Hello All,

Now this might seem a little strange to some of you, but coming from the old school of ENG cameramen, I'm finding my Z7 a bit of a handful ...

I have scoured the instruction booklet and played with various settings, but I simply cannot turn the auto iris off!!

- the button on the lens mount is set to 'manual'
- in the viewfinder it says 'Gain 0'

Please, help an old person out here - would someone please be so terribly kind as to spell out all the settings (within the menu if necessary) that are required to stop the iris moving when I'm panning, tilting or when objects pass before the lens ...

Thank you so very much!

The thing to remember about Sony camcorders is that unless you see the setting displayed in the v'finder, it will be in auto.

So knowing this, you have to have the w/bal, shutter speed, gain and iris values shown to have them locked down.

If you turn the iris to auto and back to manual again it will lock in the new (auto-decided) aperture value.

If the gain is not visible then it will constantly vary as the camera tries to 'correct' the exposure as things change.

If you replay the tape with 'display' turned on, the details of each frame (Steadyshot, shutter spd, gain, aperture) will be revealed. This may show you what's happening in your case.

tom.

Tom,

Many thanks. I'll go and have a 'shufftie' and see what comes up (or not, as the case maybe!)

Stuart

Tom,

So, in brief, what you're saying is that on the screen should be 'Gain 0' and the shutter should be 'OFF' ... then the white balance should be done and the exposure (on the brightest shot) taken ... then I need to switch the button on the zoom mount to 'auto', then back to 'manual' to lock everything into full 'manual' mode ...

Seems a bit long-winded especially when one would have thought that simply flicking the zoom mount would have been enough ... bring back the old large format SX and DigiBeta's ... but then again, my back can't take it any more ...

Stuart

Shutter is 'off' in the menu, but on screen, in your v'finders, you must see iris (say f/4) gain (say +6dB), Shutter (invariably 50) and w/bal symbol. If you don't see any of these symbols then that discipline is in auto, and will vary at will.

If you release the iris button and the screen symbol disappears then it's on auto iris. Pushing the button again locks in whatever figure appears (and it's now under the control of the iris ring).

Your description is very long-winded. I simply pick up my Z1, check that the slider is off Auto Lock, then make sure all disciplines are visible as I said. Your Z7 could be slightly different, but I don't think it is.

tom.

Tom,

Yes my description IS very long-winded. The simple reason is that I needed to make sure that a) everyone understood exactly what I was doing and b) that I understood everything I was doing :)

It comes with age and experience - give ALL the details and you should, get the right answers!

Will go through your explanation with a fine tooth-comb!

Thanks again.

Stuart

I have just conducted a test using the following settings;

- Camera switched to 'MANUAL'
- Gain '0'
- Shutter 'OFF'
- White Balance done (but locked?)
- Exposure taken on the zoom mount and switched to 'MANUAL'

I then shot a stable image and passed something in front of the lens. It still adjusted itself up/down to suit its needs.

Any clues on how to make this Z7 do what I want it to do and be FULLY manual?

I look forward to hearing from anyone who knows the code!

Stuart

When you replay the tape Stuart with the display data code turned on, what are the readings you're presented with?

Tom,

From left to right:

Little hand 'OFF'

MANUAL

F11

0dB

600

ATW

(Interesting because a) I turned the shutter OFF and I took a white balance and the switch is on A)

Stuart

Tom,

In fact, on closer inspection, I HAVEN'T turned the shutter off, have I?

Now, I have a little letter 'A' in a small pointed box and '50'.

I have scoured the instruction booklet and on page 31 it only describes how you can adjust the shutter and not turn it off ... I don't want to run slo-mo images or use a still ...

I know I'm a pain in the 'arris but these modern cameras and user-unfriendly 'des-truction' manuals don't really do what it says on the box ...

Stuart

A 600th of a sec at f/11 - so no ND filters in place then and a bright sunny day in your v'finder. As you, 'passed something in front of the lens' did this make that 600 figure change as you watched the tape replay? If so, the shutter speed isn't locked down.

ATW is auto tracking whitebalance.
Little hand:off = Steadyshot off.

Thank you Tom.

Steadyshot off, good.

No ND filters, nice sunny day (for once!) and as I played the tape back, yes the figure in the shutter area changed.

ATW, not so sure I like that. I prefer to do a white balance for each and every location.

So, how in the dickens does one 'lock down' (I prefer 'switch off') this blasted shutter?

As long as the shutter gets sorted, will this be the last thing in the line that stops the auto iris thing?

Stuart

In the v'finder, if the shutter speed is in a greyed out rectangle then it's locked at that figure bot the scroll wheel will alter it. Yes, if this s/spd gets sorted, the exposure will be good and locked.

If you have the w/bal symbol in the v'finder, that too is locked down - either at one of the presets or on your manual setting (the little see-saw symbol).

Tom,

You cracked it.

You would have thought that camera manufacturers would have continued using a button with the word "OFF" printed next to it ... but that would be too easy.

Thank you so much for taking the time to walk me through this Tom. It's been emotional!

Stuart