120 FPS with the Z7U
 

Just got a Z7U before I Left on a trip to Rio. I actually read the manual on the plane and discovered the cameras smooth slow motion feature which buffers up 12 sec of video then records it to tape. I created a little video on the beach all shot in smooth slow mode. You can view it at:
www.lafayettehillstudios.com/rio

This was not done in post it was all recorded by the camera this way. Fun!

Mike Brand
mbrand@lafayettehillstudios.com

Mike,
Nice shots... Does the Z7 also have the buffer option for regular record mode.

The wave action looks really nice, but I did notice a few glitches in the flag footage. Did the camera do this? Did you record to card or tape?

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip.
Well, not all are fans of beaches right?
I live here and I'm not really into them haha.

Now the technical question: How's the resolution loss when doing smooth slow record?

Images seem really nice in that resolution, but how about 1080?

12sec... Hmmm nice!
V1 had only 6sec (Correct me If I'm wrong).

WOW -- this is so much better than anything I ever captured with the V1!

Great footage. I'm very interested to here about the resolution of this function?

I asked Sony about the resolution of this feature and got the following reply:

"During ‘Smooth Slow Recording’ the image goes through a few different resolutions. For the HVR-Z7E, the capture is performed at 960x360 as a progressive format. Each frame is then converted to a JPEG image at 672x360. Finally the images are converted to a regular HDV signal at 1440x1080i. So as far as you will tell from any editing software you are using, this will only ‘see’ the final resolution which will look like a regular HDV 1080i signal, but the resolution of the images used to create that output is lower."

So essentially the res you're seeing is a little less than NTSC Standard-Def DV resolution (which is 720 x 480).

I think that's higher res than previous Sony cams that had Smooth slow Record but obviously a long way off HiDef.

That clip was really really impressive. Difficult to judge on web, might well look pretty rough on HD screen, but one of the best-looking clips I've seen from a prosumer camera.
Steve

I can't get this mode to work. Is there something I should know?

kdbf

I think it only works with tape.

Bruce

Beautiful footage. The slo motion recording makes for a relaxing mood, even during the volleyball scene. Every vacation hot spot should look this graceful and elegant.

Man, I'm envious that my Sony EX1 doesn't have this feature.

Doesn't it do 60fps? I think I'd rather have that that the quality downgrade on the Z7.

I'm very envious of the slo-mo on the EX1!

I thought that looked really good. I'm going to give it a try. I thought it would be really low resolution, but that looks fine at this size.

There's a few functions that are incompatible with smooth-slow record. They are in the user guide under troubleshooting. I tried to get it to work for ages (greyed-out menu) then found I'd set the camera to progressive and it wouldn't work in that mode. Works fine now.

I also tried banging my head against the camera in frustration and that didn't work either.

The overcranking of the EX1 is far superior to the one on the Z7.

Up to 60 fps, yes. Just like you pay a lot for exotic fast prime lenses on SLRs for that special shot, I'd like to see some way out there video features on the EX1, such as 120p or 240p fps, even if the quality is dropped.

You are right. It works fine with tape.

kdbf

I tried this test of 120fps... I probably should have used a higher shutter speed then it wouldn't have been so blurry.... I'll do another better one soon with a green screen background. Just need the wife to stop yelling at me for shooting....

http://www.vimeo.com/1028358

WOW again!

Very nice work!

The V1 has this feature also, its adjustable from 3 sec to 12 sec. The quality isn't as good as this though.

This from the camera Operating Guide...

"The shutter speed is automatically set to 1/250 second when you start [SMTH SLW REC]." (Page 72)

If 60fps is enough for you, if you don't need full rez then the Z7 is much more useful for slow mo. EX1 on the whole is a better camera w/o question, IF you don't need interchangable lens, or cheap & easy archvie (ie tape). But that was a big enough IF for me to go w/ the Z7 (plus it was $2k cheaper).

I have to say though, I was amazed at how much improvement the Z7U smooth slow record has over the HC3 (the first smooth-slow Sony camera). The HC3 would be fine for youtube, but the Z7U looks like you wouldn't see a rez difference if you mixed it with DVCam/Beta/any SD format.

smooth slow quality
 

I agree I think even though Tudo Bem (www.lafayettehillstudios.com/rio) was recorded 1080i it looks like about SD quality. Which is fine because its a huge bonus to me that this camera can even do this. It seems as thought it only works in interlace mode, which I don't understand so if your in 1080 24P you have to switch to interlace to execute the smooth slow record. But wow how we take this for granted, I used to shoot high speed film with an Arri photosonic camera, at 500 fps, it would burn 400ft of film (10 minutes) in 30 seconds, at $130 bucks a roll then add processing and transfer. The camera also sounded like a jet engine. 120 fps for a prosumer camera even at SD quality is not only a great feature, it's fun. I hope more cameras implement this feature, I agree with Gints Klimanis would love to see this on the EX even if the quality is dropped.

Mike Brand
mbrand@lafayettehillstudios.com