Z Cam E2 | Body & Menu Walkthrough
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- My best attempt at a complete and thorough walkthrough of the body and menu of the Z Cam E2 cinema camera.
TIMELINE:
Body Intro 0:44
Front Function Buttons 1:23
Sides 2:31
Back 4:02
Top 8:12
Top Screen Basics 9:05
Menu Walkthrough 12:07
Featured in this video:
Z Cam E2: www.z-cam.com/
SmallRig Cage: amzn.to/2VuuFuM
SmallRig Top Handle: amzn.to/2Yisurf
SmallRig Side Handle: amzn.to/2YlvQdi
Metabones Speedbooster XL: amzn.to/2E0SW10
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I love the design ethos of this camera. Brilliant.
Simplicity and modularity are key, I've definitely been loving that aspect :)
Good explanations. Very useful. Thank you.
Thanks so much! I'm getting my E2 tomorrow and I won't even have to read the manual ;D I feel like I know the camera already
Awesome! Glad to help :) enjoy the camera!
@@ScottDumas Same here. Thanks!
Thanks for the vid. I just solved how to take the card out without removing the handle. Rubberband around the card door and a SMALLRIG Mini Anti-Off Quick Release NATO Rail (Thickness 6mm, Length 48mm) for NATO Handle, Camera Cage - 2172
for the handle. Keep it up!
Very few clear walk through videos out there, and this is one of them:)
Awesome to hear :) Glad it could be helpful!
About to buy this camera. This is super helpful. Thanks!
Awesome, glad it could help! Enjoy the camera! :)
Thank you for this video. I just got this camera and am still figuring out all of the controls after coming from a Sony a6300. So far I love the camera, though I wish the AF was a bit better.
Kyle Evers If you want auto focus just stick with DSLR.
Andy's Shanghai thanks guy never would have guessed...
thanks
I've been looking at the E2 vs the BMPCC4k, and there is just not enough coverage out there on the Z cam. Thanks for this!
My pleasure! I'm honestly not sure why there hasn't been more content on it, it's been a really solid camera. Let me know if there's anything in particular you want to know! :)
I have been following the E2 for a while now and also find it strange that there is very little quality footage out on YT or vimeo even. Many people just seem to be into the slomo stuff it can do, but with prores it is actually a very capable film camera. Would like to see more prores 4k60 footage that focuses on color (skintones) and detail or dr.
@@ScottDumas What happened to the RAW option they were talking about for last months update?
It will be coming soon as far as I know, possibly in the next update (I hope)
William Boschert work in progress.
Great video! I have a lens with only one ring for changing the MM and not the focus. If I’m on manual focus, how do I focus? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Would love to see a video on the autofocus!
Definitely high up on my list... just trying to get my hands on an autofocus MFT lens because I think that will be the best way to test it :)
is there a way to turn on a light meter bar like canons have? or is there no way
Does the SmallRig cage fit exactly for the smaller battery Canon powered Z Cam e2C ?
I don't have the E2C so I'm not sure. They do have a separate E2C cage so I'm guessing that means this one won't fit perfectly
Excellent 👍🏼
Thank you :)
Quick question how do u zoom in and out on the zcam
How do I get the live view on the tiny screen on the zcam
Nice review brou!!!
Thanks so much!
I know this is old but of you have a telephoto lens for say a large room to stream an event, is there a way to control zoom?
As a black magic user, I would fully swap over to all Zcams if they cud get their color science down as well as black magic. Zcams are def super underrated.
+William Su black magic footage does look great but I’ve really loved zcam colors as well... the grade can definitely be a big part of it but they’ve come a long way. Which BM camera are you using by the way? :)
@@ScottDumas I have the P4K
@@ubacow7109 Nice, an incredible value camera. Although I don't use it myself that's definitely got to be the best value camera of the year!
Scott, can you answer a few simple question? What lenses can you use? Can you use a Fuji x mount lens?
