JTZ DP 30 Top Handle and JTZlink Review
In this article, we are looking at the JTZ top handle, the JTZ side grip and how all of that integrates with JTZlink.
We will mainly talk about the controls of the handle since we already reviewed its construction and features in our JTZ DP30 a6300 cage review, but in short, I still, to this day, think it is the best handle I’ve ever owned.
Let’s move on, the top handle has 4 buttons:
1. Wide
2. Tele
3. Focus
4. Wide & Tele – Fast or Slow
Basically, the first button zoom out, the second zoom in, the third prompt auto-focus and the forth changes the speed at which you zoom in and out. One thing to note is that I couldn’t get the Focus button to work on the a6300, I’ve tried it on 2 lenses, with different camera settings and none of them would focus. So, this Focus option may be a hit or miss depending on what camera you are using.
In order for these buttons to work, you will need a Sony PowerZoom lens, without one you won’t be able to use the four buttons, but the REC button will work.
Now for JTZlink, JTZlink is a communication protocol similar to LANC where you can connect many accessories to each other and that way they will communicate with each other. To use the handle, you need to first connect the JTZlink cable to the handle, then the other end of the cable to the cage. The cage itself has all the electronics internally and has 2 JTZlink ports and 1 LANC port. Then you plug the USB cable that comes out of the cage to the camera and you are set to use the handle.
As for the grip, you can connect it to the cage via the LANC or the JTZlink cable, it doesn’t matter which cable you are using. The grip has limited functions on the Sony a6300.
The grip does what the top handle does and more! You can trigger REC and use the zoom functions. You can throttle the speed of the zoom as well to a faster or slower speed, 8 different speeds in total. The Focus and Iris functions do not work on the Sony a6300 though.
The grip can be used by itself with other cameras, like the C100 or Alexa, I tried it the Sony FS5 and it worked flawlessly, you only need to connect the LANC cable to the handle port and it will work.
Now with the FS5, all the functions are available. The iris controls and the focus work well. For the focus, the speed throttle also works that was you can set it to your preference.
And of course, the REC button works as well like it does on the other cameras.
If you want to see everything about the handle and grip, have a look at the video at the top where we go into more details.
