The Stress That The Z7U Issues Has Caused...

[Bruce Reynolds]

email me you phone # reynoldshsd at mbarqmail dot com --Bruce

[Dave Williams]

Marshall - I for one appreciate your and Bruce O's tenacity. What can we normal folks do at this point. As you know, between me and my crew, we own 5 Z7s. Is there a number to call? A Sony rep to email? What can we do?

[Marshall Levy]

As of now, do this:

Call Sony at 800-883-6817

I don't remember the shortcuts with the menu, but get through to the service dept. If Lou is available, talk to him as he is well aware of these issues.

For now, you'll have to play the return game, but I would highly suggest you include a copy of these forum postings, as well as any examples of issues and what, specifically, is wrong and how to replicate it.

I'll call again today.

[Bruce G. Cleveland]

Originally Posted by Dave Williams

Marshall - I for one appreciate your and Bruce O's tenacity. What can we normal folks do at this point. As you know, between me and my crew, we own 5 Z7s. Is there a number to call? A Sony rep to email? What can we do?

Dave I apologize if I trivialized your focus issues in a previous post. I guess in my view I could not fathom anything Sony produced could be that bad. I sincerely hope you can get your issues resolved with Sony. I did get a chance to put our Z7 through the tests at an event last week where lighting was pretty low and did run into auto focus problems. I can see where this would be a big problem with the camera on a steadicam device in low light. I still concur though that this problem is no worse than it is with our 170s. Please keep us updated on what you find out with Sony.

Bruce

[Mike Paterson]

FYI the 8gb Sony CF card which came supplied with my camera is 306x

[Winston Cutshall]

Marshal and Bruce O - I was considering buying this camera, and joined this forum especially because of your threads tracking the issues. I really appreciate all your hard work, and have now ordered my rig seeing that Sony is being responsive to some substantial issues.

And just for the record, I did notice the autofocus issues in low light with the demo unit in the Sony booth at NAB, and even their engineers from Japan had no answer to give. Granted I had the lens really stopped down with the gain up on purpose just to see what would happen.

[John Markert]

There's always the Canon A1 and more light.

I wish Canon would offer 1/2" chips for better low light performance. Otherwise, it's a solid performer and probably just as sharp as a Z7 or even an EX-1. Add an SD memory card recorder and you're set.

This snafu with the Z7 lens reminds me of the early XL1 20x lenses and the various design problems that people complained about.

[Bruce G. Cleveland]

Originally Posted by Winston Cutshall

Marshal and Bruce O - I was considering buying this camera, and joined this forum especially because of your threads tracking the issues. I really appreciate all your hard work, and have now ordered my rig seeing that Sony is being responsive to some substantial issues.

And just for the record, I did notice the autofocus issues in low light with the demo unit in the Sony booth at NAB, and even their engineers from Japan had no answer to give. Granted I had the lens really stopped down with the gain up on purpose just to see what would happen.

Good Move Winston. If I had the money I would probably get another Z7. All in all I really love it.

Bruce

[Gary Nattrass]

I havent chipped in on this issue yet as I have other problems with my Z7, I can not use the compact flash reader with mac/FCP 6.03 but sony europe are working on this and it was my main reason for chosing this camera over the EX-1, low cost storage and TAPE as a back up recording format.

I find the autofocus on my camera fine and OK. it is not as good as the V1 I just sold but this is a different camera and has to be judged in a different way.

It is what I consider a PRO camera and interchangeable lenses give flexibility in one way but down sides in other ways.

I have worked in film and tv for over 28 years and have worked on location and in post production and have never seen a pro cameraman use autofocus at all.
If anything that option was never available and it is only the recent blurring of pro and consumer gear that has given such an option on these type of cameras. OK low light is another thing but once again just look at just news footage and every camera has a pag light or sun gun on the top to fill in lighting.

