Creative Planet Article on Shooting "Safety Not Guaranteed" on F3

W

WestView Digital

Active member
I just got this link for an article on Creative Planet about shooting a film on an F3:

http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/tags/safety-not-guaranteed/time-travel-and-timelessness-shooting-sony’s-f3-safety-not-guaranteed/59539



There's a quote in there that I assume isn't technically accurate but if I'm missing something - let me know how they did it.

"Kasulke photographed Safety Not Guaranteed using a Panavised Sony F3. The shoot began prior to the availability of the S-log update, so the images were captured in 4:2:2 color space to onboard SxS cards. When full, the SxS cards were backed up, and a RAW file version of the footage was made. From the RAW files, a 4:2:2 Quicktime proxy was generated for offline editing. The original RAW files were then used for conforming the final version, and a film-out was made for projection."


What exacly is a "Panavised F3" and can it really shoot 4:2:2 to internal SxS?
 
WestView Digital said:
What exacly is a "Panavised F3" and can it really shoot 4:2:2 to internal SxS?
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"Panavised" is an older term for cameras that have been fitted with the Panavision PV mount, and otherwise adapted to the Panavision lens support system, where lenses are supported from the non-operator side, and follow focuses (foci?) attach to a small dovetail mount directly under the lens mount.

If you were wanting to shoot anamorphic on a F3, and use Panavision anamorphics to do it (because good PL mount anamorphics are a little hard to find), that's how you have to do it: get it all from Panavision. Panavision also cuts deals to low-budget movies and students for stuff like this, so it becomes not as exotic as it sounds if you're in the right town.

The whole description of their recording formats and methods seems to be completely off the wall, though. I think there's some mis-communication and errors in there. The camera only records 4:2:0 to SxS internally, and calling them anything close to "RAW" is a serious stretch indeed.
 
Nate Weaver said:
"Panavised" is an older term for cameras that have been fitted with the Panavision PV mount, and otherwise adapted to the Panavision lens support system, where lenses are supported from the non-operator side, and follow focuses (foci?) attach to a small dovetail mount directly under the lens mount.

If you were wanting to shoot anamorphic on a F3, and use Panavision anamorphics to do it (because good PL mount anamorphics are a little hard to find), that's how you have to do it: get it all from Panavision. Panavision also cuts deals to low-budget movies and students for stuff like this, so it becomes not as exotic as it sounds if you're in the right town.

The whole description of their recording formats and methods seems to be completely off the wall, though. I think there's some mis-communication and errors in there. The camera only records 4:2:0 to SxS internally, and calling them anything close to "RAW" is a serious stretch indeed.
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Sometimes I wonder who writes this articles without checking the facts. RAW and SxS internal 4:2:2, what are they talking about?
 
They should have used the Panavised G43 that records Raw files on 444 XDCAM discs that converts to Anamorphic internally and backs up to Hi8...derp
 
Cool to see the F3 getting some love in Hollywoodland. It's also pretty cool how they modified the Sony XDCAM-EX codec to shoot 4:2:2 to SxS cards. :grin:
 
ikander said:
Cool to see the F3 getting some love in Hollywoodland. It's also pretty cool how they modified the Sony XDCAM-EX codec to shoot 4:2:2 to SxS cards. :grin:
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The F3 definitely has the band width to handle 4.2.2 internally at 24 fps when it can shoot 4.2.0 at 30 fps. And we know for certain that a real SxS card can handle much higher data rates. It would sure be nice if someone did a hack for the F3 to do that (Magic Lantern, hint, hint) , or a factory update.

The external recorders are great things, but sometimes aren't necessary. I could easily put up with 4.2.2 at a VBR of 50 Mbps, or even 35 Mbps.
 
MPB said:
Wouldn't that require a different codec?
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Yep. The encoding chip is just a job specific CPU. That's what they did to create the Nanoflash. They took the Sony encoding chip, wrote new firmware, and now it performs about 10 times better than Sony had it doing in the camera. Which is pretty much what Magic Lantern did with the Canon DSLR cameras, etc.

I'm absolutely positive it could be done. In part because developers want to produce parts that can be used in more than one model, so they over build. And in part because engineers traditionally allow a 20-30% (or more) safety margin. The F3 actually records at higher than 35 Mbps when recording slo mo. It has lots of extra capacity.

Sony will never do it though. It would cut into their higher end market.
 
Duke M. said:
Sony will never do it though. It would cut into their higher end market.
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I wouldn't be so sure about that. I have a pre-production PMW-100 I'm shooting with right now, and it does 50Mbps 4:2:2 to SxS cards -- and that camera is less than $4K including lens, battery, and charger.
 
On-board 50Mbps at 422 would certainly be nice to have on the f3. But why would they offer an upgrade when they could sell you a new camera?
 
MPB said:
But why would they offer an upgrade when they could sell you a new camera?
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Why is it so hard for you to believe they might offer a better codec if the hardware can handle it? When the new firmware is released every F3 owner will have S-LOG for free, and that was never part of the original deal for most of us F3 buyers. In fact, every Sony camera I have owned (EX1, FS100, F800, EX3, F3, F350) has gotten better and better with every firmware upgrade -- for free.
 
Hard to believe? Anything is possible. Do you know something I don't, 'cause it doesn't seem likely to me. When was the last time you saw an entirely new codec offered in a firmware update?
 
Onboard 50Mb 4:2:2 will not happen on the F3 . That's word I got from up high on the Sony food chain. Stop dreaming
 
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