When DV and DVCam technology was first introduced to the market, I was one of the first to adopt it. As a freelance shooter and editor, it opened a whole new world of work for me. I could do productions that before were impossible. So when HDV cameras hit the market I was one of the first to buy one and take my productions to the next level. The quality trade off of using a compressed HD stream was worth the money for most of low budget projects I was working on. My first HDV camera was the Sony Z1U, which is basically a HDV version of the Sony PD150. While it is a great camera, it still had some of the old drawbacks, like a fixed lens and a continuous focus ring.
Then, at NAB 2008, I put my hands on the new Sony Z7U—a vastly improved HDV camera that put to rest most of the annoying problems that plagued the Z1U. The Z7U features interchangeable lenses, a real focus ring, and an iris ring. It has the ability to record to both tape and a flash memory card at the same time. It also has a true 24p mode, as well as the standard 50 and 60i HDV and DV and DVCam modes. Now that we have the basics out of the way lets dig a little deeper into the Sony Z7U
Front of HVR-7ZU.
Ease of Use
Since this camera is most similar to the previously reviewed Z1U, I will look at the use of this camera in light of the new features that stand out on this new model. The design on this camera takes a step further in bringing video camera design closer to the design of a classic film camera. The manual controls on the Z7U are intuitive and much easier to adjust on the fly without looking at what you are doing. The menu and audio have been moved to the left side of the camera so you can adjust everything with one hand while continuing to shoot. The power button has moved away from the record button, which should eliminate the vocationally occurring accidental power down. The one thing that did bother me was that there is no way to switch between the camera preset indoor and outdoor white balance without setting your own or going to auto white balance. I do a lot of documentary production and, for the most part, I find the auto white balance to not be as accurate as the presets and in most cases I don’t have time to run ahead and do my own presets. You can always improve it in post, but rarely does that turn out nearly as nice as shooting it properly in the first place.
Rear of HVR-7ZU.
Depth of Options
Recording Modes
The Z7U performs as well in the standard HDV settings as the Z1U, while the new 24p mode is much better than the 24p modes in previous Sony cameras in this class. Although I was still not as happy with the results of the video shot in that mode as compared to the look of the Panasonic HVX200, which is the benchmark for 24p in this price range.
