What system to remotely monitor and control Z Cam rigged in a car?

[Thomas Szacka-Marier]

Hey there!
I'm a cinematographer mainly working on documentary projects. For the next feature I'm about to work on, we'll have to shoot two characters in a car, driving from Belgium to Lebanon over a period of one month.

We're thinking to rig a camera in the center with a wide lens to have a 2-shot, and shoot in 6k in order to be able to crop the image and have 2 different close-ups. The camera we're planning to use is the Z CAM E2-F6, mainly for it's small form factor.

I'm looking for advise on how to monitor and control the camera from another car (we don't want any crew members in the main car). Do you think the wi-fi antenna and the app would cover the distance? Or is it better to use a something like Teradek (Teradek Bolt 500 LT )? But in this case, would it be also possible to control the camera settings? Or is there something we could do with the camera's Gigabit Ethernet connection?

Or maybe someone has experience with something similar and would suggest another camera or setup?

Any hints or advise on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Luke Ogden]

Hi there, I own an E2-F6 and I have to say the app is one of the best I have ever used, really, it put's Arri, Red and Sonys equivalents to shame. Having said that it relies on wifi (like most of them) and disconnect. If the 'support' car will always be within a hundred meters and often behind then I would run the HDMI from the camera to a wireless transmitter (such as the Teradek) in the boot area.They have a pretty good 'line of sight range.  If you send the camera display overlays over HDMI too then at the very least you can always see what's going on with the camera: exposure, battery voltage, media remaining, audio levels (you'll be able to hear it too, with a suitable monitor), framing etc.  

Then you can use the app to control the camera as and when you're connected/close enough. And you can do SO much from their app. Definitely look into the eND module too, it allows you to ride the exposure almost seamlessly from the app! Another suggestion is to swap out the stock antena for a larger one.