And in other news, anyone want to buy my PXW-X770 with 4K installed? :-)

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.latest.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-latest-PXWZ150.shtml?PID=I:redirectURL:PXWZ150_landing_page

Crap, this is a true X70 in an NX100 case, complete with 4K, SDI,a dn networking.....yay, my wet dream just happened!

Paul

Forgot to mention the most important feature......it has a flappy built in lens cover in the lens hood. :-)

Paul

Could be interesting with the new Gen II RS BSI Stack sensor and continuous 120p. Plus is carries XDCam 422 MXF, useful! All on SDXC cards.

SONY PXW-Z150 at New York Fashion Week : Adorama Exclusive - YouTube

Sony PXW-Z150 Intro by Alvaro Ortiz - YouTube

First 4K footage.

PXW-Z150 High quality 4K sample footage | XDCAM | Sony Professional - YouTube

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

The PXW-Z150 seems to be what i was waiting for........has all the features of the X70 with the physical functionality of the X180/X200, but with several pounds of weight removed. The lack of live streaming and no SDI kept me away from the NX100, but this Z150 with 720p60 XDCAM and most likely the same shoot in 1080p60/4K but still be able to output 720p60 via SDI makes this my perfect camera. Would be nice to have detail enhancing peaking, and maybe a few more buttons, but I think they nailed it 90% with this little guy.

As for the new Exmor RS BSI sensor, the RX peeps been saying it gave them one stop gains, but that might be just because they added an extra gain /ISO up to 25000 to the unit. The X70 at 60i 1/30 shutter is rated at 1.7 lux. This Z150 is also rated at 1.7 lux. The X70 at 1/60 shutter is 3.2 lux though, but that 1.7 on the Z150 doesn't specifiy shutter. I would be happy is each gain setting on the Z150 were to produce as much noise as one 6db less on the X70, would really increase the usability of ClearImage zoom use for night ENG, even if the gain still stops at 33db.

And what is uop with this f4.5 "G" lens........I want my f4.0 Zeiss! :(

Paul

Maybe the next upgrade with UHD60P and HDMI 2.0 will be perfect !!! That would replace my FDR-AX1 with the same batteries but using SD rather than XQD though a version with XQD would be fine with me.

Ron Evans

Sony Answers Questions on the New Sony PXW-Z150 4k Camcorder:
http://www.cameratown.com/news/news.cfm/hurl/id|11194

coming from the ex1r, i was looking at the fs5, but that stock lens for me has too many focus issues, and i need one i can get at least 12x for my shoots. ive read that the lens on the 150 is the same as the ex as far as quick fast focus, but instead has more of an infinite ring. Not good.
Ill see it up close at NAB and be able to tell if i can get a good manual focus with it, which u cannot with the 18 105 stock lens on the fs5.
the 150 seems to have the same focus ring type as the x70, i sure hope not.
if thats not an issue, its a no brainer for me at 3600.00.
ill give my opinion on from NAB

Will they let you play with it at NAB? There are a few things I would love tested out........I have been bitten by buying before trying enough that I held back the impulse to preorder the Z150.......God knows what strange anomaly the thing has!

Paul

Interesting Cam, maybe what I am looking for. Was thinking about X70 until I saw this, and can wait some.

Specs say "Live Streaming over WiFi". Does anyone know if this gives the ability to do the same live streaming as using a Teradek Vidiu or Livestream box? Would be nice to save the extra $800 or so if built in.

Yes they totally let you handle them, theyre all lined up facing models in the middle.Very colorful.
Plus BH always has their booth right next to sony with all the cameras lined up on tripods for you to
fiddle with.
NAB is the show of shows. Nothing better than getting all the companies in the biz all at one place to see and talk with.
Ive been going for years. Of course, being in Vegas certainly doesnt hurt.

Jim, can I make you a list of things to check out on the little guy? You can singlehandedly answer dozens of questions that people here will want to know but that the regular reviewers never seem to report on.

Rick, my X70 does MPEG-TS UDP streaming, as did my X180 and X200. My stations JVC cameras do MPEG-TS as well as an assortment of other acronym's. It would be assumable that the Z150 would do MPEG-TS UDP, and they have already specified it will have a future firmware upgrade for Sony proprietary QoS streaming, Sony's Zixi style protocol. I can feed MPEG-TS to my stations Teradek server from any of the above listed cameras, but Cube encoders will not do MPEG-TS UDP without a paid $500 license.

If anyone wants to really try ENG field streaming, I highly recommend getting the USB to LAN dongle, and using an outboard CradlePoint modem with built in 4G and large paddle antennas, it really makes a difference. The stupid engineers at Sony will only give their cameras 2.4GHz unreliable WiFi, and only compatibility with 5 year old modems that don't do the new high speed AWS bands, so JVC has them beat there.

