Having been working in the video business since 1988 I have amassed a great amount of knowledge of both the kit and production values over the last 30 years.
4 thoughts on “SONY PXW-Z100 Review HD 1080 25p”
Hi! Thanks for the review! Since you did such a great review for the JVC 600 cam, can you compare the low light images and noise handling of the two directly? I know you said this camera wasn’t great in low light but seeing firsthand how it compares to another model and how it handles gain compared to another model would be really helpful. Any video or frame grabs to illustrate the comparison would be really great. Thanks again!!
HDW : I decided not to run the camera against the JVC HM650 because Z100 is poor in low light but would kick the pants off the 650 in normal lighting conditions.
Dear Philipp,
Your answer is very clear:the Z100 is poor in lowlight.
Do you think that the coming AX-100 will be better in low-light?
The Z100 will have the same low light performance as the FDR-AX1 which I have and in comparison to my NX5U is maybe 2 stops slower. It produces a much better image though and since the NX5 is not that good with more than 12db of gain and the FDR-AX1 is good to 18db of gain there is not a lot in it for real world conditions. The relationship is also not linear. As it gets darker the difference is bigger. When the NX5U is at 0 the FDR-AX1 is at 6db for instance and at this level produces a much better image. At 12db on the NX5U the FDR-AX1 is already at 21 or 24db. At this level they are both at the point of not being usable without using a Neat filter for cleanup if you are sensitive to noise.
I expect the FDR-AX100 to be more sensitive but lack the features of the FDR-AX1 and PXW-Z100 50/60P like frame rate and data rate choices etc.
For situations where the NX5U can shoot with gain less than 9db the FDR-AX1 is superior though gain would be maybe 12db or 15db. I expect the PXW-Z100 to b e no different. 10bit image will be nicer but not the low light performance.
Ron Evans
Nice overview Philip. What about an external recorder for the short term to extend recording time? Would the Z100 send same 4K options (same data rate, 4:2:2 10bit via SDI?
Hi! Thanks for the review! Since you did such a great review for the JVC 600 cam, can you compare the low light images and noise handling of the two directly? I know you said this camera wasn’t great in low light but seeing firsthand how it compares to another model and how it handles gain compared to another model would be really helpful. Any video or frame grabs to illustrate the comparison would be really great. Thanks again!!
HDW : I decided not to run the camera against the JVC HM650 because Z100 is poor in low light but would kick the pants off the 650 in normal lighting conditions.
Dear Philipp,
Your answer is very clear:the Z100 is poor in lowlight.
Do you think that the coming AX-100 will be better in low-light?
The Z100 will have the same low light performance as the FDR-AX1 which I have and in comparison to my NX5U is maybe 2 stops slower. It produces a much better image though and since the NX5 is not that good with more than 12db of gain and the FDR-AX1 is good to 18db of gain there is not a lot in it for real world conditions. The relationship is also not linear. As it gets darker the difference is bigger. When the NX5U is at 0 the FDR-AX1 is at 6db for instance and at this level produces a much better image. At 12db on the NX5U the FDR-AX1 is already at 21 or 24db. At this level they are both at the point of not being usable without using a Neat filter for cleanup if you are sensitive to noise.
I expect the FDR-AX100 to be more sensitive but lack the features of the FDR-AX1 and PXW-Z100 50/60P like frame rate and data rate choices etc.
For situations where the NX5U can shoot with gain less than 9db the FDR-AX1 is superior though gain would be maybe 12db or 15db. I expect the PXW-Z100 to b e no different. 10bit image will be nicer but not the low light performance.
Ron Evans
Nice overview Philip. What about an external recorder for the short term to extend recording time? Would the Z100 send same 4K options (same data rate, 4:2:2 10bit via SDI?