Hi! This is a MFT mount so you can use MFT lenses like Panasonic or Olympus (as well as others) and you can also adapt quite a few types like Canon EF with a Metabones adapter or speedbooster. However, I don't think you can adapt Fuji X Mount unfortunately ...although I could be wrong
Great walk through! I just picked up the Z cam E2 and am blown away by it! My question is, say I want to shoot in Zlog, but my exposure is always zero'd out, how am I supposed to overexpose for it if all I see is zero? May be a dumb question but, I just came from a Sony set-up and it was much easier with your exposure in numerical values!
Thanks so much! Well the 0 you're speaking of is just exposure compensation I believe, which only applies if you're in a semi-automatic mode like AUTO shutter. To overexpose zlog is not so much a numerical value persay, but usually checking the waveform and exposing towards the top of the waveform as long as nothing is clipping (unless you have a very high contrast scene and want to expose for the shadows- somethings clipping may be unavoidable). Then, in post, pull things back down to get your exposure. Basically you just don't want to have to RAISE exposure in post because that will quickly introduce noise. If you can nail exposure perfectly there's no need to overexpose anyway but it's kind of a safety net and a way to get cleaner footage. Hope that helps!
Dear Scott, thank you very much for your tutorial, I love the way you explaining the things) Just one request from my side if you could share some RAW sample footage from that cinema camera as you did from fulframe version. I will really appreciate. Thanks!
Hi! Thanks so much for watching! I think I did have a video with some of the original footage but that footage may not be available anymore, can't remember offhand. I'll try to upload some when I can :)
Thanks again for watching!
Scott Dumas Thanks!) Will looking forward)
Does it have in-cam image stabilization? Zebra pattern? Is there a side handle that has buttons/dials that can be used with the camera to control exposure and start recording? I'm a bit concerned about having to press a minimum of three button pushes to adjust exposure -with buttons away from where my hands are that I have to look at in order to be able to tell what I'm pressing. Seems like it should be a design default to have shutter/iris/iso right under your finger/thumb while holding any camera in my humble opinion.
There's no IBIS but there are some assist features built in- however, I'd recommend you use those on an external monitor instead because there's some delay to the video feed when outputting assist features over HDMI.
There are actually 2 or 3 handles that exist now or will be released soon. One from Tilta is out now I think, but the one from Portkeys and also one called the CLUTCH Remote Handle seem better in my opinion and are the ones I'd go for at least from what I've seen so far. Those will have a record button and some dials to adjust things like aperture, ISO etc and I believe they will be programmable. The Portkeys may be able to do even more since I think there's a joystick as well and there will be a LANC splitter so you can use it together with the BM5 monitor for example, which can also control the E2 via touch screen. I do hope to test/review both of those when they're released.
As far as I know all the handles connect to the camera through the 2.5mm remote port on the back, just like the BM5 monitor does.
Hope that helps! :) Let me know if there's anything else you want to know!
Great stuff man! I’ve got an odd question… I have the sigma 18-35 art lens. Works great with this camera, but the issue I’m having is that the f-stop opens up to a 1.2 (which, I’m not sure why) but only stops down to an F10. I have have a canon 70-200 which I think works fine. Do you know what the issue might be? A setting in the e2? Sigma brand that doesn’t mix with the e2? Any help would be awesome, thanks!
Hi! Thanks very much :) I'm assuming the aperture displayed is just the equivalent aperture taking into account the speed booster, which I'm guessing you must be using? The actual physical aperture in the lens is most likely working as usual ...are you using a different adapter for the Canon lens? That would probably be why it's displaying differently, or just the lens somehow communicates data to the camera differently than the Sigma does.
Scott, my E2 arrives on Tuesday. Can you confirm that with the latest firmware you can format Cfast cards and external drives within the camera? With older firmware you had to format all media on your computer.Thanks!
