Sony recently loaned a new PXW-Z100 camera to production company WHMTV for use on its coverage of the Mr Price Pro surfing event in Durban in July. WHMTV’s Greg Kitto reports back to Screen Africa on his experience with this 4K XDCAM camcorder.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE CAMERA?
My first impression as I took it out of the box for the first time, was its solid build quality and its similarity to the NX5 model design. At face value it looks like an NX5, but with a few major differences, such as the extended recorder unit and an additional cooling fan, clearly indicating that this camera is designed to put massive data bundles onto the card in real time, in 4K without any delays. This made me realise that the system would definitely work overtime and heat could possibly be an issue.
WHAT FEATURES DOES THE CAMERA HAVE THAT REALLY STANDS OUT
FOR YOU?
At face value and from previous research, I knew that the main enhancements were new additions to the menu function, like a “cinematone’ style preset and the option to pull the RGB settings on the fly with a new “paint’ function. This is a very unique option for any camera to date, so one of the first things I did was look at what it could do. I proceeded to activate cinematone to enhance colours, enrich the blacks and give the picture a deeper contrast. Another feature I looked at right away was the recording options for 4K and full HD, to see what bitrates and frame rates were available. It was very pleasing to see that it could shoot 4096, 3840, 1080 at both 25p and 50p.
WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE PXW-
Z100?
The overriding concern for me was always going to be workflow. Would I be able to preview all the content off camera easily on my computer and would my edit software see it? I was pleasantly surprised to see that VLC and, in fact, any MP4 player,s could play the footage without a problem, as well as Adobe Premier ProCC having the Sony XAVC codec to be able to edit it seamlessly.
On the con side, unfortunately for me I didn’t have a card reader and only one 32GB memory card to work with. This meant that I only had 15 minutes of recording time on 4K/25p or seven minutes on 4K/50p. This led to the only limitation I experienced during the shoot. I had to capture footage directly via the USB.
For a 32GB card it takes exactly 32 minutes and with only one card I had to factor that in when planning what heats to shoot next. When shooting and previewing clips in the field, the ability to choose and delete unwanted clips quickly is a lengthy process, slowing down the ability to leave the set with just the best selects. The function to tag or mark your best shots on the fly would go a long way as an addition.
Also, the camera generates a lot of heat. This is compensated for to a certain extent with the cooling fan but I can’t help but think that this could be a potential problem under certain conditions.
To sum up
• The camera is very user friendly as most Sony cameras are. Even with limited time using the camera, I felt it was possible to start shooting content almost immediately.
• It has a very solid build, with most of it being alloy, and has a professional look to it.
• Menu items are easy to access and self-explanatory. Although the menu is vast, you can view all items quickly by simply scrolling down no matter what you are looking at, as it cycles through everything from top to bottom.
• Great battery life.
• Great zoom lens at 20x, the same as the AX2000 and NX5 and perfect for sports.
• Improved light sensor, indicating required ND filters. This feature can be found on other models but this one seemed to respond quicker.
• Back focus and infinity focus seemed true and clear from full zoom to full wide.
• Support from Premiere ProCC and the ability to use existing systems already in place, made workflow seamless.
• After just five days with the camera, although I realise there is a lot to learn about its full capabilities, I would buy this model and never look back.
