Sony Z7 / S270 various topics

Scott Brooks · April 29th, 2008, 02:07 PM

Has anyone experimented much with the extended digital setting?

Last night I was able to shoot a rehearsal for a high school stage performance and switched back and forth from the normal setting to extended digital. I honestly didn't see much (if any) difference at all. Had I not seen the footage "pop" in when I turned it on, I'm not sure I would have noticed it.

I'm just curious to know what others have experienced.

Johnny Tsang · May 3rd, 2008, 05:35 PM

Ok everyone.. so I have been shooting with my z7u and so far, so good.. I do see the problems that people have been saying.. (the whip pan digital breakdowns and the bad autofocus) but the autofocus I think I fixed it quite a bit by adjusting my backfocus and turning off macro focus and changing the AE window to Type 2.

Now.. my problem lies here..

My whole goal is to shoot in HDV, and capture on the CF as SD in raw DV.

Problem is that I don't know when I import it, the timecode does not import as well! I need timecode so when I decide to recapture the sequence to HDV, I have the possiblility to do that.

When I capture CF as HDV, timecode comes in, but not when I do SD. Am I missing something? does anyone know?

Johnny

Bob Ridge · May 5th, 2008, 02:27 PM

Long story short...my studio got burglarized, and 30K worth of gear got taken. Nothing irreplaceable, thank goodness, but I'm stuck having to reorder lots of gear in time for a shoot this weekend. So anyway, my first couple of options for reordering the S270U suddenly didn't have it in stock, and I had to go to Sony's website just to see what other authorized dealers were out there. In doing so, I learned from the Roscor rep that Sony has "reclassified" the S270U as a camera that has to sold for a minimum dealer price of $8700. He made it sound like bad news, but that was a lower price than I was getting from B&H or Armatos (neither of whom have it in stock), and E.C. Pro Video was able to match it with a sooner ship date. So if you're looking to get one of these, be aware if you don't already know that you can get it for $8700, and I'll bet many authorized dealers will match that.

Steve Mullen · May 5th, 2008, 02:55 PM

Could you get a similar quote for the Z7?

Marshall Levy · May 7th, 2008, 05:35 PM

Link is on Sony's site....

Free 8G CF Card w/ Z7U purchase between Jan 15 - Sept 30 (this was the rebate that was pulled a few months back)

No limit, either.

Requires UPC and online survey completion.

Steve Mullen · May 13th, 2008, 10:29 PM

Please contact me at d-v-c@mindspring.com.

Marshall Levy · May 22nd, 2008, 12:18 AM

I'm trying to output the video to both the LCD and an external monitor.

I know that within the menu, I select DISPLAY SET > DISPLAY OUTPUT > V-OUT/LCD or ALL OUTPUT.

My question (potential problem?) is that I can view the Menu selections on the external screen, but the pertinent info, like what's on the camera LCD appears for about 1/4-second and then disappears. Again, the only thing that works is the menu; I can't see anything else, like focusing controls, battery life....all of that stuff. I'm using composite.

Anyone know something I don't? Can anyone test this and let me know if I'm missing something? I need to figure this out for Saturday's shoot.

Oh, and my replacement Z7U - fantastic. Who knows what happened to the other one.

Thanks!

mll

Bruce G. Cleveland · May 22nd, 2008, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshall Levy

I'm trying to output the video to both the LCD and an external monitor.

I know that within the menu, I select DISPLAY SET > DISPLAY OUTPUT > V-OUT/LCD or ALL OUTPUT.

My question (potential problem?) is that I can view the Menu selections on the external screen, but the pertinent info, like what's on the camera LCD appears for about 1/4-second and then disappears. Again, the only thing that works is the menu; I can't see anything else, like focusing controls, battery life....all of that stuff. I'm using composite.

Anyone know something I don't? Can anyone test this and let me know if I'm missing something? I need to figure this out for Saturday's shoot.

Oh, and my replacement Z7U - fantastic. Who knows what happened to the other one.

Thanks!

mll

Marshall I dragged everything upstairs to check this out and setting camera to V Out/Panel I get everything on the external monitor that I see on the camera lcd.

Bruce

Michael Mann · May 24th, 2008, 09:33 AM

As a former Canon A1-user I have become quite sensitive when it's about CA in wide angle shots. Since Adam Wilt's excellent Z7-review mentions CA as well I'd appreciate a short, wide-angled, native Z7-clip very much.
Thanks in advance.

Jaums Sutton · May 25th, 2008, 01:33 PM

Yes, tho haven't started editing yet.

