F5 and F55 Release Event at Sony Lot in Hollywood

To use the catch phrase of the night... it was stunning... in more than one way.

Cameras are great.

The event was almost horrific.

If it were not for the amazing location on the Sony lot, and all the dressing up, booze and nice snacks, it would have been horrific. If I had known I'd just be in a horrible sales pitch supported by the worst short film demonstrations of the cameras capability, I'd have not gone.

God bless the people at Sony... they did seem like very good people, and I didn't expect them to be Tony Robbins, but rule number one of power point presentation is to not LITERALLY read what is on the screen. That is presentation 101. You use visuals or power-point as simply talking points or to visually convey information... you don't just list bullet points and read them verbatum, adding an adjective or two.

Basically the night was saved by anyone with an ASC behind their name. Jon Fauer, Sam Nicholson, and Daryn Okada.

That said, Sam Nicholson's film (the elephant one) was pretty informative, and well done. Wasn't the best short film, but it showcased many different enviroments, ranges and I gathered much from it. I also can say the same about the F65 footage which Daryn Okada discussed while the footage was playing. He's a real class act and so knowledgable. I wish all presentations were that well spoken, informative and professional.

However, it boggles my mind how a corporation as big as Sony and with all of it's resources (Considering it OWNS a motion picture studio lot) could outsource the promotional material to these filmmakers and student filmmakers. I felt forced and trapped watching films that were poorly made and didn't even showcase much of what the camera could do, unlike the first and last films which were quite informative. I'm just saying, if I were to build and design the worlds best piano, i'd not let Johnny 12 year old showcase it at opening night. At one point the digital projector or server bugged out and cut one of the films off half way through. I like to believe it killed itself.


Now that the negative is behind me, some of the 4k projected images from Sam's film and the dancing Japanese girl demo footage from Sony was quite amazing and I think this camera is really something else.

Long live the F55. Pretty cool stuff.


Anyone else there?




PS: I also almost exploded in the audience when they referenced the camera could do anamorphic by 'unsqueezing' the image in the eye piece for a true 2.35:1 aspect ratio.... Do these engineers live in 1970?! Does the F55 utilize part of the sensor for an optical audio track? If not they should get with the f@#$ing program and use 2.40:1 (2.39:1). It's 2012 and I'm sick of professionals just not getting it. Sometimes I wonder if i'm the only sane person in an insane world.

seacrest out.
 
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I couldn't go since I didn't get confirmation until the night before the event, kind of hard when you're planning to come in from Toronto.

Intersting about the films that were screened, perhaps they were after diversity rather the pure seasoned vets. Has its pros and cons I guess.

Did you see the crying japanese video in the sea of flowers? I'm still wondering if that was real or hoax.

Anyway sorry to hear you didn't dig the event so much,. makes me glad I didn't spend the money or effort to get there.

How did people respond to the pricing?
 
Not sure, the pricing was very close to what I was expecting, so I didn't feel one way or another about it.

When the released the pricing on the screen, about 100 iPhones went up in the air and took pictures, haha. I imagine those are careening their way around facebook and the twitersphere right about now.
 
I hope to see some street pricing in Canada soon, I imagine after US gets their street pricing we will here too. Dang it we're always last here. I might just buy mine from USA this time, tired of paying more for no reason and warranty doesn't really concern me.
 
I hope to see some street pricing in Canada soon, I imagine after US gets their street pricing we will here too. Dang it we're always last here. I might just buy mine from USA this time, tired of paying more for no reason and warranty doesn't really concern me.

Aren't the prices they showed us at the event the 'street' pricing? I didn't think Abel, BnH or others usually stray very far from a new products list price... am I wrong?
 
Went to the screening. The first short of the Asian dancer was stunning, pretty sure that was shot with the f65. Saw some muddy blacks in the Elephant shoot. Seemed like the trend was shoot as much with available light and small instruments, would have liked to see a full on production with large light sources, missed velvety textures, things looked a bit videoesque, maybe because the whole thing was kind of rushed. Not sure if this is an Alexa beater, but it could do a number on Canon and Red.
 