Hi! I have heard that is true but it's hard to confirm myself because my cards are all already formatted. To be honest though, I never formatted my cards in the computer. I used the same I was using in the C200 and those had just been formatted in camera. I bought a second CFast when I got the E2 though and that was just formatted in camera on my end as well even before the newest update. I've heard that's the reason that Angelbird cards are camera specific- just that they've been setup and stress tested on those specific cameras, so that helped probably.
how do i rename a profile and delete unwanted profiles?
It's been a while, but I believe you can save them to an SD card, then edit the names on the computer, then import them back to the camera.
Can the Function buttons be set as Frame rate change? And, how would you say the AF is, fair?
Been looking at changing to the Z-Cam line. Even more with the Z-Cam e2C at $800 be a great b-cam.
I don't think (without looking) the FN buttons can be directly set to frame rate, but you can program some presets of different frame rates and other settings, then set a function button to call that up and switch profiles. I could be wrong, but can't remember offhand.
I use all manual focus or adapted EF lenses so AF is pretty bad. With a native lens I assume the AF would be better and I've seen that it can do fairly well in good situations, but challenging situations won't be very reliable. I think it's best to think of it as a mainly manual focus camera, slightly better at AF than the BMPCC.
The E2C does look like quite a beast if you don't need the higher frame rates. Very high quality image :)
Thank you so much Scott. Great Work! Question that nobody seems to be asking. How long does it take to switch between frame rates. From say 60fps to 120? Does the camera have to reboot or something or is it instant. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much! Switching between frame rates only takes a few seconds... if you switch over into WDR mode I believe the camera will reboot but even then it's not long, probably around 10 seconds or so total until you're able to start recording again unless you need to adjust other settings as well.
@@ScottDumas that is great news Scott. Thank you so much!
Great video. Thanks for sharing . At 6:43 you wrote the note that the xlr does not provide phantom power and at 16:33 you can see the option in the menu. Whats up with that?
Thanks so much! Sorry- that note at 6:43 says it DOES provide phantom power. My wording was weird and makes it look like it says "does not" when you look quick haha. Apologies :)
Oh yeah my bad. Wtf.
Haha, watching that back I wish I didn't include the word "does," just makes it look confusing lol
How do you like the image compared to common mirrorless (GH5, Sony A7 iii, etc.)? What about the usability/ease of use?
It's honestly very hard to say without using them side by side... I used the GH5 for a while, but I felt like this footage graded more easily and had a nicer look to it more easily. Not to say the GH5 was bad or you can't get a nice image from it because of course you can, but I just feel like this is easier to get that image. Maybe just me. Never used the Sony to be honest, but from what I've heard and seen their color science won't be anywhere near the E2. I shoot with the C200 as well and I actually like both in their own way, so to say that the E2 can live peacefully side by side with a $7,000 camera, for me at least, is definitely saying something.
In certain ways the form factor of those mirrorless cameras will be easier to use- maybe more buttons, for example, but the body of the E2 is made specifically for video use so despite the fewer buttons it's very easy to control and the menus are pretty quick to get used to. It's definitely made more solidly and a bit easier to build on because of it's form factor, and there are lots more connections on the E2 for things like XLR input, external power, ethernet etc.
I think they're just totally different beasts. The codecs and frame rates in the E2 will be higher and more robust, but the form factor of a mirrorless will be more familiar.
Hope that helps! :)
Great Video!
Does the E2 also record Audio in all Framerates?
As far as I can tell, yes it does :) Even VFR high frame rates
Does it come with information on how to program the buttons?
The manual is pretty limited but once you dive into the menus programming the buttons is fairly straightfoward :)
which hdmi cable do you use @0.50sec? Looks perfect for this camera :-)
I had just searched for a 90° connector cable, found this 60cm one on Amazon and it works pretty good :) The connector itself is a little fat, but it definitely keeps it low profile :) I got it on Amazon Japan so not sure if the same one will be available for you, but here is the link: amzn.to/2JyckWx
Hi, Scott! Thank you so much for this video! Really helpful!
