Re: My Z150 just died
 

I am a Sony guy too but the new Panasonic HC-X1 or the AG-UX180 have a lot to offer. 20x zoom, with 24mm wide angle, 50/60P UHD, DCI 4K and lots of image controls. Have touch focus etc too . If you have an iPad there is also a nice remote control app rather than the limited PlayMemories app from Sony.

Re: My Z150 just died
 

@John Natnz.....There was a time in my professional still days when you shot with a Nikon F3 or you were not a pro. Best damn camera ever made! And bullet proof, even a UPS carrier could not hurt one. The only reason it had a battery at all was for the poor quality light meter and the meter was the only thing about it that was not great. But, in their defense almost all in camera meters sucked in those days. So we shot transparencies by the seat of our pants and if you missed by more than half a stop you threw it away and probably had to get another job. We did not study pixels or tech in those days we studied light.

Sorry guys....I saw John's Nikon and just had to say something.....God I hate sounding so old, I'm not THAT old!

Kind Regards,

Steve

Re: My Z150 just died
 

Steven, I shot press for a while and used my F3 instead of the paper provided cameras. I got perfect negs the whole time with the "dicky little meter". I do admit that when shooting monochrome negs there is more latitude. It made it so much quicker in the darkroom as the neg exposure was almost always the same and sped up my workflow no end.

I still have and cherish my F3, but it hasn't been used for a long time now.

Re: My Z150 just died
 

Hi Tim,

I should explain. I was shooting a lot world cup Ski racing at the time. No meter works well in snow, ice, and often grey skys. I carried an incident meter in my bag for that but rarely used it. The trick we used was to meter the palm of your hand. My hand is about 1/2 stop over 18% grey. Works every time.

On a sunny blue bird day at high altitude I could shoot skiers at 100 iso @ 1/500 at f16 all day and never change it. The meter might fluctuate due to composition but I had to trust my experience and stick with my guts. That is what I meant by flying with the seat of your pants. Old 18% grey meters were only good for ideal situations. Too much white and you were under exposed, reverse for black.

Kind Regards,

Steve

Tim, please don't read this as condescending. You shot with a F3. I am sure you know what I'm talking about ;-)

Re: My Z150 just died
 

@ Steven ….
You aren’t THAT old!

Heck, way back when “real photographers,” the pros, shot with 8” x 10” and the press photographers used 4” x 5” cameras. The 35mm cameras were considered “miniature” while 120mm, or 2-1/4, was kind of an in-between size. My first camera as a kid was a box camera that used the 120 film and was replaced by an Argus C3 “the brick”. Still have both! Bought Kodak Panatomic-X film in 100ft rolls and rolled my own cartridges using a changing bag and Nikor tanks for developing. Maybe this should be placed under the other thread of when one should buy and sell?

In school we used 4x5 press cameras (forgot the brand), probably and both Roliflex and Yashica TLRs (Twin Lens Reflex) cameras. Had a Yashica 35 SLR for awhile but it kept having problems so bit the bullet and picked up the Nikon Photomic T. End of having problems except for the light meter toward the end. Got into video with an 8mm Bell & Howell briefly but then went with a Sekonic turret lens cam, another keeper.

One of the things in the Nikon kit that’s neat is the Nikon folding fan flash that used M2 bulbs. It’s almost a work of art. Had a Weston Master V light meter which my estate will probably wonder what it was used for.

So, yeah, you aren’t that old.

Re: My Z150 just died
 

Number 1 thing the Panasonic UX180 has going for it, is a full 16 segment color matrix control menu...that means you can point 16 different primary, secondary, and thirdary colors at their proper vectorscope locations, unlike the Sony, which let's you manipulate only 2.

Paul

Re: My Z150 just died
 

Well, I am unhappy to report that in addition to the backfocus mechanism vibrating and blurring out, it has now rendered my camera non parfocal. Noticed this in my latest 4K clips I shot. All of my wide angle footage was very soft, or to be more correct, out of focus. Typically, I only see my footage in the little FCPX preview box, and when it airs in 720p60 at home. With my new 4K TV, I have been exited to shoot more 4K clips, so I can actually notice these issues on tripod shots most.

