My Sony PXW-Z190 Video Camera Experience - Caveat Emptor!

On location with the Z190

I have always bought Sony video cameras. In November 2019 I treated myself to a new PXW-Z190V 4k video camera from Sony, What could go wrong you ask? Read on to find out.

Why the Z190?

All my Harveywetdog output is shot on Sony video cameras in either 1080 or, since 2015, in 4K 24fps. My first 4K camera was the prosumer FDR-AX100E which I followed up with the more professional HXR-NX80 NXCAM. The main reason for buying the NX80 was to improve the sound quality over what I was achieving with the FDR-AX100E. Having said that I sometimes think the sound quality I achieved with the HDR-PJ780 which had 5:1 sound has been hard to beat even though it does get reduced down to two stereo tracks for YouTube. I will say more about the HXR-NX80 in another blog but for now this blog is about the PXW-Z190V and my reasons for choosing this camera which were:

• 50fps at 4K

• The variable Neutral Density Filter (ND Filters)

• 4 channel audio

• 25 times zoom

• Straightforward ability to connect a field monitor

• Price when compared to PXW-Z280

The spec sheet for the Z190 lay on my desk at work for a couple of years before I purchased it. I realised the sensor size on the NX80 and AX100 was 1 inch whereas the Z190 was 3 x 1/3 inch and I did worry what this would mean for Image Quality (IQ). And with the NX80 I sometimes found that the depth of field was actually too shallow; horses heads would be in focus but not the rider and vice versa. So I was prepared to sacrifice depth of field (interestingly I think I got better stills from video with the AX100 than the NX80 but should you buy your video camera based on its ability to generate stills?). I was also concerned that Sony made such a fuss about the face detection software on the Z190 which was clearly aimed at electronic News Gathering (ENG). I’d actually been reasonably happy with the auto focus on the NX80 so what was on offer for the Z190 appeared to be a step backwards.

The NX80 alongside the Z190

The decision is made

It was attending a product day organised in conjunction with Sony that made my mind up. The speaker explained how in a 4K single sensor the pixels have to be divided between RGB whereas with a 3 sensor camera you get 4Ks worth of each. Looking back the day focused on the Z280 but one way and another I came away convinced, or at least not put off the Z190. There was another factor which although embarrassing I need to own up to. When people talked about larger sensors being better from a depth of field perspective I always assumed that meant the larger the sensor then the deeper the depth of field. So I was a little shocked when I realised that it meant you had a much shallower depth of field and that is what gave you these wonderful cinematic shots with the subject in sharp focus and a dreamily blurry background. I know I should have known better but at least it meant I shouldn't be put of going to 3 x 1/3 inch sensors if I wanted a deeper depth of field anyway. 

Out the box

My Z190 was purchased in November 2019. Prior to purchase I’d looked at batteries and chargers as well as a wet suit so that I could hit the ground running so to speak. I bought a package which included memory cards but all these accessories add to the cost of an upgrade and was more noticeable than before where the PJ780, AX100 and NX80 had all felt part of the same family.  I was so certain that the Z190 would meet all my requirements that I got rid of all of the packaging - a move I will not repeat next time. (Having said that I have promised Mrs Harveywetdog that this is the last camera I will buy so there will not be a next time!).

Impressive looking fresh out the box

On getting the camera home and out of the box my initial thoughts were

• Looks very professional but boy is it heavy
• Not unsurprisingly the 4K 50fps files are twice as big as with the NX80 at 25fps
• The Sony software moves from Play Memories Home (PMH) to Catalyst Browser Motion  (CBM) and CBM is very unstable on Windows and often crashes
• The sockets have covers but there is a certain plasticity cheapness about them. (The AX100 has a much more polished feel about it)
• But most of all the IQ was very flat and noticeably poorer than the NX80! Where were my Picture Profiles so I could select PP4, Full Auto and jobs a good‘un!!

Early problems

Good points were that it worked directly with the field monitor, it's good to have an on/off switch and there isn’t a lens cap to remove and lose. But my initial thought had been that the camera would work straight out of the box but this couldn’t have been further from reality. What I now know is that the camera is supplied with a very flat picture profile and it is up to the videographer to tune it to their requirements.

