Realistic card options with the PXW-Z280?

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Christopher Young

Sorry I missed this question.

I'm using the original XQD card adapters that came with the XQD cards. In the early days of XQD Sony supplied a USB3 reader with each card. Though most of the time I'm using the original SBAC-US30 SxS card reader that I've had for ages as that will read my SxS cards and with their respective adapters SD and XQD.

Chris Young

Sorry, I missed that question too. But I have no idea what model of XQD readers I use. I have two of them for my FS7 but they are at home and I am traveling for a few months.

[Doug Jensen]

Speaking of shooting with the Z280, I shot this small-town Memorial Day parade on Monday. I knew it would a very short parade (about 20 - 30 minutes) so I chose to use the Z280 in order to get as many different shots at a I could in a short time span. With a cinema camera or mirrorless camera it would have wasted too much time to change lenses and all the shots would have basically looked they same. A big advantage of the Z280 is the 17x lens so I can grab, wide, tight, and medium shots instantly.

As an experiment, I used Auto-Focus (with custom settings) for most of the parade, plus a customized version of Auto-ND for exposure. I also shot with a custom Scene File that I made for the Z280 and then further graded it in DaVinci Resolve to give it "nostalgic" feel with warmer sepia tones and a little bit of glow on the highlights -- including allowing some highlights blow out. I'm sure some people won't like the grading, but it is the look I chose.

The CODEC that I used was XAVC-I @ 59.94p. I then converted the footage in post to 23.98p, which gave me a 2.5x slow-motion look. Normally I would shoot in 23.98 and use S&Q Motion to capture slow-motion @ 60 fps, but the camera can't record sound when using S&Q Motion. In this case I wanted to capture the sounds of the parade in case I wanted to use it later in post or for ths stock clips I well sell.

YouTube (Short URL)

[David Anderson]

It appears with the V5 manual that Sony supports Sony media XQD and SxS in all formats which is a change from earlier manuals. Like any other manufacturer they warn of using non Sony media in the case of XQD and SxS.

The read/write speed of XQD and SxS Pro+ are virtually identical so I don't see where this would be an issue but I do see the advantages of SxS giving you reporting on media health which may be of value.

I hope you are right on the AliExpress card and then you can tell your media friends who are on the lookout for now scarce adapters that it is the same one without the Sony name on it.

Looking forward to the followup from Sony.

I do have 2 questions for you. Why does the 280 not give you a true F1.9 when zoomed in but the viewfinder reports this? From what I can tell using the waveform monitor it seems to be about F3.1 at full zoom.

I have your BROLL and LOWLIGHT settings baked into the camera but am curious as to what adjustment you would recommend to knock down the contrast a notch? The image looks fantastic and I was shooting this in conjunction with the FS7 and didn't have time to get the FS7 to match and the image was a little less contrasty on the FS7 so for reference, I'd like to know if you could point me in the right direction.

Your Memorial Day footage was stellar. I like what you did with it in post.

Best,

David

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Hi David, your results and advice match what I already said in my Z280 master class 3 years ago, so nothing has changed. But even Sony warns in the operation manual there is more risk when you're not using SxS. I predict the AliExpress card will also work flawlessly.

I did get an answer pretty fast from Sony about the reason for light sensitivity difference of HD vs. 4K. But I had a follow-up question that I never got an answer to, and then it slipped my mind to come back and report. Sorry. They confirmed what I said about the difference having to do with pixel binning. But my follow-up question was why we don't see the same thing with other cameras when we switch from 4K to HD? Why is the Z280 the only camera that I am aware of that offers this feature? But I never got a reply to that question.

[Matthew Elton]

Can anyone confirm if XAVC-L on the PXW-Z280 is 10-bit 4:2:2 color?

I cannot find this information anywhere in the manual.

Doug, do you know the answer to this?

[David Anderson]

XAVC-L at 4k is 4:2:0.
XAVC-L at 1080P 50 Mbps is 4:2:2
XAVC-L at 1080P 35 Mbps is 4:2:2

XAVC-I at 4K is 4:2:2 300 Mbps
XAVC-I at 1080P is 4:2:2 - 111 Mbps

Hope this helps!

Best,

David Anderson

PS - these were taken out of Doug Jensens Master class so I fully credit him with this information. Also, if you haven't, I highly recommend you rent his Z280 Master Class as there is no more comprehensive information available anywhere. Sony should use this as their manual.

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

Originally Posted by Matthew Elton

Can anyone confirm if XAVC-L on the PXW-Z280 is 10-bit 4:2:2 color?

I cannot find this information anywhere in the manual.

Doug, do you know the answer to this?

[Doug Jensen]

Thanks, David, for the plug. Much appreciated.

