Audio
Gathering good location audio is very important. The
Z1U has a pretty good stereo mic that is built in. It's
great for getting wild audio. The real advantage however
is the two balanced XLR audio inputs. This means you
don't have to go out and get a converter box that lowers
the quality of your sound and input it as RCA audio.
The problem is there aren't any ways to use the built
in mic at the same time you have a wireless lav or shotgun
plugged in to one of the XLR inputs. Getting one track
of wild natural sound is important, so adding on the
optional externally mounted on camera mic is a must.
The camera also has solid manual controls for audio,
which is good because the auto levels have a tendency
to boost every sound in range of the mic to something
you can hear. If you keep a good eye on the levels and
adjust them manually for each location, you will really
get good sound of what you really want: the person,
animal, or thing which is right in front of the mic.
The
one caveat about the audio is that it is compressed
at a 4:1 ratio and recorded using MPEG-1 Layer II audio
compression. While this is higher quality than most
MP3 audio, it is not as high a quality as uncompressed
PCM audio. As such, editing audio in post is much less
forgiving than if you had uncompressed audio. Bottom
line, if you're going to shoot in HDV, make sure you
have your mics properly placed, because you're going
to have a lot less grace to fix it in post!
Performance
Now, when Sony announced the advent of a sub-$10,000
HD camera, it sounded too good to be true. And, as usual,
when something sounds too good to be true it usually
is. When Sony brought the price of owning an HD camera
under ten grand they did so by making a camera that
records an MPEGII stream, which they called 'HDV' (or
High Definition Video). This stream is higher quality
than most DVDs (or even the resolution of most cable
HDTV channels) because it is recorded at a much lower
compression rate. However, it is recorded in a clustered
compression called Long Form GOP, in which a key frame
is recorded only once every fifteen frames. As such,
in addition to the possibility of ½ second long
dropouts, there is also the risk of digital noise developing
when shooting fast moving shots. While this is a potential
problem, in my time of operating the camera, I have
yet to see that happen. (It should be noted, however,
that I haven't been out shooting lions chasing impalas
in Africa--yet.)
Compression
issues do surface more commonly in the form of compression
noise and jagged artifacts around the edges of your
subjects, which looks bad when you blow it up for a
freeze frame. You may also notice some digital noise
in the blacks, which, when they aren't properly exposed,
there will be a lot of digital noise. This is not a
good thing if you planning to do a lot of night shots
without proper lighting. In full motion however 99.99%
of viewers will never notice it. If you've watched any
HDTV channels you will notice that these compression
issues have become pretty acceptable over the air, which
is sad considering how much more powerful the cameras
are that many of these programs are shot on.
Weight
is an issue that I didn't really expect when I picked
up the Sony Z1U. I have been using the PD-150 for years
and it has been a wonderful tool for the documentary
films that I do. I could take it almost anywhere and
just keep it in my hand ready to shoot at any time.
The Z1U, on the other hand, is not nearly so light and
hand-held friendly. In fact, the first day I tried to
shoot hand-held with it, after about ten minutes, my
hand went numb! Even as I grew accustomed to the camera,
I discovered that I simply could not keep shooting more
than ten minutes at a time. Now I am sure some of that
is due to the fact that I need to get to the gym a bit
more, but, still, being a much heavier camera than the
PD-150, it has the tendency to cut off circulation in
virtually anyone's hand. As such, I would highly suggest
getting a shoulder brace if you plan on using the camera
a lot as a free-roaming camera. There are quite a few
options for mounts for the Z1U starting from around
$100 to $500.
Another
minor issue comes from record commencement delay, so
that, when you hit the record button, it takes a little
long to get the tape up to speed. This isn't really
a big deal except when you are trying capture something
as it happens. Just make sure you start rolling early.
If you are shooting something dramatic make sure the
you call 'Speed!' before 'Action!' (And before you call
either one, call 'Audio!' and make sure your mics are
positioned properly!!)
