISN'T a huge sensor, and BECAUSE it has a fixed lens" LOL - I've got big sensor and small sensor cameras, and in my main area of activity (Corporate Event/Conference/Expo coverage and Incentive Travel) having to change lenses is a bit of a liability when there's lots going on and you're shooting candids. OTOH, when you're self-op doing interviews, shallow depth of field gets scary.

My EX1-Rs are still in demand, they'll get more use than my C100 over the next two months. Horses for courses and all that.
 
Erik Naso said:
Matt how's the viewfinder? I'm hoping they are learning we need to see what we are shooting.
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It's sharp, but that's made the stuff round the edge very small. On my early beta, it's quite minimalist in fact. There's some control to ensure that the screen reflects what you're recording, but because of the dialled back IQ I've got, I can't really offer a 'considered' opinion. The representation is better than, say, my C100 but the info display at the moment seems to be done with a typewriter. But then there's the lovely System Check screens that provide 'proper' meters. The EVF at the rear is okay in that you can tell what the camera's pointed at, but has the same periphery vision 'RGB' flick thing that many other Sony models exhibited since the Z7.

@Copperplate - the more 'in depth' report is written, just going through the last stages of technical checks.
 
Sheldon Charron said:
Why would someone buy this instead of an FS700 for virtually the same cost? I know it shoots 4k but it's still a 1/2" sensor and it's a fixed lens. I don't get it.
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Speaking for myself...

Some of us like fixed, power zoom lenses and a small-ish sensor in a nice handheld body. I have an FS100 and it isn't ideal for all types of shoots.

Oh, and it does 4K. Right in the camera. No need to add any external recorders (that strikes down the "same cost" for 4K point). It has the same XAVC codec as the F55, minus the raw video. That's pretty amazing. Not even the F5 can do 4K internally. It has pro connections - timecode in/out (which the FS700 lacks), SDI, HDMI.
Some don't agree with my comparison, but I see the Z100 as an F55-Lite. Same XAVC codec, 4K, but in a smaller, cheaper body.

I guess it's appealing because it's a true 4K camera right out of the box, that a one-person crew can operate. No need for camera assistants, lens changes, camera rigs with external recorders, etc. Just slap on a battery, add your media cards, and off to 4K land you go. The media is more affordable, or at least equal, to other pro memory cards. It has its limitations, but it is only $6,500.

Based upon the info out there now, I would take the Z100 over an FS700. This is as close as I will ever get to an F55. But, some will prefer the FS700, which is still a great camera.
Stating the obvious, until this camera gets into the hands of users in the field, on real productions, we won't know just how good - or bad - it really is.

But if you're looking at an FS700, this camera is probably not for you. They're for different styles of shooting.
 
Sheldon Charron said:
Why would someone buy this instead of an FS700 for virtually the same cost? I know it shoots 4k but it's still a 1/2" sensor and it's a fixed lens. I don't get it.
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Most of the sensor is unused. The part of the sensor that is actually used is not even 1/3". Basically like an iphone.
 
MattDavis said:
Good point! Loved the Shot Transition on the Z1. Alas not. What a shame. But good news on the F-stops - yes, it reports the aperture correctly (especially when wide open through the zoom range).
Click to expand...

Thanks so much, Matt, for answering my questions. One other thing I forgot to ask is if the cam gives readouts of your current focal length in mm, or if it's just "zoom values"? I'm seriously considering either this camera or an FS700/Oddysey 7q combo. But I really like the flexibility of a 20x servo zoom and 4k 10 bit 4:2:2 internally, for much less cost! I mean, you can still get shallow DOF if your aperture's wide and you zoom in far enough, right? My old HDV camcorder had a 1/2.7" sensor and shallow DOF was still possible.

If you get the chance, I'd love to see some shallow DOF shots with this cam, and of course some skin tone tests... you can even film your own face if you'd like! :thumbsup:

Thanks,
Adam
 
Zoom uses a numerical or graphic bar. Numbers go from 01 to 99.

Iris reads from 1.6 to 3.4, stopping down starts immediately, tails off at about Z96.

Sorry I can't do any test shots at the moment. I'm expecting similar performance, maybe a bit better, to a 1/3" camera but that's only from chat here.

I have to say goodbye to the camera in the next day or two - hopefully to have its software updated, but I won't be back until the end of the month...
 
It has a 'paint' menu, with 6 standard gammas and 2 CineTone gammas - the latter being aimed at creating a richer, contrasty shot in-camera rather than aiming for a wider dynamic range, with a flatter gamma. However, Frank Glencairn showed you could use CineTone 1 with a very deep knee (around 80%) on the FS100 and it may work here too. From what I remember of the HVX200, the raw untweaked V5 and V6 closely resemble the two CineTone settings.

