Anyone use a CineAlta F23?

Mattykins

Mattykins

Cute Member
Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone here has used an F23 by CineAlta. I am thinking of using one on my next shoot rather than shooting film. I asked for a quote on the thing to purchase as well. But I am holding off on buying the thing. Also wondering if people would be interested in renting such a package.

Has anyone here had any exposure with it? Any complaints aside from the Digiprimes and Digizoom issues with DOF?

-Matt
 
Haven't worked with it yet; the general consensus from everyone I've talked to says that it's the best camera Sony's ever made (excepting, of course, the F35). Isn't it like $250,000 just for the body though? With no recording mechanism? You could get 10 Red One setups for that price, so consider carefully before buying.
 
You are talking more around 200,000 for body and recording mechanism.

Thing is, if I get the F23 soon, I can get a great deal on the 35 when it comes out. And I have yet to be that impressed with the Red One. I mean, I think it is a great camera. But the F23 seems to have much more options, and a lot of play room. You get what you pay for I suppose.

I have no idea, I am still looking around.
 
Have you physically seen an F23? It's a massive f*cking beast. Even if they were the same price, I'd get a Red One. Given that you could get two completely pimped out Reds for less than the cost of one F23 body, I'm not sure why anyone except studios with established HDCAM SR workflows even consider it.
 
Yes, I have physically seen an F23. I am going to NYC this summer and taking an in depth look at the camera. I've used an F900 and loved it. I am really looking forward to the F35.

It is a large camera, but it doesn't have the inherent issues Red has. I am not trying to get into a Red vs. F23 debate here. The Red forum was filled with that stuff as I was trying to get information about the Red. Which led me away from Red pretty quickly.

I understand I can get several Red packages for the money. The question you have to ask though is, if Red is so revolutionary, why isn't Hollywood using them yet? Why has every independent director I've talked to (who is established) using CineAlta or Panavision and not the Red?

My question again, is would people be interested in using an F23 package? If I purchase it would be up for Rent when I am not shooting.

And you can actually route the F23 to a digital capture unit and still record to tape as well.
 
The F23 is probably the best video camera Sony's ever made. However, it's quickly been overshadowed by the F35, which is (basically) a buyable version of the Panavision Genesis.

The F23 is a 2/3" sensor, with 2/3" depth of field. The F35 and Genesis have a 35mm-sized sensor and are more appropriate competitors to the Red and Dalsa and such, for digital cinema use.

If you want 35mm DOF and FOV, the F23 won't give it to you, at least not without a Pro35 hanging off the front.

As for why people aren't using the Red yet -- first of all, of course several people are, but for those who aren't it's largely because the Red isn't done yet. It still is in an alpha state, almost beta (from my software days, alpha was the first working version, and beta was when we released the software that we thought we could actually ship, pending there being no bugs found). By my classification, Red is currently in alpha, will be Beta when Build 16 comes out, and will be "released" when Build 16 is certified and released.

Sony has always made two versions of every product, basically "the one you want" and "the one you don't". In the early days it was VX1000 and VX700. In the medium days it was DSR500 and DSR300. More recently it was DSR450 and DSR400. Today, it's F35 and F23. If you want to get some rental income, the F35 is probably a safe bet; I wouldn't go sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into an F23.
 
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