Sony PXW-Z190 (1/3") and PXW-Z280 (1/2") at NAB

[Paul Anderegg]

I used to have an X180, and it blew away my X70 in picture quality. The X180 and now Z190, have an f1.6-f2.4 lens, compared to the f2.8-f4.0 on the X70/Z90. The 1" sensor cameras are said to be the replacements for the 3x 1/3" HD model sensors, but there is no getting around a smaller aperture.

I would work with an X180 or Z190 on a tripod at work, but would never use a X70/Z90 for the same purpose, even at 33db f4.0 at full telephoto at night you cannot really make anything out. My 1" camera does well c,lose in wide open wide angle handheld.


paul

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Cliff Totten

I

This is quite a stunt. I'm also wondering how these cameras will survive bumps and knocks while maintaining their alignment accuracy. If one sensor moves even a tiny bit, it could potentially throw off the RGB image assembly badly. Im guessing Sony prepared for that problem somehow.

Very interesting...,

Cliff

Each sensor is laser aligned and then bonded on to the optical prism block by an ultraviolet light curing process. Relative to one another the sensors cannot move unless the optical block elements of the prism are separated or broken, nearly impossible. With an old dead three chip block I tried to take apart the prism elements and sensors. I couldn't do it without destroying the prism assembly.

It is important that the arrangement of the sensors and the prism block is extremely precise. Professional camera manufacturers accomplish the mechanical mounting and adjustment to accuracies of 0.2 pixels, i.e. within the range of a µm!

Some of the reasons why three chip cameras are the chosen units for UHD broadcasting:

Advantages (over single-chip colour cameras):

Highest possible color quality and color fidelity: The sensors can be exposed and amplified individually so that a perfect image is generated. RGB signals / pixels are represented homogeneously in contrast to single-chip color cameras where there are twice as many green pixels. Therefore a uniform sensitivity is guaranteed. Shades of red can be differentiated very precisely, too. No loss of the effective resolution due to interpolation, no comb-like artifacts along the contours.

In a single color sensor camera, in addition to reducing color precision, the overlap in the color filter response also results in part of each pixel’s well capacity filling with photons from the wrong color (cross talk), and so decreasing the available well capacity. With multi-sensor cameras less color overlap from the dichroic coatings enable each channel to use the full well capacity of the pixel.

How the dichroic prism works.

A dichroic prism is coated with dichroic filter material that works on the basis of thin-film interference. Light hitting the top surface of the filters reinforces or interferes with light hitting the bottom surface of the filter. It splits the visible light beam into distinct wavelength bands and transmits the passing band so that this color can be separately detected on one of three sensor arrays.

Basically thee chip cameras require far more precision manufacturing and alignment than single sensor cameras and are generally far more expensive to make. For Sony to drop out this Z280 at the price of $6,950.00 is amazing. In PAL it can deliver F13 sensitivity which is amazing enough on HD sensors. How Sony is achieving this on UHD sensors is nothing short of amazing I think.

I will be checking it out for sure.

Chris Young

[Cliff Totten]

Wow....this is great stuff!

Yup,...its absolutely true that this three 4k sensor block is absolutely amazing. I bet allot of people dont realize how complex that calibration and manufacturing process needs to be. I really tip my hat to Sony for being able to pull this off. I really believe Sony should do a 1min marketing video on this manufacturing acheivement to give people a real sence of appreciation for how and why this is done.

Its nice to get away from Bayer pattern mosaicing and RGGB color averaging and processing on a camera this. Having 3 primary color channels that are full 4k raster is really cool.

The Z190 is very much on my radar and Im itching to see some more footage from it. Id say it will be my next camera but I think the new A7S-III has got to come first for me. ;-)

[Lou Bruno]

My very simple question is how the DOF will look compared to the current 1 inch chip...

[Bryce Comer]

I'm really hoping they bring out a version of this camera with a removable lens. Basically a 4k version of the PMW-300.

[W. Bill Magac]

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

Z280 is great... except the lens is the exact same as the PMW-200 and PXW-X200 before it. If you had to deal with CA before on those cameras, expect to deal with that again on this camera. Really wishing they made a PMW-300 successor with this backend so that Canon and Fujinon can start making 4K optics for 1/2''.

I was at a pro video expo in the Boston area today. Sony had a Z280 on display. Was told by a Sony rep this camera's lens is not the same as the PMW200. It is a 4K lens. Lens iris does not appear to ramp when you zoom. I set the iris to 1.9 and it stayed at 1.9 throughout the zoom range. If you're looking for a shallow depth of field this is not your camera. Depth of field is that of a 1/2" sensor.