I would just add the following information. I think the bit depth is even more important to know than the color sampling.

8-BIT XAVC-L at 4k is 4:2:0.
10-BIT XAVC-L at 1080P 50 Mbps is 4:2:2
10-BIT XAVC-L at 1080P 35 Mbps is 4:2:2

10-BIT XAVC-I at 4K is 4:2:2 300 Mbps
10-BIT XAVC-I at 1080P is 4:2:2 - 111 Mbps

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Matthew Elton

Can anyone confirm if XAVC-L on the PXW-Z280 is 10-bit 4:2:2 color?

I cannot find this information anywhere in the manual.

Doug, do you know the answer to this?

As noted above, it depends on whether you are talking about 4K or HD.

You never want to use XAVC-L 4K for anything that will require extensive grading in post, such as S-LOG. But for most WYSIWYG scene files that only need minor touch-ups inpost, you won't be able to see any visual difference 99% of the time between L and I.

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by David Anderson

XAVC-I at 4K is 4:2:2 300 Mbps
XAVC-I at 1080P is 4:2:2 - 111 Mbps

If shooting at 60p, double the above bit rates.

Chris Young

[Andrew Smith]

I've previously mentioned on DVinfo that even Doug's driveway is cool.

Now take a look at what his sock can do. :-)

The Geese of Wachusett Meadow - shot in 4K with Sony PXW-Z280 - YouTube

One of those special high-res socks, no less. LOL.

Andrew

[Doug Jensen]

You'd be surprised how much money there is in Sock Footage! I'm thinking of expanding next year to add Shoe Footage to my portfolio, as well. There's money in them thar feet!

Seriously, I noticed the typo about 10 minute after uploading the video and by then it was too late to fix. My dyslexia strikes again! A nice thing about Vimeo is that I can replace videos anytime I want to, but that is not so at YouTube. I wish they'd change that.

[Anthony McErlean]

Hi Doug, I've the Z280 aswell and rented your Z280 Master Class.
I'm using your scene file from the Master Class and I think its great.

The video above of the Geese, are you still using the same scene file from the Master Class or have you changed it in anyway ?

Those pictures are fantastic.

Thanks.

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Anthony, thanks for the nice feedback.

Yes, the geese were shot with my main scene file, however, the footage has also been graded in Resolve. It is my philosophy that EVERYTHING can be improved with a little grading in Resolve.

[Anthony McErlean]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

... EVERYTHING can be improved with a little grading in Resolve.

:) OK Doug, thank you.

[Jeff Wallace]

Hi all, I'm late to the game here and just purchased a z280 yesterday and am experiencing SxS card sticker shock. I ordered a QXD adapter which will take a month to arrive, so in the meantime I'd like to find an SDHC card solution, just so I can start test recording footage.

I have a couple of older SxS -> SDHC card adapters I've been using with my Ex1 for years and they work great. My question is:
- Can I use this same adapter with a compatible SDHC card in the z280?
- Which SDHC cards are compatible?

I couldn't find any specs online.

p.s., I will eventually get a SxS pro card for critical projects, but for now I just want a temp solution so I can get up and running.

[Christopher Young]

Quote:

"...so in the meantime I'd like to find an SDHC card solution, just so I can start test recording footage."

SD Cards will definitely work, but what formats you can record on them is very much down to the speed of the cards. Have a look at the following links. The SD card tests are only a few days old, so pretty up to date. Most of the v90 cards would cover most of the recording selections in the Z280, but probably not the XAVC-I 500/600 Mbps I-Frame codecs. You would have to check that out. Unless anyone here has experience using v90 cards with the Z280 and can report on their findings.

Pay particular attention to the [NOTES] section on the Sony link regarding "...data restoration software and functions." In the past, I have found Sony's own proprietary "Memory Card File Rescue" software is way more efficient at recovering files off Sony cards than other brands of cards. It is the only recovery software specifically designed for XAVC file recovery. Sony's recovery software has been specifically designed to work with their own proprietary way of writing to their own Sony brand cards, so that is something to think about when buying cards.

For quite some years now, I've been using XQD cards with Sony's QDA-EX1 adapters in a variety of SxS cameras with no issues. This works for me as I have a couple FS7s and SxS card cameras and just having one media across the cameras is workflow effective for me.

BTW
I have a number of broadcast clients who still want the old MPEG HD 422 50Mbps files which the Z280 can deliver. I seem to be able to record that codec to almost any of the SD cards they supply me these days. So SD cards seem to work fine for that format.

Chris Young

https://havecamerawilltravel.com/fastest-sd-cards/

https://pro.sony/en_AU/support-resou...0/faq/00250648

https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp.../en/index.html