SONY HVR-Z5

[John Morgan]

Hi,

This is my first time of using the IAC Forum and in this instance it is to enquire if anyone has experience (good or bad) with the Sony HVR-Z5

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

John

[Dave Watterson]

Welcome, John.

I am not the lucky owner of that machine, but I am sure there are people here who can comment.

Dave

[tom hardwick]

I don't own one but I've had a good play John. It's a worthy successor to my Z1 but I didn't upgrade to it for various reasons. You know the NX5 looks to be its replacement?

If you have any specific questions then fire away and I'll help if I can. What kit do you have at the moment, and why the interest in the Z5?

tom.

[billyfromConsett]

I've got a Z5 and it's a great piece of kit in my book. It's too big to take on holiday, and a little too big to handhold all day.
I have a media recorder attached to it and love that accessory also. On £1 tapes, I've seen very few image dropouts.

I like it, but wish I had a little dinky cam that I can carry all day, and doesn't look like I'm with the BBC!
I'm drawn towards AVCHD 1920 x 1080 rather that HDV 1440 x 1080 also, but it's no big deal.

The CMOS flash artifact is no big problem from my very limited experience of doing weddings.

[John Morgan]

Hi Tom & Billy,

Thanks for your replies. At the moment I am using a Sony DSR250 which I am quite happy with but need something a little smaller and more convenient to handle off the tripod. I would also like to move to native 16:9, HD, and probably continue to use tape because of its flexibilty as a recording medium, and not least the cost, hence the interest in the Z5. Having been very satisfied with my previous Sony cameras I haven't looked at any other makes. (My wife has also volunteered me to film a friends wedding in June!)

John

[tom hardwick]

Ah - an upgrade from the 250. The latter might even use the NPF batteries? And you'd have carry over chargers, LANC zoom control and so on.

The Z5 can use Sony's Compact flash reader/writer as well - the unit that's supplied as part of the Z7 package. That way you can record HDV to CF and SD to tape or vice versa, making backups as you shoot.

The NX5 only shoots AVCHD to SD card so your computer needs a certain amount of grunt to edit the native files, whereas the HDV of the Z5 is a lot less CPU hungry.

The Z5 retains the much bigger on-screen font for menus and display info, but the NX5 has an amazingly effective double action stabilisation system - good if you're feeing wobbly at the reception with all that Champagne inside you.

tom.

[John Morgan]

Not over happy at doing the wedding, its no something that comes easy for me, (but when she who must be obeyed says that we do a wedding.....) so I don't think there will be too much in the way of Champagne!

I think that you may be right in that some of the things will be similar to the DSR 250, will have to look at the full spec for the Z5.

John

[billyfromConsett]

Sony had a good sales site where you look through its features.
It performs well in low light, you can limit the gain - I limited mine to 12db so evening stuff won't look too washed out. It accepts huge batteries that last many hours.
The negative is that it uses mpeg2, not the most effecient compression, but 25mb/s gives good pictures with the G-lens.

I wouldn't like to film a wedding on my own in all fairness.

[tom hardwick]

Why not Billy? I do it all the time because costing in another camera person quickly makes your quote uncompetitive. Mind you, I'm a great believer in using two cameras for a wedding shoot, and last Saturday I had an unmanned camera going at the ceremony, the speeches and the evening dancing.

You might never need that footage but it's a great stress reliever to know that second camera's running. And it gives you two more in-sync audio tracks to play with.

tom.

[billyfromConsett]

I wouldn't want the stress that it's totally down to my work and my kit. I won't push my skillset too far, knowing that I do maybe 2 weddings a year. It doesn't need to pay the bills in my case, and I'd prefer another cameraman to give another range of shots.

If it's £50 less money to pay a cameraman, so what?

John - this link might help you http://www.videomaker.com/article/14800 ... gn=traffic

[tom hardwick]

So what indeed. I was thinking more along the lines of £350.

[John Morgan]

Tom & Billy,

Thanks for your input, its made me look around for more information and at some other options that are available. It makes things much easier for people like myself when we can obtain good solid advice from people who are already using the equipment or something very similar, and not depend on some salesman who only wants to sell the item. Thanks again.

John

[Stephen]

Hi John

been down the smoke this last week so just catching up with these posts ...

I own the same set up as Billy (but wish I had Tom' s knowledge

The Z5 is an awesome piece of kit and capable of many wondrous things ! (with th help of the 'seeing eye' of course !!)
no sooner do you think you have bottomed a trick on it, it comes up with something more !!
an excellent piece but now being superceded .. as Tom said the NX5 for one.... but if you you can pick a Z5 at a good price you will be handsomely rewarded!

it is a bit of a beast to lug around, but for whipping out as the opportunity presents itself (ooooeerrrr matron) I always have to hand the JVC everio gzhm200 1920x 1080 avchd format which is excellent in good light but absolutely carp in low light situations...

there's tons of stuff on Tinternet to read before you buy

of course the IAC forum just being one ... ahem......

[col lamb]

Just a thought but for the cost of a Sony NX5 you could almost buy 2 Panasonic AG HMC 41 camcorders.

Then two camera shoots = no problem

[tom hardwick]

Two camera shoots where you have good light and where you don't want any wide-angle coverage at all, then yes, go for it. But the NX5 is that price for good reason.