could FX1000 owners confirm these features...
 

Hi all,

Looking through the Z5U brochure (as I can't find one for the FX1000) and I was wondering if you could tell me if these Z5U features are also on the FX1000

- Two accessory shoe connectors (one above internal mic, one infront of eye piece hinge)
- Smooth controls (white balance and gain changes are apparently smooth instead of instantly switching)
- Minus gain -6 and -3gB gain settings for bright light use with open iris

I'm also a little confused that the Z5U appears to do native progressive recording and progressive scan mode where as the FX1000 only does the later (I think thats right anyway...) what exactly does this mean??

Many thanks guys
David

Here is the FX1000 manual: http://www.docs.sony.com/release/HDRFX1000.pdf

As for your questions:

- only one hot shoe
- instant switch
- -3db gain only

As far as 30p mode - FX1000 does 60i but I think it's nothing but duplicated 30p when recording. I looked at footage and there was no interlacing.

David,
look at this article:
Sony HVR-Z5 Camcorder Review

greetings
Dirk PEL(NL)

I really should understand what that means but the more I read the more I get confused... Does that mean the Z5 has something over the FX1000 in terms of how it uses its fields when recording?

The FX1 records 60i but I assume that is true 60i and not 30p doubled up (as it obviously doesnt record in 30p..)

Many thanks for the link, just what i was after

thanks again Dirk, looks great.

so when I capture my FX1 footage into premiere it appears as 1440x1080 (which I believe is 1080i) therefore if I went for the Z5 which according to the article:

"does not convert the 1080p signal to 1080i when going to tape (or flash memory)." does that mean the resolution of the finished article is technically higher? Or is this incorrect as both as 1080 pixels high?

Also does this not converting from 1080p to 1080i only come into play when recording in progressive mode? Or will recording in 60i result in the footage being filmed, captured, edited all in 1920x1080?

Sorry for all of the questions...!

Any HDV tape cam is 1440, not 1920. So that would be your editing preset.

With the FX1000E if you shot 25p you'd capture in a 50i preset timeline. With the Z5E you'd use 25p to capture and edit, unless you chose to shoot in 25p over 50i mode (assuming you have the Euro version).

The resolution doesn't change, as neither cam can do 1080/50p (and you couldn't edit or distribute it anyway even it they could).

The FX does have -6db setting.

The 24p is in a 60i wrapper (called Sony on this when the FX's were new) it's up to your NLE to unwrap the 60i to get the true 24p and the bad part is not all NLE's will do it.

ok I think I get it, but the Z5U will do true 25p and be editable in a 25p timeline?
I'm using premiere pro CS4

Unfortunately that is not how it works. No NLE will remove the extra frames without the camera telling the NLE how to do it with flags in the stream. You will need another software tool to remove the extra frames. NLE's can only do it from cameras that ad the flags for the NLE to know which ones to remove. XH-A1 and HV40 are two that come to mind.

Thanks Todd for clearing that up. It's been a while since I was trying to figure all the 24p stuff out myself. Never could understand why Sony would make a camera that laid down flags that there on NLE couldn't read. I would love to shoot and edit 24p but I'm not going to jump threw hoops to do it..... 30p for me.

I may be wrong but I think I remember reading that there was one NLE that would read the FX's flags....not sure though.

I ve shot the FX1 for many years, and used its 24p setting a lot of the time. If you shoot 24p, the frames are delivered inside a 60i stream. The look is there, wether you remove the pulldown or not. But most us like to work with pure 24p because it just resolves a lot of potential issues.

I used Cineform products, which detect and remove the pull down in Sony's version of 24p, and it works great.

The cadence of Sony's FX1 24p is a bit different that Canon's and others, and purests have railed against it as not being true 24p. Other purists rail against any 24p contained in a 60i stream. The reason manufacturers did wrap it like that is because HDV protocols did not provide for progressive frames, as I understand it.

What sorts of issues do people experience?

Could you confirm whether the Z5U uses 'sony's version' of 24/25p or whether it records in true 24/25p and that is indeed the difference between the Z5U and FX1000.

I take it you don't get the same level of film look shooting in 30p compared to 24p? I've only ever shot in 60i (well, 50i as I'm in Europe), this is not the same as 30p is it?

Hi everyone, I have finally decided I'm definitely buying the Z5 after all of your advice.

I am looking for the best place to buy it from with the Memory Card unit (or hard drive unit - not decided which yet)

However I was wondering if somebody could tell me:

1) does the Z5 use the same batteries as the FX1?
2) is there much handling noise using the included external mic on the bracket? I used a side mount for my ME66 on the FX1 but I get horrible handling noise whenever I move. I've read the ME66 won't fit on the Z5's mic holder so was considering just sticking with the supplied mic. What is it like?
3) Is there a UK and a US model of the Z5? The best price I've found says it records in 24p, however I'm in the UK so isnt there a model that records in 25p which will be more suitable for me? Or could I get away with saving £100 or so and getting the 24p model? - I've accidentally bought a US model of a canon HF200 in the past and it has caused problems when trying to mix the footage with my FX1 50i footage...

Thanks guys

Point 1: Yes it's the same batterie.
Point: I use the mic witch is given by the Z5, not too bad.
Point3: You are living in a PAL country in this case use the Z5E

Dirk PEL

thanks Dirk, thats great.

Does anyone know if the MRCK1 unit records a new file on the memory card every time you push stop, like a conventional hard drive camcorder?

Hi David,
This is the case. This is fantastic then you can simple load all the files in your edit system.

Dirk PEL(NL)

Answered over in the MRC forum. No need to ask the same question in multiple forums.

I have now just read that the Z7 comes with the memory card reader unit which I was going to buy with the Z5 anyway... This would give me the interchangable lens possibility that was the only thing missing from the Z5 in my opinion. I understand that I lose a bit of the zoom range when compared to the Z5 (12x compared to 20x) but could someone tell me if the widest zoom is as wide on the Z7 as the Z5? I have also read up and there seems to be nothing else that the Z7 is missing compared to the Z5? For the few hundred pounds more it would be to buy the Z7 when compared to the Z5 and recorder surely its worth it!

Also could someone just confirm that I'm switching to the memory card recorder for the right reasons... I quite frequently get small glitches on my recordings (present on the tape) where the image stutters, becomes pixelated and then is a few frames out of sync from then on. Am I right in saying this is an issue with the tape and that should not happen when recording to the compact flash unit?

I'm after getting these niggling points confirmed and then I intend to make the leap and purchase either the Z5 or Z7 later today.


edit: I have just read that the Z7 doesnt have a built in mic. I liked the idea of using the built in mic with a shotgun simultaneously in the situations where I dont know which sound will be best until after I've recorded (wedding speech using a hand held mic and PA for example) i think this pushes me back to the Z5 if this is correct?
Many thanks

The Z5 is slightly newer and so has a few minor features in the menus that the Z7 doesn't (Colored Peaking?) and if I'm not mistaken a few more audio options, and as you noted the Z5 includes an internal mic while the Z7 doesn't. I suppose they assume you will always be using the included shotgun all the time.

The lens on the Z7 is not quite as wide at its widest as on the Z5 (32mm vs 29.5mm in 35mm equivalent). It's at the long end where you really see the difference.

The tape dropouts you are experiencing should be a thing of the past when you go tapeless, but cards present their own challenges.

Hallo all,
That the Z7 has no internal mics is not so bad, then if you want to use a mattebox it's much simpler to turn around a polfilter! On the Z5 this is much more complicated.

Dirk PEL(NL)