streaming media - January/February 2017

Sony has remarkable design sense when it comes to evolving its camcorders. From SD to HD and now to 4K, its prosumer line carries forth a design that makes it easy to transition from one generation to the next. Similar button placement, design ergonomics, battery specs, in-camera menus, etc., make new cameras in the line feel familiar to the longtime Sony users.

Sony sent me a PXW-Z150 4K XDCAM camcorder (Figure 1) to check out for a few weeks. I was excited to investigate this model. Sony’s earlier 4K prosumer camcorder, the AX1, featured a 20x optical zoom that the company was able to build affordably into that low-cost camera because of the small 8. 3 MP sensor.

The Z150 features a larger 1", 20 MP sensor, and only a 12x optical zoom. But with the extra resolution on the sensor, and some internal processing, Sony offers 18x “Clear Image Zoom” in 4K and 24x in HD.

This camera felt a bit like the prosumer-ization of the AX100 4K consumer camcorder, which featured an XLR adapter. It has the same

1" sensor, 20 MP, 12x optical zoom, Wi-Fi cam-
era control, etc. But everything around that
starting point has been made more profession-
al: The Z150 has a larger lens setup with three
dedicated rings, a lot more direct user control
of features, built-in XLR and handle, dual me-
dia, and more.

There’s nothing wrong with this evolutionary approach; every camera manufacturer does it. But it can lead to unexpected limitations when approaching this camcorder as you would any other professional camcorder. In this case, one result of taking this approach is the inability to have video on both the viewfinder and the LCD screen. Or, if you have an external monitor or recorder connected and you hit Record, you can have video only on the built-in screen or the external screen. You can have only one screen with video on it, wherever that screen may be.

If you planned on using the Z150 in a studio and need to give the operator a feed, and then send the video off to a video mixer in the control room, you’ll have to rely on monitors that can pass through the video signal. The camera settings can still be seen on the Z150’s built-in LCD, but not the active video signal if you are sending it externally and recording at the same time. If you are not recording, then you can have video on the camera’s internal screen, and one external connection.

Compare this with the currently less expensive, larger-sensor, interchangeable-lens JVC GY-LS300, which can record 4K and feed the image out to the viewfinder, the LCD, the

SDI, and the HDMI, all at the same time. That’s pro-fessional-level connectivity.

Walkaround

The Z150 has a lot going for it beyond its compact construction. It shoots 4K and HD, and it has XLR jacks, dual media slots, and many different video outputs including SDI and HDMI. It even offers two composite (SD) video outputs (one requires an adapter).