Z5-first Opinion

[Franklinbencosme]

My firts wedding last night with the SONY-Z5

PRO-wow, nice lense 20x and very wide,20% more then pd-170 factory lens
lcd(3.2) excellent,real video view,and far away, nice if you are over 40 years old(ha,ha,ha)
Iris,gain, exposure aperture at the lens VERY EASY
Focus,excellent,you go auto(only one time whent out of focus during the wedding) and you can still control it like manual
zoom very SMOOTH in booth places, hand held and top control
OK LOW LIGHT remember de pd-150? ....VERY GOOD !!!!!(6db gain) I use the micro panels with warm filter
Audio:you can control internal mike separate from the shot gun mike and of course the wireless mike
Using a mono pod, It's fill like you are using a STEADY CAM
Out door shot AMAZING !!
The camera looks very professional

NOT PRO-Heavy front,bottons a little confuse(a takes time).Battery life(using sony 570)not so good,but acceptable.
Rolling shutter ??? let my go to this week to post and my coments will come,of course I got TWIXTOR ,good bye flash !!!
When you hit record at takes 2 seconds to START, hit pause and same situation(sometimes)

Whant more? let me do a few more weddings(in my country are during the nigth),and I will kepp posting


Thanks for your time............Franklin !!!

[TimKennelly]

Thank you for this initial review Franklin.

This HDV cam looks interesting with it's improved low light capability, keep up the reports of your hands on experience with it please.

[LouBruno]

The custom buttons are excellent as you can change the colorimetrics and assign different functions as well to them. There is a QUICK RECORD function that should be used only in an emergency as the assembly edit is not seamless.


This is a great camera and they did a nice job with low light. However, I ran a test last Thursday and the PD 170 seems to be better in lowlight at 0 db. At 6db the Z5 looks good. At 12 db a slight grain.
At full focal length the Z-5 was at 3.5 iris. HUMmm....just like my CANON XHA-1S. It seems when I played with the Z-7, it is more light sensitive by nature of the lens albeit 12X.

BTW: This is a real killer on your wrist after just 20 minutes.

I recommend some type of rig or shoulder mount as I notice both of the Z series are front heavy but more so the Z-5.

I also used the new shoulder mounted SONY 270 with the CF DRIVE. It has the same lens and picture qulaity of the Z-7 but the SONY 270 is in a shoulder mount which is balanced by the professional battery attached to the rear-but it's still a heavy camera.

WOW!!! What a pro camera. So many adjustments but it had the same lens and picture quality as our Z-7.

Use the SONY 970 batteries with the Z-5. Much better run time. Be REAL careful of knock-off brands and get the SONY 970 which has the proper internal chip read by the camera in the powering stage.

My firts wedding last night with the SONY-Z5

PRO-wow, nice lense 20x and very wide,20% more then pd-170 factory lens
lcd(3.2) excellent,real video view,and far away, nice if you are over 40 years old(ha,ha,ha)
Iris,gain, exposure aperture at the lens VERY EASY
Focus,excellent,you go auto(only one time whent out of focus during the wedding) and you can still control it like manual
zoom very SMOOTH in booth places, hand held and top control
OK LOW LIGHT remember de pd-150? ....VERY GOOD !!!!!(6db gain) I use the micro panels with warm filter
Audio:you can control internal mike separate from the shot gun mike and of course the wireless mike
Using a mono pod, It's fill like you are using a STEADY CAM
Out door shot AMAZING !!
The camera looks very professional

NOT PRO-Heavy front,bottons a little confuse(a takes time).Battery life(using sony 570)not so good,but acceptable.
Rolling shutter ??? let my go to this week to post and my coments will come,of course I got TWIXTOR ,good bye flash !!!
When you hit record at takes 2 seconds to START, hit pause and same situation(sometimes)

Whant more? let me do a few more weddings(in my country are during the nigth),and I will kepp posting


Thanks for your time............Franklin !!!

[Franklinbencosme]

One more coments !!! about the Z5:

Since was my first time with this camera I decide to use Auto White Balance
Gess what !! the Z5 did a EXCELENT JOB during out door and in door !!

Hope helps !!