Cameras - The Sony Z5

Cameras play a significant role in everything that we do. 

All of the team started their careers in a variety of roles in the music industry. Latterly we moved into teaching but as teachers or musicians we quickly realised the power of being able to capture the moment using a camera. 

In the music industry it is essential to have a showreel, a testament to what you can do and clearly, if that includes visual as well as audio information, so much the better. 

As we moved into roles in education, the opportunity to capture student work on film became a powerful means for collecting 'evidence' of achievement. 

We have two weekly performance afternoons and we video all of the performances and replay them at the end of the session for our evaluation but most importantly, for the students to evaluate themselves and each other. A significantly effective learning process.

Cameras are not cheap, so it is essential to undertake some research before making an investment.

There are many makes of camera out there, and in the past we have used Canons, in fact we still use a number of small hand held Canon HF10's for a range of smaller jobs.

These great little cameras record to flash solid state memory... no annoying tapes to buy and store and we have over three hours of HD recording available.

But for the filming that we have undertaken with this project we have used 2x Sony Z5's and 1x Sony Z1.

The latter camera, the Sony Z1 is something of a legend and for a long time it seemed ubiquitous in it's use with TV camera crews around the world. This was the first HD camera that we bought, some three years ago now and it has not faltered. A really well built, solid and reliable piece of technology with all of the features that we needed at the time.

When the Z5 came out a couple of years ago we knew we needed another camera and based on the excellent reviews and the fact that our Z1 had performed so well and so consistently we decided to go for another Sony and I am confident that it was the right decision.

Things we like about the Z5:

Its a good portable size, better weight balance than the Z1 with a great lens from the new 'G' series with ehnhanced low light sensitivity

'G' series lens with 20x zoom

Externally the camera has buttons and switches for all parameters of the camera for ease of use on the go - when you need to change settings quickly.

Audio & light filter controls... notice in particular the 3rd control ring which adds exposure to zoom and focus. A significant addition!

Very handy external audio recording selection

Full hd recording (1080i and 1080p) and native 25p, provides high quality, high definition wide screen images

XLR's provide an input for specialist microphones

The built in stereo microphone is really useful for simple audio or as a reference. There was also a small but effective shotgun mic supplied and like the Z1 it is easy to connect specialist microphones to the well placed (easy access) XLR sockets.

The Z5 has an expandable module, MRC1K, for recording to compact flash card which provides an alternative to lengthy real time tape capturing (discussed in previous blog). No more DV tape storage.

The Z5 has a view finder and a 3" lcd fold out screen for view shots but significantly it also has an 'hdmi' output allowing us to connect to an external monitor for a larger more in depth image preview. as seen in previous blog.

IP - Intellectual Property - A Contentious Issue

If increasingly more educational content is going to be delivered online (or remotely from a centralised source), which to me seems a logical extrapolation of the pressures of financial expediency and technological innovation, several issues will need to be discussed and solutions agreed.

One such issue is the hardware infrastructure necessary to deliver the content, which I intend to discuss at a later date.

Another and more contentious issue is who will own the (copyright) rights inherent in such delivery and of equal significance, what and how will they be paid for their rights of ownership?

My starting point for such discussion is an example of the 3rd party public usage of commercial CD's in the music industry and the manner in which rights are allocated and accrue payment.

Essentially there are two copyrights inherent in the public use (performance) of a CD. (What I am discussing here is not personal ownership but the non-domestic use of a CD, ie in connection with a business). If we take an example of such usage with which we are all familiar: the 'performance' of CD's on radio shows (Radio 1 & 2 etc). Every time a commercial, (copyrighted) CD is broadcast, two separate and distinct fees (royalties) are payable: one in respect of the physical copyright, the CD itself which is generally owned by the Record Company and the second, in respect of the Intellectual Property (IP), ie the song, which is generally owned by the songwriter (but that is not always the case).

The two fees are based on the amount of usage in time (hours, minutes & seconds) and also the size of the audience ie Radio 2 pays a higher usage fee than Radio 1 which in turn pays a higher usage fee than regional radio.

Fees (royalties) are collected by specific agencies: PRS (for songwriters) & PPL (for record companies and the musicians involved in the recording) with distribution on a number of set distribution dates throughout the year.

I think this is a good model to take as a starting point, primarily because it ensures that the content creators, the teachers and lecturers who prepare, deliver and source the educational content, maintain their ownership rights and are similarly reimbursed for the usage of their materials based on the extent of that usage. And equally, the educational institutions that supported the development of the materials will also benefit via a kind of mechanical copyright. 


Such a system could usher in a new form of funding for non HE educational establishments, who could easily benefit from the development of online materials featuring their own staff. And those staff too, who excel in delivery and the development of content, could be earning significant royalties. 

Any comments?