SONY
HVR-Z1U HD Camcorder
Introduced by Sony in 2005, the HVR Z1U is one of the first three-CCD professional HD camcorders priced at under $30,000. Considering its very modest price, the ‘Z1’ delivers phenomenal bang for the buck, with a feature set that is hard to match by any camcorder under $10,000 and is well worth a good looking over by any video pro contemplating a move into HD that won’t break the bank.
Features
The Z1 has a cornucopia of operational features geared
to serve the needs of a broad spectrum of professionals. For starters
it records true 1080i high definition video in the HDV format, onto DV cassettes,
at 25 Mbps, the same bit rate as DV but using MPEG-2 Long GOP compression. Consequently,
the Z1 records an hour’s worth of HDV onto a one hour DV tape. Moreover,
it can record HDV at the NTSC standard, 60i, as well as at 24F and 30F.
The HVR-Z1U can accept any DV videotape, but Sony recommends its new Digital Master tape for professional HDV applications. Digital Masters record 63-minutes of HDV, or DV, cassettes use Sony’s AME II Technology with dual active magnetic layers which reportedly reduce dropouts by 65% and errors by 95%. Sony touts this as a critical safeguard with the HDV format’s long GOP compression.
While the Z1 can frame video in the standard 4:3 mode, or in widescreen at 16:9, HDV is always recorded in 16:9, whereas DVCAM or DV can be done either way. For those who need to have it both ways, the Z1 has a 4:3 edge- crop feature which resizes and crops the outer edges of 16:9 video to yield a full-sized, properly framed 4:3 picture as well as one in 16:9.
For those who find it too tricky to straddle the fence between standard widescreen framing, or who need to switch aspect ratios after the fact, the Z1 offers two other options when outputting video to another device in SD. Video initially recorded in 16:9 can be output in 4:3 either by being ‘squeezed’ into a 4:3 frame, or it can be kept in its original 16:9 form and ‘letterboxed’ inside a 4:3 frame, or simply cropped.
The VTR section of the Z1 is equally versatile and can play back DV and DVCAM recordings made with other camcorders. Moreover, it can convert to and from a number of recording formats. HDV video recorded by the HVR-Z1U can also be down-converted to standard definition 480i.
More Options
The HVR-Z1U is designed to be used as a ‘point
and shoot’ camera.
Select auto color balance, auto exposure and auto focus and you can virtually
pan and point the camcorder at most subjects and get a very acceptable image.
However, if you are aiming for a particular look or effect, the Z1 also has
a plethora of tools for customizing or enhancing the look of the video recorded.
Some are accessible via an external switch or button while many more can
only be adjusted via one of the menus. However, six assignable buttons under
the camcorder’s handle provide quick access to many menu-driven functions.
For starters, you can manually white balance the Z1 by selecting the manual vs. the auto balance mode. I got satisfactory results both ways but generally preferred manually (white) balanced video better. That may be in part because I could target a particular part of a scene as a reference point and balance to it, versus an auto white balance that fluctuates each time the camera moves or the light shifts. However, I generally got pretty decent results in the auto mode when shooting in fairly constant light as when shooting outdoors in overcast skies or when shooting in a well-lit interior.
Another useful tool is the auto exposure override. This convenient, ergonomic knob makes it feasible to increase exposure latitude by a few stops in dark scenes or to decrease it by a few stops in overexposed scenes.
The Z1 is also blessed with two assets not found in most professional cameras and camcorders: color viewfinders. The Z1 has two color viewfinders, one standard and the other a color LCD screen which flips out as needed. They can be used separately or simultaneously. The dualuse function is especially handy when shooting at odd angles and when the camera is too mobile to use the standard viewfinder, even though it does pivot in a 90 degree arc.
Another handy imaging tool, “expanded focus”, doubles the image size in the center of the viewfinder for better focusing. This really helps when shooting high def where focusing is especially critical as soft-focused images look really dismal in HD, especially on a large monitor. This feature was especially helpful when using a Century 1.6X tele-extender with the 4.5-54 mm Zeiss lens. Even though the 1.6 X doesn’t measurably reduce incoming light, the extra focal length does reduce depth of field which makes focusing tougher, especially in dim light,
The Z1 also features “shake-compensation”, which can effectively dampen tripod shake even when zoomed in tight, but should not be regarded as a “poor man’s steadicam”. However, when zoomed in tight it did help keep the image steady. It also helped dampen vibration when shooting handheld with the 4.5-54 mm. zoomed out, even while tracking a person walking on floors and sidewalks.
Another strong suit of the Z1 is the ample selection of pathways for outputting video regardless of how recorded. Digitally, there is but one option: standard Firewire which accommodates all formats from 1080i HDV to DV at 480i. 1080i recordings can be output in analog also, either in component (HD) or S-video (SD). While any S-video cable can be used, component requires a special proprietary cable supplied with the camera package. Using the proprietary cable, the HDV signal can be fed to a typical HDTV/ HD monitor with analog component I/Os, or to most pro HD monitors, although the audio out jacks are RCA.
I played back hours worth of HDV on a 30-inch HDTV set, and on an Astro DM 3008 universal field monitor. In both cases, I was awed by the quality of the HD video shot in varied lighting, including low light. Much of the HDV footage would be tough to distinguish from that shot with high-end cameras, whose (HD) lenses alone cost several times more than a complete HVRZ1U package. This may be a tribute to the HDV format, and to the Z1’s custom Zeiss lens, specially coated to faithfully reproduce colors and suppress stray reflections.
Audio
Audio-wise, the HVR-Z1 is also wellpoised for mono or stereo
audio and can record two channels at 16-bit/48 KHz. With two balanced XLR audio
inputs I was free to use my own preferred mikes and change them as needed. Each
input can feed one or two audio channels. The Z1 also comes with a decent onboard
stereo microphone, with good pickup. In fact I accidentally used it to record
ambient audio, and even interviews, before discovering that it, rather than
my external shotgun mike, was doing the recording. This is because internal
vs. external audio input must be selected via the menu with internal selected
by default. Fortunately, the sensitivity of the onboard stereo mike in the default
auto gain mode yielded clean, strong useable audio recordings.
Once aware of this oversight I mainly used external microphones and adjusted levels manually, whenever possible. However, I did revert to the internal shotgun mike for ambient recordings, particularly when sampling a broad soundscape.
Conclusion
The HVR Z1U has a truly impressive array of options,
which take time and patience to discover and utilize. Collectively, they can
facilitate getting a broad array of stylized and also ‘natural looks’,
and other impressive results. The readable compact owners’ manual is the
key to capitalizing on the full range of features and options, especially those
buried in the menus. Fortunately, several, like skin tone detail, are externally
triggered for faster access. The real beauty of the Z1, however, is that you
don’t need to know it
inside out to get great results in HD. In many respects it demystifies HD
and makes it accessible to mere mortals. I got great results on my first
days of shooting, including hours of decent audio using the internal stereo
microphone in the autolevel mode.
The video and audio only got better as I became more adept at navigating the Z1’s extensive menu and function switches. There is definitely a learning curve involved before you can take full advantage of its rich tool set, much of which requires knowing how to navigate the menu. However, as I discovered in my first outing with the Z1, even a first-timer with this camera can capture impressive HD video and audio, with the help of its many automatic functions, right out of the box. In my opinion this affordable ($5,946 MSRP) HDV camcorder is well worth close consideration.
