F5: A few questions...

DDirector said:
The Viewfinder...
I have the Cineroid EVF4VRW on my F3 and FS700. It is good but I have a large burn hole in the panel from a two-second exposure to the sun. It's also bulky, uses separate batteries and requires cabling to the rear of the camera. The OLED is smaller, neater and much much better quality than the Cineroid (but dearer, yes)

The Sony Olivine batteries...
I've ordered three Olivines. I've have a stack of older V-mounts including recent Global Media ones and some Sony BP-L90's. I can't fly with the old 90's but they still go forever, ten years on. They are probably the best batteries Sony ever made. But I like (trying) to keep up with new technology and the Olivines are very neat on the back of the F5. I'll need the new charger as the older chargers don't fully work with the Olivines.

External Recorder...
With the money saved over the F55, I plan to buy the R5 recorder and a couple of cards. the Odyssey is incredibly powerful but I am trying to reduce the clutter and mess of my current F3/Cineroid/Samurai situation, not repeat it

Frame Rates...
September for higher frame rates. Only a few weeks away.

Media...
I'm going to move my 64gb and 32gb SxS-1 cards, and get an extra 128gb to the 64gb that's included in the Aussie bundle.

The workflow...
I'm hoping Adobe will come to the SR party sooner than later.

EF Lens Mount...
I use the Nikon AI-S lenses. I hate the reverse focus design, but the manual control with the Optitek adaptor works very well. All the pro f/2.8 zooms are very sharp, even wide open.
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For the lens mount, Im more wondering on where and what kind of adapter do I need so I can mount my lenses. Dont know anything about adapters, so I dont know how much it would cost.
They are contax zeiss lenses with Canon EF adapters on them.
 
Presuming these are mechanical lenses where you can adjust the aperture manually, you could use something like the FZ to EF mount from MTF. It runs about $500.

Ned Soltz
 
Michael, another thought instead of the F5 is to just go with a Sony PMW-F3. You will save a ton of cash and later you can always upgrade.

An F3 will give you:

• slog (13.5 stops dynamic range)
• XDCAM 8-bit 420 internal recording up to 30p in full HD
• 10-bit 422 output in full 1080p HD
• 1080p 60p is possible through dual-link ports on back with external recorder
• 720p 60p is possible internally to cards and I've blown it up to 1080p and seen it on theatre screens and it holds up.
• Useless viewfinder AND useful flip out screen for stripped down dolly, slider, steadicam, etc.. setups
• Lasts forever on a couple BP-U60 batteries, or go v-mount and run forever even longer forever

These are trivial, in some ways comic, but with the F3 you will also get:

• Timelapse functions not available on F5/F55
• Zoom rocker not available on F5/F55
• TLSC (auto exposure useful for ramping zoom lenses or ENG style shooting switching between drastic exposures) - not available on F5/F55
• Spot Meter IRE readout not available on F5/F55
• Mic holder and shoe not available on F5/F55
• External audio meter control dials not available on F5/F55

But wait... there is more:

• PL mount adapter
• Stereo Mic
• Carry Strap
.... and more!
 
starcentral said:
Michael, another thought instead of the F5 is to just go with a Sony PMW-F3. You will save a ton of cash and later you can always upgrade.
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I think that currently the F3 with a 10 bit 422 recorder like the samuri is the most bang for the buck of any camera out there. Throw in a TV-Logic monitor for ease of use.
 
Not sure if I'll be slammed for posting here, but I have a pristine, like new, never been out of the house S-logged F3 for sale on this site. It includes a host of accessories, including an Alphatron and Samurai ... if anyone's interested? BTW, the package includes, in addition to two BP-U60 batts, 2 Swit EX-L96 batts with cabling that allows for powering of the F3, Alphatron and or other devices.

contact at: scrittore@bellsouth.net
 
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Duke M. said:
I think that currently the F3 with a 10 bit 422 recorder like the samuri is the most bang for the buck of any camera out there. Throw in a TV-Logic monitor for ease of use.
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In addition, the comment someone made before about mulitiple batteries isn't exactly correct. You can do a brick batter with a D-tap that powers everything. Run the single pole wire into the XLR port of the F3 with a solid state XLR adapter. Then a D-tap spliter will power both the monitor and Samurai. That way there are few wires and they're short. No need for spagetti cables.