Barry Wilkinson · June 3rd, 2008, 05:07 AM

I have just read a thread on the Guild of TV Cameramen( UK) forum site on Yahoo groups. I could not copy and paste here for some bizarre reason but it was from a Z7 owner who had problems with using a 5 Watt UHF transceiver near the lens of the Z7 ( same as S270). When the transmit button was pressed the zoom and focus on the lens started moving randomly without operator input. It did not appear to cause problems with recording( but obviously the footage would be unuseable anyway).
They cut the power on the transceiver to 1 Watt and told the operator to keep it away from the lens which cured the fault .
Obviously this is a design fault so be aware if your lens gets taken over by demons.

Thomas Gregory · June 3rd, 2008, 07:36 AM

I'm a wedding production company, and am about to go full HD, thinking of 2 HVR270 units and one Z7 unit. Any comments as to how these cameras perform in low light? I shoot with the DSR 300 series cameras, and love thier low-light abilities. Any help?

Brian Standing · June 3rd, 2008, 07:48 AM

I had a similar experience with my PD-150. Turning off steadyshot cured the problem.

Todd Moen · June 3rd, 2008, 03:15 PM

Wondering if any of you have had any experience with the cache recording mode. I love to hear how this works with the Z7u.
Thanks

Mike Paterson · June 4th, 2008, 04:42 AM

I'm not sure if I'm missing something here: Do any NLE's handle Sony's 1080/25P flavour of HDV natively?

I'm working on Avid MC and 1080/25P HDV isn't listed as a supported format (and there is no project setting for it in MC). The footage imports ok into a 1080i HDV project, but Avid seems to interpret the material as interlaced (and if I bring the footage into a regular, non-HDV 1080/25P project a warning dialog appears about importing interlaced material into a progressive project.)

I'm not quite sure what's going on under the bonnet either in the way the camera creates 25P or in the way Avid handles it (I've posted on the Avid forum with no joy so far) Is the Z7's 1080/25P HDV the same format as that from the V1, and if so does anyone has any experience of working with that progressive material? I'd like to keep the material progressive throughout the workflow.

April 29th, 2008, 02:07 PM	#61
Scott Brooks Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Charleston, IL Posts: 231	Shooting in Extended Digital Has anyone experimented much with the extended digital setting? Last night I was able to shoot a rehearsal for a high school stage performance and switched back and forth from the normal setting to extended digital. I honestly didn't see much (if any) difference at all. Had I not seen the footage "pop" in when I turned it on, I'm not sure I would have noticed it. I'm just curious to know what others have experienced.

May 3rd, 2008, 05:35 PM	#62
Johnny Tsang New Boot Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Queens, New York Posts: 5	Hvr-z7u Cf And Avid Timecode Workflow? Ok everyone.. so I have been shooting with my z7u and so far, so good.. I do see the problems that people have been saying.. (the whip pan digital breakdowns and the bad autofocus) but the autofocus I think I fixed it quite a bit by adjusting my backfocus and turning off macro focus and changing the AE window to Type 2. Now.. my problem lies here.. My whole goal is to shoot in HDV, and capture on the CF as SD in raw DV. Problem is that I don't know when I import it, the timecode does not import as well! I need timecode so when I decide to recapture the sequence to HDV, I have the possiblility to do that. When I capture CF as HDV, timecode comes in, but not when I do SD. Am I missing something? does anyone know? Johnny

May 5th, 2008, 02:27 PM	#63
Bob Ridge Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Fishers, IN Posts: 26	HVR-S270U "reclassified"? $8700 Long story short...my studio got burglarized, and 30K worth of gear got taken. Nothing irreplaceable, thank goodness, but I'm stuck having to reorder lots of gear in time for a shoot this weekend. So anyway, my first couple of options for reordering the S270U suddenly didn't have it in stock, and I had to go to Sony's website just to see what other authorized dealers were out there. In doing so, I learned from the Roscor rep that Sony has "reclassified" the S270U as a camera that has to sold for a minimum dealer price of $8700. He made it sound like bad news, but that was a lower price than I was getting from B&H or Armatos (neither of whom have it in stock), and E.C. Pro Video was able to match it with a sooner ship date. So if you're looking to get one of these, be aware if you don't already know that you can get it for $8700, and I'll bet many authorized dealers will match that.

May 5th, 2008, 02:55 PM	#64
Steve Mullen HDV Cinema Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 4,007	Could you get a similar quote for the Z7? __________________ Switcher's Quick Guide to the Avid Media Composer >>> http://home.mindspring.com/~d-v-c

May 7th, 2008, 05:35 PM	#65
Marshall Levy Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Maryland Posts: 304	US Sony Rebate - Free 8G CF Card Link is on Sony's site.... Free 8G CF Card w/ Z7U purchase between Jan 15 - Sept 30 (this was the rebate that was pulled a few months back) No limit, either. Requires UPC and online survey completion.

