Hey, Douglas, when Sony produced that Z1 demo DVD, I know all the stuff was shot with the Z1. When it was edited, how was that done? Was it edited HDV, like captured from the HDV deck into a NLE, or did they do some other trick as some are saying on at least one other board?

Hi,

Looking for some confirmation from others on whether something works, or does not work(my experience).. When i try to use the camera as a pass thru device..Signal coming from the computer (vegas 6) firewire out to the camera, and then feeding the component out of the camera to a monitor.. I do not get any signal.. if I use composite or S-Video in this same configuration, i do have a signal that is passed to the monitor.. Anyone experience this?? How about on the Z1?? The same ??

Thanks,
Mike Moncrief

According to the manual, the camcorder does not support IEEE in and component out. You have to print your damn project to tape then play your project on tape to use the component out.

Very frustrating!

I've plugged headphones into the headphone jack on the FX1, but can't hear any audio through them. Is there something I need to set that I've overlooked?

Thanks!

Make sure the volume is turned up.

Also check your levels and make sure you've actually got an audio signal.

This post may be deleted

In all the promo material, and also when I phoned Sony to check with them, they say that the Z1 is switchable between NTSC and PAL and that the only difference between the different models (Z1E, Z1U, Z1J, etc) is the power lead and the language of the manuals and menus.

However, now that I have bought a Z1U, the manual explicitly states that it will only output NTSC.

Is the manual wrong or are Sony misleading people???

The manual isn't great. Check your settings menues and see how you can set it up. My z1 e can shoot pal/ntsc so yours should be able to too. It is the fx1 that is either or.

Hi all,I use a 170 with Du1 and I'm really glad about it.I'd like to know if is possible to use the same portable hd with Z1 without problems.
Thanks in advance.
Maurizio,Italy.

Have a friend who is working on a documentary and has been shooting with a pd-170. She would like me to shoot some b-roll for her in my part of the country. Mostly outdoors and/or controlled lighting. Anyone had any experience in mixing these two cameras. How hard are they to match up?

Thanks,

Whit

Well, they'll both have the Sony "look", so there shouldn't be any problem. You didn't say which ratio (16:9 or 4:3) she's been using. There'll be a resolution difference in 16:9 that's all.
For what it's worth, I've been matching the FX1 with a Canon XL1s without any problem ...

Robin

When shooting in DV, is the cineframe (PAL 25fps) effect of the FX1 performed before the resampling from 1080i is performed? or after?

If it is performed before, i would almost have a real progressive footage.
If not, i would have footage that looks like the old XL1 frame mode, wouldn´t I?

I am writing a program to process FX1/Z1 footage into any other format and I need some image samples shot with the FX1/Z1 in Cineframe 30/25 at full resolution and uncompressed.

Does anybody know where I can find some still images samples?

Anyone know of a fix or a secret button combination to change it to EBU bars?? Firmware upgrade?

Hey, I'm about to pick up an FX1 (as many of you have no doubt heard by now ;-) ) and I'm going to need to get some HD shots of the camera in action for my new demo reel. I'm looking to rent either an FX1 or a Z1 for a day of shooting. I'm located in Cadillac, in northern Michigan. Does anybody here know of a rental house in Michigan where I can rent an FX1/Z1? Thanks for any suggestions!

All:

Okay, so here I have these two fine pieces of professional A/V gear and people are telling me I need to use an archaic clap slate to sync the sound recorded in my expensive, timecode-savvy 744T to my expensive, timecode-savvy Sony Z1u.

This makes me want to find a better way.

I'm theorizing that I can use the LANC out of my Z1, run it through some sort of converter widget (a Rosendahl LIF?) that stripts the timecode out and send that into my 744T set to "External TC-Auto Record" mode. Very nice. But will it work?

Has anyone done anything similar? Is there a better way? Am I stuck with that clap slate?

have a look here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=35382&highlight=LANC

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=33925&highlight=LANC

Hi :)

as the Artifacts Thread is closed, I have no other chance to say one more thing, than starting a new one, if that's ok.

Reading through all that (especially Douglas and Ruslan) I finally tried that CapDVHS tool.

And it's simple as this: No more Artifacts at all. The resulting MPEG is wonderful.
So I am sorry to say, but it then must be the cineform intermediate, that always did a good job until that special shot.

And I can also see a color difference. But very little. No Problem to me.

The downconversion to SD via Aftereffects still isn't as good as the one from the Z1. At least here.
Doing the downconversion I found the simple thing that 1080 / 2 = 540 :) So, no wonder tome, that the missing 36 Lines have to come from .... yes ... don't know. Must be interpolated. So you could say that it's not possible to do a interlaced downconversion. But still somehow Sony's Z1-Conversion is doing it right.