There's the usual 4 colour matrices IIRC: Standard, High Saturation, Cine and Fluoro. You can customise your own too. Black Gamma can be shifted and the B-Y / R-Y (? it's 'B-Black' and 'R-Black' in the menu at the moment).

All in all, there's enough to delight those who like to twiddle settings, and it's enough to get you into a lot of trouble unless you have a trusty monitor, access to a waveform and vectorscope and some charts.

Rather than have 6 'pots' to store your Picture Profiles or Scene Files in, you save the whole camera state, including assigned buttons, zebra settings and everything into 1 of 64 'slots' on the SDHC card on the RIGHT hand side (not the one next to the XQD slots).
 
Well I'm anxious to see some footage. I'm interested mainly in outdoor show work and one-man-band red carpet, event and BTS stuff, but I'd like to use the cam for narrative or bring it in as a B-cam too. I've been using a Canon 6D rig for the red carpet and BTS stuff very successfully while also managing external audio recorder and mics, etc., so I'm not concerned about the fixed lens, zoom, manual focus stuff. I would buy the c100 in a minute if it had decent slow motion, but it doesn't have any, so I was looking at the FS700 with an upgrade path to 4K as it made sense financially or based on the project. In both cases I'd probably run an external recorder to get the footage at broadcast standard or equivalent for anything that was destined for TV.

I did look for a bit at the XF300 and hpx-250 for just the outdoor use, as many people are using this type of cam for host driven outdoor and travel work and they have broadcast quality internally, but then there's the picture quality. They are MUCH cheaper than $7000; however, I really want my stuff to be as rich cinematically as possible, as we will be filming a lot of landscapes and wildlife. I don't want just some crappy talking heads walking around in mountains with blown out skies and washed out colors. Sooo... I walked away from these cameras.

Now this camera pops up. I need someone to sell me on it. :) And I need to see some footage. Maybe then.
 
Sheldon Charron said:
Well I'm anxious to see some footage. I'm interested mainly in outdoor show work and one-man-band red carpet, event and BTS stuff, but I'd like to use the cam for narrative or bring it in as a B-cam too. I've been using a Canon 6D rig for the red carpet and BTS stuff very successfully while also managing external audio recorder and mics, etc., so I'm not concerned about the fixed lens, zoom, manual focus stuff. I would buy the c100 in a minute if it had decent slow motion, but it doesn't have any, so I was looking at the FS700 with an upgrade path to 4K as it made sense financially or based on the project. In both cases I'd probably run an external recorder to get the footage at broadcast standard or equivalent for anything that was destined for TV.

I did look for a bit at the XF300 and hpx-250 for just the outdoor use, as many people are using this type of cam for host driven outdoor and travel work and they have broadcast quality internally, but then there's the picture quality. They are MUCH cheaper than $7000; however, I really want my stuff to be as rich cinematically as possible, as we will be filming a lot of landscapes and wildlife. I don't want just some crappy talking heads walking around in mountains with blown out skies and washed out colors. Sooo... I walked away from these cameras.

Now this camera pops up. I need someone to sell me on it. :) And I need to see some footage. Maybe then.
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The C100 does in fact slow down well shooting 60i and putting it into a 24p timeline.

I too am anxious to see more footy from these Sony 4K's. Not everything has to be large chip capture.
 
MattDavis said:
Zoom uses a numerical or graphic bar. Numbers go from 01 to 99.

Iris reads from 1.6 to 3.4, stopping down starts immediately, tails off at about Z96.

Sorry I can't do any test shots at the moment. I'm expecting similar performance, maybe a bit better, to a 1/3" camera but that's only from chat here.
Click to expand...

That's very useful info, Matt, you've helped me get a better understanding of this camera. Thanks so much! Let us know when/where we can see the detailed report you're writing when it's ready. :)

~Adam
 
MattDavis said:
Zoom uses a numerical or graphic bar. Numbers go from 01 to 99.
Click to expand...

Matt, three quick things:

1) Any chance this can be changed within the menu to a zoom distance in ft/mm rather than a numerical value. That's the way it works in our panasonic cameras...there's a numerical focus readout OR a distance readout in ft/mm. I know other Sony cams have the distance readout option, can you check the menus to see if this camera has that option as well. Thx!

2) On another forum you answered a question about the XAVC-S update still providing 4:2:2 10bit footage instead of dropping down to 4:2:0 8bit. If that's true, that's awesome.

3) When do you anticipate your more "in depth" review being posted and where?

Thanks for all your feedback and info.
 
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