I've got a question: can you disable split files completely? Does it have some size limit for splitting files or it's strictly time? And how large the file sizes end up when you use 5 min vs 30 min splits? Can you pls test it?
Hi! Thanks so much for watching :) It seems like you can't completely disable the split files option, the longest choice is 60 minutes. It's a seamless split though, and recording won't actually stop so it shouldn't be much of an issue as far as I can tell. I've recorded for hours continuously before with no problems. File sizes regardless of split clips will depend on tons of factors- different combinations of frame rates, resolutions and recording codec (flavors of prores, H.265 etc).
Hope that helps! :)
Scott Dumas Thank you very much!
Thank you for your helpful videos. I can not figure out how to update to firmware 0.86, There is no update.zip file to add to the Cfast card to update. I have looked everywhere.
You can find it here, it's also linked in the announcements on the E2 Facebook page. Download the package and add the .bin file to the CFast card to do the update. Hope it helps!
drive.google.com/file/d/1uartV3a6eXbAZ0z_3FoVwVOYC2bZyESA/view?fbclid=IwAR0TAbBvAKBzC2gTLsfHjWdPc1R8WFR7W2dLXEqEWIqYTfT8AYgFct0rhco
@@ScottDumas Thanks!
Great vid. Thanks! How does it vent heat?
Thanks so much! It's all passive cooling so no fans... I haven't noticed any issues yet, the body doesn't feel hot at all and there were no shutdowns or anything from overheating either, but I haven't used it out in a really hot environment yet so I'm not sure how far I could push it. I haven't heard a single complaint from any other users though so I'm assuming there are no major problems with it :)
Scott Dumas thanks for the feedback. I’ve come to learn that heat is a factor when it comes to noise in an image. Thinking about getting the s35 zcam (which will come in a similar body) when it’s out and trying to anticipate any problems for low light shooting.
@@angelmurphy6832 Yeah the larger sensors should do a bit better... I have my eye on the F6, have to save up a bit before then haha
thank you so much for the amazing review , is this camera Z cam e2 has time lapse video option ? do you can reduce the frame rate to low number like one frame per second ? and how did you see the quality of the 240 FPS footage ? is it 10 bit as well ? thanks you so much in advance
Hello! Thanks so much for watching :)
The e2 does have some time lapse options- either using time lapse mode or VFR I believe. To be honest, I haven't used it for time lapse yet so I don't know much about it but VFR does go down to 1fps for example. The dedicated time lapse mode works a little differently I think.
As for the 240fps footage, it's not great from what I've seen. Especially when you compare it to the 4K footage. I noticed weird aliasing on my 240fps footage (and others') but I have to test it out a bit more. It is 10 bit though, so there's that at least.
@@ScottDumas i really appreciate your time replying to my question, big thanks to you 🤗
@@phototasty8199 My pleasure! :)
Hey guys. For the 240FPS image, you can refer to this test.
czcams.com/video/zyzaCE4cxQU/video.html
Complete test article, see here
www.newsshooter.com/2019/06/18/z-cam-e2-hands-on-review/
I hope useful to you：）
I would love to see more on AF, video footage..would you recommend this camera over an a7iii? or would this camera be overkill?
I'll definitely be testing out the AF more and more :) As for compared to an a7iii, I think it would really depend on what you need. Here you get much more robust codecs (ProRes and soon RAW), with higher frame rate options. It's more solidly built and has more connections like XLR, external power input, ethernet etc. The form factor of the a7iii however will lend itself a bit more to compact setups since you don't NEED anything extra like a monitor or external battery (even though a pretty small NP-F doesn't add much size to the E2 at all). I don't think either would be overkill necessarily, but it all depends on what you need.
dude learn to manual focus this is a: CINEMA CAMERA dude you AF people are annoyying
Hi Scott, have you worked out how to import a custom LUT. I can't find anything on tinternet! And, it's clear that the WDR mode has it's drawbacks, the main one being terrible rolling shutter, but the non-WDR, non-Low noise mode is pretty good for rolling shutter so there are work arounds. Just want to see a nice image on my monitor as apposed to the zlog!