I was there too, I'll give my short impression:

-Ryan is mostly on-point in my opinion, but I have a hard time being critical on low-budget projects that aspire to a lot. I sense Sony reaches out to people they know and trust, and those folks put something together very fast. I sense only Stargate gets any budget from Sony to do something nicer.

-I'm not used to pixel peeping cameras in a projection situation, it was hard to get a sense of what highlights the camera was holding and what the real character of the image was. Later I saw the same footage of the Stargate short film on monitors more like I'm used to, and was more impressed, details below.

-Presentation in theatre seemed like it was running behind, and then they confirmed as much. I turned to the friend I came with, checked the time, noticed it was almost 9:30, and we decided to scram to the cameras before the theatre emptied 500 people into what was surely not 500 cameras for everybody to look at. Very glad we did, the area to look at cameras was only suitable for maybe 100 people at most. Got there before the rush, and got some quality time.

-Cameras on display were fantastic, with new Element Technica cheese plates and handles up top on a lot of them. One had a Fuji 19-90 on it setup for handheld with a ET Micron baseplate...on the shoulder it was very, very good. Light years ahead of F3 ergos.

-There was one F55 connected to the new 4K monitor. Never seen such fine detail on a live picture. I've pixel peeped fully debayered Red One 4K DPXs...and there's a chance the F55 is out resolving at least Red 4K images. I have less experience with Red 5K images, so please don't take this as F55 out resolving Epic 5K, I simply wouldn't know.

-One F5 was setup in a low-light demo area, connected to a 17" OLED. Stopped down to T16 and ISO boosted to 20,000 there was noise to be seen, but it was very tolerable. Not unlike F3 at 18db.

-Was happy to see the LCD finder is good enough for my own uses, I had some doubts on it. They had at least one of the new OLED finders working. It was out of this world.

-Last thing, I saw some raw footage from the Stargate short film on a Baselight system, on a good but unknown broadcast LCD monitor. Looked amazing, like everything I would expect. F3 except better. I was looking specifically for even better highlight handling

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Aren't the prices they showed us at the event the 'street' pricing? I didn't think Abel, BnH or others usually stray very far from a new products list price... am I wrong?

You hardly ever see LIST price, because it's so high retailers don't bother showing it. It goes on Sony initial press releases and that's about it.

Whatever pricing pops up on Abel or B&H in the next couple days is gonna be the deal, and it will be less than list. Historically, it's about 14-20% off list.
 
However, it boggles my mind how a corporation as big as Sony and with all of it's resources (Considering it OWNS a motion picture studio lot) could outsource the promotional material to these filmmakers and student filmmakers. I felt forced and trapped watching films that were poorly made and didn't even showcase much of what the camera could do, unlike the first and last films which were quite informative. I'm just saying, if I were to build and design the worlds best piano, i'd not let Johnny 12 year old showcase it at opening night. At one point the digital projector or server bugged out and cut one of the films off half way through. I like to believe it killed itself.

I've been saying it over and over. I dont get how Sony doesn't understand this! Put out a camera that cost millions and millions of dollars in the making, selling it for $30K+ and you give it to... Students?? And I too am always pissed at the way they keep doing "available light" shoots... seriously what real budgeted film shoot does all available light??? HMI's, Kinos, Fresnels, my god we use them all, why dont you during the damn test!!!??

Sorry I share your pain, I've been to many Sony events, and they all have the same thing, lack of how the REAL film industry operates, and thats as you said, even more shocking considering they OWN one of the TOP 5 STUDIOS in the world... ugh. Well at least some of it was good.

Sony if you're reading this do us a favor. You spent how much on advertising in magazine ads? Take some of that budget, put it towards hiring a good Director, DP, film crew, studio, lighting, the whole 9, and do a damn REAL shoot with it. None of this "lets show them you can shoot with ISO 899999585989569 with our camera, crap.
 
things looked a bit videoesque, maybe because the whole thing was kind of rushed. Not sure if this is an Alexa beater, but it could do a number on Canon and Red.