I go through about 3 batteries shooting all day in narrative filming situations. (I do shut down for long breaks and lunch time.) I carry a 4th battery just in case and generally keep the Samurai in menu mode to save power.
 
Nate Weaver said:
I agree. I'm slowly developing an aversion to looking at finished images that hold 12-14 stops. It was novel when it first started happening, but I'm not a fan of the look anymore.

I think it often includes too much to look at in the frame. A final image that is lit to look correct on a display that's displaying 8 or 9-ish stops is still my favorite. I think of it as directing the eye where to look, just like with selective focus. If you can see into every shadow, and see detail in every highlight, I think it's counter productive to mindful photography, where you're trying to control where the eye goes.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes you want to see everything or there's a reason. But showing all 12 or 14 stops at once...not sure if it's always helpful.

I used to be a proponent of "yeah, all you have to do to make log look good is crush the blacks a little and boost the sat". Now I'm realizing that just makes for mediocre images. The best images come from correct reversal of camera log encoding (aka, a LUT), with tuned highlight and toe curves built into the LUT.
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Amen .
 
DDirector said:
The workflow...
I heard you cannot edit the footage directly onto Premiere CS6. How do I transcode the footage while keeping the full quality?
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You can do something better than transcode - you can unwrap the H264 file from the MXF wrapper with ffmpeg. I've done this successfully on PC and the resulting file plays back fine in Premiere CS 6 (and CS 5, for that matter).

If you're interested, I'll post the details.
 
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Ralph B said:
You can do something better than transcode - you can unwrap the H264 file from the MXF wrapper with ffmpeg. I've done this successfully on PC and the resulting file plays back fine in Premiere CS 6 (and CS 5, for that matter).

If you're interested, I'll post the details.
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I'd be interested to see the details.
 
OK, here's the code for unwrapping the Sony MXF file:

FOR %%a IN (*.mxf) DO (ffmpeg -y -i "%%a" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ar 48000 -ac 2 -ab 448k "%%~na.ts")

What this does is process every MXF file in a folder. It unwraps the video (a bit for bit copy) and encodes the audio to AC3. This is necessary for full compatibility with existing software. The original PCM audio could cause problems if it was simply copied. However, at a bitrate of 448k, this is an extremely high quality encode of the audio. It's doubtful you'll be able to hear a difference between it and the original. Finally, it puts a TS file extension on the new file, and saves it in the same folder as the original.
 
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starcentral said:
The F5 shoots 60fps max right now but when all FREE firmware updates are said and done it will do 180p in HD and up to 240p in 2k raw.
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Does high speed footage from the F5 have the same aliasing and loss of resolution as the FS700 high speed footage?
 
High Speed is not enabled yet. We will know when that happens. I am predicting that there will be no resolution loss since unlike the FS700, it does not reduce resolution. The FS700 in raw, by the way, will shoot unlimited 240 FPS at 2K and bursts of 120fpx at 4K. I have an FS700 with SLog2 firmware along with the IFR5 interface and AXS-5 recorder here now for review. Just arrived so no chance to get it fully rigged and ready to shoot.

Ned Soltz
 
If Id consider the F3, Id want to record externally to get the best quality output.
1080p 10-Bit 4:4:4.

But, it only offers 60fps slow mo. Which in some cases wont be enough. Not something Id need a lot or all the time, but time to time I probably will need something slower.
The Sony FS-700, if I am correct can record 12-Bit 4:4:4, or maybe its 4:2:2 externally. And also offers super slow motion and 4K.
How would theses two compare?

With the F5, it will be able to handle super slow motion up to 120fps. Which should be enough.
It shoots 2K, and will give me the option to shoot 4K RAW externally. RAW and super slow mo, is my a big factor. It also will offer 16-bit, or 10-bit out of the box and 4:4:4.
 
Although the FS700 can output 12-bit RAW, the 7Q from what I understand (unless its changed now) records in 10-bit 422 compressed and uncompressed - but not RAW itself due to licensing with Sony. It's DNG for 2k up to 240fps and DPX for 4k up to only 30fps. I also read a lot of complaints from the 2k out of the FS700, but honestly not sure what that's all about.

Michael, you did hear BlackMagic dropped the price of the new BMC to $2000?
 
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