At last, the moment that I had been waiting for, Sony’s new PXW-Z100 was finally, “in stock”. There have been a few delays but now it was here. With this camera, at this price point of $6500 US it had offered promises of being the 4K version of the HDR Z1. The Z1 became the breakthrough camera for independent filmmakers seeking to enter the world of HD. Now with an “out the door price” of around $5500 US the Z100 was poised to stake that same claim. The real question on everyone’s mind was, could it deliver? These thoughts swept through my mind as I unboxed my new prize. As I slipped my hand into place, the leather strap, bought back pleasantly familiar feelings. The same balance and relaxed feel in my grip as my old HDV counterpart. The controls were similar enough that I barely had to register their positions. For anyone who worked with the Z1 or many other Sony cameras, the layout will bring comfort rather than mystery. I had the camera up and rolling in no time. The already charged NP-F970 L-Series Info-Lithium battery that I took along with me from my Sony EX3, meant that I didn’t have to wait on charging the new batteries. The only disappointment so far had been the lack of additional QXD S Series Memory cards. The camera comes with one 32GB but shooting 4096×2160 at 59.97p means that you get a whopping 5 minutes of record time. My order included two 64 GB QXD S Series memory cards but unfortunately they were out of stock. I would have to make myself content with my measly 32 gig. By going down to Ultra HD standard of 3840 x 2160 29.97p I was able to squeeze in a 10 minute duration.
While I resigned myself to having to carry around a laptop so I could download quickly I also realize that the QXD card reader was also out of stock. That meant I would need to plug the camera in to the laptop via USB 2.0. By the way Sony, why no USB 3.0? Not the easiest way to go at things in the field, but hopefully I won’t have to wait long for my accessories. 
So what is UltraHD? Starting out we had Standard Definition or SD. The dots that make up the typical television are called pixels. With standard definition, SD, we had 720 X480 pixels. Then the wonder of High Definition or HD, came along bringing with it a seemingly huge increase to 1920 x 1080 pixels. Now we have UltraHD. It actually comes in two flavors, 4K and 8K. With 8K UltraHD the pixel count will jump to 7680 × 4320 or a whopping 33.2 megapixels. But let’s talk about 4K UltraHD. At 3840 x 2160 pixels or 8.3 megapixels, 4K UltraHD has already arrived and on an 84″ UltraHD TV, the difference is astounding.
My first shoot with the Sony PXW-Z100 was unscripted and unplanned. I had just gotten the camera and had to take my wife and her mother to a doctors appointment. At the corner near the hospital the Bangkok protests had started. So after parking and escorting my family to the waiting room for the doctor, I decided to get my first test under interesting conditions.
The camera handled the task beautifully, this camera will definitely find it’s way into broadcast news as well as indie filmmaking. The short video is on Vimeo. This is certainly the first, UltraHD news broadcast from Thailand and possibly, the world. http://vimeo.com/83846065 Later that night, I tested the Z100’s low light capabilities on the local streets vendors. The results are quite good. While their is some noise, it is definitely in the acceptable range. I’ll be continuing my tests and reporting back with more results.
Below I have listed the key features of the camera as explained by Sony in their brochure. Key features 1. 4K (4096×2160) 50p or 60p shooting The camcorder provides extremely high sensitivity due to the back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor. With 8 million effective pixels, the 1/2.33″ sensor captures 4K images at 50p or 60p. The inbuilt high-performance G Lens offers maximum shooting flexibility, including a wide angle of 29.5mm (equivalent to 35mm) and 20x powerful optical zoom. 2. XAVC recording format at 4K 50p/60p, 4:2:2 10-bit at 500/600Mbps, HD at up to 223Mbps The PXW-Z100 uses Sony’s XAVC recording format first employed in the PMW-F55 CineAlta 4K camera. MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression is used for HD (1920×1080), QFHD (3840×2016) and 4K (4096×2160) content. Image sampling is 4:2:2 10-bit, with an intra-frame system that compresses each frame individually at a maximum bit rate of 500Mbps or 600Mbps during 4K 50p or 60p recording respectively and 223Mbps during HD 50p or 60p recording.
The XAVC format is ideal for those looking to implement a high-quality, secure and worry-free workflow. A non-chargeable firmware update is planned for the middle of 2014 to support the Long GOP mode for extended 4K recording time and to add support for AVCHD recording. 3. XQD Memory Card recording The XQD Memory Card is a new standard of solid state memory, which was recently defined by several industry leading companies. XQD uses the ultra-fast PCI Express interface and Sony’s unique camera processor to enable stable video recording at 500Mbps or 600Mbps. The PXW-Z100 features two XQD Memory Card slots. Multiple cards can be used in various ways, such as for relay recording. When the first card becomes full, recording continues on the second card without a break. * The use of new S Series XQD cards (QD-S32E or QD-S64E which supports 180MB/s transfer speed) is recommended. 4. HDMI interface for 4K output and 3G HD-SDI interface for HD output The HDMI interface on the PXW-Z100 can output 4K as a 50p/60p signal. When the PXW-Z100 is connected to a Sony 4K-compatible BRAVIA TV, the recorded 4K image can be displayed in 4K 50p/60p quality. A future firmware upgrade is planned to provide compatibility with the new HDMI 2.0 standard and enable 4K 50p/60p output to a wider range of devices.
Other features include a 3G HD-SDI interface that supports output up to HD 60p. It also supports HD output during 4K recording. 5. Paint function for more creative freedom The PXW-Z100’s paint function enables multiple image parameters to be adjusted including gamma curve, black level, skin detail and colour. The range of settings is similar to those available in the PMW-F55. Together with other setting options, parameter settings can be recorded as a camera profile onto a memory card. The recorded camera profile can then be used to set the same parameters in another PXW-Z100 to enable the matching of quality and image tones when using a multi-camera setup. 6. Remote control with WiFi Focus, zoom, aperture settings and ‘record start/stop’ can be remote controlled using the browser function of a smartphone or tablet.