Using EX1 and Z1 together
 

I currently own both these cameras (and a Canon HV20 and a Sony A1). I need to do a multicamera shoot in the coming weeks and wanted to use the Z1 as a B camera for my EX1.

Just wondering if anyone has had success doing this - and if so what was the recipe for picture profiles etc.. I know that like me, many people probably updated from the Z1 to the EX1 - so I am guessing that others have tried to use the 2 togther - but I can't find any direct mention of it here. I know that the Z1 will look soft compared to the EX1 - but going down to SD at the end it might not be such a problem provided I can get a half decent colour match. Hiring another EX1 is out of the question at this point.

Any tips are much apprectiated.

Hi Graeme - I plan to do the same on a shoot coming up in July.
EX1 (main camera) + Z1 (fixed POV camera) - both shooting 1080i

I find that using STD1 profile, Hi Sat, -6 Units on the Gamma, sharpness at around 5 on the EX1 (on the SP setting) looks close to what I was seeing with the Z1 with black stretch off, sharpness at 13, everything else standard.

I mean that from a color, black level, general feel perspective

The EX1 is a clearer picture at any setting yes. But I think you should be able to get a pretty clean match overall.

I'll let you know if you discover anything on the shoot

Cheers
Paul

Thanks very much Paul,

I will give this a try. It is always great to have a starting point to fine tune from.

Likewise I will pass on any info I find out.

All the best,

Thank you very much. I am in the same case and just wanted to know if these settings are still the best way to match an FX1 (should be the same as Z1 from the matching point of view) and an EX1 or did you have any other findings later ?

I have done my matching against the FX1 (should be the same as the Z1) and I find that the best match is using only Phase +10 on the EX1. I like some extra warmth so I have defined wb shift on the FX1 +7. The same can be obtained by increasing the white preset by +400 on the EX1 which means 3600 for interior shooting.

Until now, I have only tried to match in interior location. I will do a daylight test tomorrow if it is not as rainy as now. I think about using white preset of 6000 (5600 + 400) outside.

I am using the PAL model of the FX1 for matching so maybe in NTSC there are other defaults. I also have to say that I have 2 FX1s, one bought about a year later. In this one the colors are slightly different on the same settings.

Graeme how did the shot go?

MArcus and David,

Shoot went fine - I used cards for exposure and colour balance matching before starting, but still needed to do full colour grading during the edit. I have come to the conclusion that grading is essential anyway - so the camreas were close enough using the settings that Paul gave to make this a fairly easy task. Even at SD the EX1 is clearly sharper, but the client didn't notice - for that matter they didn't notice the Canon HV20 and A1 cutaways that I used as well. They were more interested in the quality of the composition
and the storyline than the slight differences in camera quality.

I guess that we tend to notice camera performance differences far more than the people that we produce material for!