For those considering the Z1..

Spot|DSE wrote on 1/29/2005, 3:30 PM
An interview shot by the BBC at Sundance. I ended up being asked to repair the audio and color correct (can you imagine being a run n' gun without lighting?) and so I cut what they gave me into a stream for the Sony folks.
Jody Eldred is a very well known DP with credits longer than a football field. He used the Z1 on J.A.G. and is using it on other episodics as well. He owns an F900 among several other cams and rigs, plus a production company that just won an international Emmy. He was also recently named Best Cameraman by the DGA.
Anyway, you can hear/see what he has to say about the Z1.

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 1/29/2005, 3:42 PM
That's hard to beat!

Anybody know any good place to buy good matteboxes that aren't priced like used cars?

This seems to be a classical case of very high markup in a small market.
filmy wrote on 1/29/2005, 3:49 PM
Nice little interview. Now if only we could "see" what he is talking about. The 'shooting direct into the sun' comment caught me ear. Normally very hard to do on video so I would love to see that shot. Also it is sort of fun to hear a well known DP say that spending "only" 7 grand because the adds ons are a must have is fun. If I got his day rate I am sure I would have no problems with that either. :)
PeterWright wrote on 1/29/2005, 3:54 PM
Thanks for that Douglas - I was already sold on the idea, but this guy's testimonial is great confirmation.
scdragracing wrote on 1/29/2005, 3:57 PM
i'd like to know what focus tool that was that he showed there, and exactly how you'd determine the correct focus with a prosumer viewfinder... at the price point of that sony camera, i doubt that it has a real crt viewfinder.
Coursedesign wrote on 1/29/2005, 4:01 PM
It doesn't have a CRT viewfinder, but the LCD display can zoom in and it does have peaking. I thought it was outstanding.

The focus tool was just gears to get a cine-style focus knob on the side, with settable stops or markings for manual rack focusing.

The Z1 also has another kind of rack focusing without any external gear.
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/29/2005, 4:09 PM
The follow focus is made by Chrosziel, and I believe it's just under a grand in cost. BandPro is designing it with Chrosziel.
The matte box is around 1500 or just over that. Again, new design without a production model yet. Eyebrows/flag is a little more.
The viewfinder is OUTSTANDING. Of course, you have to set it up like you would a monitor, but it's great.
Keep in mind, even with the follow focus, you'll not get a measure and mark like you would with a more traditional lens setup. But, it's close, and it's fast. Just gotta hope the talent hits the mark. The shot transition is a fabulous tool/programmable setting.
winrockpost wrote on 1/29/2005, 4:59 PM
...........(can you imagine being a run n' gun without lighting?)

Your supposed to have lighting ? geez, your gettin spoiled Spot


good stuff
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/29/2005, 5:23 PM
I just bought the new LitePanels kit. A bit expensive, but what a great tool to have. It adds 3 lbs to the Z1, but it balances nice, and can be underslung, forming a pistol grip for the underside.
Yeah, I'm spoiled. Once you get to spend time with various shooters out there, it doesn't take long for you to figure out what's really necessary and so while I've dropped a few things from my main kit, I've also added a couple things.
apit34356 wrote on 1/29/2005, 5:43 PM
Another AAA+ content posted by Spot. Spot, have you shown your camera setup to Vic? What are your feeling about the sound features on the Z1? What about addon filters and the matte box, have you tried any interesting combinations? (Sorry about the " what if & everything else" questions).
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/29/2005, 6:05 PM
I don't have my matte box yet, I've had limited opportunity to work with the prototype. I have ordered a resin polarization filter, and two different ND filters.
The sound features.....
It is an MPEG audio format, highly compressed. It sounds good for dialog. Cymbals and other very high freq sounds will be a problem if they're not recorded at correct levels. Dialog will be fine no matter what. You NEED a good audio rig for HD. The audio you hear in this stream was captured with the Z1 from about 10 feet away, and it took a lot of work to get it to sound like it does, and it's still nowhere near what it should have been. The people from the BBC showed up with one cam, no lights, no mics. So, Jody stuck the Z1 on sticks, they ran it, and I edited what went on the BBC and Sundance Channel from there.
I've not shown the rig to Vic yet, I've not seen him recently, but we'll be seeing him very soon. He's one of the instructors for VASST at NAB this year, and I'm sure he'll be involved with the HDV sessions we're teaching there.
vicmilt wrote on 1/29/2005, 6:46 PM
Oh... Spot's keepin' the "good stuff" all to himself... (joke - PLEASE - it's a joke).

