Hey gang, Chase here. Today we're in my office and I want to talk to you about the new Sony
PXW-Z190. You may remember a few months back I took some other Sony camcorders to an amateur
wrastlin’ match. Really enjoy the convenience and special features of camcorders provided
in such a fast-paced environment. So, I tried to think of a different run-and-gun style
situation to show up as Z190s capabilities and my mind immediately went to the Autobahn
Country Club here in Illinois.
A couple months back, I shot a promo there with the Sony FS7. I remember thinking, man
this would be a lot easier with a camcorder. So, I went back for a full day of cars, karting,
I busted out the old rollerblades. Check out those skillz! And I even got some off-roading
to show you everything you stand to gain in the Sony PXW-Z190.
Their many features that make this camera advantageous in any fast-paced environment.
Whether it's an event, wedding or race. The most important thing to me is ergonomics.
I was on the move all day. The Autobahn has a 3.5 mile (5.6 km) track that was split into
two circuits. It has a go kart track and a rallycross track. Having a small, lightweight
camera that I can hand hold as opposed to a heavy rig that I used last time helped me
cover all that ground a lot quicker with less fatigue.
Now I was faster but still not fast enough to outrun a speeding race car. Of course,
I had to stay behind guardrails and fences which is where the Z190's zoom came in handy.
With the Z190’s 25x optical zoom in 4k, I was able to get right into the action. Despite
being so far away from it.
If you're shooting in HD, the crop factor actually gives you a 50x zoom. When I'm shooting
run-and-gun like this, I like any automatic feature that I can trust. But, I know won't
slow me down and give me just another thing to worry about.
If you're going to be handheld and zooming in all day, you're going to need a great stabilizer.
Thankfully the Z190 had. It didn't help much when I was bouncing around like crazy in the
rally car, but I was able to dust off the ol’ rollerblades and got some very usable
tracking shots despite how much the camera was bouncing around.
Whether I was moving fast round cars, or cars were moving fast around me, manually pulling
focus would have been an absolute nightmare. I was actually surprised to see how well the
auto focus worked. And in retrospect, if absolutely necessary to get as much usable footage as
I did. Face detection was incredible. Here, even at a long distance with someone wearing
sunglasses it picked them up every time. And multiple faces were being read at the same
time, I could use a joystick on the grip to shift the focus whichever person I wanted.
But, I think the coolest automatic feature that this camera has, has got to be the electronic
Variable ND.
We were outside with clouds crossing the sun the entire day. And this newer feature from
Sony made getting proper exposure effortless. Without having to change my iris which would
change my depth field. I set my aperture all the way open in the morning to the most up
the field possible and I didn't touch it or the ND for the rest of the day.
Even when the sun started going down. When I think of built-in ND, I think 3 distinct
levels that you're lucky to get on some cameras. Electronic variable ND has a range that goes
from a ¼ all the way to 1/128th. And it very smoothly shifted from one end to the
other. When I did notice, it just looked like a smooth iris pull.
The Z190 actually has 3, 1/3-inch EXMOR CMOS sensors. That can record 4K, up to 60fps.
I typically don't shoot slow-motion of the race itself as it makes the cars look slow
and boring. Defeating the whole point. But there are definitely key spots the slow-mo
looks pretty cool. Flag waving, drivers prepping before race. Car swerving and rubber flying
off their tires and not having to down res to get those was great.
A shot in hybrid log gamma the entire day. Which is flatter profile. It's pretty bright
out and that helped me save my highlights as much as possible. The camera records internally
to SD cards via dual slots. If you want you can simultaneously record in HD proxy on one
card, while recording the 4K equivalent on the other.
And you can do something I never heard of. You can set each of the Z190’s record buttons
to trigger a separate card. That help me keep all my footage from the main track separate
from my footage from the go cart and rallycross tracks. As I bounce between them all day long.
And speaking of things that I didn't even know were possible, I discovered that I can
plug my travel drive directly into the Z190’s USB port and the camera would externally power
it. While it dumped my full cards straight to the drive. And it did it pretty quick too.
And it was easy and that was huge for me knowing that as long as I had an external drive on
me, I never had to worry about card space.
The last thing I want to talk about, has got to be the built in Wi-Fi which came in really
handy on the less than predictable rallycross track. I wanted to put a camera close to the
finish line, which wasn't a super dangerous place to stand. But, if the car hit that little
jump at the end wrong, it could easily shift. And all of a sudden, you have a speeding ton
of car heading for you. Using the cameras Wi-Fi, I was able to set up in the position
I wanted, and manipulate the settings for my phone. Zoom, focus, iris, start-stop. My friend
Sean face, I could see all of them in that phone. And it helped me get the shot, but
I needed without being right next to the camera.
So, overall the PXW-Z190 from Sony made my shoot as effortless and easy as it could be.
And gave me some really great looking stuff. If you like any more information on any of
Sony camcorders, please visit bhphotovideo.com. Thank you very much for watching!