Paul

Paul absolutely get me a list of what u want me to look at on the 150.
BTW the guy that shot the video above from adorama, fernando, i emailed him and specifically asked about the manual focus ring. he said it was the infinite turning type, most likely like the x70. So it is not like my ex1r where u get that quick focus.
Ill know more on that when i actually try it in April.
Get me the info you want to know on this new cam.
jimstamos@sbcglobal.net

I am fully expecting a rebodied X70 with slightly updated firmware, for things like the XDCAM codec and 100Mbps 4K. The new adjustment toggle is interesting...........but I wonder how fast I can run up the gain when I need to? I typically lock my X70 to f2.8 and a set shutter, then adjust exposure while rolling by rolling the gain up and down. Not sure how I would work with exposure on this new camera, other than bumping up to a very high gain and using the iris ring.

I am VERY INTERESTED in one mini review that stated the bayonet wide converter for the Z100 zits this camera................might be speculation, we all know the PMW200 wide converter won't fit the X200, they make alterations.

Paul

I am sure it has lots in common with the X70 /AX100 but it has a completely new sensor, lens and battery system. It now has the lens shutter system from the larger NX cameras rather than the silly lens cap so yes the mount may well work. If only it had UHD 60P at 150Mbps it would be great.

Ron Evans

I watched the YouTube official demo video for the camera and what really struck me is the slight visual judder during the pans. It's first noticeable in the pan from the street towards the Triumph service shop. It may well be the shutter rate used in the camera, but it's enough to put me off.

Has anyone else noticed this? I was watching at 1440p and there is a chance that my graphics card wasn't coping when I was watching at full screen, but I've never previously had it with other sub-4K viewing.

Andrew

It was likely shot in UHD so would be 30P. Panning at more than glacial speed will give judder. Why I want 60P at least and why I will stay with my FDR-AX1 until there is something better. I had hoped for 60P on this since it has the battery and size for extra processing. Would be a good competitor for the DVX200 if it had 60P.

Ron Evans

Yet movies / cinematic shooting manage to do pans at a mere 24p.

Andrew

Yet movies / cinematic shooting manage to do pans at a mere 24p.

Andrew

Yes and they do it very slow or make sure they track the main subject and the background is out of focus so the judder is not noticeable. One of the main film techniques to mask the judder of slow frame rate. Sometimes shot at high speed and slowed down. The delivery medium is 24fps it doesn't mean the whole film was shot at 24fps. You need to get above about 48 fps for our eyes to not see the judder . Some people are more sensitive than others. I am sensitive, even see the flicker at 50hz on older UK TV when I visit relatives now that I have been in North America for 45 years.

Ron Evans

I can't get any computer or Mac to display online 24/25/30p content smoothly, there is always some amount of jitter and playback weirdness. I have high end CPU's and GPU's too, just never looks as smooth as 30p clips played back on the computer directly.

Paul

And in other news, anyone want to buy my PXW-X770 with 4K installed? :-)

Sony | Micro Site XDCAM (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.latest.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-latest-PXWZ150.shtml?PID=I:redirectURL:PXWZ150_landing_page)

Crap, this is a true X70 in an NX100 case, complete with 4K, SDI,a dn networking.....yay, my wet dream just happened!

Paul

Hi Paul - As an X70 owner, and someone that has followed your comments on the practical aspects of shooting ENG video for a living (both here and elsewhere) with great interest, would you mind outlining the key aspects that the Z150 has over the X70 in your opinion in more detail. From my limited understanding at least, the headline features look much the same for both cameras, especially in terms of the sensor and the lens (4K to-go accepted). Thank you.

-Terence

Paul ~

Remember that film shot at 24fps looks smoother in cinema projection as each frame is exposed twice before the next frame pull-down so in effect you are seeing it exposed to your eye at 1/48th of a second. You are actually seeing 48 images a second which is well in excess of the persistence of vision. Hence you use a 180% shutter which gives you a speed of 1/48th sec when shooting film at 24fps

The persistence of the human eye is approx 1/20th of a second. After that amount of time the image is fading in the retina/brain so there is a discontinuity between images being refreshed around the 24, 25 and 30 fps mark as they are fairly close to the persistence of vision.

At 48/50/60 fps the images are being renewed to the eye at a much faster rate than the decay rate of the image in the eye/brain. Basically panning at 24-30p should be done at half the speed of interlace or 50/60p scanning to try to smooth it out. Sadly shooting at 24p in video and playing it back on a PC it is still only going to be playing back at 24 exposures to the eye per second not 48 hence the big difference in "look."

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I meant the jittery that I am ASSUMING is the fact that my PC and Mac monitors refresh at exactly 60Hz, while my video is either 59.94Hz or 29.97Hz, that just enough to cause glitchy effect issue......more like inconsistent stuttering :-)

And Terrance, the main thing (besides form factor) I see is that IRIS (and zoom for you weirdos!) ring on the lens. Exposing on the X70 for quick action or quick exposure adjustments while rolling, panning etc, are difficult with the little dial thing. I am not sure how this will affect me, because I shoot wide open 100%, and roll that dial up and down for gain to change exposure. I can't exactly just leave it cranked to 27db all the time ad adjust the Z150 iris, so not sure how big a plus that is for me.

Paul

I think Paul may be correct and for 24P it is even worse in that there has to be 2:3 pulldown to refresh at 60hz so doesn't look anything like the cinema. 59.94 i or P will look better as the difference in refresh is much closer. It is a little sad that in this digital age we can't just go to 25, 30, 50 and 60 P and forget the legacy rates that were all due to economics and available technology.

