Gain

 

The HVR-Z7 has an array of gain settings that you can choose from. What is new here is negative gain and in this case minus 3db. I guess everyone will wonder why you would want a negative gain setting but it does come in really useful if you have to further reduce light sensitivity to achieve for example a shallower depth of field shot.

 

Perhaps you may want to combine the ND filters settings to achieve your desired results. The positive gain setting on the Z7 is also phenomenal and allows you a wider selection ranging from 0-27db (3/6/9/12/15/18/21/24/27db). Personally, I like to shoot always without any gain on any given day. However, we all know that the use of electronic gain is inevitable in certain situations. What is important however, is how well the sensor handles gain. I conducted some test in low light and have samples of some clips shot with and without gain. In my opinion, I think I would never go pass the 12db mark as I find the video noise beyond the level I am willing to swallow.

 

Smooth gain is also a wonderful feature that you can enable via the menu settings and this essentially prevents abrupt sudden brightness change caused by manual gain level adjustments. With the smooth gain set to either slow middle or fast you will be able to obtain a more gradual change. This will also mean when you switch the gain level position on the gain switch a smoother transition will take effect also avoiding any kind of unwanted iris adjustments.

White Balance

 

The HVR-Z7 has a switch for white balance like any of its predecessors. A preset position as well as users A & B. You can assign on the preset position outdoor as well as indoor settings as well as manual white balance temp setting. These settings are accessible via the camera menu white balance preset settings. The white balance temp settings can also be change in your white balance temp set options via the camera menu.

 

The A & B positions are for you to set your own user settings when you perform your own manual white balance adjustments.

 

ATW or Auto Tracking White has also three option to choose from, Intelligent, High Middle and also Low. I usually prefer to set this to intelligent for my own shooting preference. The option of the High, Middle and Low can only be found in the picture profile settings on the Z1P.

 

The smooth white balance option is also an interesting feature you can find on the HVR-Z7 and this provides you with a better balance transition which may prevent unnatural sudden color temperature change when you move from one shooting environment to another more so with the recording button still activated that can ruined your footage.

Black Balance

None of the camcorders I have owned have ever come with a black balance feature on board as this is a function usually found only on very high end professional cams. Black Balance is a feature you can find on the HVR-Z7. And what is BLACK BALANCE? Easy answer, it’s exactly the same thing what white balance is, except the opposite. The difference in this case is that you can first perform a white balance and then activate the black balance, close the iris and execute the process. Black balancing your camera in the HVR-Z7 takes a little longer to complete compared to white balancing. A poor black balance usually means the dark areas of your video showing unnatural or incorrect colors in the dark areas. Now that you understand what black balance is, let me confidently say to you that I did not see any significant difference in my video when I perform or did not perform a black balance with my naked eye. LOL!

Audio & Microphone

 

The HVR-Z7 does not come with an inbuilt microphone. I am kind of disappointed in the sense as the HVR-Z1P and PMW-EX1 comes with the onboard microphone. It is great in certain occasions to have both these options as it serves well in situations when I prefer not have a microphone stick out like a sore thumb. Don’t get me wrong though! Audio is still a very important thing to me in a video production and still rules in my books.

 

What is supplied in the packaging when you purchase the HVR-Z7 is the new monaural microphone (ECM-XM1) It looks exactly like the ECM-NV1 which was the usual supplied microphone for the HVR-V1, PD170, DSR-250, and even HVR-A1.In my test, I conducted using the ECM-NV1 as a comparison, I can clearly see a boost in volume as well as sensitivity over its predecessor. All those with the cams that I mention above, may want to consider calling Sony spare parts department soon if you feel that audio has always been an issue for you with the supplied ECM-NV1. The ECM-XM1 also has a signal to noise ration of 78db which is a 14db increase over it predecessor. It also has a better dynamic range and higher input sound pressure.

 

The HVR-Z7 has also the standard XLR inputs. These are found on the right side of the cam very much the same location where you find the sockets on the HVR-Z1. Switches to select line-in as well as microphone-in and also option to record on two channels from the same input is possible with a flick of the switch and these are located where the XLR inputs are found facing the cameraman which in the case of the Z1 is faced to the front.

LCD & EVF

 

Sony has again try to push their quality of their LCD screen and this time they have come up with their very ownXtraFine™ LCD and EVF.  This 3.2 inch LCD is located very much the same position as the HVR-Z1. An extremely high pixel count of 921,000 dots is already about 4 times more pixels than the HVR-Z1. Any High Definition camcorder owner will tell you the ultimate importance of a good LCD or EVF for precise focus in HD.

