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Z Camera E1 Mini m43 4K camera for $199 only, cheapest 4K ever
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    image

    • Three selectable video noise reduction levels
    • Low 200 millisecond latency when using app
    • Single, Continuous Center, and Flexible Zone autofocus modes
    • microSD/SDHC/SDXC card slot
    • Two 2000mAh rechargeable battery packs included
    • Mini-HDMI 1.4a port supports clean 1080p output
    • Micro-USB 2.0 port
    • 3.5mm mic input
    • Expansion port
    • DC power input for external power source (5V, 2A)

    https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1203955-REG/z_camera_e1cam3a701_e1_mini_4k_video.html

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  • 276 Replies sorted by
  • endotoxicendotoxic

    If they hacked them, it’s solid picture

  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    @Bob_Hawk - where is he?

  • jleojleo

    Maybe Paramount bought out all the E1's at $199 and have a warehouse full of them. Reese Witherspoon, Tom Cruise, both using ZCAM E1 and both are Paramount projects? Maybe they already read about the storyboardcreativity hack right here :)

    ZCAM might have to start making E1 again, if they can get parts.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @jleo

    Nice. Interesting if Z-CAM actually has different policy for top production companies.

    As for small companies or usual users they do not support E1 at all.

  • jleojleo

    Z CAM E1 Crash-Cam Spotted in Mission: Impossible 7

    Two weeks ago, Mission: Impossible 7 director, Christopher McQuarrie, shared on his Instagram a picture of a few crashed cams during the production. Those were a bunch of smashed Z CAM E1 cameras on the set, which have been utilized as action 4K cams. After a bit of research, it’s was interesting to explore that the Z CAM cameras were used on previous Mission: Impossible movies as well.

    https://ymcinema.com/2020/10/09/z-cam-e1-crash-cam-spotted-in-mission-impossible-7/?fbclid=IwAR17iAK6ggJ7-lSLMCiE6mr12Lg8ygbNSrf9XRJq6Q8DjfqeZR5Unx3dag8

  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    Does E1 send 10-bit to HDMI? And does it work for 4K?

  • jleojleo

    From ZCAM Facebook page Aug 2018 : Three ZCAM E1's on set with Reese Witherspoon image

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  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    Thank you, I'll think about it.

    Do you know anything about MN34230 sensor (sensor from GH4 and that's used in E1)? As I see, 1280x720 120fps and 240fps seem like garbage. It's NOT because of H.264 encoder - I've unlocked MJPEG and result is the same - very unsharp frames (seem like upscaled with sharpen filter).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @storyboardcreativity

    Nice.

    One thing that can propose is to use your own server (cheap VPS will do) and https://www.fossil-scm.org/index.html/uv/download.html (it provides all interface also).

    Github repository can be wiped (with all other of your repositories and all account) in seconds out if company won't like something.

  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    I think, it's time for me to create a github with all I have. To make changes in firmware I use autoexec.asc that is started by ThreadX RTOS at each time camera powers on (there are commands, that allow to make changes in code memory). As for me, it's better than update firmware each time and be afraid to get bricked camera :D

    Z Cam E1 has 2 operating systems on board: ThreadX RTOS and Linux. RTOS is for all hardware communications, recording, accessing to H264 DSP and all other stuff. Linux is for UI and uplevel scripts. GUI is made in Qt. Each time we do smth in UI it sends a message to RTOS through a socket.

  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    Also just reduced GOP size to 1 (now get Intra frames only). Works fine and stable.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Higher percents make camera freeze in ~5-6 seconds after recording start (I think that because of SD card bus). Do you know any variants to overclock micro-sd?

    No :-)

    But again, check all other Ambarella firmwares hacks, as controller is 100% same.

    It can be also your card.

    Also try to publish modified firmware and provide here link. Even for unfinished hacks.

  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    "Check Xiaoyi YI 4K Action Camera hacked firmwares" - checked a week ago, didn't help me.

    Good news! Just reached stable 100 Mbps in 24 fps 4096x2160. As bitrate is limited to 0x3E80000 (65536000 bits per second) by unknown magic, I switched mode in code from CBR to VBR and set min and max percents to do bitrate at 160% from average. Now I set bitrate to 0x3E7FFFF (65535999 bps) and get bitrate around ~104857598 bps (~100 Mbps).

    Higher percents make camera freeze in ~5-6 seconds after recording start (I think that because of SD card bus). Do you know any variants to overclock micro-sd? :D

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @storyboardcreativity

    Check Xiaoyi YI 4K Action Camera hacked firmwares.

  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    E1 is based on Ambarella A9 - does it have hardware limits?? Maybe somebody has already done hacking bitrate on any other A9 camera? As I know, H264 is encoded in this SoC by hardware DSP. This bug seems not like overflow.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @storyboardcreativity

    Can be anything, from other parameters limiting normal work to hardware limits.

  • storyboardcreativitystoryboardcreativity

    Hey!

    I've been working on 0.31 E1 firmware for 1 week and got some results. Now I can shoot DCI 4K with ~80 Mbps. But I can't go higher because of very strange bug - when I set bitrate higher than 0x03E7FFFF, all become a mess and I don't know what is this. Can you give me any advice?

  • StephanePStephaneP

    Hi! I'm thinking to buy a second hand Z-cam E1 for fast timelapse and maybe for a 360° photo rig. I didn't find the user manual.

    It seems photo timelapse is limited to 1s interval. But is it possible to shoot faster with external control ? Not burst mode with exposure locked, I need metering for each images. I'd like to take 2 or 3 pics per second.

    An accurate timestamp is useful when you want to geolocalize images with a gpx trace. But I don't know if this cam store the subsectimeoriginal exif value to complement the DateTimeOriginal.

    Could a E1 owner help me?

    Thank you in advance

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @CFreak

    It is all so similar to Yi M1 one year ago. Up to the point where they assume Facebook being center of universe.

    And I guess it is last ever firmware update.

  • CFreakCFreak

    FW 0.31 is out.

    The FB page has a link to google drive. It's not on the official page ...yet? It would be best to wait until it's on the official page or join the FB page "ZCAM E1 Users"

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  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    For now do not see any updates still.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    More porn

    Power board

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    Front assembly with sensor

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    Main board area

    You can see empty place from damaged part near green dot, and lot of empty spaces originally present on board

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  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    They aren't talking about Android at all.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Btw how soon they start doing proper Android app? Matching iOS?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @CFreak

    I hope they do it before 25th.

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