Shot transition - soft ending(s)

[John Purser]

Hi,

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered elsewhere!

Shot transition on the Z1 had a menu option for 'soft stops' (gradual slowing) at the end of any transitions.

This seems to be missing in the Z7.

Any news on a firmware update that might 'fix' this 'problem'?

Cheers

[Ian Campbell]

Originally Posted by John Purser

Hi,

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered elsewhere!

Shot transition on the Z1 had a menu option for 'soft stops' (gradual slowing) at the end of any transitions.

This seems to be missing in the Z7.

Any news on a firmware update that might 'fix' this 'problem'?

Cheers

I doubt Sony will do anything to update the "hard stop" nature of the start and stop zooms in the shot transition menu. The camera was designed with this limitation in mind, it seems. It's odd that they decided not to offer various "curve" options as they have with most of their other HDV offerings.

If they do "fix" this, I sure hope they first fix some other more serious design flaws which plague this Sony model.

Ian

[John Purser]

Thank you for your reply Ian.

[Luc De Wandel]

Originally Posted by Ian Campbell

If they do "fix" this, I sure hope they first fix some other more serious design flaws which plague this Sony model.

Ian

Out of mere curiosity: which flaws are you referring to?

[Ian Campbell]

Originally Posted by Luc De Wandel

Out of mere curiosity: which flaws are you referring to?

Hello, Luc . . .

Thanks for your interest.

I have been trying to get service from Sony for well over a year now, to little or no avail - until recently. Even now, they can't fix the Z7U issues - they have simply offered a "work around solution". Sony has a definate issue with the Z7U camera / lens design. If you wish, please feel free to PM me so that I can email you more info. which I don't wish to do yet here. Also, have a look at the thread I recently started -- it's about 6 or 7 threads down from the top. The title:

"Z7U lens / camera issue - Need help"

This thread doesn't go into a lot of the problem, but if you are able to do the test, according to the insturctions in the thread, it would be helpful to illustrate to Sony that the focus distance the camera reports is wrong. From what I'm hearing from others -- it seems all cameras are off by several feet. I think this one little issue may be key to why they are having back-focus problems with this model.

In the last week I've had a few responses from those who have checked their cameras and have noticed slight to moderate back focus problems. One person sent me some footage, and the problem (not the worst I've seen) is evedent.

Thanks Luc.

Ian

[Luc De Wandel]

Originally Posted by Ian Campbell

Hello, Luc . . .

Thanks for your interest.

I have been trying to get service from Sony for well over a year now, to little or no avail - until recently. Even now, they can't fix the Z7U issues - they have simply offered a "work around solution". Sony has a definate issue with the Z7U camera / lens design. If you wish, please feel free to PM me so that I can email you more info. which I don't wish to do yet here. Also, have a look at the thread I recently started -- it's about 6 or 7 threads down from the top. The title:

"Z7U lens / camera issue - Need help"

This thread doesn't go into a lot of the problem, but if you are able to do the test, according to the insturctions in the thread, it would be helpful to illustrate to Sony that the focus distance the camera reports is wrong. From what I'm hearing from others -- it seems all cameras are off by several feet. I think this one little issue may be key to why they are having back-focus problems with this model.

In the last week I've had a few responses from those who have checked their cameras and have noticed slight to moderate back focus problems. One person sent me some footage, and the problem (not the worst I've seen) is evedent.

Thanks Luc.

Ian

Good morning, Ian. I just did the test at different distances, and there is indeed an increasing discrepancy between the real and the displayed distance at increasing distances. At 4 meters, I measure a difference of about 20 cm, at 8 meters the difference has already become about 80 cm. In any case, the camera display always indicates more than the actual distance measured manually, even if the position of the sensor is taken as starting point for the measurement.

Something that strikes me, is that the accuracy is better - not to say perfect- at short distances, say up to 2,5 meters. From 4 meters upwards, the anomaly gets worse gradually. This probably has to do with the fact that the measuring is an asymptotic function, ranging from 0 to infinity. The closer you get to infinity, the greater the fault gets. At approx. 50 meters, I get readings of something like 400 meters! So this should be adjustable in firmware, I suppose...

Generally, I am very satisfied with the camera though, also as far as focus and sharpness are concerned. This said, I must admit that I never use autofocus, as I hate the 'wacky' feel of focusing when the ring is in the 'auto' position. So for me it's not that much of an issue in practice, because I seldomly even look at the distance display. But I do find it disturbing.

If I can be of help in any other way, let me know.

Luc