I saw some 360˚ shutter in the Stargate short, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Seems to me younger shooters like me hate the look (because I've had to shoot too much 24p video in my lifetime), while older shooters/eyes seem to either not notice it or be bothered by it.

My feeling is that they're probably not getting the best possible images out of the raw quite yet. It's all kind of reminding me of the early days of the Red, there were raw software decoding tweaks that came later that helped highlight rendering, etc.
 
The event was almost horrific.If it were not for the amazing location on the Sony lot, and all the dressing up, booze and nice snacks, it would have been horrific. If I had known I'd just be in a horrible sales pitch supported by the worst short film demonstrations of the cameras capability, I'd have not gone...
I've made several launch films for Kodak for different products including motion picture film. They employed Oscar winners to shoot 35mm in the US with a high budgets and huge crews. They employed me in Europe to shoot Super 16mm with a limited budget and small crew. One thing that struck me on each job was the lack of process and how a successful outcome had zero to do with gear and crew. On a normal job there's a process. You write treatments, you write a scripts, you choose and get approval for locations, cast etc. All this is gone when you are working directly for the manufacturer. It's all very ad hoc. As a filmmaker you need a creative process to help you understand why you are making the film and who you are trying to influence. Some of the launch films recently have been truly awful (Sony FS700, springs to mind) which only goes to prove you can have the best talent and equipment available but you will end up with turgid, self-aggrandising nonsense if you don't make the launch films with a proper creative process.
 
I saw some 360˚ shutter in the Stargate short, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Seems to me younger shooters like me hate the look (because I've had to shoot too much 24p video in my lifetime), while older shooters/eyes seem to either not notice it or be bothered by it.

I hate 360 shutter, its ugly, video and down right bad shooting. I dont think older guys dont see it, I think they just dont care. I think they are throwing their hands up because their film is gone and they think this new crap is the next thing. I for one will never EVER shoot in 360. I dont care how much light I need, thats the one thing I wont touch.

There is magic in 24/180 without that you're just not getting the same feel. I do 90 for action every once and a while and some other oddball numbers if I'm in a situation where I see a light I have no control of is flickering. I can swing around up and down a few notches but I wont dare go further, why would you need to? To gain 1 stop? who needs 1 stop, push it dont blur it.
 
Related to the tone of this thread, I thought the 2 Canon launch films at NAB 2012 epitomized what a launch film should be (and I'm not saying that because I was awe-struck sitting directly in front of Ron Howard). Two different pieces, each telling a story with compelling story lines, evidence of careful planning, and stunning visuals. You get the feeling that you're watching a "real movie" and then can step back and realize what the combination of top tier talent + the camera can achieve. I got the same feeling at the initial Red movie way-back-when at NAB (but as press, I didn't have to wait in line like the rest of you). It's all about making a marketing piece that screams content and artistry rather than marketing. The marketing message ultimately comes through.

And no-- even and old guy like me won't shoot 360.

Ned Soltz
 
Sony studios and Sony Professional Broadcast are totally different companies and the studio would not provide movie making support without being given a budget.

In essence, what you got was a presentation by the engineering side. They may be really nice and smart people but that's not the same type of experience or creativity that goes into film making. Its probably lucky they found three professionals to shoot stuff for them.

Was it possible to make any comparisons between the images of the F5, F55 and F65?
 
Not sure, the pricing was very close to what I was expecting, so I didn't feel one way or another about it.

When the released the pricing on the screen, about 100 iPhones went up in the air and took pictures, haha. I imagine those are careening their way around facebook and the twitersphere right about now.

The pricing for the F5, recorder and bits didn't surprise me but the F55 did. $15k more than the F5. Going to really want to have that global shutter and internal 4k codec based recording ability. Still I'm not complaining about the prices when you look around and compare feature-set and price.
 
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