The Sony PXW-Z90 – The perfect documentary camera?

• The PXW-Z90V 4K HD Compact NXCAM camcorder boasts of phase-detection autofocus (AF) and HDR capabilities packed in a palm-style body, making it a great camcorder to bring around in shooting corporate events, television production and news broadcasting.

• It features a 3.5” touchscreen LCD monitor with an OLED viewfinder, a stacked 1” Exmor RS CMOS sensor with UHD 4K (3840×2160) resolution and a 12x Carl Zeiss optical zoom. The PXW-Z90V 4K HD Compact NXCAM camcorder can alsor ecored 4K video in XAVC Long at 4:2:0, MPEG at 4:2:2 (with an optional license key) and HD in XAVC Long at 4:2:2 10-bit. Its S-Log3/S-Gamut3 functions allow users to control image quality better.

• The camcorder’s 1” Exmore RS CMOS Sensor is unique in that it allows approximately 14.2 million effective pixels for crisp quality images. It also boasts of Fast Hybrid AF through high-density displacement of autofocus points and the new AF algorithm for accurate tracking and focusing. This feature is especially important for individual operators who like to shoot UHD 4k videos.

• The camcorder also has a unique phase-detection AF that allow for proper focusing on the subject and its 3.5” touchscreen allows for easy switching of focus. To add to its versatility, the PXW-Z90V 4K HD Compact NXCAM camcorder also comes with features like Subject Switching Sensitivity, AF Drive Speed and Tracking Depth Range, all of which can be set according to the content you’re creating or the subject that you’re shooting.

• The camera also is capable of both Slow and Quick Motion for shooting HD videos at different frame rates including 120 fps. To allow for recording at different codecs, frame rates and formats, the PXW-Z90V supports 50 Mb/s up to 59.94p for HD videos and 100 Mb/s XAVC Long recording at up to 29.97p for 4K UHD videos.

A long zoom lens is a necessity, not a convenience

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I need a zoom lens. Currently, much of the work I’m doing is a combination of observational documentary and theatre and music performance. For work like that, a decent zoom lens is a necessity, not a convenience. Par-focal and at least 10 to 1, preferably 15 to 1, and with minimal breathing. Prime lenses, for me, are simply not an option; the real world does not stop for you to change lenses, and I want to move around, reframe, go from wide shots to detailed close-ups without stopping. Yes, I’m old school (or simply old), and all due respect to people who find a way of shooting docs on DSLRs and mirrorless stills cameras, but I’ve no idea how they do it.

There is now a certain DSRL doc look I’ve begun to hate; predominantly in mid shot or medium close-up, a constant hunting for focus (with hardly any shot continually sharp), and a camera that floats around aimlessly on a gimbal. Since cameras are cheap, there are often two cameras or more hovering around which don’t quite match. Yes, we have that shallow depth-of-field look that can be great in the right place (interviews, obviously, where we don’t want the background to distract) but in observational documentary, shallow DoF tends to be a disaster. This is not only because of the difficult of keeping a subject in focus, but very often you do not want to see the subject isolated from the background and prettified, and all those background details may be crucial to the story. This doesn’t just apply to documentary – if you are shooting a drama, with improvised or unpredictable elements, you may well find a zoom lens a huge advantage.

The Z90 with mics attached

Moreover, if you are filming a theatre performance, a gig or a concert, a zoom lens is essential. Although the fashion is very much against zooming in shot, music often demands some sort of movement and often a zoom is the only way to do it. The combination of a zoom and a gentle dolly move can be very effective.

Younger readers may be unaware that before the DSLR revolution of a decade ago, prime lenses were more or less unheard of on professional video cameras, and fairly rare on 16mm film cameras (generally used only in low-light situations or where an extreme wide or extreme telephoto shot was demanded).

In fact the DSLR ‘revolution’, despite enabling beautiful pictures on a tiny budget, has actually restricted the sort of films you can make. I would urge young documentary filmmakers to take a serious look at camcorders, even at the prosumer end of the range, before they plump for the DSLR/mirrorless option.

So yes, I need a zoom lens. This really limits ones options if you want small, affordable 4K camera. It means chips much larger than 1” or MFT are out, and we need to be looking at cameras with built-in zoom lenses.

An MFT sensor would probably be the optimum size for the work I do, but there is an irony with the current obsession for larger sensor sizes and shallow DoF; many zoom lenses won’t open much beyond F4 so, in terms of that quest, what you are gaining with larger chips/longer focal lengths you are losing with smaller apertures. A 2/3” chip camera or even ½” at F1.8 could actually be a more viable option for that look and, if you want to throw the background out of focus for interviews, move the camera back a few yards and go on a longer lens.

It is no surprise that the traditional shoulder-mount, ENG video camera is still in demand by broadcasters. A new generation, brought up on inexpensive cameras with high quality pictures, may be baffled by the cost and size of these cameras, but they fit the needs of that market and, from the operators point of view, they have not really been replaced.