Moving
the LCD screen from the side of the camera to the top
was a brilliant move. When you are shooting this will
become apparent quickly. You can get a quick look at
what the camera is capturing from either side of the
camera without obstruction. Since I do a lot of interviews
for documentaries, it became important to me that I
can have a left or right framed shot and can catch how
it looks on screen without having to set up a monitor.
When you are reviewing your shots its nice to be able
to have the deck controls side by side with the monitor
and not have to twist your hand in an awkward position.
Depth
of Options
Record
Modes
Now many filmmakers have been looking for a camera
that not only is HD, but which also offers true 24p
frame rate. I don't fall into that category. My belief
is that most of the viewing of my work will be done
at either 30i or HD's 60i. Thus I personally don't
really care if I shoot my material at true 24p or
not. However, I wish I could have that option for
certain productions without having to go through a
rather complicated conversion shuffle in postproduction.
What Sony did with the Z1U was offer a wide range
of options for shooting making their camera both NTSC
and PAL. When you shoot in PAL mode on this camera
you are capturing 25 frames a second or 50 when you're
in HD mode. Most other cameras on the market that
claim to have 24p options are really capturing the
shot at 30p and dropping frames to simulate 24p. The
exception to that rule, at the moment, is the new
Panasonic HVX200. If you choose to shoot in PAL mode
you can convert it to 24p in post by only dropping
one frame a second which should give as close to a
film look as you can hope for without one of those
two Panasonic cameras. The Z1U is one of the few cameras
in this price range that offers 1080 x 1960 resolution
(even if it is MPEGII), which gives you the best possible
resolution when you get the money to uprez it to 35mm.
(In fact, the Hollywood film Fever Pitch used
the Z1U as B-roll footage for the F900 and was able
to intercut between the two seamlessly. Granted, there
was a bit of post correction required to get the Z1U
footage to match up with the F900, but you get the
point.)
Lens
One of the nicest things that Sony did with the Z1U
was to put the Carl Zeiss lenses on it. This is a
beautiful piece of glass that will blow your mind
away when you consider how little you have to pay
for it. Unlike previous DV and DVCam cameras targeting
the same market, this lens gives you a clear focus
range with a wonderful depth of field that you had
to really fight to come close with using the PD150.
If you add wide-angle lenses or a 2x lenses you will
add more options to get that look that you typically
see in film productions. Sony has also dropped the
continuous ring on the zoom lenses, which will allow
you to hit marks in a push or pull shot with much
more accuracy. Unfortunately, to my disappointment,
the focus ring is still a continuous ring, which brings
back flashbacks to issues I've had with Canon cameras
and their stock lenses! Luckily, they do have a focus
range indicator in the viewfinder, which helps, as
well as a frame enlarger for fine focus prior to recording.
The shot presets are a feature that filmmakers will
love. It allows you to set two focal points in a shot
and jump between them with automated precision. When
shooting dramatic scenes this could be the difference
between 2 takes and 10 takes.
Presets
The 6 programmable presets are something that many cameras
that cost much more don't have. You can preset your
camera settings for up to six different lighting or
mood situations. This can be done while waiting for
your actors, which will then allow you to move between
setups much faster without breaking the flow of the
actors. There is an option to go all-automatic, which
may seem like an easy way out for many users, but I
don't ever recommend you do that since you will obtain
the sharpest images you can in production if you tweak
things a bit. The more you work at getting a clean image
in the field, the more time you will save on trying
to fix it in post. This in turn allows you to spend
your valuable time on polishing more important elements,
like your films tempo, look, and overall story presentation.