May 13th, 2008, 10:29 PM	#66
Steve Mullen HDV Cinema Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 4,007	Anybody in Las Vegas with Z7 or 270? Please contact me at d-v-c@mindspring.com. __________________ Switcher's Quick Guide to the Avid Media Composer >>> http://home.mindspring.com/~d-v-c

May 22nd, 2008, 12:18 AM	#67
Marshall Levy Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Maryland Posts: 304	Z7U - Video Output Problem / Question...Advice??? I'm trying to output the video to both the LCD and an external monitor. I know that within the menu, I select DISPLAY SET > DISPLAY OUTPUT > V-OUT/LCD or ALL OUTPUT. My question (potential problem?) is that I can view the Menu selections on the external screen, but the pertinent info, like what's on the camera LCD appears for about 1/4-second and then disappears. Again, the only thing that works is the menu; I can't see anything else, like focusing controls, battery life....all of that stuff. I'm using composite. Anyone know something I don't? Can anyone test this and let me know if I'm missing something? I need to figure this out for Saturday's shoot. Oh, and my replacement Z7U - fantastic. Who knows what happened to the other one. Thanks! mll

May 24th, 2008, 09:33 AM	#69
Michael Mann Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kelkheim, Germany Posts: 375	Native demo clip to study CA wantend As a former Canon A1-user I have become quite sensitive when it's about CA in wide angle shots. Since Adam Wilt's excellent Z7-review mentions CA as well I'd appreciate a short, wide-angled, native Z7-clip very much. Thanks in advance. __________________ Michael

May 25th, 2008, 01:33 PM	#70
Jaums Sutton Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Silver Spring, MD USA Posts: 26	Yes, tho haven't started editing yet.

June 3rd, 2008, 05:07 AM	#71
Barry Wilkinson Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grange over Sands UK Posts: 99	RF interference causing zoom /focus problems I have just read a thread on the Guild of TV Cameramen( UK) forum site on Yahoo groups. I could not copy and paste here for some bizarre reason but it was from a Z7 owner who had problems with using a 5 Watt UHF transceiver near the lens of the Z7 ( same as S270). When the transmit button was pressed the zoom and focus on the lens started moving randomly without operator input. It did not appear to cause problems with recording( but obviously the footage would be unuseable anyway). They cut the power on the transceiver to 1 Watt and told the operator to keep it away from the lens which cured the fault . Obviously this is a design fault so be aware if your lens gets taken over by demons. __________________ Cameraman BBC and ITV since 1966

June 3rd, 2008, 07:36 AM	#72
Thomas Gregory Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Youngstown, Ohio Posts: 33	Z7/S270 as good as DSR300 in low light? I'm a wedding production company, and am about to go full HD, thinking of 2 HVR270 units and one Z7 unit. Any comments as to how these cameras perform in low light? I shoot with the DSR 300 series cameras, and love thier low-light abilities. Any help? __________________ www.gregoryfilms.com (keep the faith....better yet, pass it on!)

June 3rd, 2008, 07:48 AM	#73
Brian Standing Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Madison, Wisconsin Posts: 621	I had a similar experience with my PD-150. Turning off steadyshot cured the problem. __________________ http://www.prolefeedstudios.com/blog/ Documentary for the masses!

June 3rd, 2008, 03:15 PM	#74
Todd Moen Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Bozeman MT Posts: 51	Cache Recording Mode Wondering if any of you have had any experience with the cache recording mode. I love to hear how this works with the Z7u. Thanks

June 4th, 2008, 04:42 AM	#75
Mike Paterson Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 99	1080/25P HDV format - NLE compatability? I'm not sure if I'm missing something here: Do any NLE's handle Sony's 1080/25P flavour of HDV natively? I'm working on Avid MC and 1080/25P HDV isn't listed as a supported format (and there is no project setting for it in MC). The footage imports ok into a 1080i HDV project, but Avid seems to interpret the material as interlaced (and if I bring the footage into a regular, non-HDV 1080/25P project a warning dialog appears about importing interlaced material into a progressive project.) I'm not quite sure what's going on under the bonnet either in the way the camera creates 25P or in the way Avid handles it (I've posted on the Avid forum with no joy so far) Is the Z7's 1080/25P HDV the same format as that from the V1, and if so does anyone has any experience of working with that progressive material? I'd like to keep the material progressive throughout the workflow.