OK: 50% of my Problem solved through the Artifacts Discussion.

Thanks to everyone!

Peter

I was making some exposure comparisons between manual & automatic with my Z1 & noticed that the max shutter speed in auto was 125 (I found this out during playback as exposure information, manual or automatic, can be monitored on the LCD viewscreen). On a bright, sunny day, even with the iris at f11, the video was way overexposed. As the sky became overcast the shutter speed would adjust downward but never higher than 125. In manual mode all seems to work OK.
Any ideas?

Normally camera's in auto mode work within certain limitations. My guess
would be that the 1/125th shutter speed setting is simply limited because
the look above that would not be so great (even 1/125th is questionable,
depending on subject). However, I don't have this camera, so I'm not sure
if that is a design limitation or something is wrong.

However, there are two things you can do:

1. don't shoot in auto mode (which is a good suggestion anyway)

2. reduce the incoming light. I assume the camera comes with a builtin ND filter? If so, enable that (if the auto mode doesn't do this automatically). If that is still not enough you can get an external ND screw on filter (not too expensive).

An ND filter is like sunglasses for your camera. It simply cuts the incoming light
levels by an X amount (depending on the filter strenght).

Can you recommend and stores for FX1 accessories in Bangkok that sell high quality equipment cheap?

Not sure about quality items for the FX1 but Panthip Plaza and in that area is a big tech market. But they may just have computer hardware and software...

hello i just got a fx1 please excuse the immature question.
i want to shot film like ill like to use my ligth meter as well.
i will use 24fps. should i use pp1 or pp4 ? pp1 is hdv format.
is pp4 hdv format as well?
ill will use final cut 4.5 hd after.whats the best pp option.
plus can i rellied in my ligth meter? there is no asa? what do i use as iso
please help
marco

could i use gearshift on CF24 .m2t files ? will it look better than not using it? ****final output to be SD not film or HD*****

Does anyone know how to use FX1 as a power source for anything that has D-Tap connector?

I need to buy another mic for this camera because the one on it is Great at picking up Everything!. I need something for films and Video Blogs. Something directional.

Power for mic. Can I use the cameras L series or something like the phantom power. I don’t really know much about this. Or do I need to buy additional batteries for just the mic? I rather just buy another battery for my camera and use it to power both.

Also do I need to buy additional windguard or does this normally come with the mic?

I can get a $50 rebate if I buy any of the following mics from sony. Because I bought Z1 recently off B&W.

Shotgun Mics Rebate Per Unit
ECM – 670 $50
ECM – 672 $75
ECM – 678 $75

I have a shoot where I need to match a Sony Z1 shooting in SD mode in 4x3 mode to a Sony PD-170 (also a PD-150). Cannot shoot the Z1 in HDV mode and downconvert to SD because the customer will take the tapes right after the shoot.

Has anyone tried to match the footage of a Sony Z1 shooting in SD mode to a Sony PD-150/170 . If all settings of PD-150/PD-170 are at default settings, which settings of a Z1 would need to change. I know the low light capability of a Z1 is different, but that's not an issue in this case. How sharpness would need to change to match the default settings of PD-150. I know also since these are different cameras a perfect match would not be possible since even among similar camera models, a perfect match cannot be done without a shader and paint box. And using this is not feasible in this type of cameras. Any insights are appreciated.

Check out info on the Audio Technica 897 on this forum - about $250, an excellent mic for the camera.

Hey,

Long story short--I sent back a defective FX1 to B&H. They misplaced the shoe adapter, and are claiming I didn't send it. (I know for a fact I did) Due to the fact, they won't take a return on the DEAD ON ARRIVAL $3200 CAMEREA! A darn $2 piece of plastic means no return!

Anyway, the point is, is there anywhere I can pick up a replacement shoe adapter so they'll take the darn return? Thanks in advance.

With all the pros buying the camera, there must be plenty information available what are best settings for film out, for various situations. Could someone ask some good DP who has done it post recommended settings?

Radek

You might want to check out www.dvfilm.com before you shoot anything for film out. As well as doing film transfers of excellent quality, they have a book available with information on shooting for film transfer. The current edition deals with the FX1, and on the web site they say they update the book periodically, so I'd guess the next edition will have the Z1.

I recently had a short music video transferred to 35mm there. They do the transfer work, and the 35mm print itself is done at Hollywood Film in L.A. The quality was excellent and the sound was perfect. I was not expecting it to be as good as it was. I shot it with a DSR500, and lots of closeups were done with the DSR250. It was edited in Avid XpressPro, and I sent DVfilm a hard drive with uncompressed QT. So, I'm a believer in listening to what these guys have to say. The do know their stuff. They're in Austin.