Paul. I have the AX100 set up for my wife to use when we shoot, with AE shift on the dial, fixed shutter speed and gain limit. That may be something to try. It works very well for the theatre shows we shoot.

Ron Evans

I have a button set for AE shift, but unfortunately, all side panel buttons stop functioning when you enter live streaming mode, which this camera is set to. You also cannot shoot AVCHD and live stream.....apparently the massive 4:4:4 120p 500Mbps AVCHD codec is just too much to pull off and live stream at the same time. :-)

Paul

I meant the jittery that I am ASSUMING is the fact that my PC and Mac monitors refresh at exactly 60Hz, while my video is either 59.94Hz or 29.97Hz, that just enough to cause glitchy effect issue......more like inconsistent stuttering :-)

And Terrance, the main thing (besides form factor) I see is that IRIS (and zoom for you weirdos!) ring on the lens. Exposing on the X70 for quick action or quick exposure adjustments while rolling, panning etc, are difficult with the little dial thing. I am not sure how this will affect me, because I shoot wide open 100%, and roll that dial up and down for gain to change exposure. I can't exactly just leave it cranked to 27db all the time ad adjust the Z150 iris, so not sure how big a plus that is for me.

Paul

Thanks, Paul. And my bad for not checking back to your earlier posts outlining pretty much what I was asking. Looking forward to hearing about some hands-on from others, maybe at NAB.

So, a few things worth asking about, but I am pretty sure these were just misspeaks or incorrect information from reviewers.

First, one reviewer said that the Z150 will take the Sony bayonet mount 0.8x wide converter from an older model. I do not for a moment believe this.

Second, one Chinese reviewer said that the LCD panel is in fact an OLED like the EVF. I don't believe that either.

Thirdly, why the lack of audio switches? I don't see a ref level, a low cut, or a send channel 1 XLR to channel 2 like the X70 has. I am guessing some of these might be moved to the menu, but I find the ref level very handy for quickly setting up mics I plug in for AUTO operation.

I like how theSony literature says the Clear Image zoom "doubles the magnification (12x) to 18x". :-\

Paul

Clear zoom is 1.5x on 4k and 2x on HD.
Ill ask these questions at nab. the fact that the 4k is 30p like the x70 and fs5 keeps me from considering.i dont want to get the fs7, majority of my work is handheld and its not the best for that for long periods.

The ClearImage zoom on my A7s and A7sII doesn't work (properly) in 60p mode, maybe Sony has an issue with this and that is why they are not working so hard to put forward UHD 60p in cameras that rely on ClearImage zoom as a primary feature.

60p UHD would be pretty, but my current Macbook Pro takes forever to stabilize and sharpen 30p much less 60p UHD! Would be nice to shoot 60p UHD and downrez to 720p60 for broadcast. :)

One other question for NAB.........when network/WiFi mode is initiated, do all the side buttons (and menu)cease to function like the X70? It is quite irritating that I cannot change or adjust many settings such as white balance while streaming, as I stream 100% of everything, really handicaps the camera.

Paul

They just pushed back the release date for the Z150 another month, to the middle of May. That along with the price drop tells me this thing may come out with some issues they could not fully resolve........... :-(

Paul

They just pushed back the release date for the Z150 another month, to the middle of May. That along with the price drop tells me this thing may come out with some issues they could not fully resolve........... :-(

Paul

Or there is another model coming out. I was looking for an update to the AX1/Z100 with a larger sensor that would compete with the DVX200. Same recording specs as the AX1/Z100 so UHD 60P etc. Maybe if that was the case then the price categories will be different for the Z150. The guts is basically AX100/X70 so the price difference is just the hardware cost difference. Maybe there is a Z180 coming ? At the Z150 original price I think I would pay the extra few hundred dollars and get the DVX200 as a much more capable camcorder. .

Ron Evans

Now the B&H site has a "free item via mail in rebate" link for the Z150.........link won't open for me. Do I need to cancel my camera and repurchase, reprepurchase again to get more stuff for my money? :-\

Paul

Paul that offer expired end of march,thus the dead link
I'll see this camera up front and close next week at nab

It says March 2017...........I placed my order prior to March 31 2016, so I would need that form :-)

If you can ask if Sony has delayed release to distributers until May 2016.

Paul

Paul
Just read the offer is 0% interest til March 2017

I think my 0% 12 month PayPal Credit can handle that.........would be nice if the camera shipped before that 12 month period ended! :-D

Paul

Sweet, AG-UX180, Panasonic 1" sensor 2160 60p UHD 20x zoom camcorder.........too bad Panasonic doesn't do live streaming.........putting it on iggy. :-)

https://www.cinema5d.com/panasonic-ux-series-new-line-of-1-sensor-4k-handheld-camcorders/

Paul they had the 180 in a clearbox.it was nice,but Panasonic rep said probably September in the 4k price range
It was obviously a plastic prototype if we couldn't even handle it

Maybe it has such bad rolling shutter that they didn't want to risk anyone viewing movement with it. :-)

Paul