Hello all, here's my first question for you, can anyone think of a clever way to exactly match the zoom length on 2 or more PD170s?

So far the best I can get is to zoom out to wide using the zoom toggle, mark the zoom servo ring, then turn the zoom servo ring until it's zoomed in where I want it, and mark that. Then try and match that rotation on the other cameras.

Can anyone think of a better way to do this? I need to match the zoom on 7 cameras...

Cheers

Mark

What you are attempting is pretty much impossible with the servo zoom lens on a PD170. Impossible times seven actually.

John

Well maybe one "crazy" way of doing this is with LANC connectors. There are many good remote control devices that work with the PD-170. You'd need to have all 7 of them in front of you and have very good finger coordination (think pianist playing a complex chord). Now if somebody made a lanc distribution device so you'd only have one toggle to push, that would be ideal.

Getting 7 humans to start and stop with servo zoom in sync is only slightly more difficult than a world of monkeys writing Shakespeare though.

You might want to look at the Grizzly Pro
http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=12456

also look at this article
http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=12173

Maybe you could line them all up and use a single IR remote to set the zoom? :-)

Sony addressed this problem with the zoom readout on their HDV cameras which is a handy feature, especially when using a telexender that doesn't allow zooming all the way out.

Thank you all for your suggestions.
Sadly the IR method didn't work.

I ended up setting one camera to the zoom length I wanted, making a target frame on one wall of the studio to match that zoom on that camera, then placing the other cameras, in the same place as the first and zooming in/out to match that frame. It worked reasonable well. Since the different shots are going to be stitched together in After Effects I have a little bit of adjustment available to me,

Yes, the numerical calibration of the Z1 would have made this much easier, but this project was shot in very low light and the Z1 can't match the PD170 in these conditions.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Mark