Even though the Panasonic HVX is some 7-8 months away, most agree that it's going to take a chunk out Sony's market, most likely the HDR/FX. I think it's great that DVCPro50 quality is going to be on offer in a small camera like the Panasonic. DVCPro-HD is not important to me simply because there's no market for it right now. It will be interesting to see if Panasonic will be able to offer a solid product with the HVX, it seems a really ambitious camera. I personally won't go near one until I see at least six months of user reports. But DVCPRO 50 quality is a major leap and I wonder if Sony will add it's similiar XML codec to the HDR/FX in response. For those of you who don't know, XML is Sony's version of DVCPro 50 and currently can only be found on certain XDCAM camera's.

All new Sony camera formats use MPEG2 or MPEG4 compression, from MPEG2 FX1 and XDCAM to MPEG4 CineAlta SR and Panavision Genesis with Sony CineAlta SR recorder.

Radek

My previous JVC HD camcoder allows me to put info of date and time when recording so that when I play back, I can know when I take this footage. It also allows me to switch off displaying this info when play back on LCD TV. When I capture the footage in PC, there is no such info. I find this function very useful.

Does Z1 function like this? If yes, how?

Peter

I'm thinking about using a low contrast filter to flatten out the contrast range some in difficult situations. But as I've understood this will do no magic, but just lift the shadows and make them grey, which is something I already could do in post. Or am I missing something here?

Are contrast filters useful? Have you experimented with them?

These comments from Miranda's owner, who supported HDV from the start, sound very interesting to have a real perspective of what we might expect.

http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=33098

Now it's up to us to try push those limits.


Carlos

just found this thread by searching , which may be useful
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/printthread.php?t=45887

I am looking to buy wide angle lens for Z1U. hoping you guys have some recommendations. Also if possible I have herd there are Marco/micro lens that can be flipped for wide-angle or turned over to film something small like ants. This is exactly what I want but if I have to I can settle for just a widescreen right now I can deal WITH IT. But a micro lens and insects sounded awesome to me!

I figure since I’m getting a wide-angle anyways it might as well be able to shoot micro stuff also.

DON’T want something wide as fisheye though.

Any other lens recommendation. All I have right now is a UV lens from Tiffin.

I bought a Sony wide angle lens (HD) for my Z1. It costs me $350. It performs very well.

Hi All,

Have a strange one. Wondered if others have seen same. I thought I had a problem with my new Z1 but seems not. Although not exactly sure!

Was testing the Z1 for settings in our local park. Shooting a lake and trees with slow pans from one shot to another. Beautiful 'painting-like' pictures coming out the Z1 when viewed on my SD Sony widescreen monitor.

To save running the Z1 too much I decided to downconvert to DV SP and record a DV test master on my Sony GVD900. Back to offline editing it seems. :) Downconvert done Ok but get the following results:

1. Playback on a Panasonic 26" widescreen CRT domestic TV gives good colour and picture, but when the scene pans (about 75 degrees in 8 secs) I get a vertical rippling of the TV picture in its central area. Like a slinky moving across the screen if you understand me. In addition to the rippling effect (distorting the picture) the horizontal sync breaks up sometimes for parts of the picture. Lumps of tree foliage break way and jump back into sync!

Seeing the above gave me grave concerns for the downconvert, but...

2. Playback on Sony SD 14" studio monitor (widescreen) is perfect.

3. Playback on another Panasonic 4:3 TV is perfect (except for picture vertical stretch to be expected).

4. Running Z1 downconvert direct into all these monitors gives perfect results.

5. Running Z1 component into HD set (exhibition) and playing same tape gave perfect picture.

So. Conclusion is that my old Pana widescreen TV is ready for retirement! Or that somethin odd is encoded on the DV tape which upsets the 'old' widescreen TV.

Q1: Could anyone with TV knowledge confirm this?? What happens to old TVs before they die! :) And why would this ripple effect appear on this DV footage only? Never noticed problems before but looking more carefully of course.

Q2: Is it at all possible that something on the HDV-DV downconvert tape is triggering this phenomena?? Anyone seen anything similar?

Best regards,
Richard

Here's a post today I made to the VX2k Yahoo forum where a fellow has exactly same video defects, but with totally different setup.

Have used 3 different s-video cables with exact same results! Weird...

