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

[Cliff Totten]

So far, all of the Z280 videos I have seen online suffer from massive amounts of noise reduction artifacts. Im seeing "granular" dots in the shadows (not noise but artifacts left behind by temporal noise reduction) and torn edges on moving objects. We see these on Sony cameras set on very high gain. But these artifacts appear at 0db on the Z280.

I suspect that Sony was forced to read these sensors with a very high pre-amp amount to get that 0db up to a respectable brightness level.

As we all know, the more pre-amp that is done on the sensor collection the LESS headroom we have to take 0db up to higher amounts.

I really hope this camera is not relying on massive amounts of noise reduction to compensate for a lot of pre-amp being used at collection.

Doug...can you do a side by side between your Z280 and Z90 1inch sensor camera? These results would be facinating!

CT

[Paul Anderegg]

I turn the DNR off on my PXW-X320, because it blurs everything at high gain, loosing a lot of resolution in the process, and causing a smearing effect when you move the image. Sony makes sure they list their s/n figures with noise reduction activated. The Z190 doesn't even list it's s/n ration, probably because it is so poor.

Paul

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Cliff Totten

Doug...can you do a side by side between your Z280 and Z90 1inch sensor camera? These results would be facinating!

Yes, at some point when I have time I will do that. I'll mount the Z90 on the handle of the Z280 and take them out for some real-world shooting with similar focal lengths, exposures. etc. But I have to wait until I have a non-SLOG scene file for the Z280 and I haven't even started down that road yet.

[David Peterson]

Originally Posted by Arild Pedersen

Incompatible batteries. My Z280V only works with the original BP-U30. When I plug in a BP-U60 from BatteryChampion, I get "Battery Error please change battery".

Gah, I hate it when brands try to make you stick with their proprietary batteries!

[Jack Zhang]

Originally Posted by Arild Pedersen

Incompatible batteries. My Z280V only works with the original BP-U30. When I plug in a BP-U60 from BatteryChampion, I get "Battery Error please change battery".

New batteries that are Z280 compatible are now out:

S-8U95 98Wh Battery for Sony BP-U series

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...2855/KBID/3801

[J.T. Price]

Any idea how good the Z190 IS will be at full zoom/4k? Tripods aren't always an option! Looking to upgrade my Canon XA20 and the Sony Z190 looks to be a better camera than the Canon 4k replacement (which is only 15x zoom to boot).

[Doug Jensen]

More test footage posted on this thread . . .
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...-part-2-a.html

And this one earlier with S-LOG
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...-part-1-a.html

[Paul Anderegg]

Originally Posted by J.T. Price

Any idea how good the Z190 IS will be at full zoom/4k? Tripods aren't always an option! Looking to upgrade my Canon XA20 and the Sony Z190 looks to be a better camera than the Canon 4k replacement (which is only 15x zoom to boot).

The Z190, like the X180 before it, has a pretty bad Active IS "jitter" at extreme telephoto settings. I dealt with the issue on my X180 all the time, and it looked like someone was vibrating the camera. It was alost impossible to keep the high frequency jiggling away, looked like cell hone video with no stabilization, you know, that "I can see your pulse on the footage" look.

A local stringer shoots with the Z190 an Active IS, and every single video I see from him is full of jiggle and shake, it's really bad, even his wide angle stuff looks jittery. These cameras REQUIRE you to have the PERFECT shooting hold, such as braced properly, EVF against your eye, maybe back of camera/battery shoved hard against your collar bone etc, in order to not have this jittering look at telephoto.

Paul

[Doug Jensen]

Why is he using Active? Active is NOT designed for extreme telephoto. Clearly a case of operator error.

[Paul Anderegg]

Well, he shoots with the full auto switch activated, and doesn't bother to deal with the ND dial, so everything is shaky and shot at f11+...50% of the clips are full handheld telephoto, the other half are wide angle at a 7-10 degree tilt to the right. He was better off with his Canon XF405, which was not shaky how he used it. :-)

Paul

[Doug Jensen]

I think you should have revealed all that information in your first post rather than maligning the camera. The guy sounds like a clown no matter what you put in his hands. Why do we care to hear about his experience at all? If I put a monkey behind the wheel of a car and he drives it into the ditch, I don't blame the car.

[Paul Anderegg]

Well I used Active at full telephoto on the X180, and I am not inexperienced. I did though have to take measures to alleviate the problem, such as using the EVF and shoving my tripod plate against my collar bone.

Paul

[Doug Jensen]

Why don't you try using the right Steadyshot mode for the right situation, and then you won't have to " take measures to alleviate the problem".

[Doug Jensen]

I've completed a 70 minute review of the Z190 and Z280.

Doug Jensen's Sony PXW-Z280 and PXW-Z190 Master Class - CHAPTER 1 FREE on Vimeo

[Paul Anderegg]

Doug, I think you forgot to remove the lens cap from the Z190 when doing the low light 0db comparison! :-O

Paul