[Cliff Totten]

Originally Posted by Lou Bruno

My very simple question is how the DOF will look compared to the current 1 inch chip...

Yeah, this is not a shallow depth of field camera. This is a blessing! Typically with dedicated ENG cameras shallow depth of field is a pain the butt. You dont need to fight focus with this guy even when wide open and that is the way I like it for gorilla run and gun shooting.

Speaking for me, I have 6 other cameras and three are large sensor (FF and S35) cameras so that is where I have my bokeh fun. This one will be very different, thankfully.

[Paul Anderegg]

Originally Posted by W. Bill Magac

I was at a pro video expo in the Boston area today. Sony had a Z280 on display. Was told by a Sony rep this camera's lens is not the same as the PMW200. It is a 4K lens. Lens iris does not appear to ramp when you zoom. I set the iris to 1.9 and it stayed at 1.9 throughout the zoom range. If you're looking for a shallow depth of field this is not your camera. Depth of field is that of a 1/2" sensor.

Bill, the iris position indication on the Z280 indicates the position of the iris ring, not the effective aperture the lens is currently at. All ENG lenses that say f1.8/f1.9 in the EVF, when you zoom in and the image darkens, they still will say f1.9. If you iris down at full telephoto, there will actually be a dead zone where the image will not darken until the aperture ring closes enough to catch up to the ramped value.

And Bryce, both Canon and Fujinon have discontinued all of their BROADCAST 1/2" ENG lenses, leaving only a small sampling of low end non extender industrial models. The PXW-X320 is the only camera model to use this lens mount, so it is basically being abandoned.

I almost want to buy a Z280 just because it would be so cool to have a full raster 3 chip f12@2000 63db 4K 60p HDR camera. :-D

Paul

[Andy Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Bryce Comer

I'm really hoping they bring out a version of this camera with a removable lens. Basically a 4k version of the PMW-300.

I was thinking a similar thing when this camera was announced - but when I think about it I never take the lens off my PMW-300 (or indeed took it off my EX3 bought in 2008 beforehand). But what I absolutely love about both those cams is the superb viewfinder arrangement, aiding the ability to work fast in run-n-gun situations and get excellent results.

If Sony bring out a version with a detachable lens AND a similar viewfinder arrangement to my PMW-300 then that's the one I'll go for as it would be a truly worthy 4K successor to my PMW-300, bought back in 2013. For interviews/shallow DOF or Letus Helix Jr gimbal stuff, I have my FS5 and a ton of glass already. I bought the FS5 to dip my toe in the 4K puddle to see if it would become an ocean. Still (mostly) delivering in HD but more and more I'm shooting and editing in UHD.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by W. Bill Magac

Was told by a Sony rep this camera's lens is not the same as the PMW200. It is a 4K lens.

I don't know about the PMW-200, but the Japanese engineers at NAB (who I was working for) told me directly that the lens on the Z280 is the same one as the PXW-X200. Apparently the X200's lens was developed as a 4K lens (even though that camera is only HD) because they already knew the 4K-capable Z280 would be following soon and it was easier to have them both use the same lens.

[W. Bill Magac]

Doug. Is the Z280's lens a constant apeture lens or does the iris ramp when zooming? If so, how much?!

[Doug Jensen]

I honestly cannot remember. I know that the aperture shown in the viewfinder display of at least one of the two cameras (I think it was the Z190) showed that there was about 1-stop of ramping as it zoomed in, but I couldn't actually see the change in exposure on the monitor. If the display in the viewfinder hadn't shown that it was ramping I would have swore there was no ramping. I think that was the Z190 and I can't remember what the Z280 did. It may also have ramped or maybe not, I just can't recall.

[Cliff Totten]

Doug, is anything in the works for Sony to get these to you for a video review? I figured you would be one of the first to do so.

[Chris Hurd]

I don't know either but I'm willing to bet they stop down to about f/2.8 at full tele. Which isn't much compared to many others that stop down a lot more.

[Jack Zhang]

Going back to the low light "incorrect" statement...

I'm assuming with proper setup, it can still be good in low light.

The issue then came from viewing HDR footage in YouTube SDR compression. It will raise the blacks too much to reveal too much noise, which is what I observed. Plus the fact the SDR conversion has absolutely no consistency on how YouTube defines said standard.

You will have to view all sample footage of this camera on a Rec. 2020 and HLG capable display. Viewing in SDR WILL give the wrong impressions of this camera.