Having a field and a very willing pointer who is prepared to run and run gave me plenty of opportunities for field trials albeit in the grey of November in England. I had it in my mind that I wanted to operate the camera in High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) mode and while I was interesting understanding just what this meant and learning how to grade the footage to bring it to life with the Adobe Premiere Pro Color panel, it wasn’t until I listened to Doug Jensen's training video on Vimeo that I understood HLG isn’t meant really meant to be used in this way. In his opinion it is meant for direct to air (broadcast) workflows. Of course that doesn’t mean you can’t grade it to look how you want but Doug convinced me that with the PXW-Z190 then Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and  his “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) settings was the way to go.

A painful journey

I've made a playlist of my PXW-Z190 videos so that you can follow my journey. Mine was a pretty painful journey and it wasn't until I watched the Doug Jensen tutorials that things started to make sense. it is worth noting that neither Sony nor the outfit I bought the camera from were prepared to help me (although in fairness the latter did recommend Doug Jensen) and when I started reading the forums I was shattered to read the bad press the PXW-Z190 was getting. I did price out the cost of moving to a PXW-Z280 but when I priced out the cost of the different memory I would require I decided that paying £10K for a video camera was not going to happen especially as the Z280 didn't appear entirely blemish free.     

Looking back I had first used the camera for an external shoot at an outdoor event at Bicton Arena just after Christmas and it was ok (this was pre WYSIWIG). There was some late afternoon Devon sun and the PXW-Z190 was usable if not as bright and sharp as the NX80 output which I'd used for the juxtaposition shots. I'm pretty sure I didn't colour correct the output from either camera on the YouTube videos.

The low point

Following Bicton I then used the PXW-Z190 indoors at Hartpury University in the Hartpury Arena and that was where I fell foul of the Z190’s poor performance in low light. While now I would have made a better job of grading the video you can’t get away from the fuzziness of the image. If someone had told me I’d forgotten to remove a protective plastic screen off the final element of the PXW-Z190 lens then I would have believed them!

This experience really made me doubt my purchase. The deeper I dug the worst it seemed to get. The low point was probably videoing our own horse in the Hartpury Arena and the results seemed even worse. I thought the problem was with the autofocus but really it was the low light performance that was the real issue.

Doug shows the way

At that point I decided to seek help setting up the camera and as I've said above that led me to the Doug Jensen masterclass on Vimeo. Doug has a very direct style and had obviously researched the performance of both the Z280 and the Z190. I was sceptical at first because I suspected he would concentrate on the Z280 and provide sparse details for the Z190 and while that is partly true there was sufficient Z190 material to enable me to set up the camera. I enjoyed Doug's plain speaking style and I was happy to take his advice not to use HDR and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) on the basis that it is a delivery standard and not designed for grading in post. There is some confusion here and it is important not to get HLG and HG (hyper gamma) confused. I do use HG4 with the Z190 in SDR but I do not use HDR and HLG. I tried but I did not find the camera performance acceptable.

So while I may not recommend purchasing the Z190 with its range of inherent problems if you ignore this advice and end up with one then I really recommend the Doug Jensen Masterclass. I'm not being sponsored to say that all I can say is that the Masterclass stopped me from totally losing it with the camera and throwing it out the window. One word of caution the masterclass is only rentable for a six month period you do not purchase it in perpetuity.

And then we had lockdown!

I was just getting somewhere with the Z190 when the COVID 19 lockdown hit the UK and since then I've been grounded although we have seen some pleasant results videoing our own horse outside with most exposure controls on manual but leaving the Auto ND on manual. I had managed a trip out to Prestige Equestrian for the Magic PSG which was indoors and had a lot of sunlight coming in from outdoors (so light and dark patches) and I'm not displeased with the results especially now I'm happy to use Color correction in Premiere Pro.

I also went to my first event at Tweseldown just before lockdown kicked in but it was so cold and wet and the wet suit was such a pig to fit that I gave up and came home without recording a frame. The event was abandoned later in the day so it was probably a good idea to come home early and work out how to use the wet suit properly.

Looking forward

More recently, as lock down has eased, I have been out to video a foal locally but I was so nervous about getting it right that I took the NX80! I've definitely got to get back into the swing of using the camera along with the SWIT field monitor and I will issue another blog later in the year to say how I've got on. 

SWIT field monitor and Z190

  

Quick Update 2021

I'm feeling a lot more confident using the Z190 now.