Over the past several years LED stage lighting has reached a level of technical maturity that has allowed it to make a serious and sustained impact on the live event production market. With the introduction of LED fixtures at increasingly affordable price points, these instruments have found homes in the weekend experiences of churches across the country.
While these lights have opened a number of new creative possibilities from a lighting design perspective, their inconsistent refresh rates and color aberrations have created subsequent issues for IMAG video systems. The gradual upgrade path many churches have adopted, usually for budgetary reasons, often exacerbates this issue. Fortunately, one camera company is looking to address the problem head on.
Looking Under the Hood
Hitachi Kokusai has long been one of the most respected manufacturers of cameras designed for broadcast and IMAG applications. Some of the most influential churches around the world utilize Hitachi cameras week in and week out to share their message effectively, both with their local congregations and with a wider world.
Following in the footsteps of their popular Z-HD5000 and Z-HD6000, Hitachi has recently announced their newest camera in the line, the Z-HD5500. In this exclusive First Look we'll explore some of the exciting new features of the camera and how they could directly benefit houses of worship.
At the heart of the Z-HD5500 is a newly developed 2/3-inch CMOS sensor. The camera incorporates three of these new sensors, each of which features a 1,920x1,080 resolution with frame rates up to 60/p. The Z-HD5500 sensors also feature a global shutter, which should eliminate any potential image skew on faster camera tracking moves.
Embracing LED Lighting
What sets these sensors apart from the pack is the fact that Hitachi has created them to address the specific problems inherent to LED lighting and LED videos walls. “The newly developed CMOS sensor is designed to work directly with budget LED lighting fixtures, which flicker at a very high rate,” says John Humphrey, VP of business development at Hitachi Kokusai. “This camera is particularly optimized to eliminate those problems.”
With the Z-HD5500 Hitachi has also invested considerable effort into creating a camera that captures imagery that meets the needs of the most demanding ministry applications. “The Z-HD5500 addresses a couple of things houses of worship are looking for. The first is resolution,” continues Humphrey. “The camera's resolution is full 1080p. It's also got a 62 dB signal-to-noise level, which is just about as good as it gets.” Full HD progressive capture is a significant upgrade over Hitachi's existing Z- line. The camera also boasts an impressive 30-bit internal processing bit depth, which is converted to 10-bit via 3G SDI output.
The Z-HD5500 also incorporates HDR enhancement for improved contrast and color replication, a future-oriented option that will require HDR capable monitors to view. Other features on this camera include a B4 lens mount, as well as support for teleprompter return signals and two channels of Clear-com compatible intercoms built in.
By utilizing the Z-HD5500 camera system Hitachi also promises their most transparent signal path to date. The camera is compatible with existing Hitachi HD control panels, viewfinders and cabling. This allows churches already utilizing Hitachi broadcast systems to navigate a smoother, more cost-effective upgrade path. Hitachi also offers optional support for SMPTE fiber, single-mode fiber or Hitachi's new digital triax transfer.
First Impressions
It's important to mention again that this article is a First Impression. Its goal is to provide information and ministry-specific context about a potentially important new camera targeted specifically to the church market. CPM has not yet had the chance to spend any hands-on time with the Z-HD5500, so we can't speak to how the new features of this camera actually work in practice.
With that disclaimer out of the way, the designers and engineers behind the Z-HD5500 certainly do seem to have identified a substantial need in the marketplace. If this camera's sensors are capable of addressing some of the most glaring issues created by LED lighting the Z-HD5500 could represent a big step forward for ministries utilizing these fixtures.
Church techs and broadcast directors often face a daunting challenge of creating systems that produce high-quality live experiences, broadcast experiences and webcast experiences simultaneously, all while adhering to nonprofit budget restrictions. Sometimes finding the solution for one experience creates delightful new ripples of problems for the other experiences. If Hitachi really has created a camera that can alleviate problems created by affordable LED stage lighting fixtures, that may turn out to be a very big deal in our world.
The only potential downside for some broadcast directors may be the fact that the camera is native HD progressive instead of 4K, but it's important to remember that resolution is only one of the many considerations that go into purchasing a good camera system. Many professionals will attest to the fact that a clean and vibrant image with deeper bit-depths will often trump a 4K image that doesn't meet the same quality standards. Resolution is certainly a consideration, but it's far from the decisive one.
In Conclusion
At the end of the day, the real proof of this camera will be in the image it captures in real-world settings. But considering the specs, features and Hitachi reputation, the Z-HD5500 will be a camera churches that are planning an upgrade or new installation in the next few years will want to keep a very close eye on.
The complete Z-HD5500 camera package lists at $30,000 and is available immediately. It will also be available to view at NAB 2017 in Las Vegas, taking place April 24-27. Visit hitachikokusai.com to find out more.
