Z-CAM E1 Camera 100 Mbps hack for 4K DCI (fw v0.31)

storyboardcreativity

@Chumby, "Also possible is it possible to add this into the HTML out clean feed?" - what do you mean?

allmankind

I don't use facebook. No account and don't want one.

Anyway, I found the 0.31 FW by googling.

Thanks for the patches, I'll give them a try.

storyboardcreativity

@allmankind, thank you for noticing my misprint! Right extension is ".ash" - I'll correct it on github.

About firmware: last firmware was uploaded and posted on their facebook. Watch link: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ZCameraE1

jleo

Z CAM E1 new firmware release 0.31.

4K 24fps audio sync bug fix.
Shutter setting reset bug fix.
Revised ZLog with LUT.
Minor bug fixes.

Upgrade procedures:

1) Make sure a fully charged battery is put in the Z CAM E1.

2) Download the latest firmware release: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XSUJiRV0bo_ebzkuOCF5hKgEtZqY4MQR?fbclid=IwAR1Oap3FFF4vErBCUDxdPxhZNeD7UN3pcPWTUAsJvqG4jnSVrCCEXaSxmGk

3) Save the firmware file E1Fw.bin to root directory of the Micro SD card.

4) Insert the Micro SD card to Z CAM E1 and turn on the camera.

5) Choose “Version” in the Setup menu, then select OK to proceed with the upgrade.

LUT for ZLog: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jm5OYzotpEZp83rzh99fKSs4AWGShX0Z/view?fbclid=IwAR2BQSmboSKbRyponZQGXLREKzNO965aNR97TAAkSmoMF6wNbU1cRopdSD0

allmankind

Two questions:

1: On GitHub, the files are mixed as autoexec.asc and autoexec.ash. Which is correct?

2: You list these patches for FW0.31, but on the Z-Camera firmware update site I see only 0.30. No 0.31. Can you confirm it is for 0.31 and not 0.30, and if for 0.31 can you supply a link to that firmware?

Thank you.

Edit: Ok, I did a google search for FW0.31 and found it. Odd that the "official" Z-Camera site does not list it.

storyboardcreativity

@Chumby, thanks. I'll do these patches for you soon.

storyboardcreativity

@spacewig and @Greenidge, watch messages upper - I've reached 200 Mb/s in MJPEG mode. But I still don't know, is it my firmware with new frequencies on sd-card UHS bus or it works on original firmware.

Greenidge

@spacewig MJPEG files are about 133 Mbps in DCI 4k @ 24p

Chumby

This is fantastic news. Congratulations on working this out.

Can we can 1080p/25 and 1080p/50 - 100 Mb/s? Also possible is it possible to add this into the HTML out clean feed?

Well done

spacewig

Out of curiousity, what bitrate are the MJPEG files?

spacewig

Hi @storyboardcreativity

1080 24p would be fantastic. If you can make it higher than 100Mbs that would be equally great. Thank you kindly for doing this, it is much appreciated :) I am also happy to do simple testing if you'd like, just send me a PM.

storyboardcreativity

@spacewig, yes, it does real 24p.

Tip: if you need, you always can use "Interpret footage" function to change framerate of 23.976 fps video.

About 1080 100 Mb/s: yes it's possible. What framerate do you need?

spacewig

Also, is it possible to make a patch that shoots 1080 at 100+Mb/s

spacewig

1080 24p always reads as 23.96 fps in Premiere pro. Does 4K 24p actually shoot at 24 frames per second?

storyboardcreativity

Ahahaha, I'm laughing. Just reached ~200 Mb/s in MJPEG mode (higher causes "slow card" error). H.264 still crashes on ~110 Mbps.

storyboardcreativity

Just tried to make a firmware with 100 MHz patch for micro-sd card. Seems like it does not work - recording 120 Mb/s footage freezes after ~7 seconds after start.

storyboardcreativity

@Greenidge, seems interesting. I want to know, does it read full sensor and interpolate or it reads just some pixels from it. It's very important - affects on noises.

Greenidge

@storyboardcreativity Without the patch it only does 30 Mbps, but it does give you a full sensor 4:3 readout at a resolution of 2304x1728 (same angle of view in stills mode), i'm guessing the MJPEG patch triggered a bug in this mode.

storyboardcreativity

@Greenidge, does this smth with 479 Mbps work without any patches? Is it a bug? Maybe we can inspect it for some interesting features.

Greenidge

@storyboardcreativity A new firmware would be great with all those patches included, I tested the MJPEG patch today and i got a bit rate of 133 Mbps in DCI 4K. You're right the 2160p mode is actually 2880 x 2160p it's not just cropped but it's also not 4K. But i did come across something very interesting in the 1728p mode it tried to write the footage @ 479 Mbps, but couldn't write onto the card, popped up with a message saying, the card is slow. Video: MJPA 2304x1728 29.97fps 479812kbps [V: IMAGINE VISION .JPG [eng] (mjpeg, yuvj420p, 2304x1728, 479812 kb/s)] Audio: AAC 48000Hz stereo 128kbps [A: IMAGINE VISION AAC [eng] (aac, 48000 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s)]

storyboardcreativity

I've found a chain, where sd-card interface is initialized. It's 50 000 000 Hz (50 MHz) for all cards. This chain is executed before sd-card is active => autoexec.asc will not help us. I'm afraid, I'll have to make a new firmware for E1... :c

storyboardcreativity

@Greenidge, 2160P24 is NOT a full sensor readout. You can compare any still shooting mode and 2160P24 - difference is visible (angle of view is very different). 2160P24 reads only center of sensor.

storyboardcreativity

@Greenidge, done 4KP24 patches for you. Check my repository: https://github.com/storyboardcreativity/Z-Camera-E1-Reverse-Engineering

storyboardcreativity

@Greenidge, just checked - it writes 24 fps, not 23.976. I'll make a patch with bitrate and GOP for it.

Greenidge

@storyboardcreativity yes it is possible to do 23.975 fps in camera it shows up as 4KP24 in the menu, this option is visible in NTSC mode. DCI 4K shows up as 4096P24 in the menu. 4k Full Sensor readout is also possible in 23.976fps in 4:3 aspect ratio, it shows up as 2160P24 (4:3) in the menu.

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