 

I was already very happy with the resolution of the HVR-Z1 LCD which was far superior to the Canon XH-A1 by a mile which is one of the things I dread most about that camera. The undersized LCD as well as low resolution indeed makes focusing on the XH-A1 a very challenging task.

 

Testing out the HVR-Z7, I found the LCD better than the HVR-Z1 but in my opinion definitely not 4 times better. In addition, I’m also wondering why Sony decided to increase the resolution but make a LCD smaller than the Z1’s 3.5 inch screen. In a way, it does not do justice to the Z7’s higher resolution LCD.

 

The EVF can also be set to Black and White instead of color as well as turned on even while the LCD is flipped open. Enabling or disabling certain features can also be changed via the main menu under the display settings option.

 

Brightness as well as colors can also be adjusted for the EVF as well a LCD screen. However, I always prefer to leave these to their default settings unless I intend to perform a calibration with a field monitor.

 

Image Quality & Default Colour Tones

In my opinion the HVR-Z7 matches in image quality with the HVR-Z1P. However, I conclude as not seeing it as camcorder with better image quality. What has clearly improved though is the low light sensitivity in the HVR-Z7 and also the array of multiple tweakability.
 

Comparing it with the Canon cams, I would still say that it depends on what color tone your preference is. We all know that Sony has always the tendency falling towards the cooler tones. However, as mentioned in the earlier parts of my review, this is easily solved with the slew of adjustments you can find in the Picture Profile menu of the HVR-Z7 today. These controls in the right hands can turn the camcorder quite literally to any kind of texturing based on your mileage.

Macro Focus and Focusing

 

The lens provided on the camcorder is a standard 12X Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T lens ( f = 4.4 to 52.8 mm, f = 32.0 to 384 mm* ).
Throughout the entire scope of our tests, we've been pushing the limits of the HVR- Z 7's stock lens.

We've found that while it is able to perform auto & manual focus shots, the lens capability differs quite a bit between the auto & manual setting.

 

With the "Auto" focus turned on, you'd have 2 choices of auto focus. Auto & Auto Focus with Focus Assist. Auto by itself just means the standard Auto Focus mode.

Auto with Focus Assist really helps when you need that quick shot, focusing on the nearest possible subject as dictated by how much you spin the focus ring. Think of it as auto focus whilst having the ability to manually adjust your focus. While we found that it works almost all the time, the focus assist proves to be a liability when we're trying to perform macro focus shots. When trying to perform a close up shot of an item around 0.3m or less, the auto focus tends toshift / hunt.

 

Then obviously we'd try to change the focus mode to manual, with the HVR-Z1, this would not be an issue as the HVR- Z1 uses a stock lens. The HVR-Z7, when changed to manual mode, becomes a full servo manual lens. This means that the camcorder loses its macro capability, as the effective manual range is around 0.7m. However, when we changed the focus mode back to "Auto", the focus immediately regains its macro capability.

 

The lack of a proper manual focus on the HVR-Z7 that can perform macro focused shots is indeed a drawback from the HVR-Z1 in real life situations.

Because of the interchangable lens capability, we believe that you may need to have a specified lenses that may solve this problem.

However, only with an actual test we would only be able to confirm this. In the meantime, I can only say that the stock lens that comes with the HVR-Z7 is not a very worthy lens. I'm sure with additional lenses, the real capability of the HVR-Z7 would show.

Conclusion

 

Here are 10 reasons why I would recommend the HVR-Z7

 

• The fact that it has the ability to accommodate interchangeable lenses.
• As an event or wedding videographer, imagine the advantage as you can record in HD, HD / HD – SD / SD – SD simultaneously.
• Ability to still record on mini DV tapes as well as flash cards simultaneously.
• Low Lighting is exceptional with the 1/3^rd inch sensors
• Easy to handle handheld as well as a slew of interesting features.
• Audio is better due to the improved microphone.
• The Auto Iris feature, which allows you to override the Manual Iris with Auto Iris if needed.
• The variable Zoom control on the handle.
• The vast range of customizable picture profiles, which would enhance your shooting experience.
• Increased assignable buttons, to help you customize your camcorder.

 

Last but not least, our 11^th reason is that… The Z7 uses the same batteries as the Z1, thus minimizing “upgrade” cost for current Z1, V1, PD170, PD150, PD250 users. By the way battery life is also superb just like the HVR-Z1P.