I got my Z7 two weeks ago and after working with its limitations after the V1 I now understand its design platform and now run most operational things in manual mode with only auto being used when required and within what I understand to be those limitations.

For me the Z7 is not a consumer point and shoot do it all in auto camcorder but a pro machine which needs a lot more understanding of its design to get the best results.

Yes I agree that the servo can be searching for a focus point at times but I am now aware that if I am in low light and with no fixed point of refence then I need to do a pre focus zoom in check (this goes for exposure too) and then work around that focal point. If I feel the camera wil not perform what I want then I switch to manual and control the focus myself.

I have done a lot of film work in the 80's when it took forever to set-up lighting and do anything and it is unfair on any product to expect to be able to point and shoot and have every single frame as a good take. I love my Z7 and I am finding new features that are very useful every day.

[Ed Kukla]

I agree that auto focus is not a necessity. I've been shooting film & large format video for over 15 years. Plenty of run & gun documentary style work. VERY few complaints about focus. You learn how to judge focus by eye, how to anticipate where the subject is moving to keep them in focus and you learn how to zone focus. This is especially easy with 1/3" chips with significant depth of field compared to large format cameras.
I never use auto focus, even when it is available. I can do a better job than a piece of electronics on a $5000 camera. What do you do when the subject moves out of the auto focus view? The camera will hunt for something in the deep background. Then the subject moves back in & they are out of focus until the electronics has a chance to work. Unacceptable to me.

Same thing with auto iris. I never use it. Bad crutch.

[Bruce G. Cleveland]

Thank you so much Gary for your positive post. I agree completely. The more I use this camera the more I realize it is not a camera to use in auto mode. It is so great to hear from someone that doesn't have complaints about this camera. I feel like all I have been doing since I got the camera is reading about new issues almost daily. I have never had a real chance to feel good about my purchase. Your post makes me feel a bit better, so thanks for pointing out some obvious facts.

Bruce

[John Markert]

Originally Posted by Bruce G. Cleveland

Thank you so much Gary for your positive post. I agree completely. The more I use this camera the more I realize it is not a camera to use in auto mode. It is so great to hear from someone that doesn't have complaints about this camera. I feel like all I have been doing since I got the camera is reading about new issues almost daily. I have never had a real chance to feel good about my purchase. Your post makes me feel a bit better, so thanks for pointing out some obvious facts.

Bruce

I think this is a major issue for event videographers who need the assistance of auto focus and stabilizers because so much of their work is documentary style one-take moments.

[Scott Brooks]

Originally Posted by Marshall Levy

As of now, do this:

Call Sony at 800-883-6817

I don't remember the shortcuts with the menu, but get through to the service dept. If Lou is available, talk to him as he is well aware of these issues.

For now, you'll have to play the return game, but I would highly suggest you include a copy of these forum postings, as well as any examples of issues and what, specifically, is wrong and how to replicate it.

I'll call again today.

Marshall,

Just thought I would check in and see if Sony had provided any more information about the situation.

Also ... have you had the opportunity to run it completely through its paces yet. If so ... would you say this completely took care of the issues you had?

Thanks

[Marco Dias]

Originally Posted by John Markert

I think this is a major issue for event videographers who need the assistance of auto focus and stabilizers because so much of their work is documentary style one-take moments.

I totally agree, anyone who owns a FX1/Z1 will tell you that the auto focus on these cameras are perfect, yet Sony has messed up with the auto focus on the Z7 and Sony can't even admit it.

If you do Event Videography, stay away from the Z7 until the auto focus issue is resolved. I just feel sorry for those that bought the Z7...

Regards.

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Marco Dias

I totally agree, anyone who owns a FX1/Z1 will tell you that the auto focus on these cameras are perfect, yet Sony has messed up with the auto focus on the Z7 and Sony can't even admit it.

Likewise for the V1-FX7. Even in very low light, e.g., a night market in Asia panning from something 2 feet away to a face 8 feet away and back down to the close object.