GEAR
SONY Z200
STREAMADELICA!
SPECIFICATIONS
Price: £3795/$4000 Sensor: 1.0-type, 14 megapixels Formats: XAVC S-I 10-bit 4:2:2 for QFHD 4K in MP4 up to 4K/120p. XAVC HS-L and S-L 4:2:2/4:2:0 Long GOP. Full pixel readout and 5K oversampling for 4K 60/50p, HD to 240p. S&Q mode to 5x slow motion without audio. XAVC MXF wrapper in future upgrade Gamma: 709tone, IT709, S-Cinetone, S-Log 3 HDR: Live, Mild, Natural Lens: 20x optical zoom 7.7- 154.2mm (equivalent to 24- 480mm). Clear image zoom to 720mm in 4K, 960mm in HD ND: Built-in electronic VND Autofocus: Fast hybrid phase detection AF with AI-based auto-framing Image stabilisation: Optical active Output: BNC, 12G/3G/ HD- SDI, TC BNC, HDMI, USB-C, Ethernet, built-in Wi-Fi, FTP transfer and live streaming by RTMP/S, SRT in XAVC S and HS, proxy file transfer Screen: 8.8cm/3.5in LCD, 2.76m dots Viewfinder: OLED, 2.36m dots Media: 2x CFexpress Type A / SD Audio: Integrated stereo mics, 2x XLR inputs with phantom power support, 3.5mm mic in, MI Shoe Dimensions (wxhxd): 175.6x201.3x371.6mm/ 6.9x7.9x14.63in Weight: 1.96kg/4.32lb (body)
Sony’s new Z200 is a do-it-all camcorder which now has live streaming and connectivity built-in C ast your mind back five years and the world was a different place. Nobody had heard of Covid-19 and, although live
What Sony didn’t do with its new model, called the Z200, was make it look significantly different to the older camera. It still has the tried- and-tested form factor of a fixed- lens camcorder and even takes the same BP-U batteries that lots of people already own. But inside, the Z200 really is all-new – starting with the sensor itself. The Z190, and its big brother Z280, were the first in the world to offer 4K from a three-chip set-up. This technology uses three smaller sensors to separately record the red, green and blue information, which is then digitally combined to create the final footage. This gives improved image quality and lower noise than just one sensor of the same size, and it helps create a greater depth-of- field. The theory was not everyone valued shallow depth-of-field, certainly when capturing events. But now it’s more in demand, so the Z200 has a single, larger 1.0- type, 14-megapixel CMOS sensor. This reduces noise and improves quality, while allowing for a more cinematic look.
streaming was just about making inroads, most pro camcorders were exclusively used for recording events to be edited for viewing later. Nowadays, that is still important but has declined. What has exploded is the need for streaming events as they happen while still recording high-resolution footage for later. With this boom in streaming has come a widening of the user base. There are still multicamera shoots run by experienced professionals, but often smaller events are shot and streamed from a single camera by people with far less experience. Beginners, even. So when Sony decided it was time to revamp its five-year-old Z190 camera, the belief was that the new version had to be better than the current model for high-quality recording, and leagues better for streaming too. But it had to be equally usable for multicamera pros and newbies. That’s a big ask.
A CLASS The Z200 takes two CFexpress Type A cards to unleash the camera’s full potential, but SD cards also fit
52
PRO MOVIEMAKER
Powered by FlippingBook