Ken OSullivan

Hi folks, I'm wondering if anyone has used the Panasonic HPX301 or 500 P2 camera with Canon HJ14 and / or HJ22 lenses. I'm shooting wildlife and have decided to invest in good lenses as I figure they'll stand up better over the years, of course there's no point have a great lens with a poor camcorder but the 301 and 500 but look pretty good 'mid-range' cameras. I know the HPX301 has a 1/3" sensor but more substantially pixels than the 500, I guess due to advancements with CMOS technology. Canon will have an convertor shortly (1/3" to 2/3") to mount their lenses, JVC have one already (minus the electrical connectors), Canon say they have used these combinations and have not seen any picture issues on the HPX301 though there is probably small vignetting at the high end of the telephoto. Wondering if anyone has tried these combinations or had an opinion.. Many thanks in advance Ken

Hi Dave, Thanks for pointing that out about the username. In practical terms what I'm trying to do is film wild birds from a cliff top, I'd guess they are about 100 metres below (they don't like people:) and this is the closest I can physically get to them. With the 2X teleconvertor I'm still too far to get a 'close-up' shot of them. I know the Z1 is not ideal for this and I take your point about the chipset, just wondering if there is a lens available that would give me enough magnification to fill say 1/4 of the screen with the bird and given the limitation of the Z1 you have pointed out, would the picture quality be acceptable. I know the word acceptable is subjective :) I don't understand how tele/magnification is calculated into 35mm terms, but I have used a stills Digiatal SLR with a 600m lens and it gave more magnification than the 2X I'm using. Any help appreciated. Cheers Ken

Hi folks, I'm using a Sony Z1E for shooting wildlife, I know it's not the greatest camera for this but it's the one I own at present ! I purchased a Century Optics 2X Teleconvertor lens which is excellent, however I need more magnification, I've spoken to a few dealers but none are aware of a bigger telephoto option for this camera. Has anyone come across a lens or system that could be adapted ? The Z1E has a range up to 58mm, I've read that the 2X telephoto lens brings this up to 290mm (in my ignorance I thought that 2 X 58 = 116 :-)). I need 400 - 500 mm or better if possible... any ideas or help is very gratefully received. The Z1 has a 78mm diameter mount. Cheers for now Ken

Sorry folks...

Hi folks, I'm using a Sony Z1E for shooting wildlife, I know it's not the greatest camera for this but it's the one I own at present ! I purchased a Century Optics 2X Teleconvertor lens which is excellent, however I need more magnification, I've spoken to a few dealers but none are aware of a bigger telephoto option for this camera. Has anyone come across a lens or system that could be adapted ? The Z1E has a range up to 58mm, I've read that the 2X telephoto lens brings this up to 290mm (in my ignorance I thought that 2 X 58 = 116 :-)). I need 400 - 500 mm or better if possible... any ideas or help is very gratefully received. The Z1 has a 78mm diameter mount. Cheers for now Ken

Hi Guys, I've been using the Z1 HDV for extensive surf filming, which obviously mean almost all my subject matter is constantly moving. I notice that most of the time I get a kind of slow motion effect shooting (sea) waves. You would obviously get this at low shutter speeds which the 'auto' feature seems to like using, but I've found it still happens with all settings on manual and a high shutter speed, e.g. 600, I thought it could be related to high Gain DB, but even at zero it still happens. On a nice sunny day I might use settings of F4, Gain 0db and Shutter Speed of 600 but it still happens. this is the European version Z1E used at 50i. Just wondering if anyone else has seen this.. Thanks in advance ken

Hi Guys, Thank very much for your replies ! Cheers ken

Hi Folks, I'm wondernig if anyone has used a Z1 to film a still picture/print, i.e. zoom and pan onto a printed still pic and if so what the quality was like. I know there is a high-end specialist camera for this but I wonder if the Z1 with all it's quality resolution would suffice.. Thanks in advance Ken

Hi Guys, Many thanks for all the info., it's very informative ! Cheers Ken

sorry, the Z1 lens mount is 72 and not 78mm.. Ken

Hi guys, Has anyone used a telephoto lens with a Sony HDR-Z1, I know there's a 2x Century optics one available for about $1,500, I was hoping to get something a bit cheaper. Does HDV require a particular type of lens as opposed to DV, I could get a 2x tele for my Sony PD170 for a few hundred bucks but the camera lens mount is smaller than the Z1's 78mm one.. Any help / opinions appreciated. Cheers Ken

Hi Mark, Many thanks for the info ! Cheers Ken

Hi Chris, Thanks for the review, sounds like an excellent choice. Did you come across any 'lightweight' Z1 housings when you were looking, I need something for surface filming of surf action and I imagine the Phenom would be just too heavy, I have a Gates housing and it's very manageable below a few metres depth but too cumbersome for surface work, any info appreciated, good luck with your filming !! Cheers Ken

Hi Olivier, Many thanks for the info. I had a look at the comparison and the only differences I can spot are the lack of (2) XLR inputs, FX1 doesn't seem to support DVCAM format and doesn't seem to have timecode settings, would you say this is correct ? Lack of timecode would be a real problem for editing.. Thanks again ken

Hi Guys, Wondering if anyone has a view on the functional differences between a Z1 and an FX1, from what I can see there is a Euro 1,500 cost difference. I was told the FX1 doesn't have XLR sockets. Any info appreciated.. Ken