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Camera Review: Sony HVR-Z1U, Pg. 2

 

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.

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