GEAR
SONY Z190/Z280
Z190
Z280
Z190
It’s highly detailed, with natural colours and very low noise. There is plenty of information in the shadows and highlights, too. The noise at higher gain settings is there, but it’s unobtrusive and some noise reduction software can work wonders. And it can be graded to look virtually identical to files from an FS7. The footage from the Z190 is also bright, punchy and detailed, but definitely a step behind the Z280 when you compare them side by side. But the reality is that few people will ever have the luxury of doing this like we did. And a potential purchaser will be impressed with the footage from the Z190, especially when shot in 4K in decent light. The Z280 has an obvious edge in dynamic range, especially if you shoot in the flat S-Log3 colour profile. This is ideal for shooters who have time to spend carefully grading the finished film to get every bit of detail from the sensor and proves the Z280 can be used as more than just a run-and-gun ENG camera. It also has genlock, which allows it to be used as a studio broadcast cam, making it even more of a great all-rounder.
Z280
which is the 35mm equivalent of a staggering 28.8-720mm. That’s wide at the wide end and very long at the long end. If you shoot in HD, it crops the 4K size sensor and the lens becomes a 50x zoom, equivalent to 1440mm. It’s ludicrous that such a massive zoom range is fitted to such an affordable camera. Sports shooters, wildlife shooters and news gatherers will rejoice. The Z280 has a 17x optical Fujinon zoom. It’s a 5.6-95.2mm f/1.9 lens equivalent to 30.3- 515mm. Again, in HD it doubles up to a 1030mm equivalent. Maybe not as wide or long as the Z190, but still hugely impressive, although the wider end is a bit of a compromise. The only way to go wider is to screw on an adapter lens.
The Z190 doesn’t have genlock or S-Log but, like its big brother, is HDR-ready, as there are several flavours of Sony’s Hybrid Log- Gamma (HLG) profiles installed. The Z190 is all about speed and using the camera as easily as possible to get broadcast-quality footage, whether outputting for standard dynamic range or HDR. The HLG footage from both cameras looks good when used on an SDR, Rec. 709 screen, although it does need a minor tweak in exposure. But it means your footage is future-proofed and ready for HDR use. Another key difference is the zoom lens used on each of the cameras. The Z190 uses a Sony G series 25x optical zoom that’s a 3.7-92.5mm f/1.6 optic,
IMAGES The Z190 footage is bright, punchy and detailed, but the Z280 has natural colours, with lots of information in shadows and highlights
“It’s ludicrous that such a massive zoomrange is fitted to such an affordable camera. Wildlife shooters will rejoice”
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SPRING 2019 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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