No, I haven't seen the camera yet, but as I have attested many times, I'm a confirmed Sony addict. Their picture quality has ALWAYS proven to be the best, and basically, that's all I've got to show. I HAVE seen samples of the footage out of the camera, and I'm blown away.

But - I won't buy one (and it's killing me), until I have a client who wants that kind of quality and can figure out a method of delivery. I'm really rigid about not buying equipment without a corresponding job to help pay for it. That's definitely one of the ways to still be in business after 35 years. (But I WANT it SO BAD!)

See you all at NAB - and we're cooking up a real surprise for all of you.

best,
v
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/29/2005, 7:19 PM
Vic....
Shhhh.....don't tip our hand just yet, boss. :-)
NAB 2005 will be a blast, and the Vegas Users Party will be terrific!
vicmilt wrote on 1/29/2005, 7:26 PM
I'll be there - can't wait to see and re-meet you all.
shhhh....
v.

Spot|DSE wrote on 1/30/2005, 11:27 AM
For those looking for info on the matte box and follow focus:
http://www.bandprodigital.com/cgibin/eDatCat/BPDstore.cgi?user_action=category&category=Products
filmy wrote on 1/30/2005, 5:18 PM
I have gone to your link (bandprodigital.com) 3 times now and every time something on that site makes Mozilla crash. I did manage to get to the controller page but under "Sony" there is nothing listed or shown.
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/30/2005, 5:20 PM
You might try their home page and see if you can navigate from there?
www.bandpro.com
NickHope wrote on 1/30/2005, 8:10 PM
Spot, thanks for a great post. Would you use the 2 ND filters you've ordered in preference to the camera's internal ND filters? If so why? thanks
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/30/2005, 8:31 PM
The internal ND filters are a little too steep for creating the depth of field that I'm aiming for. Just now starting to experiment, so gimme a while to post results, but I've ordered in .3 and .6 stops. This should be enough to either combine with internal stop #1, or leave internal off and step it down enough so I can keep lens wide open for depth. Filters haven't arrived yet....
The only complaint I've got so far, is that while Sony stuff tends to have a better DOF than other video cams, it's still not enough, but what can you expect with small CCDs and short lenses?
ptlpc wrote on 1/30/2005, 9:17 PM
I use the CAVISION mattbox and handles on my PD150 and love them. About HALF the price of the others as I remember. Check 'out this FX-1 rig they have:
http://www.cavision.com/SonyHDRFX1.htm
MarkFoley wrote on 1/31/2005, 4:42 AM
Have you experienced many droputs with the cam? This is probably my biggest concern with these frist generation HDV cams.
farss wrote on 1/31/2005, 4:54 AM
The probability of dropouts is going to be more a function of the tape formulation than the camera. Same goes for DV as well. Incorrect head alignment and dirt is also a factor. Can't say I've ever heard anyone say a particular camera had a dropout problem.
Bob.
MarkFoley wrote on 1/31/2005, 5:00 AM
From my understanding, HDV uses MPEG-2 compression which groups frames together into groups of 15. Every frame but the first one relies on the information from prior frames. If any of those frames gets corrupted by a dropout, they ALL get corrupted, and the camera just drops all 15 frames in the group.
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/31/2005, 7:20 AM
Mark, as I mentioned in another forum, you're correct. Dropouts could be potentially hazardous. I've not experienced any in my few dozen hours of actual tape.
The "First generation" HDV comments I keep hearing around the web are ridiculous. Sony is using the same transport found in the PD170 camera. Same drum, same transport, same cage. The main difference is the information on the tape. Sony's been doing MPEG to tape for years, and they've got it down great. BetaSX, a very high end professional, and Beta IMX, which is also high end are both MPEG2, but shorter GOP's. Needless to say, this isn't as big a worry as the nay-sayers make it out to be. But it IS a potential problem with a non-maintained camera.