To test this, a few minutes ago I went outside and zoomed in on a car license tag, and used 8x expand to get it in critical focus. I then zoomed fully out, and as expected, the image went soft, visible in the 8x expanded focus. I have to ever ever ever so gently turn the focus ring to snap it all sharp. You X70 and Z150 owners know how much of a PITA full wide angle critical focus changes can be...you barely touch the dial and you've gone from infinity to macro, so this is a serious issue. If you look a the latest clip in my Z150 4K thread, you will be able to see every wide angle shot is out of focus, especially obvious in vehicle license tags. If you look at my older clips, prior to reporting the lens dying, you will find tac sharp wide angle images.

It would appear the backfocus is OFF...you cannot shoot at infinit spin infinity and have the shot in focus wide any longer on this camera. On my 2/3" cameras I would simply zoom in to find focus, zoom out, loosen backfocus lock, turn the ring to regain wide alignment, lock down, done. On this camera, no such luck. Sony, you are lucky you include MPEG-TS streaming on your stupid cameras, because that is the ONLY thing keeping me reliant on your products. :-P

Paul

Adding 4K frame grab, view full size to see "da blur"

Re: My Z150 just died
 

I never manual focus any of my small Sony's. Touch focus is the only way I have found that they get in focus and then always at the zoom framing I want because they will go out if moved too much. The standard way of zoom in, focus and then frame does not work, or at least never worked for me on any of these. That is AX100, AX53, NX30U, CX700 and all the ones before too like XR500 etc that I have had. Touch focus gets it sharp if there is enough light. Since the Z150 does not have touch screen this is not available !!!

Re: My Z150 just died
 

Paul - That is a real bummer and on a pro cam which is one’s livelihood. One would think that a pro cam should be more robust than a consumer cam because the user counts on it for a living and it would get more use.

Although you aren’t a repairman perhaps in your dealings you may have some insight, so, by any chance, do you know if the back focus uses a servo motor?

Re: My Z150 just died
 

Assuming it uses a servo motor, probably one of those corkscrew things, don't now. I do know that these damn "electronic backfocus" lenses are a nightmare, you've seen my posted problems with them, with the video clips to back them up, it's ridiculous. And it's always the same issue, my X180, my X200, now this Z150, all have backfocus issues. Wide angle infinity shots are practically the simplest and easiest to not screw up, yet my Z150 is not able to pull that off anymore. :-(

Paul

Re: My Z150 just died
 

So I was really interested in purchasing this cam, mostly glowing reviews out there...until I read this post. I haven't really read about this issue from others, so is this just an isolated problem with this cam, are others experiencing it also?

Just looking for advice to pass or not. The UX180 looks decent, or I can wait until NAB for new releases (anyone have rumors on what is coming)?

Re: My Z150 just died
 

I believe one other person reported a similar issue with their Z150. The kicker is that I have had three Sony cameras in a row with back focus issues, so it appears to be a sore point of Sony's design. My camera continues to buzz and vibrate, blurring my telephoto shots. If I was shooting a wedding, and zoomed in for the kiss or the "I do's", then I would be screwed, as you must zoom to wide angle to get the buzzing and vibrations to stop, and the focus to return.

Then again, see my 4K post, maybe the picture will win you over...perhaps I just have horrible backfocus luck!

Paul

Re: My Z150 just died
 

Can any of you answer a question for me please.
I have a PXW X160, have had it for about 2 years.
It has been solid.
I only use manual focus and zoom with the rings. I may have used the zoom toggle once when I first got it, it worked fine. There is a switch on the 160 that disables the zoom toggle, so even if I bump it or touch the handle zoom it does nothing.
So the question-
Am I immune to these lens issues by using full manual?
Or is it irrelevent because the zoom is motorised even when using the ring?
Thanks for any feedback.

Re: My Z150 just died
 

The issue with these small cameras is the continuously variable servo controlled backfocus, necessary to make these lenses act as parfocal, meaning focus does not change when zooming. See the post below in the EX Handhelds forum regarding my experience with this issue on my X180. The last post includes a link to the firmware that supposedly solves these issues...the X160 would have it's own firmware though.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...ens-issue.html