Hi! I don't think you can do that in the body, you'd have to do it on the monitor. I always shoot in Zlog2 and use my lut on the monitor and it works great. If you can't get a lut into your monitor, then using the FLAT profile might help out a bit- it's basically Zlog2 dynamic range but already converted to rec709, so you just need to push contrast and saturation in post and you're good to go. Might be a bit easier to monitor while shooting than full on Zlog2. I haven't played around with it much myself because I prefer using Zlog2 with a lut in my monitor, but I know there are some people who do shoot in FLAT with nice results.
Thanks Scott, what LUTs do you find work well with zlog2? And do you know if a quick way to switch to VFR or 50p?
@@BaciFilms I almost always use their zLog2_zRGB_ax2 lut as a starting point, add a little contrast curve and some saturation, minor tweaks (sometimes before the lut, sometimes after... usually before if i need to recover highlights etc a little, after the lut if I want to stretch it out more).
As for quick switching, I made a few user profiles with different resolutions and frame rates, VFR and not, then assigned a function button to switch user profiles... makes it very quick to go back and forth between a handful of different combinations. If you save the user profiles to the CFast card, then open it on the computer and change the names to things like "VFR120" and "4k50p" then re-import them into the camera, you can have a list of easy to follow profiles instead of names that are just random letters and numbers haha.
Hope that helps! :)
I love this little camera but I think there might be something wrong with it. I just did a test of Prores 422, ISO500 4k 25fps and the image is soooo mucky, lots of artefacts, colour noise, almost as if it's displaying 256 colours instead of millions! Very odd, and annoying as I was hoping to use it for the shoot next week. Any ideas what might be causing the issues. It's as af the camera is recording at an ultra low quality and can't handle the most basic gradations in shade and colour. Hmmm...
That is definitely very very strange -those settings should give super smooth clean footage for sure.
A couple questions though, stupid ones maybe so sorry in advance haha.
Is it underexposed? Or even "averagely" exposed? You'll definitely want to overexpose it, just watching not to clip the highlights. I typically place middle grey right around 50-60 IRE with pretty decent results.
How are you grading it? Are you using the LUT with a plugin and/or in what software? I've heard of tons of problems that have stemmed from the software side of grading, not the footage itself. I use FCPX and apply the luts in Color Finale, no problems- although I did have some weird artifacts when using the ZCam Lut plugin way back when I first got the camera. I think they fixed that but I've been happy with Color Finale so I haven't really given it a second try. I think people use DaVinci without any issues either but I have heard some problems in Premiere. Could be part of it.
My bet would be if you post a screencap or something on the E2 Users Facebook page, you'll get tons of feedback from people that might have seen similar issues.
This is the one time I wish I had more problems with my camera so that I could help more haha, but luckily I've not had a single serious issue yet.
Where was the 4k 120 in the menu as they claim it's in there? yours seemed to stop at 60fps, I'm getting mine in 3 weeks time and that's one of the selling points as well as 10 bit pro res.
It's in the VFR menu. Pro Res goes up to 60fps. You will have to use h.265 for 120fps.
Yep, VFR menu... and up to 160 now in 2.4:1 4K mode.
@@ScottDumas Thanks.
@@denoise_ Thanks
I can control by iphone or ipad \smarthon ?
Yes, either by wi-fi or USB cable
Could this camera possibly work on the Weebill Lab? :D
With the right lens, I don't see why not. I haven't tried it myself but it's small enough that it should work. I don't think there's any integration with the controls on the gimbal though.
@@ScottDumas wonderful. Thanks again!
I love my ZCAM E2. Pros: Superb hi spec camera from an excellent company with splendid after sales and service. Cons: It 's made in China and this will be the last thing I will ever buy that is made in China... I politely criticised the CCP on the ZCAM facebook page and got banned as a member. Just goes to show ZCAM company is just like CCP...