[Craig Seeman]

https://www.xdcam-user.com/2018/02/the-sony-pxw-z90-a-compact-4k-camcorder-with-auto-focus-at-its-best/

See Alister’s comments after the review.

alisterchapman
MARCH 5, 2018 AT 12:37 PM
The only benefit the Z150 has is it’s bigger and has separate rings for zoom and focus on the lens. So less fiddly to use on a tripod and may be more acceptable on a professional shoot. The Z90 is the better of the two cameras otherwise in my opinion.

And

alisterchapman
MARCH 9, 2018 AT 6:27 PM
A common problem is people comparing the low light performance of a S35mm camcorder with a camcorder with a much smaller sensor with much smaller pixels. The two will never perform the same. The NX80/Z90 are a generation later than the Z150 and NX100 and have a better sensor and better AF

[Craig Seeman]

[Keith Henderson] “it looks as though the Z150 has a few improvements over the Z90, “

Absolutely not. Other than ergonomics it’s older and is missing a lot of features. If anything, Sony may update because it’s behind the Z90.

[Craig Seeman]

[Michael Slowe] ” but I thought that the PXW-Z150, had a higher spec than the Z90, maybe not.”

Nope. Z90 has new autofocus, S-Log, Hybrid Log Gamma (HDR) and slow motion 120fps continuous, 240 burst all the way to 960 (but lower resolution). The autofocus is major. It’s the first time I’ve ever decided to use autofocus when doing run & gun shooting. The newer sensor in the Z90 is generally better as well.

[Michael Slowe] “nability to keep the aperture setting at wide (f2.8) all the way through a zoom.”
This is normal with larger sensors. EX1 was 1/2″ the 150 and 90 are 1″ which would require much more expensive lens mechanisms to maintain aperture throughout.

[Craig Seeman]

[Keith Henderson] “o if there is another larger form camera you might have in the higher price range I’d be grateful for that”

It seems the Z90 has features that aren’t yet in the larger cameras such as the Z150. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ll be seeing some updates along the product line for NAB.

[Craig Seeman]

Sony PXW-Z90 if small size is OK. It’s 10 Bit 4:2:2 in HD. Shots 120fps slo mo continuous and 240fps “bursts” at useful. quality and up to 960fps and a bit reduced quality. Shoots 4k (UHD) 8 bit 4:2:0. It has incredibly useful autofocus (lots of programmability) for run and gun. 1″ chip although lens is mostly f4 but can be f2.8 when full wide. XLR in and SDI out (in addition to HDM). Very good customizable profile options include S-Log2, S-Log3, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma HDR). 1″ type sensor for reasonable depth of field control. $2798
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1362802-REG/sony_pxw_z90v_pxw_z90_4k_hdr_xdcam.html

Otherwise if you want some thing that straddles run and gun an documentary camera with interchangeable lenses the Sony PXW-FS5. Super 35 sensor type. Built in variable ND. Otherwise fairly similar features to the above. $5248 with 18-105mm f4 lens.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1185425-REG/sony_pxw_fs5k_pxw_fs5_xdcam_super_35.html

[Craig Seeman]

Imagine a site called Moviola and not a single tutorial on how to use one. ????

[Craig Seeman]

[Bill Sparkes] “Can I combine footage from both cameras, or not?”

I do in FCPX 10.4. Keep in mind that if you’re grading 10 bit 4:2:2 will be a bit more flexible than 8 bit 4:2:0.
BTW I also use the Sony PXW-Z90 for ENG style work. I do use Blackmagic Pocket for my interviews because I prefer to keep everything 10 bit but 10 and 8 bit can live in the same timeline as long as your NLE can handle and you’re aware of the limits of pushing 8 bit 4:2:0.

[Craig Seeman]

I’ve recently purchased the Z90. I’m reframing so I’m shooting in 4K. In some cases I distribute online in 4K. If you’re not doing either there are actually many advantages to shooting in HD. If you’re shooting in SLog, color grading should hold up a bit better. Slow motion is good at 120fps and maybe 240fps.

[Craig Seeman]

While nowhere near the features of other NLEs, ScreenFlow certainly seems to take advantage of the iMac Pro. Unlike other Masc based on “i” processors which use Intel QuickSync for hardware assisted encoding, the iMac Pro is using the Vega GPU. ScreenFlow immediately recognized that and offers hardware assisted encoding. The developer did not have to make any changes to hook into that. Access was through the already existing API.

One thing ScreenFlow and FCPX have in common is that they are both Mac only. Perhaps developers of cross platform software may not (yet) be taking advantage of iMac specific resources.

See this at 5:07
https://youtu.be/BCBPo4l48hU?t=5m1s

And see this at about 3:20 regarding ScreenFlow as well. Note that he mentions Adobe Media Encoder does not advantage of the hardware.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi_eKs7uUzE&feature=youtu.be&t=3m21s

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[Craig Seeman]

[greg janza] “If you use Adobe cloud, Resolve and other cross platform software, there’s a variety of other less expensive options for maximizing power and speed.
“

But does that maximized speed match FCPX?

Of course there may be no point in buying an iMac Pro if one’s NLE of choice doesn’t currently take advantage of it’s resources but that does not mean one’s NLE of choice on a more efficiently matched PC will match the speed of FCPX when it comes to playback or rendering. In addition, if one goes the custom PC route there’s another set of issues if troubleshooting OS/NLE issues also can slow one down.