True slooooo zoom control on V1
 

We just returned from a long shoot in central Brazil and really wrung (or is that wrang???) out our V1U. I have a question for others using this nice little cam:

When using a preset for a 15 sec time with a very small zoom range, it appears the zoom motor and lens are capable of doing extremely slow zoom in<>outs within that limited range.

However, we have been unable to manually control this zoom by any means to reproduce these beautiful slow zoomin/outs.

OUR QUESTION: Has anyone found a controller or means to do this manually?

Jes,

I use Varizoom's Pro-L now with V1E, and former PD-150 and VX-1000

http://www.varizoom.com/products/controls/vzprol.html


With this you can change zoom-speed even on the go, with the wheel you see on picture. From slow to very slow or from slow to fast, what ever you like.

you have to check other modells if they have this feature as well

volki

I also have the Pro-L. I'm curious if the V1 suffers from the same problem as the Z1: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=55047

Unfortunately I'm afraid it does. I'm in touch with the Manfrotto people responsible for their LANC controllers, and they told me Sony has only 8 discrete speed levels in the protocol (the Canon has 32). With such low number of different speed values, the slowest cannot be slower than ca 22 secs...

That's too bad. But at least I'm not jealous of you V1 owners on that point :-)

So what controller would you recommend to go with the V1?

If the V1 is like the Z1 as Piotr says (and I don't doubt it) then it doesn't really matter what brand LANC controller you buy, none of them can provide zoom speeds slower than 22 seconds due to the camera design....

Ok, slow speed aside what controller would you prefer?

I had a Zoe with my DVX and I liked it very much.

Now I need one for the V1 and want to make the best choice available.

I have used and Sony and it works OK but I don’t like it’s ergonomics. The Zoe rocker was nice. That Varizoom pro looks good too.

Ron, in case you decided to go for Manfrotto (the 523Pro is nice option, but the smaller 521Pro is also nice - I have both), pay attention you're getting updated versions (from new stock). There was a glitch in communication with the European V1 models that is now resolved (don't know about the NTSC model, but it's better to be safe).

Even though the 523Pro has more features, I personally prefer the smaller 521Pro because both zoom and focus are controlled with the same, switchable rocker (focus on the 523Pro is controlled with separate buttons, which are not as precise as a rocker can be). Otherwise they're both great - you have the PAF button, and you can even take advantage of the V1's Auto Focus Assist functionality!

Thanks, I will look into the Manfrotto.

From input here and the other posts on the Z1's similar prob, sounds like a good mod is really needed! As I stated in the beginning, obviously the motor and lens can do the extreme slows...just probably some stupid marketing ploy decision by Sony to force us to spend more money on "higher end" cams.

Now, if some smart techie could come up with a mod, those of us that remember other mods from the past might just want to jump on the bandwagon and make this little cam a lot better.

We don't really give a frit if it voids the warranty, if it does the job better! The zoom as it stands really sucks. Even if it is a "low-end pro"/ "high-end prosumer" cam, we want to use something that works right. If we'd of known how bad the zoom is, we'd probably would have bought something else.

YOU HEAR THAT SONY?

(BTW, we do have a variable rocker Varizoom LANC controller, and obviously it's limited by the LANC stepping limits some stupid Sony marketing decision imposed on it... )