Z1 P: MiniMum Illumination

[Varun Nayar]

Hi,

 

the place i work for has a sony beta d30 and just bought the new sony hdv z1 for normal shooting and especially for low light. we recently shot in a desert environment with two pota lights 150 each and a sun gun of 150 w too. the beta was giving an exposure of 4 without ND filter. whereas i was struggling with gain in 3, shutter speed 25 and even a fully open iris at 1.4.

 

Is it true that the z1 is very poor in low light conditions. I compared the sony product directory and found this as below,

 

Minimum Illumination

Sony PD170: 1Lux @ 18db - 1.6F

Sony Z1: 3Lux @ 18db - 1.6F

Sony D30: .5Lux @ 36db - 1.4F

 

So my boss asks, how can a six year old beta outperform the new hdv. I was figuring, is it that too much pixels are packed into a small 1/3 CCD...? or is it something else..

 

And what exactly is the function of composite in the camera menu, 1080i, 576i/P etc does it effect recording or is it only for playback. The handbook says playback, the company representative says recording....I mean if I select HDV isnt it automatically set to 1080i, and for dv 576i/P ????

 

Will be greatful to anyone to clear these clouds over my head...

 

Thanks in advance

[Matt Sandstrom]

is it that too much pixels are packed into a small 1/3 CCD...?

yes, that's exactly it. a smaller ccd always needs more light and more pixels sure doesn't help either. and don't forget that the digibeta is a professional camera while the z1 is basically an advanced toy. don't be afraid to gain up some on the z1 though. the extra resolution makes the added noise much less of a problem.

 

And what exactly is the function of composite in the camera menu, 1080i, 576i/P etc does it effect recording or is it only for playback.

 

this is the setting for the component (composite?!?) output and does not affect recording. there's a similar setting that decides whether recording is done as hdv or dv though.

 

/matt