--------
Jim,

Amazing coincidence here, but completely different conditions. I have the exact same 'jerking', 'smearing', tearing kind of defect in some DV footage of a local park. I was doing a camera test, and panning about 75 degrees in 8 seconds or so. I felt very sick when I saw the defects, but am currently totally confused as to what the problem is. Like a vertical rippling effect across the picture with the 'smears/tears' occuring in top part of picture only.

I was testing my new Z1 camera by recording to HDV tape. To save running the Z1 over and over to check footage (lots of different settings tested) I downconverted to DV SP. The video went from Z1 HDV tape - through Z1 downconvert - to Sony GVD900 minDV recorder at DV SP setting. (NOT LP). Here is what I found: (Hence the sick feeling at first thinking the Z1 downconvert was duff.)

1. 'Anomolies' appear ONLY on my home widescreen Panasonic 28" TV.
2. 'Anomolies' appear ONLY when using s-video playback to TV. Ok on composite.
3. Playback is perfect on studio Sony 14" monitor (widescreen or 4:3). s-video or composite.
4. Playback perfect on studio Panasonic 4:3 22" TV (although stretched vertically of course). s-video or comp.
5. Playback perfect direct from Z1 via s-video or composite to anything.
6. Playback 'anomolies' via s-video occur using the GVD900, a GVD300, or my old TRV900 camcorder!!

So. Where do we go from here??? My only conclusion so far is that 'something' on the recorded DV tape is upsetting my widescreen TV picture. But what??? And will it reappear elsewhere?

Hope that helps. It isn't your LP setting. And with different cameras in use, it seems the only common thing is the DV format, and maybe you have an old Panasonic widescreen TV too??? Model TC28WG12G. (??)

Richard
Hong Kong


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [vx2k] Anomolies when using LP on VX2K?


Is it "normal" to see "anomolies" when recording in LP mode on the VX2K?

I don't know what the right term for "anomolies" would be, but I'm seeing mall areas of the picture do a slight jerking or smearing when recording in LP mode.

It seems to occur usually when the camcorder is doing quick pans or being quickly moved about setting up for the next shot in a live music concert environment.

Is using TDK 60 minute tapes and have Super Steadyshot turned on.

A set segment sometimes goes as long as 1.5 hours, so I'd like to use LP so I don't have to change tapes in the middle of the action.

So, is what I'm seeing "normal", i.e. I should not use LP and use SP?

Thanks!
Jim M

Spot,

I know that you have both a Z1 and Etymotics ER6 earplugs, so I guess that you are the best person to ask this.

Do the ER6's give enough output for good quality monitoring on the Z1? I want to go down the earplug route for many reasons when I travel light - and had toyed with the idea of getting the less accurate, but higher output ER6i's if the 6's were not loud enough with the Z1.

Thanks for any advice.

Graeme

My Sony TRV900 has same spec. yet is 4 times faster than my FX1. Am wondering if FX1 needs servicing.

Hey, I got my latest issue of "HighDef" magazine...

DP Greg Le Duc used the Sony Z1U for the ending credits in "Fever Pitch"!

Check out Greg Le Duc's site:
http://home.earthlink.net/~leducdesign/index2.html

I'm going to Netflix the DVD and check it out..

If you don't subscribe to HighDef - I'd do it.

www.highdef.com

Hi

Please could someone tell me when you would need to use a shutter speed of 10000? And the same goes for 25 when would you use this kind of slow shutter speed for?

Anything less than 60 you will get motion blur if you have moving objects
on the footage. For slow motion in post, it would be best to up this to 125 or higher. Slower shutter speeds also are used when working with lower lighting, but then again my first statement would come into play.

The higher shutter speeds would be used for high motion shots, eg fast moving vehicles, action shots in sports etc. I verseldom go

I would really suggest some testing so that you can ascertain for yourself which setting would suit your shot.

Most shooters tend to find shutter speed settings for certain types of shots and use these as a marker for adjustment

Cheers

Do not stream... download the video and watch!

161+ megabytes wmvHD 1080 compression



http://www.lifeinneworleans.com/videos/french-quarter-singers.wmv


Thanks

Nice. But I recommend deinterlacing it, as you get heavy horizontal lines when watched on a PC Monitor. Even in 1080 but mainly in 720 downscaling.

Greetings

Peter

In regards to watching videos off the fx1/z1, which will give me the best output for visual and audio quality..using component out or the IEEE 1394 thing. Cause I hear mixed answers when I ask local sales reps.

Thanks

If it's already recorded on tape, then the 1394 firewire output will be the best quality you can possibly get.

If you're not recording to tape, and just using the camera as a live-feed head, then the analog component outputs would be your best bet.