JMtheDP
Veteran
For those who are looking at the F35, probably the most obvious question is "what the hell do I record onto?"
The answer is the somewhat evasive "whatever you want!"
The camera was designed to dock with an HDCAM SR deck, known as the SRW-1. It's fairly chunky, but remember - the F35 is a "35mm emulating camera" in most senses of the word. Having a background in common with the Panavision Genesis means that the recorder took its inspiration from Panavision's film cameras.
If you look at these two pictures of a Panavision film camera and the Genesis, you'll see what I mean.
The HDCAM SR deck docks directly on the top or back of the camera, using the unique interface. With the correct option boards installed, the SR deck can support recording at 4:4:4 full resolution, up to 50fps (60fps on the F23). The SR tapes record 50 minutes of 4:4:4 material at 440mbps (SQ mode) or 25 minutes at 880mbps (HQ).
Most of us, however, will not be looking to use the tape deck - if we have it at all. If anyone has one they want to shift, I will take it off their hands
The selection of recorders available to use is massive and constantly changing. There is a whole thread on here dedicated to the Odyssey 7Q.
Generally you need to bear a few things in mind:
1. What format do I want to record to?
2. What colour resolution do I require?
3. How do I power it?
4. How do I attach it?
-------
Generally, people fall into one of two categories: They want a light, cheap, convenient storage solution and are happy to sacrifice a bit of quality. Or, they need the ultimate picture and are willing to sacrifice a few of the other things.
For a cheap and effective solution, the Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle seems to be a bargain. It is limited to a couple of codecs (DNxHD or uncompressed) and only 4:2:2, but it costs very little and some people have mounted it in ingenious ways.
I personally use a Cinedeck, which does have drawbacks (the biggest for me being power consumption), but I have made it attach similarly to the HDCAM SR deck. (Pics to follow)
It is fairly important that whatever recorder you use can support 10-bit recording, especially if you intend to use S-Log. Whilst 8-bit can work fairly well, the nature of the F35 means that if you shoot it as intended then you will NEED to do some colour work as a matter of course. Using 8-bit means the footage is likely to break down fairly quickly.
An important thing to bear in mind is that if you require 4:4:4, you will NEED to use the interface box which should have come with the camera and use DUAL LINK SDI. The camera DOES NOT DO 3G-SDI. Which does rule out a few recorders, unless you want to attach a multiplexer somewhere.
One of the F35's firmware updates introduced the ability to output in 12-bit. Many people on here are still working on getting a portable recorder to do this, but so far I don't know anyone that has actually done it. 12-bit works the same way as 10-bit dual link and your recorder will record it if capable. The jump to 12-bit is not as beneficial as the one to 10-bit. It does not improve picture quality per se - you won't get more shadows or highlights by using it - but it increases the number of steps between black and white to allow you even more flexibility when grading.
Also important, YOU CANNOT DO 50P 4:4:4 WITHOUT TWO INTERFACE BOXES, or a recorder like the SRW-1 or the codex onboard. You use FOUR HD-SDI cables to achieve this. So far, I do not know anyone who has actually done this. I generally find going to 4:2:2 for 50fps a fairly acceptable sacrifice, after using so many cameras where I need to drop to 720p or something similar.
Attaching recorders can be done many ways, I expect the other forum users to post pictures of their setups, but probably the most obvious is to use a noga arm and screw into one of the several screw points on the cameras handles.
.........
More to follow, as usual others please chip in!
The answer is the somewhat evasive "whatever you want!"
The camera was designed to dock with an HDCAM SR deck, known as the SRW-1. It's fairly chunky, but remember - the F35 is a "35mm emulating camera" in most senses of the word. Having a background in common with the Panavision Genesis means that the recorder took its inspiration from Panavision's film cameras.
If you look at these two pictures of a Panavision film camera and the Genesis, you'll see what I mean.
The HDCAM SR deck docks directly on the top or back of the camera, using the unique interface. With the correct option boards installed, the SR deck can support recording at 4:4:4 full resolution, up to 50fps (60fps on the F23). The SR tapes record 50 minutes of 4:4:4 material at 440mbps (SQ mode) or 25 minutes at 880mbps (HQ).
Most of us, however, will not be looking to use the tape deck - if we have it at all. If anyone has one they want to shift, I will take it off their hands
The selection of recorders available to use is massive and constantly changing. There is a whole thread on here dedicated to the Odyssey 7Q.
Generally you need to bear a few things in mind:
1. What format do I want to record to?
2. What colour resolution do I require?
3. How do I power it?
4. How do I attach it?
-------
Generally, people fall into one of two categories: They want a light, cheap, convenient storage solution and are happy to sacrifice a bit of quality. Or, they need the ultimate picture and are willing to sacrifice a few of the other things.
For a cheap and effective solution, the Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle seems to be a bargain. It is limited to a couple of codecs (DNxHD or uncompressed) and only 4:2:2, but it costs very little and some people have mounted it in ingenious ways.
I personally use a Cinedeck, which does have drawbacks (the biggest for me being power consumption), but I have made it attach similarly to the HDCAM SR deck. (Pics to follow)
It is fairly important that whatever recorder you use can support 10-bit recording, especially if you intend to use S-Log. Whilst 8-bit can work fairly well, the nature of the F35 means that if you shoot it as intended then you will NEED to do some colour work as a matter of course. Using 8-bit means the footage is likely to break down fairly quickly.
An important thing to bear in mind is that if you require 4:4:4, you will NEED to use the interface box which should have come with the camera and use DUAL LINK SDI. The camera DOES NOT DO 3G-SDI. Which does rule out a few recorders, unless you want to attach a multiplexer somewhere.
One of the F35's firmware updates introduced the ability to output in 12-bit. Many people on here are still working on getting a portable recorder to do this, but so far I don't know anyone that has actually done it. 12-bit works the same way as 10-bit dual link and your recorder will record it if capable. The jump to 12-bit is not as beneficial as the one to 10-bit. It does not improve picture quality per se - you won't get more shadows or highlights by using it - but it increases the number of steps between black and white to allow you even more flexibility when grading.
Also important, YOU CANNOT DO 50P 4:4:4 WITHOUT TWO INTERFACE BOXES, or a recorder like the SRW-1 or the codex onboard. You use FOUR HD-SDI cables to achieve this. So far, I do not know anyone who has actually done this. I generally find going to 4:2:2 for 50fps a fairly acceptable sacrifice, after using so many cameras where I need to drop to 720p or something similar.
Attaching recorders can be done many ways, I expect the other forum users to post pictures of their setups, but probably the most obvious is to use a noga arm and screw into one of the several screw points on the cameras handles.
.........
More to follow, as usual others please chip in!
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